Lord Lipsey: Classical music has been doing its bit for the unity of Europe for many centuries before the EU was even thought of. Think of the immigrant composer, Handel; the great itinerant performer, Liszt; the great conductor, Rattle; and the great orchestras. Europe does not have a common language but in music it has a common theme which, however, is expressed in different accents in different...
Lord Lipsey: To ask Her Majesty's Government what was the scientific evidence used to inform the guidance requiring dentists to leave a gap of one hour between patients.
Lord Lipsey: My Lords, I think that the friends of Brecon and Radnorshire should have a good party when coronavirus has departed and we are no longer bound by the rule of six. For all his courtesy, however, I am afraid I will not be able to invite the Minister. All that needs to be said on this subject has been said, and I therefore beg leave to withdraw my amendment. Amendment 17 withdrawn. Amendments...
Lord Lipsey: My Lords, we have had a long, hard afternoon and tummies are rumbling, so I genuinely will not detain the House for long. An absolutely overwhelming case was made in Committee for this amendment exempting Brecon and Radnorshire from the 5% leeway allowed, but it has not got anywhere. The noble Lord, Lord True, was gracious enough to find time to discuss it with me one on one, though he did...
Lord Lipsey: I have stopped. No word issues from my mouth.
Lord Lipsey: No words are issuing from my mouth. I have finished; I have stopped; I am ended.
Lord Lipsey: I intend to withdraw it after the Minister’s reply.
Lord Lipsey: My Lords, I am not going to go back over all the arguments about 7.5%, 5%, 10% and so on; they have been wonderfully rehearsed by noble Lords who are much more knowledgeable than I am. I want to take this opportunity to make a general point about the process in relation to parliamentary constituencies. We go to great trouble, as noble Lords said earlier this afternoon, to protect the...
Lord Lipsey: My Lords, I support the amendment and I want to focus on one particular point. The Minister, in replying to the debate in Committee, put great weight on the support that he alleged his proposals had received from interested parties. I shall quote him: “Prior to the Bill’s introduction we engaged with all the parliamentary parties and with the electoral administrator representatives, and...
Lord Lipsey: To ask Her Majesty's Government what requests for assessment of compliance with the Code of Practice for Statistics have been made under section 12(1) of the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007 in respect of statistics relating to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Lord Lipsey: Balderdash. Twaddle. Gobbledegook. Piffle. Oops, I am sorry, my Lords, I misspoke. I do not want to talk about the content of this order but about its communication, or rather non-communication, led by the Prime Minister. Every time I speak to friends, I ask them this question: we all know that we are allowed to see only six people indoors at once, but can they be different people, or does it...
Lord Lipsey: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Bethell on 20 August (HL7375), whether they will now answer the question put, namely, what is their assessment of how much the increase in daily reported COVID-19 cases can be attributed (1) to increased testing, and (2) to changes in natural prevalence.
Lord Lipsey: To ask Her Majesty's Government what consultation they undertook before deciding to conduct constituency boundary reviews on an eight-year cycle; and what plans they have to publish a summary of those consultations.
Lord Lipsey: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether, under the restrictions in place to address the COVID-19 pandemic in England, when two households join to form an extended household, that extended household has to remain the same, or whether another individual or family can be substituted to form a new extended household.
Lord Lipsey: To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their assessment of how much the increase in daily reported COVID-19 cases can be attributed (1) to increased testing, and (2) to changes in natural prevalence.
Lord Lipsey: My Lords, I am amazed to hear that the noble Baroness, Lady Randerson, can do from north to south in the Brecon and Radnorshire constituency, where I live, in an hour and a half. It takes me two hours, or perhaps one hour and 50 minutes if my wife is driving, so it is wonderful that she can do it so speedily, But—and here is the point—at the moment the Brecon and Radnorshire constituency...
Lord Lipsey: My Lords, the whole House will welcome the positive things said by the Minister about her department’s work, but if she puts herself in the shoes of working musicians—not working at the moment—or administrators, does she realise what a contrast they will see between the extreme urgency with which the Prime Minister launched with a fanfare yesterday all sorts of infrastructure spending...
Lord Lipsey: To ask Her Majesty's Government, in reporting COVID-19 deaths by location, whether the person’s home address, the hospital where there are treated, or some other factor determines the location recorded.
Lord Lipsey: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the value of the use of probiotics in treating COVID-19.
Lord Lipsey: My Lords, I, too, thank the noble Lord, Lord Browne, for bringing the report to us. It has certainly led to a fruitful debate. I was also grateful that he brought in two of the authors to meet noble Lords and have a chat about it beforehand. I say that because I am much more critical of the report than many people who have spoken in this debate. I am not so much critical of the science....
