Lord Nickson: My Lords, I am honoured to be sandwiched between two Welshmen. To the best of my knowledge, the Nicksons were border reivers and, before the union of the Crown, stole cattle equally from the Scots and the English. I am delighted that my old colleague and friend the noble Lord, Lord Lang, has had such a wonderful debate and made such a memorable speech to launch it. He has instigated 40 other...
Lord Nickson: My Lords, I do not know whether the noble Lord, Lord Hennessy, who has been praised almost universally by speakers in this debate, is keeping a tick list, but I should think that the score is around 25 to one. The only difference is on the urgency for a commission. My mind is taken back to the first time that I was exposed to what might be the collective noun for Permanent Secretaries—I do...
Lord Nickson: My Lords, perhaps I may make three brief points. I am disappointed on two counts. It is quite right that the noble Lord, Lord Forsyth, is not taking us through the Lobby, but after his inspiring and marvellous speech, it is a disappointment to me that I cannot go through the Lobby behind him to support him. It was one of the great speeches on an issue of huge importance to us all and it has...
Lord Nickson: My Lords, I apologise for the fact that I have not taken part in the proceedings and I did not intend to do so today. I am completely out of date in that my experience goes back a long way. When I was the chairman of a Scottish bank, which belonged to an Australian bank, Fred Goodwin, as chief executive, reported to me, before he went to RBS for five years. We got on very well. I am quite...
Lord Nickson: My Lords, I have made a rare appearance here because I thought that the Scotland Bill would be coming up yesterday and was suitably disappointed. I did not come to speak in this debate. However, having spent a lifetime in industry and having also been fortunate enough to be the chancellor of a very junior Scottish university to that of my noble friend Lord Sutherland, I should like to say to...
Lord Nickson: My Lords, do the Government agree with the article in today's Times by Sir Roger Carr, president of the CBI, that if the business climate is to thrive in the United Kingdom, both politicians and the public need to understand and respect the need for it to do so, and the wealth and the employment that it creates, and that unless we do, we are quite likely to be negative in that respect? Do the...
Lord Nickson: My Lords, I am afraid that I was not present at Second Reading but I am moved to support this amendment on a personal basis as my wife is in long-term social care in Scotland. It was a Southern Cross home that has now been taken over by Healthcare One. It would have been a comfort to me had I known that an organisation such as Monitor was supervising the very unhappy situation in Southern...
Lord Nickson: My Lords, in the tragic event that there was a referendum and the people of Scotland voted for a separate state, what is the Government's view on what currency they should adopt? Is it a possibility that it might have to be the euro instead of sterling?
Lord Nickson: I apologise for speaking in this debate. I did not come into the Chamber expecting to speak today. My sympathies are very much with the Minister for having to reply to a debate that has inspired such eloquence and passion and will inspire great feeling. When I listened to the first three speeches, I found myself persuaded by the noble Lords, Lord Roberts of Llandudno and Lord Wigley, and by...
Lord Nickson: My Lords, after those five Exocets, perhaps I should declare an interest-not a pecuniary one but as a former chairman of the SSRB rather a long time ago. Then, 40 per cent of our membership were women, and a tremendous contribution they made too. When, as my noble friend Lord Butler will well remember, I succeeded my predecessor, Lord Plowden, he said to me, "My boy, if you take this on, you...
Lord Nickson: Like my noble friend Lord Dear, perhaps I should declare an interest in salmon. I have fishing interests in Scotland, but I was appointed by the Secretary of State for Scotland to chair the strategy taskforce in 1997 and, rather like the Warren Committee, I was delighted to see that the Scottish Government had produced a strategic taskforce. Had I been able to be present at the Second...
Lord Nickson: My Lords, when I was much younger, I remember being deeply influenced by the story of the father of an acquaintance who was terminally ill and in great distress in hospital. He asked that a briefcase be brought to him from his study desk—it was presumed, so that he could look at some papers. That briefcase contained not some papers but a loaded pistol, with which he shot himself. I remember...
Lord Nickson: I hesitate to speak because I was not able to be present or take part at Second Reading. I will be extremely brief. I strongly support the amendments, from my personal experience. I am also hesitant because my experience is mostly in Scotland and therefore does not apply to this Bill. I was chairman of the Countryside Commission for Scotland and later chairman of the Scottish Development...
Lord Nickson: My Lords, we are in very dangerous waters—that has been emphasised again and again in this debate. Two and a half years ago we had the last Second Reading of a hunting Bill. I hope the noble Lord, Lord Whitty, will not be too upset with me—I am not trying to provoke him—if I recall remarks that I made in that debate. I quoted remarks made by the noble and learned Lord, Lord Williams of...
Lord Nickson: My Lords, in congratulating the noble Lord, Lord Forsyth of Drumlean, on this debate, I should like to apologise to your Lordships for not being here to hear his opening words and to declare the reason for it as well as my interests. I am president of the Association of Scottish District Salmon Fishery Boards. I was conducting its annual general meeting in Pitlochry this morning and my plane,...
Lord Nickson: My Lords, it is a privilege to follow the noble Lord, Lord Davies of Coity, with whose every word I agree. Some five hours ago the noble Lord, Lord Cope of Berkeley, reminded us of the words of the Attorney-General. The noble Lord, Lord McNally, from the Liberal Democrat Front Bench--I am sorry that he is not in his place--reminded us that the only other subjects last year which filled your...