Viscount Hanworth: My Lords, one of the factors that inhibits our exports is our overvalued rate of exchange. Should the Government not consider establishing a sovereign wealth fund to purchase foreign assets whenever the sterling rate of exchange exceeds a certain threshold value? This, after all, would compensate for our selling our family silver abroad.
Viscount Hanworth: Some institutions surely take in rather few overseas students. Has it not occurred to the Government that a percentage threshold of visa refusals is entirely inappropriate in such cases? Might they not think of an alternative threshold in such cases?
Viscount Hanworth: My Lords, I do not favour extending our strategic bombing campaign to Syria. I am well apprised of the logic that declares that if we should be bombing ISIL in Iraq, we should also be bombing it in Syria, but my conclusion is that we should be bombing it in neither. There are better ways of defeating ISIL. Bombing is a blunt and heavy-handed way of attacking the enemy. It causes grave...
Viscount Hanworth: My Lords, I emphasise the need for enhanced co-operation amongst the nations of the European Union in respect of the governance of the North Sea, which is suffering increasingly from environmental degradation. If one stands on the shores of Britain at any point other than at a busy sea port, one is likely to see an undifferentiated expanse of water stretching to the horizon that seems to be...
Viscount Hanworth: My Lords, this has been an interesting debate in which we have heard a diversity of opinions. I wish to thank all speakers for their various contributions. I must also thank the Minister for his judicious summary. On Tuesday, he was kind enough to tell me of the nature of his brief, which informed him that there were no problems whatsoever with inward financial investment. In return, I...
Viscount Hanworth: I believe that the Minister also said the same thing in the Chamber. Be that as it may, I thank him for his response. The Minister who bears responsibility for these matters at present is the noble Lord, Lord O’Neill. I trust that this debate will be brought to his attention. Motion agreed.
Viscount Hanworth: My Lords, I wish to talk of an enduring problem of the UK economy that is of increasing severity: our inability to pay our way in the world by means of our exports of goods and services. The consequence of this failure is our indebtedness to foreigners, which has resulted in their ownership of an ever-increasing proportion of our capital assets. It is essential that we should understand the...
Viscount Hanworth: My Lords, I often wonder why many people show little concern in the face of the impending catastrophe of global warming. I am reminded of a fundamental dichotomy in human perceptions to which Voltaire famously drew attention. In 1757, Voltaire published an influential work of social philosophy and satire under the title Candide or Optimism . It is said to have been prompted by a disastrous...
Viscount Hanworth: To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many professional and career development loans have been offered by the appointed banks to this year’s prospective postgraduate students, relative to the number of applications.
Viscount Hanworth: I thank the Minister for that Answer. The lack of information on this account is disturbing, since it means that the Government are paying too little attention to a matter of national importance. The truth, as I perceive it, is that inadequate financial support has been given to our native postgraduate students. It appears that the banks, on which the Government are depending to provide loans...
Viscount Hanworth: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the current state of the monitoring in the United Kingdom of the industrial chemicals present in groundwater and river water, in particular pseudo-oestrogens (xenoestrogens) and those substances itemised in Directive 2008/105/EC.
Viscount Hanworth: My Lords, I have heard it said by a member of the party opposite that austerity is now at an end. This is a false perception. Our economic misery will not cease until our manufacturing industries and our foreign trade have been revived. This will require a technological revival and a macroeconomic policy very different from the one that the Government are pursuing. I have no confidence that...
Viscount Hanworth: My Lords, the Energy Bill that we have before us today contains two unrelated sets of measures. One set concerns projects for establishing onshore facilities for generating electricity by wind power. The second concerns the establishment of a new agency for regulating the extraction of oil and gas from the North Sea. I will deal with these matters separately and in that order. The legislation...
Viscount Hanworth: My Lords, when one considers the Budget speech of George Osborne and the policies that it proposes, one is bound to wonder how much of what we heard was the product of an intentional bamboozlement and how much was the product of the Government’s self-deception. The previous Budget speeches of George Osborne have been wilfully deceptive. As the leader of the Opposition has observed, they...
Viscount Hanworth: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the annual forecast cost for (1) storing, and (2) protecting, the stocks of plutonium at Sellafield in (a) 2015, (b) 2025, and (c) beyond 2025, if there is no decision to deal with the material otherwise.
Viscount Hanworth: I thank the Minister for that very informative Answer. What progress, if any, has been made in assessing the prospect of burning the stocks of plutonium in a CANDLE reactor or a Hitachi PRISM reactor? This would not only dispose safely and profitably of the stock of plutonium but give a much-needed boost to Britain’s nuclear industry. I am aware that a report was sent to the Department of...
Viscount Hanworth: My Lords, one of the questions that must be raised in connection with the crisis in housing concerns the extent to which it has been the consequence of the misguided policies and oversights of successive Governments. It is fair to raise this question in view of the success of early post-war Governments in meeting the huge demand for housing that arose from the destruction and neglect of the...
