Category: Politics

Democratic Principles

  My house has what estate agents call “all the usual offices”; a strange expression as it has everything except an office. This drawing was done by Mike Stiff, of Stiff + Trevillion, in 1984. It’s a late Victorian terraced house with some original features, including a functioning coal hole in the path leading up… Continue reading Democratic Principles

Soft Power

Lord Bates is a Conservative party Life Peer in the House of Lords. He is a Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Home Office.

Albinia

A goddaughter had her first child on St. Stephen’s Day, known in the UK as Boxing Day, this year. Mother and daughter are both well and the chosen names are Meredith Grace Albinia.

Chronicles of War

Sir Alan (Tommy) Lascelles cropped up recently in a reply to a comment. He served as Assistant Private Secretary to George V, Edward VIII and George VI and then as Private Secretary to George VI and Elizabeth II, retiring in 1953 aged 66.

Two Prayers

If you read Steps of the Throne here this week you will know that I had a Blue Peter moment. Cutting and pasting is such fun and much quicker than writing an original post. I’m itching to use my electronic scissors again.

Steps of the Throne

Francis Plowden has commented about privileges at the Palace of Westminster extended to the children of peers. The last word goes to the website, Parliament.uk: 1.59 The following may sit on the steps of the Throne: · members of the House of Lords in receipt of a writ of summons, including those who have not… Continue reading Steps of the Throne

The No Vote Brigade

I suggested in a recent post, Let Slip The Dogs of War, that the oratory in the House of Commons debate about authorising bombing targets in Syria would be uninspiring. Well, Hilary Benn proved me wrong.

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Categorised as Politics

Let Slip The Dogs of War

Henry V was written about 400 years ago. At its centre lies Agincourt, fought about 185 years earlier, as remote for Shakespeare and his audience as Waterloo is for us today.

Mappa Mundi

The Naval Museum in Madrid originates from a proposal my ancestor, Mendoza y Rios, made towards the end of the 18th century. It is only a biscuit’s throw (a favourite expression of my grandfather) from the Prado and is worth visiting for one exhibit alone.