Lola Young, Baroness Young of Hornsey, is the latest guest on Lord Speaker’s Corner. In this episode, Baroness Young speaks to Lord McFall of Alcluith about her work tackling modern slavery, race and inequality in the creative sector, and why consumers should challenge companies to do better when they source materials. Baroness Young has extensive experience telling truth to power. From challenging the workplace dress code of her employer in 1971, to pushing for representation as an actor, to calling on major fashion brands to improve their practices, Baroness Young has regularly campaigned ..read more

Former top diplomat Lord Ricketts speaks to Lord McFall of Alcluith about the conflicts in Israel/Gaza and Ukraine, the impact of Brexit and more in this episode of Lord Speaker’s Corner. Peter Ricketts, an expert in international relations and now a crossbench member of the House of Lords, has previously served as the UK’s ambassador to France and representative to Nato. He has been chair of the Joint Intelligence Committee, was the UK’s first national security adviser and the most senior civil servant in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, where he was a diplomat for 40 years. ‘I think th ..read more

Lord Lamont talks tackling inflation, controlling interest rates and growing up in Shetland in the latest episode of Lord Speaker’s Corner. ‘Although I personally would not have joined the ERM and although I personally didn't think it was a disaster when we had to leave, I think the period we were in the ERM for two years did actually do the economy a huge amount of good.’ Norman Lamont, now Lord Lamont of Lerwick, was Chancellor of the Exchequer in the early 90s, and was responsible for trying to restore stability after the UK dramatically crashed out of the European Exchange Rate Mechanism ..read more

Hear from Lord Forsyth as he warns of a 'presidential' style of government that he believes has weakened Parliament’s role in scrutinising and improving laws. 'The House of Commons is failing in its function. It’s just abandoned its function of considering legislation properly.' In this new episode of Lord Speaker's Corner, Lord Forsyth tells Lord McFall of Alcluith that he wants to see 'root and branch' reform to cut the use of time-limits on debates and prevent overuse of secondary legislation. He explains that the task of scrutiny now falls largely to the House of Lords, where members can e ..read more

'I think I've learned from all of the campaigns, a simple message gets through, complex messages don't.' Baroness Finlay of Llandaff is a leading doctor, a professor and pioneer in the field of palliative care. 'Always wanting to change the world', Baroness Finlay has often been ahead of the curve in campaigning for change on topics such as smoking, organ donation and protecting young people. Hear about her work in medicine and in the Lords in this episode of Lord Speaker's Corner. 'The internet is a great tool for us who feel fit and well to find things. But the trouble is when people are in ..read more

Lord McFall of Alcluith speaks to former Home Secretary David Blunkett - Lord Blunkett - about his 36-year career in Parliament in the latest episode of Lord Speaker's Corner. 'We anticipated there might be a second attack, particularly on the City of London.' In this episode, Lord Blunkett discusses a range of topics including the government's immediate response to the tragic events of 9/11, clashing with the Lords over measures introduced post the attacks and how his opinion of the second chamber has subsequently changed. 'There were times, particularly when I was at the Home Office, when ..read more

This month we speak to two members who have been leading investigations into improving adult social care and how the government has incompletely implemented the Children and Families Act. ‘A gloriously ordinary life’ ‘We cannot keep asking families and friends to step up and take more and more responsibility for the adult social care services, while denying them some basic rights in terms of fair benefits and fair access to work.’ First, we speak to Baroness Andrews, who has been chairing the Lords Adult Social Care Committee. The committee's recent report, titled 'a gloriously normal life' ha ..read more

How do you know what a member said in the House of Lords, or Commons?   And did you know that you could once be arrested for reporting what was happening in Parliament?   In this month’s episode of the House of Lords Podcast, we meet the team behind the Official Report, known as Hansard, who ensure written proceedings are made available and accessible to the public each sitting day.   We hear about everything from the history of Hansard, why you might hear ‘can I have some ears please?’ in their office, the unusual name of where the reporters sit in the chamber and what they do ..read more

Did you know that it’s not just the government that can propose new laws in Parliament? This month we are looking at how members campaign for change via private members’ bills. These are bills that can be introduced by any member of the House of Lords, who is not a government minister, to change the law. Amy and Matt speak to Lord Farmer, Baroness Finlay of Llandaff and Lord Wills about their bills, covering subjects from child benefit to preventing suicide to creating an advocate for the victims of major incidents. They each explain what they are trying to achieve with their proposed law, a ..read more

In this month’s House of Lords podcast we talk to Labour’s Angela Smith, Baroness Smith of Basildon and Conservative peer Nicky Morgan, Baroness Morgan of Cotes. First up, we hear from Baroness Morgan about the new Lords committee investigating how we tackle digital fraud, how you can get involved in the committee’s work and what former minister Lord Agnew of Oulton told the committee about the government’s work on fraud. ‘This was chosen as the topic because of the scale of fraud. It now accounts of 42% of all crime against individuals and it's the most commonly experienced crime in England a ..read more