"My Lords, with one in four children leaving primary school without the appropriate levels of literacy does the Minister agree that the most important thing we should be doing is giving children a love of books? Was Einstein not right when he said that if you want your child to …..." Lord Alton of Liverpool - View Speech
"My Lords, the noble Lord, Lord Robertson of Port Ellen, describes Iran, North Korea, China and Russia as “a deadly quartet”, all of which have sanctioned Members of the British Parliament, including Members of your Lordships’ House. China, as we have just heard, continues to intimidate Taiwan, to commit genocide …..." Lord Alton of Liverpool - View Speech
"My Lords, the noble Baroness, Lady Ludford, has given us a foretaste of the consideration we will give to Amendment 206, tabled by her noble friend Lady Hamwee and to which I have added my name, which is about Europol. I agree with what she said. I also agree with …..." Lord Alton of Liverpool - View Speech
"My Lords, I am grateful to my noble friend, who makes a really important point about the importance of looking again at the things we committed ourselves to in the circumstances in which those were signed. I reassure him that the Joint Committee takes that view too. While we were …..." Lord Alton of Liverpool - View Speech
"My Lords, I am very happy to support this string of amendments, which has been introduced very digestibly by the noble Baroness, Lady Hamwee, and deals with the reverse burden of proof and reasonable excuse.
"We will come to those arguments on mens rea. They are in later amendments. Perhaps the noble Lord would not want to jump ahead, because the groups of amendments dealing with that come in the next day in Committee on this Bill...." Lord Alton of Liverpool - View Speech
"My Lords, it is hard to imagine that, if in 1980 the former Soviet Union had asked for a prime site for a new mega-embassy, we in Parliament would have agreed. It is even harder for me to understand why we are doing this for a regime accused by the …..." Lord Alton of Liverpool - View Speech
"My Lords, has the Minister had a chance to look at the reports I sent him over the weekend from Sudan, where over 100 mass graves were discovered in Khartoum and the surrounding area and where genocide continues in Darfur? Does he agree that there is an absolute link between …..." Lord Alton of Liverpool - View Speech
"My Lords, in the initial reply the Minister gave to the House, she rightly referred to those children who have been abducted from Ukraine. Yesterday, the envoy for missing children pointed out that the technology that is used to track more than 30,000 of those children expires this month with …..." Lord Alton of Liverpool - View Speech