Archive for hansard gems

Hansard gems: Interesting paperclip fact #5

5 October 2009 , , ,
One for the lawyers and paperclip fans today, this time from Hansard in January 1998. It’s Conrad Russell at work: As far as I understand it, it would be intra vires to confine those regulations to authorising them to restrict the allocation of their paperclips. I do not suggest that that is the policy intention. [...]

Hansard gems: Is someone lying about their love of potato salad?

28 September 2009 , , , ,
This extract from Hansard of January 1989 is sufficiently clear, it hardly needs further explanation: Lord Morris My Lords, I share my noble friend’s concern or indeed apparent affection for a good potato salad, but does the question compare like with like? Baroness Trumpington No, my Lords. Lord Bethell My Lords, surely my noble friend [...]

Hansard gems: The purple cows are coming!

21 September 2009 , ,
Sometimes Parliament turns its mind to predicting the bovine future, as happened in March 1973: I have never seen a purple cow, but we may yet see it. Thank you, Norman Buchan. Liked this story? Find other gems from Hansard on my archive page for this series of posts.

Hansard gems: Roundabout safety

14 September 2009 , , ,
The government never sleeps, or so it would seem from this answer to Parliamentary questions from Hansard, April 1996: Mr. French To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what proposals he has to improve safety at roundabouts. Mr. Norris In line with the Government’s policy of reducing all road traffic accidents, safety at roundabouts [...]

Hansard gems: What's the shortest sentence someone has served for murder?

7 September 2009 , , ,
It’s December 1993 and Labour is looking for ways to attack the Government over crime. Perhaps there’s an issue of the length of sentences for murder? Let’s turn to Hansard and find out: Mrs. Roche To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what was the shortest sentence served for murder in the [...]

Hansard gems: Is the horse an agricultural animal?

31 August 2009 , , , , , ,
I may think I know the answer to this question. You may think you know the answer to this question. But in the world of legislation and regulation, it’s not quite so simple as Hansard from February 1982 shows us: Sir Anthony Kershaw asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will take [...]

Hansard gems: The first mention of the internet

24 August 2009 , ,
Leaving aside two typos (no, they weren’t really debating the internet in 1919 and no, those 1974 radios weren’t wireless access points ahead of their time) the first mention of the internet in Parliament was, as far as I can find, in February 1990 from then Conservative MP Emma Nicholson: According to L’Express, in a [...]

Hansard gems: Pink Dog spotted in the Parliamentary chamber

17 August 2009 ,
It’s from the official Hansard records, so this account must be true: The hon. Member for Bridgeton (Mr. Maxton), who interrupts, has an honest record. He wants to destroy the capitalist system entirely. Let the country know it. He is the red tail wagging the pink dog that at present occupies the Front Bench opposite [...]
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