Lord Birt (CB)

My Lords, the dire position of Thames Water is, above all, a regulatory failure. Does the Minister accept that Ofwat’s record as a regulator has been absolutely woeful? Above all, it failed to require

My Lords, I was very sad indeed to see such a capable and committed group of Defence Ministers depleted by resignation, but very pleased—as was the noble Baroness, Lady Goldie—to see that the Minister

My Lords, in the last year, just under 10% of British train journeys were either cancelled, truncated or arrived more than 10 minutes late. The prime causes identified were unavailability of crew or f

My Lords, in a few years, we will be celebrating the centenary of one of the UK’s many great inventions, the BBC World Service, which now reaches a remarkable 400 million people each week. It is the m

My Lords, in Scotland in 2024, there were more humanist weddings than there were weddings of all religious faiths combined—evidence not only of the substantial demand for humanist marriage but of the

My Lords, quantum technology is possibly, indeed probably, the most disruptive and transformational technology yet invented by mankind. Thankfully, with our world-leading science base, the UK already