30/09/2026 | 11:48:04 Friends and Chair, This debate has been most interestingly focused at two levels, the state level and the international level, and the need for freedoms there, and also the local level and the contribution to community life which local newspapers granted. And my friend and colleague Lord Don TOUHIG came in on that one because he'd been the editor of a local newspaper for many years before coming into parliament. For me, it's the other end of the journalistic trail. At the age of 17, I was a... 29/09/2026 | 19:21:52 I can't tell you how grateful I am for the nature of this debate. Apart from perhaps a couple of speakers, there was a readiness to engage with the ideas that I had hoped would activate the debate. On the whole, that has happened. And I want to thank everybody, not just the ones who agree chapter and verse with what I've said, but those who've shown that there's room for discussion and debate as things go forward. And if this therefore ends up being a discussion starter, rather than claiming... 29/09/2026 | 18:00:41 Thank you very much, Madam Chair and colleagues in the Chamber. It is a privilege to be given the task of introducing this debate. The work of diasporas is in most places not an indicator of failed integration, but rather an important tool for successful integration. It needs to be seen, not as a problem to be managed, but as a partner in building bridges between newly-arrived migrants and established communities, between communities and public institutions, between citizens and democratic... 24/06/2026 | 12:35:16 Thank you, President and colleagues. I'm pretty sure I'm the oldest man in the room. I have a role to play in certain committees as the oldest person. And I had wondered whether to come or not to this session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, in view of my age and the heat. I did come. I'm glad I came. And I'm glad I was here to hear Ms Kristina KALLAS. She must not be allowed to leave without my having a copy of the speech that she gave. And the key item in it that... 24/04/2026 | 10:32:44 Thank you, President, and greetings to all in this august place, in the hemicycle of the Council of Europe, with its central focus on the values we all cherish. I want to speak of a country that has a disregard for human rights, has no democratically elected government and knows nothing about the rule of law. I wish to speak about Haiti. Haiti is in the Caribbean, and you may well think that's a long way from here and perhaps not very relevant. Europe has left its mark on the Caribbean. The... 21/04/2026 | 18:19:40 Thank you Madam Chair, and thank you to my friend Mr Francesco VERDUCCI for such a wonderful report that has got us all thinking. And I would just like to come to this debate perhaps from a different angle. Of course, I support all that's been said about fundamental human rights and the dangers of the moment, but my angle is a different one because I am, and have been, a religious leader myself, the head of the Methodist Church in Great Britain, and still have a considerable role to play... 21/04/2026 | 11:38:13 Thank you President and colleagues, It's good to be here. I'm the rare member of this Assembly who has never had a death or harmful threat of any kind at all. And it has been important for me to hear the pain that's been reported, the personal experiences that the people have undergone and the widespread nature of the harm being done by irresponsible speech and the anonymised threats that come via the Internet. So I'm very glad I've heard what I've heard, but I can't add to it, except to say... 26/06/2025 | 18:12:40 It's simply that when we have a debate in the House of Lords, all speakers are obliged to stay throughout the debate. So I just looked expectantly. But for all of that, the words have been said. We've had three meetings with Georgian delegations that I've been part of in the last, well, since this year began. And on each occasion, I start by asking what's happened since the last time? And it gets worse and worse. And all I can say is that I dread coming in September, October, to meet them... 25/06/2025 | 10:52:50 No, no, not at all. I'm most grateful to the two great Danes who have introduced these debates and for all the thinking that the Culture Committee has gone through in order to bring these matters to our attention. I've listened carefully to the points that have been made. I share with Mr Petri HONKONEN the experience of having been my government's or my party's spokesperson for sport in the House of Lords in the British Parliament. And there I discovered some very interesting things that... 10/04/2025 | 18:45:43 Thank you, Madam President. And let me express my delight at the fact that this dimension, the relationship with Latin America, is being explored in this debate. Since I lived for quite a lot of my life in the Caribbean and have travelled through Latin America, I'm also delighted to have the Head of the Senate actually speak to us, a Mexican voice when we speak about Latin America and our friend back there, too. I hope that everybody in this chamber will continue when they open their atlases...