The current Lord Speaker of the House of Lords, Lord Fowler, has instituted a series of lectures, to which members of the House and others outside it are invited to contribute from time to time.

Calls are being made for the building of a bridge between Scotland and Northern Ireland. Prominent supporters include the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) on whom Mrs May depends to win votes in Parliament. On 12 June Boris Johnson said the idea should be seriously explored.

A number of debates have been held in the Lords to commemorate the centenary of the First World War.

On 4 June, Alistair Lexden added another one in order to highlight the immense contribution of Empire and Commonwealth troops.

Sixteen months have now passed since Northern Ireland’s devolved government collapsed. Its restoration is not in prospect.

Prince Harry is now the Second Duke of Sussex. What was the first one like? Alistair Lexden revealed some of his quirks of character in a letter published in The Daily Telegraph on 23 May.

Writing in The Spectator on 12 May, Charles Moore regretted that the present (ninth) Duke of Wellington had not followed the example of his famous predecessor, who urged peers not to tamper with important legislation passed by the Commons even if they disagreed with it strongly.

The House of Lords has been strongly criticised in certain quarters for amending the EU Withdrawal Bill in a number of significant respects. Some people are suggesting that the aim is to derail Brexit.

In a debate on animal welfare last December, Alistair Lexden spoke in light-hearted vein about what the political parties would have to do in order to attract the support of our pets if they had the vote.

The recent 50th anniversary of Enoch Powell’s ‘rivers of blood’ speech brought out his critics in force.

Nearly 90 temporary civil servants, known as Special Advisers, work directly for government ministers, assisting them with the party political aspects of their work.