Alistair Lexden is President of the Council for Independent Education (CIFE) whose member colleges are specialists in preparing international students for entry to British universities.

In the attached article, he reflects on the reasons why the CIFE colleges are so successful.

What is generally known as secondary legislation takes the form of statutory instruments (SIs), often detailed and technical in nature, which give effect to measures authorised in general terms by Acts of Parliament. Some 2,000 SIs are enacted each year.

The Duke of Cambridge is visiting the Middle East this week. An article in The Times on June 23 urged him to “get a tattoo of the Jerusalem cross on his arm, as did previous princes on visits to the Holy Land”.

Alistair Lexden’s recent Lords debate on the contribution made by Empire and Commonwealth troops during the First World War( see below) led to him being commissioned by Parliament’s House Magazine to write an article for it so that his account of their indispensable role could be given a wider ci

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.