On February 5, Alistair Lexden, President of the Independent Schools Association (ISA), welcomed Megan Wray and two of her teachers from Kingsley School, near Bideford in Devon to the Lords.

The obituary of a former Serjeant at Arms of the House of Commons, published in The Times on February 6, made a misleading reference to Airey Neave’s murder forty-one years ago. Alistair Lexden corrected it in a letter published in the paper on February 8.

A report appeared in The Daily Telegraph on February 3 about an exhibition marking the 200th anniversary of Florence Nightingale’s birth. It will concentrate on her later years after she had achieved fame.

The Metropolitan Police brought grave discredit on themselves by the utterly irresponsible manner in which they investigated allegations of child sex abuse against a number of public figures including Lord Brammall and Leon Brittan (when he was dying).

Over and over again journalists and others attribute the phrase “one nation” to Disraeli. It is one of the most widespread of all the historical errors that are made.

Eating disorders are cruel diseases caused by mental health problems. On 4 February, a Liberal Democrat peer, Baroness Parminter, introduced a debate on this serious issue in the Lords.

It is a stock in trade of those on the political left that independent schools entrench the privileges of the few at the expense of everyone else.

It is well-known that most of our country’s top athletes come from independent schools where no more than seven per cent of children are educated (though rising to twenty per cent at sixth-form level).

Every age has its crooks and knaves in business and in politics. Some are better known than others. Few will have heard of Horace Farquhar, the subject of this article by Alistair Lexden. His life of treachery, fraud and deceit is revealed here for the first time.

Alistair Lexden’s new Bill, introduced into the Lords on 14 January (see below), has been welcomed not just by sibling couples themselves, but by tax and financial experts.

Their positive response featured prominently in the Financial Times on 18 January.