Here is Ed Miliband's statement setting out the amazing contribution his brother David has made to British politics. And here is a pic of the three of us with some of our teachers from Haverstock School that we all attended in the 1980s. Time flies...
An eclectic group of guests turned out to celebrate the launch of House Music, the Oona King Diaries, which was launched in Parliament as an ebook by Bloomsbury. The publishing party included a performance of parts of the diary, dramatised by award-winning playwright Tanika Gupta, and starring comedian Dave Schneider, newcomer Shelley Williams, and actor – and Oona’s cousin – Ed Stoppard who stars in Upstairs Downstairs.
Hot off the press: here's the report on Adoption that myself and other members of the House of Lords have worked on for many months.
We argue that adoptive parents should receive more support to help them care for vulnerable children. This is because children adopted from care have often experienced neglect and abuse and therefore may have a range of complex needs. There should be a legal obligation on Local Authorities and others to provide post-adoption support to children and adopters, where that support would previously have been paid for by the state: it just isn't fair to expect adoptive parents to pick up the financial price tag (on top of the emotional challenges) from giving a loving home to Britain's most vulnerable children.
Oona King, Tessa Jowell, Angela Eagle and others on sexism in Westminster Guardian 2.3.1913
The Rennard allegations have put Westminster's sexual politics in the spotlight. So how bad is it? Women who know tell of boozy conferences, wandering hands and the obstacles to complaining Full article here
When we arrived in 1997, it was institutionally sexist. When women would stand up in the chamber, men on the other side would be shouting "Melons! Melons!" while making hand gestures – that's how juvenile it was. There was an extraordinary level of sexism in terms of power, which hasn't changed that much. It wasn't just from politicians – when the media contacted you, they were as likely to ask about your lipstick as your policies.
Tonight in parliament we're launching the ebook version of my diaries, House Music.
The award-winning playwright Tanika Guptaand is directing a dramatisation of some parts of my diary, starring comedian Dave Schneider, newcomer Shelley Williams, and the actor – and my cousin – Ed Stoppard (who stars in Upstairs Downstairs).
I'm looking forward to seeing these fantastically talented
Social housing
Asked by Baroness King of Bow
The Minister will be aware that the figures that he has just outlined in areas such as Tower Hamlets represent a 60% cut on the money available to improve social housing in the spending review. However, is he also aware that backloading the social housing budget means that those in the worst housing conditions have to wait the longest for upgrades? Can he clarify whether the Secretary of State will ask the Chancellor to increase the amount of money in the next spending review to make up for that previous shortfall and, if so, will they abandon the backloading of the budget that hurts hardest those in the worst housing? Combined with the bedroom tax, this makes people in social housing feel that they are under a sustained and unjust attack from this Government.
