The Riots of 2011 and the Riots of 1981 Just thirty years ago, between July 4th and 6th 1981, I watched as rioters assaulted policemen, looted shops, and reduced Liverpool’s Lodge Lane and Upper Parliament Street to burning embers. Hundreds of policemen sustained...
Thomas More, Edmund Campion and Westminster Hall
Much was written about the historic significance of Pope Benedict's address to Members of Parliament in Westminster Hall – during the Pope’s visit last year. It was here, in July 1535 that the former Speaker and Lord Chancellor, Sir Thomas More, was tried for high...
The Fate of India's Dalits
The Fate of India's Dalits 2.18 pm: March 5th 2010 Second Reading Debate on Bill to create an Anti-Slavery Day. Lord Alton of Liverpool: My Lords, it is with great pleasure that I add my voice to those supporting the terms of my noble and learned friend’s Bill to...
To Seek A Newer World – Robert Kennedy
To Seek A Newer World - written in 1967 by Robert Kennedy. by David Alton on Sunday, June 6, 2010 at 11:38pm In 1967, a year before he was assassinated, Senator Robert Kennedy published “To Seek A Newer World.” It grew out of his speeches, out of his travel...
The Condition of England Question
Debate on The Big Society Versus The Big State, Wednesday June 17th 2010. 6.42 pm Lord Alton of Liverpool: My Lords, the quality of the introductory remarks made by the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Leicester and of the ensuing debate demonstrate why this was...
Dr Alveda King and her Uncle's legacy
One of my childhood heroes was Dr. Martin Luther King. In my study I still have a battered copy of his paperback "Why We Can't Wait" – which set out his opposition to institutionalized racism along with the case for the civil rights movement.� His writing and his...
Harry Patch, Michael Murpurgo and War Horse
Harry Patch and War Horse It's just two years since the death, at 111 years of age, of Harry Patch – often called "the Last Fighting Tommy." He was the last surviving soldier to have fought in the trenches of the First World War. In August 2009, on the day of his...
Gendercide
The Economist magazine estimates that worldwide at least 100 million girls have been aborted, killed or neglected, and that the number is rising. In countries like India and China this gendercide has amounted to an all out war on girls. It is staggering that beyond a...
For 18 years David Alton was a Member of the House of Commons and today he is an Independent Crossbench Life Peer in the UK House of Lords.
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Replies to Parliamentary Questions on the number of people who are dying of hunger or who are food insecure in Sudan; how quickly the UK decision to increase humanitarian aid for war victims in Sudan will be made available; what it will be used for; and how it will be deployed; and the impact of the war in Sudan on South Sudan, including (1) the numbers of displaced people and refugees, and (2) the impact on its economy caused by the loss of receipts from the export of oil
Lord Benyon, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, has provided the following answer to your written parliamentary question (HL3877): Question by Lord Alton of Liverpool:To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the number of people...
Meeting in Parliament to highlight the malign effects of Hong Kong’s Article 23 on human rights; to examine its impact on media freedom, in advance of World Press Freedom Day on May 3rd; to express solidarity with Jimmy Lai and 1841 other imprisoned pro democracy advocates; and to consider how Hong Kong’s Security Laws impact on civil society, the diaspora and contribute to transnational repression. Contributions from Benedict Rogers, Steve Vines, Caoilfhionn Gallagher KC, and Carmen Lau. The banning of a Simpsons episode about the Tiananmen Square massacre “Nothing Happened Here” cited as an example of the suppression of truth.
Lord Alton of Liverpool (David Alton) as a Patron of Hong Kong Watch today chaired a meeting in Parliament to highlight the malign effects of Hong Kong's Article 23 on human rights. It examined the impact on media freedom, in advance of World Press Freedom Day on May...
British universities and Chinese money
Today I pressed Ministers to reduce the reliance of British universities on Chinese money. This is compromising national security and also compromising academic freedom – as the case of Professor Michelle Shipworth, which I raised, has demonstrated. 30th April...