politics & policy
Stewarding well: Making waves in Westminster
Tim Farron
These last few weeks, I’ve been talking poop. Even more than usual! As Liberal Democrat Environment Spokesman, I’ve been scrutinising the Water Bill, which involved much discussion of sewage outflows!
I’ve followed the bill through the Second Reading debate before Christmas, five meetings of the committee which discussed the bill line by line, and back to the Commons for Report and Third Reading. It now goes back to the Lords, where it began, and will ‘ping pong’ between the two Houses until they agree, before the King gives Royal Assent and it becomes an Act of Parliament.
The Middle East: Peace at last? A Christian perspective
This week there has been jubilation and relief as the remaining 20 living Israeli hostages were released from Gaza. In return, Israel released 250 Palestinian prisoners and a further 1,700 detainees. This is hopefully a first tentative step towards building a peace process in the Middle East.
Of course there are many issues still to be resolved – for example, how Gaza might be governed and what the proposed multinational "stabilisation force" might look like.