I wanted to get rid of my possessions, because possessions stood between me and death.

Impressive in size, design and content, the GEM’s opening may be tainted by politics and connotations of authoritarianism

This is a historic opportunity. Unless it's grasped quickly, it'll crumble before our eyes.

An expert panel explore how Parliament works, who works there, and how this institution keeps evolving.

A bill based on Labour’s manifesto commitment to remove the remaining hereditary peers from the House of Lords has already passed through the House of Commons, and is now being considered in the Lords itself. In this post, the first in a two-part series, Constitution Unit Director Meg Russell reviews the background to the bill, and progress up to the end of its Lords committee stage. In a second post, for publication tomorrow, she will argue that the ability to amend the bill at its coming report stage offers a rare opportunity to make progress on other small and widely supported Lords reforms – and that this should be seized.