Tag Archives: sue miller

Caron Lindsay

Sue Miller highlights falling breastfeeding rates in Lords International Women’s Day debate

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 12th March 2023 - 2:30 pm

Back in the day, I spent a few years as a breastfeeding counsellor, doing what I could to support parents when they hit trouble and helping them find solutions that worked for them.

I got involved in that because I wanted to give something back after my breastfeeding journey was helped back on track by a lovely and patient volunteer called Louise who came to my house and sorted me out with great empathy.

Her help motivated me to help other women who desperately wanted to breastfeed but hadn’t been able to overcome their problems but hadn’t had the support that they needed. The guilt that comes along with that is huge, but misplaced. It is not their fault. Those running the health services failed to provide it.

I also became very interested in the implementation, or lack of it, of the International Code for the Marketing of Breastmilk substitutes and the ways that formula manufacturers got round it and how their powerful lobbying of governments kept regulation at bay.

I was also struck by research at the time that, in this country that showed  a poor breastfed baby had better long term health outcomes than a formula fed baby from an affluent background.

You would hope that we might have made some progress with providing support and regulating the manufacturers in the intervening 15 years.

Unfortunately, Lib Dem Peer Sue Miller, in her contribution to the International Women’s Day debate, highlighted that we are actually going backwards. You can read her whole speech here, but here are the highlights:

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The Voice

Lib Dem Lords vs the Article 50 Bill: Sue Miller Narrow minded nationalism could replace outgoing internationalism

By The Voice | Sun 26th February 2017 - 8:45 am

The Lib Dem Lords have made some cracking contributions to the debate on the Article 50 Bill. Ahead of its next Lords stages, we’re bringing you all the Lib Dem contributions over the course of this weekend. That’s no mean feat. There were 32 of them and cover more than 30,000 words. You are not expected to read every single one of them as they appear. Nobody’s going to be testing you or anything. However, they will be there to refer to in the future. 

Our Lords excelled themselves. Their contributions were thoughtful, individual, well-researched and wide-ranging and it’s right that we present them in full on this site to help the historian of the future. 

Sue Miller talked about her worries about peace and security and that Brexit would hasten the rise of nationalism and populism in Europe. She also highlighted concern for EU nationals and the distraction that Brexit causes from other issues which need to be dealt with.

 

My Lords, one effect of growing up as a post-war child was hearing the amount of discussion and determination among the political classes that we would never have another war in Europe. At the top of my list of worries about Brexit is that we shall see an insular, narrow-minded nationalism taking hold and turning us from an outgoing, internationalist nation into an inward-looking nation.

We have heard much in the past day and a half about interdependence, which has to be one of the keys when we think about what we should do next. Brexit is not all about trade, although to listen to the Government you might think that it was. I firmly believe that, first and foremost, it should be about peace and security. I agreed strongly with the noble Lord, Lord Carlile of Berriew, when he said yesterday that endangering peace and security in Europe would be grounds to reject the deal. Incidentally, although I agreed with some of the speech made by Tony Blair, I thought it ironic he should tell everyone to rise up. When more millions than were ever seen all rose up and marched when he was Prime Minister, he took not a blind bit of notice.

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Mark Valladares

This week in the Lords: 28 January – 1 February

By Mark Valladares | Mon 28th January 2013 - 8:58 pm

House of LordsYes, just as late as has been the habit recently, here’s your heads up for events in the upper chamber this week… anyone would think that I didn’t have a day of my own…

It’s another long week for our Parliamentary Party, with a nod to the recent wintry weather, but Monday sees Day 2 of the Committee Stage of the Growth and Infrastructure Bill, where Tony Greaves will seek to remove attempts to place further limits on the power to require information with planning applications. Frankly, when I see …

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Helen Duffett

Peers call for end of child detention in immigration centres

By Helen Duffett | Fri 12th November 2010 - 7:02 pm

Following the Home Office’s decision to postpone until March the end of child detention in immigration removal centres, a group of peers has written to the Guardian calling for the government to honour their commitment to end the practice.

The group of Labour, Liberal Democrat and Crossbench peers includes Roger Roberts and Navnit Dholakia, as well as Sue Miller, who told Radio 4’s Today Programme this morning that the equivalent of four or five primary schools per year are being locked up:

We are really tired of waiting for the end of child detention… We need not to lock

…

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The Voice

+++ Exclusive: MEP has change of heart – now happy to have penis

By The Voice | Sun 14th March 2010 - 4:33 pm

News reaches us in LDV Towers that Lib Dem MEP Chris Davies has had a change of heart and will be allowing his name to go forward for the Flying Golden Penis trophy for Politician of the Year at the Erotic Awards 2010.

Last month, as we reported, Chris Davies wrote:

It’s an honour to be considered but it’s not justified. I organised a fringe meeting to give sex workers a voice at last year’s party conference, and more recently I put out a press release defending sex workers from prohibitionist government policies. But it’s not enough

Whether Chris has been …

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Posted in Europe / International and News | Also tagged , , and | 2 Comments

New Lib Dem team announced for the Lords

By the founding editor | Wed 6th December 2006 - 12:56 pm

Lord Thomas of Gresford has become Shadow Lord Chancellor with oversight of all the Law Officers and of legal reform. This follows Lord Goodhart’s appointment as Chair of the Delegated Powers Committee and changes in the designation of Government departments. Lord McNally and Lord Tyler will cover Constitutional Affairs, including reform of the House of Lords.

Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer will continue to lead the Defra team in which Lord Redesdale and Lord Teverson will cover energy, with environment, food and rural affairs continuing to be covered by Baroness Miller. Lord Redesdale becomes an agriculture spokesperson. Lord Dykes and Lord …

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