Writing
Outside Parliament, Lindsay also contributed his journalistic skill, writing the text for a book about the House of Commons published in the "Britain in Pictures" series in 1947. In 1948, with debates on the House of Lords starting as a result of the Labour government's Parliament Bill, he wrote Shall We Reform 'the Lords'?, which discussed the options which might be taken. He was Chairman of the West Midlands Area of Conservative and Unionist Associations from 1949 to 1952. During the 1950 general election, Lindsay made a speech at Wellington, Shropshire in which he prophesied that Aneurin Bevan would soon take over as Prime Minister after Clement Attlee retired.
During the close Parliament of 1950-51, Lindsay played his part in harrying the Labour government. In November 1950 he won a spot in the ballot for Private Member's Bills and introduced a freedom of information Bill to give the press a statutory right to report the proceedings of public bodies. Lindsay's Bill ran out of time; he also supported the bill, that became statute, introduced by Labour MP Eirene White reforming the divorce laws. Early in 1951 he called on Belgium not to put General von Falkenhausen, the former German military governor, on trial for war crimes. Lindsay argued that Belgium had the least oppressive occupation of any nation.
Read more about this topic: Sir Martin Lindsay, 1st Baronet
Famous quotes containing the word writing:
“To write weekly, to write daily, to write shortly, to write for busy people catching trains in the morning or for tired people coming home in the evening, is a heartbreaking task for men who know good writing from bad. They do it, but instinctively draw out of harm’s way anything precious that might be damaged by contact with the public, or anything sharp that might irritate its skin.”
—Virginia Woolf (1882–1941)
“When writing a novel a writer should create living people; people not characters. A character is a caricature.”
—Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961)
“If you want your writing to be taken seriously, don’t marry and have kids, and above all, don’t die. But if you have to die, commit suicide. They approve of that.”
—Ursula K. Le Guin (b. 1929)