In this month’s episode of the House of Lords Podcast, we are talking about protecting children and strengthening the Union, plus RuPaul’s Drag Race and seeing yourself on stage.

Children and the internet

‘I saw in the attention economy that, in order to create as much value as possible from data… you created features of the system that were unsafe or exposing for children… They should not be working for the man in Silicon Valley.’

First, we speak to Baroness Kidron about her work to protect children online. She explains why she led the way on creating ground-breaking protections for young people. In this interview, Baroness Kidron explains the need to carry on pressing the issues created by a lack of regulation for tech companies, and the need for a series of interventions, likening the situation to the industrial revolution and a need for 17 Factory Acts at the time.

‘We've done a lot of the work of taking a draft bill, which was really approaching one of the most difficult issues of our time and actually taking it up a level into being a pragmatic and implementable bill’

Baroness Kidron also talks about the way forward for regulating social media giants, her hopes for the Online Safety Bill and the findings of the committee she served on to scrutinise the draft law.

‘It’s one of the joys of my life to have been embraced by that community’

Baroness Kidron also talks about her experience as a filmmaker, including directing the renowned To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar. She explains how pleased she is to see drag and its stars such as RuPaul (who appeared in the film) doing so well today.

The Union

‘It really is time that we release the trap that central government has on law-making and indeed, on spending and delivering services’

We also speak to Baroness Taylor of Bolton and Lord Dunlop this month. They are discussing the Lords Constitution Committee’s report on resetting relations across the UK’s parliaments and governments.

‘The biggest threat to the Union is people feeling they're not sharing equally in the Union's benefits and that they feel powerless to make their voices heard… We're waiting as we speak, for the government's leveling up white paper. And I think that's going to be very important and it needs to be ambitious.’

They also discuss the threats to the Union between England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and how the dynamic can be improved.

‘Government doesn't always understand Parliament can actually be helpful in terms of getting the legislation into the right shape’

We also talk about the importance of legislative scrutiny and the recent Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill and, keeping to a cultural theme, we discuss with Baroness Taylor what it is like to see yourself portrayed on stage.

• Find out more about the Joint Online Safety Bill Committee
• Find out more about the Lords Constitution Committee
• Read an introduction to the Constitution Committee’s latest report

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