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Racial and Religious Hatred Bill

We have now got ourselves into the most awful muddle. I regret to say that it seems to me to be totally the fault of the noble Baroness. If she had shown more give over the earlier amendment, we could have had a much more structured debate on the rest of the Bill. But she did not. She behaved like those noble 300 Spartans at the pass of Thermopylae. Exactly the same happened: she was overwhelmed by hordes of Persians who, according to the latest book, were very civilised. The Minister is now saying that she is going to give, which she did not say before. I suggest that that is why we are in this muddle.