§ Lord DenhamMy Lords, with the leave of the House, I should like to say a brief word about the first short debate today standing in the name of the noble Earl, Lord Longford. The House will see that there is an exceptionally long list of speakers for a two and a half hour debate. Perhaps I may remind the House that the accepted practice is that the opening speaker should speak for up to about 15 minutes and that the Minister in reply is entitled to rise at least 20 minutes before the conclusion of the debate, including in this a short time for the mover to wind up. I have to say that my calculations are that this leaves other speakers an average of six and a half minutes each. If any noble Lord should take longer than that, he might well be depriving later speakers of their rations.