Throw out the Lords and we'll be stuck with a bunch of career politicians
Why is the nation so lukewarm about reforming the House of Lords? Are we sentimental about tradition, still cooing over the royal wedding and all that? Not a bit of it. We are perfectly aware that, as my husband Gavin Lyall used to say, the trouble with elected chambers is that you get people who are good at winning elections ? not necessarily at governing. Half the point of the Lords is that, apart from a few veterans put out to ermine, they're not politicians but experts at something else. Judith Mayhew dealt in fish; Lord Attenborough knows all about the film industry; Janet Cohen has been a civil servant, banker and thriller writer. It used to be so in the Commons; Ann Widdecombe professed herself humbled (yes, really) by being with distinguished doctors and lawyers; the old trade union MPs knew about factories and mines. But nowadays potential politicians get a political internship or a job in the Commons library. As one friend said, "They're getting lifts in the ministerial car instead of getting stuck in the rain like the rest of us." The Lords have done brilliant things in curbing some of the Commons' excesses; why on earth would we want this safety brake on undiluted politics removed?
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2011/may/29/katharine-whitehorn-house-of-lords
No comments:
Post a Comment