A modest proposal for the reform of the House of Lords

[michael scuffil]

I notice that the 9th Lord Nelson has just died. He was a police sergeant. It strikes me that the way to make the HoL more democratic is to freeze new appointments to it, and make it hereditary from now on. The present lot are already pretty ordinary, and their descendants on the whole are likely to be even more ordinary, in fact an increasingly representative cross-section of the community.

[Fjgrogan]

I once met the Lord Nelson who was a police sergeant, together with his son who was then Viscount Merton - a rather shy young teenager - who is presumably now the 10th Lord Nelson. At the time my husband was commanding officer of TS Trafalgar, Wimbledon Merton and Morden Sea Cadets and they occasionally hosted meetings of the Nelson Society at their headquarters.

[J.R.]

Was he quite 'armless ???

[NEILL THE NOTORIOUS]

Oh JR ! --- Please ! I suppose his Lordship could only see half the joke !
To return to the Topic -- Most of the Hereditary Peerages were rewards for exceptional Service to Soveriegn and Country
Marborough, Montgomery, Nell Gwynn.
To the best of my knowledge, none of these were "Bought "
Since the Hereditary Peerages are no longer awarded, this must be a case of diminishing returns, as the Families die out,
What then ? ------ Candidates from Officials of the European Union ? ? ?

[michael scuffil]

My point was that until about mid century, most hereditary peerages were held by grandees, and the House of Lords was an anachronism. Then Life Peers were introduced to modernize it. The first life peers were on the whole fairly distinguished, but most these days are party appointees of greater or lesser distinction. The ancient Greeks thought the only really democratic system (apart from direct democracy) was selection by lot. Given the pretty ordinary nature of the present members of the House of Lords, and the probable even greater ordinariness of their descendants, making the place hereditary from now on would be tantamount to having a body of people chosen virtually at random and thus representative in the demographic sense.