The Lords.

I want to talk about parliament. Specifically the House of Lords.

It will be difficult, without resorting to immature name-calling (which is not below me) for me to put into words my utter confusion, and further contempt towards the existence of this antiquated group of exceedingly pro-government buffoons, who relay the opinions of exactly nobody.

First, I feel that I should give a brief description of what it is exactly that the House of Lords does, as I see it. They essentially decide wether new laws proposed by the House of Commons are passed, checked, or changed. Usually however if the Lords insist the law is checked or changed, it will go back to the Commons, who will send it back to the Lords, who decide they cannot be bothered to read it again, and allow it to be passed. A charade of benefit to nobody as far as I can tell.

Up until as recently as 1999 the House of Lords consisted largely of wealthy white men (maybe a few women) who were there solely because of their hereditary titles, and who nobody in the real world knew anything about. In 1999 the new Labour government under Tony Blair changed things up! They reformed the House of Lords, this meant that something called an 'independent appointments commission' now chose who would sit in the House. This sounds, at first, at least a little better than hereditary positions in government, however the person who chooses most of the new faces in the House is the current governing prime minister. This means that the House of Lords is essentially a tool to help the current government pass the laws they want, and hold laws which that government do not want to see implemented. Not exactly the most democratic proccess of government, infact... Not a democratic proccess of government.

My disdain is only furthered by my complete confusion of the allowance of this Houses continued existence. In this day and age, I am utterly baffled that a supposedly democratic country such our own is home to such a blatantly un-democratic system of governing it's people. I find it an insult to my intelligence, and the integrity of my vote, that our prime ministers best buddies are all sitting around getting belly-rubs for stopping any laws that said prime minister doesn't like the look of.

fin.