Legislation is the Real Enemy of the People

There’s no stopping this blogging thing. The latest citadel to fall is, of all places, the dear old House of Lords. Hence Lords of the Blog which officially launched today. With any luck it will capture something of the upper House’s eccentricity…

Lord Lipsey makes half a fair point here, for instance:

I am in favour of very radical reform of the Lords, its arcane and inefficient procedures, a statutory appointments commission, the end of hereditaries, the eviction of criminals and tax evaders and much more taking of evidence and less speechifying. The only reform to which I am wholly opposed is election.

Foreigners may find it charmingly British that criminals and tax-evaders are permitted to sit in parliament, but the noble Lord has half a point when he opposes having elections to the House of Lords. God knows we don’t need another set of elections, nor do we need to create another company of “professional” politicians.