This entry was posted on Friday, March 9th, 2007 at 11:22 am and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
Today many of our media outlets are reporting on the unexpected historic vote last night by the House of Commons (337 to 224) in favour of a wholly-elected House of Lords. This decision will likely both overturn centuries of tradition (the decision does not automatically become law) and also goes against the wishes of the Government that the upper chamber be a 50/50 split between elected and nominated members. Many of the comments in today's press are claiming that the decision is a reaction by MPs to the recent peer-purchase scandal involving the Government, and it's not too difficult to see how this may indeed be true. However, this is a long cry from the comments of one MP that the decision was "brilliant" as it would ensure there was no further need for reform in the "foreseeable future". More accurate would be to say that the decision is a reactionary one, and until recent times the UK has not been known to act in such a clumsy manner. Indeed, the only real winner of last night's vote is likely to be chaos. It is hard to see how having two elected chambers will help smooth the wheels of a cumbersome and, at times, dreadfully political process. What is for sure is that having two wholly-elected chambers will inevitably lead to a British democracy that is even more sclerotic that it ever was. Now that might not be a prospect that many considered before last night!
On a more positive note.
Veronica has completely redesigned the non surgical treatments part