Parliamentary scrutiny or conflict?

The idea of an elected House of Lords may have a superficial attraction, but it does not stand up to scrutiny.

The purpose of the second chamber is to consider governmental proposals, to assess and to advise.

An elected second chamber would be dominated by party politics and filled with tired, time-expired politicians from the Commons, who would claim a mandate equal to that of the Commons, and that would simply create conflict.

Being an advisory body, the members of the second chamber should be appointed (perhaps on a short-term basis?) from amongst the wisest men (and women) of the country; the top industrialists, scientists, researchers, thinkers, achievers and administrators, so that their accumulated wisdom may be used to guide the Commons and help save the Government from some of the calamities which
we have all seen in recent 
years.

But who would select these paragons, and on the basis of what criteria?

Now here lies the stumbling block; who would be sufficiently well-informed and of independent mind as to be able to advise on selection with complete impartiality? Where might one find such a paragon?

Only, it seems to me, in the form of the monarch with her body of advisers.

This would not be perfect (and would be anathema in certain political circles) but is there any better suggestion?

From: Rex Poulton, Salisbury.

We are overlooking one very important point about David Cameron’s and Nick Clegg’s House of Lords reform.

House of Commons interference with the House of Lords is against the law. It is a criminal act. Under Common Law, each House has full cognizance as to who sits in it and how it conducts its business. Neither House may interfere in the business of the other.

Though the proposal is now abandoned, Cameron and Clegg have seriously broken the law in planning to close and replace the Lords with an elected senate. They have no legal authority to do so.

Moreover, Tony Blair is equally guilty because of his House of Lords Act 1999 which is similarly ultra vires.

When are these villains going to be taken in for interview by the police for their criminal actions, which are not for our benefit but very much for their own political gain?

From: Alan Carcas, Cornmill Lane, Liversedge.

In his attempt to flout democracy in opposing the boundary changes review, Nick Clegg should beware of angering the constituency Conservative Associations.

They are the “elephant in the room” in this argument and Clegg ignores them at his peril. Lib Dems are never their favourite people at the best of times, with their “all things to all men” approach to politics, and regularly trying to take credit for work done by Conservative and Labour councillors through their Focus newsletters.

Tories have much more respect for out-and-out Labour socialists, not the pale pink Lib Dem 
variety. Anger the Tory associations and Clegg will find he has fewer MPs, and even fewer councillors.

From: Robert Craig, Priory Road, Weston-Super-Mare.

The Prime Minister’s decision to ditch the Liberal Democrats’ self-serving reform of the House of Lords is good news. The last thing the country needs is an alien senate instead of our House of Lords. The Lib Dems intended to introduce more of “Europe of the Regions” to England, by the back door.

Their plans to sideline Parliament and to break England up into nine European regions must be resisted.

In recent elections, the Liberal Democrats have come in behind the English Democrats. It would not be at all surprising if this happened in the Corby by-election caused by the resignation of Louise Mensch MP, the sitting Tory.

A right wigging

From: Brian Sheridan, Redmires Road, Sheffield.

in light of Bradley Wiggins becoming one of the most decorated British Olympian of all time, I do hope that Jayne Dowle will now take stock after her dreadfully judged piece (Yorkshire Post, July 23).

I can only conclude that she has failed totally to grasp the magnitude of this great athlete’s achievement in becoming the first Briton to win the Tour de France. What does she have against Wiggins? Why does she sneer at his persona? If we are talking role models, wasn’t he dubbed “Le gentleman” by an initially grudging French press for his sportsmanship?

If Wiggins doesn’t get a knighthood, no future sportsman can ever reasonably be awarded the accolade.

From: Paul White, Tennyson Road, Wibsey, Bradford.

Now that cycling has the highest profile it has had since I can remember, maybe it is time for road safety campaigners to raise drivers’ awareness of the vulnerability of riders (new and experienced) on our roads.

I realise that there are plenty of riders who do not use common sense on the roads, but it is usually the cyclist who comes off much worse in any incident.

From: John Gordon, Ripon.

The sight of perfectly ordinary people going mad and jumping about because one person is seen to be one eighth of a second faster than another person seems to me to be getting very close to jingoism or excessive patriotism.

I hope that our Prime Minister is not planning to use this wave of emotion to flex his humanitarian muscles again as he did by dropping bombs on Libyans or starting another war in the Falklands perhaps or a few bombs on Damascus. If we can get the golds, we can do anything!