Thursday, March 22, 2007

Whither the House of Lords?

There has been much press about the reform of the House of Lords and where the supreme law of our land lies now that Blair has disempowered the Lord Chancellor but not yet established a Supreme Court. The general consensus is that our law has already been made subservient to the European court of Justice and that any ruling passed here could be over-ruled by random individuals in Brussels. If that is so, what is the point in establishing a Supreme Court here? Or is the answer in its name: it will be unassailable by Europe?
I confess to being a traditionalist and would prefer to have an appointed rather than an elected Lords. I suppose there will always be allegations of corruption in the case of an appointed House and the present Government and the police have dramatically muddied the waters with this very long drawn out cash for honours scandal. The fact that the Lords which is supposed to keep the Commons in check, is being tainted and forced to fall on its sword by the actions of the Commons seems to me to be unconstitutional but ironically there's no obvious court for it to appeal to except the European court. I am no expert in law, let alone ecclesiastical law, but it strikes me that one solution could be to appeal to the Court of Arches, the ecclesiastical court in St. Mary-le-Bow church. Could anybody enlighten me as to whether that would be feasible or make any difference at all?

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6 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

WW - The genie has been out of the bottle for too long with Europe. We are 'sleepwalking to federalism' [feudalism?] and will not be able to avoid being a 'state' [albeit called a 'nation state'] within the country of Europe.

But we can at least save the Lords. I think it should be along the lines of the WWF saving our furry friends. We could adopt them !

Instead of choosing to save a lion, or a tiger or a cuddly panda, we could 'Adopt a Lord'...

Now that would work well with, say, Bobby Cranborne or Baroness Jay.

And Lord Onslow and Lord Ramsbotham would get plenty of takers. But what about less 'cuddly' little tigers ? Mentioning no names...

Well they would have to take their chances with a 'slush fund' from donors who 'express no preference'.

There could even be a 'Countrywide Alliance' march with videos of Lords in states of distress when told that they were under threat of abolition.

I would personally adopt Arglwydd [Lord] Dafydd Elis Thomas as part of the Welsh contigent...

Who would you adopt and why ?

12:39 pm  
Blogger Whispering Walls said...

All the Lords spiritual because I believe they have the most integrity.

2:11 pm  
Blogger kinglear said...

Actually, there are a few honest men. Strangely, quite large numbers of them tend to be the "mad red" brigade. Dennis Skinner, Tam Dalziel and the like would be good. Of course, they wouldn't be Lords, they would be Comrades.

3:10 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I know I'm going to get a slap for saying this, but I've been down the pub so I am past caring...

What was the man in your life thinking when he went his merry way?

Where on earth would he find a girl even half, nay a quarter, as good as you?

He must have been mad to let a nugget of gold like you go....

9:56 pm  
Blogger jmb said...

Thanks for visiting my blog. I left a reply about the blogroll on my blog for you.
It's more than forty years since I visited Winchester but I remember the wonderful cathedral.
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Regards
jmb

5:37 am  
Blogger Whispering Walls said...

He's certainly mad...

9:03 am  

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