Hacker News Reader

Comment by chrisseaton | Hacker News Reader

You could call them appointed elites, or you could call them a distinguished technocracy, many of whom are not career politicians, but instead respected scientists, military officers, artists, composers, former heads of public bodies, business leaders, sportspeople etc. They bring an insight to government that many politicians cannot.

When you look at it from that angle I think it makes a lot of sense and is actually rather progressive.

View on HN

> I think it makes a lot of sense and is actually rather progressive.

I don't think that the House of Lords is "progressive". Put it this way: In only two countries do senior clergymen automatically get a seat in a house of Legislature: Iran and the United Kingdom.

It's not progressive company to keep.

Yeah it's not perfect.

> Put it this way: In only two countries do senior clergymen automatically get a seat in a house of Legislature: Iran and the United Kingdom.

Well, there's at least one other sovereign state in which people hold legislative office by virtue of holding particular senior religious office -- and which goes further in that there are no other legislators -- Vatican City.

But that's a bit different...

respected scientists, artists, composers

I can't actually think of anyone in that category in the Lords. There's Doreen Lawrence, Baroness Lawrence of Clarendon, though. I do wonder how she gets on with Lord Blair.

Surprise yourself: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Members_of_the_House_of_Lords.

There's at least two composers on there I recognise, I can't actually see artists at the moment, but there are several people from the art world, and several scientists.

Also: people from human rights organisations, nature conservation organisations, farmers, medics, bishops, atheists, lawyers, spies, bankers, people who work in child protection, housing for low income people, people from elite sports, people from popular sports, social workers, and lots more people without the notes to immediately say what they do.

(Yes there's also quite a lot of retired career politicians).

I'm never been a Lib Dem voter but I can hardly grudge the likes of Paddy Ashdown a place in the House of Lords.

Marine, SBS, MI6, parliament, helping sort out Bosnia... quite an incredible CV.

> I can't actually think of anyone in that category in the Lords.

The two that immediately spring to mind are Lord Robert Winston and Lord Andrew Lloyd-Webber.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com