...and the aberration of "the Lords Spiritual and Temporal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland"
A choice between Richard Littlejohn and Peter Mandelson is like a toss-up between drinking a glass of mouldy orange juice or a bottle of off goats milk. In this article, our uber-opinionated Daily Mail 'columnist' and spokesperson for the you-couldn't-make-it-up brigade confirms that he can't see the wood from the trees.
Littlejohn hurls spite at Peter Mandelson in the wake of his return to the fore of British political life. Last week, the former Labour MP was ushered back in through the back door of the House of Lords and was quickly handed his new title of "Baron Mandelson of Foyin the county of Herefordshire and Hartlepool in the county of Durham" (no, seriously).
But Littlejohn doesn't tell you (as he probably doesn't even know) that the elevation to peerage of someone like Mandelson is an abuse of power that can only happen in Britain. And it does so thanks to that monstrous machine of medieval-style unaccountability that answers the name of The House of Lords Spiritual and Temporal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland -which Littlejohn defends. As brain cells negotiate past the latest X Factor winner, Jade Goody's ego and another Big Brother bulletin, it is easy to forget that an unelected chamber of Bishops and Barons is, in 2008, still deciding on behalf of the British plebs. You can giggle at the Americans as much as you please but even they don't have that.
So, "the day the House of Lords died", Littlejohn writes. If only.
A choice between Richard Littlejohn and Peter Mandelson is like a toss-up between drinking a glass of mouldy orange juice or a bottle of off goats milk. In this article, our uber-opinionated Daily Mail 'columnist' and spokesperson for the you-couldn't-make-it-up brigade confirms that he can't see the wood from the trees.
Littlejohn hurls spite at Peter Mandelson in the wake of his return to the fore of British political life. Last week, the former Labour MP was ushered back in through the back door of the House of Lords and was quickly handed his new title of "Baron Mandelson of Foyin the county of Herefordshire and Hartlepool in the county of Durham" (no, seriously).
But Littlejohn doesn't tell you (as he probably doesn't even know) that the elevation to peerage of someone like Mandelson is an abuse of power that can only happen in Britain. And it does so thanks to that monstrous machine of medieval-style unaccountability that answers the name of The House of Lords Spiritual and Temporal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland -which Littlejohn defends. As brain cells negotiate past the latest X Factor winner, Jade Goody's ego and another Big Brother bulletin, it is easy to forget that an unelected chamber of Bishops and Barons is, in 2008, still deciding on behalf of the British plebs. You can giggle at the Americans as much as you please but even they don't have that.
So, "the day the House of Lords died", Littlejohn writes. If only.
2 comments:
You love Littlejohn don't you?
Dave
Democracy and elections only empower an elite. Universal suffrage handed power to the bankers, it started from the French Revolution. Leftists speak the language of equality, liberty and fraternity and they establish the very opposite. Atheism, Fractional Reserve Banking and power to the elites who buy up politicians.
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