Life Peers

Well I can only propose a toast in a Swedish – and I get that muddled up with Danish which I also don't speak. It's just the sound of those squeezed Swedish vowels in what is already a ridiculous song.

My Swedish is non existent!

Greatnan Have you every heard that sung in Swedish? It is breathtakingly funny.

Sorry, Barrow, you have to be asked!
We did The Pirates of Penzance at school. I will never forget the words of The Modern Major General!

to get back to the OP(!) Whilst I think there is a case for a second house I don't think we need 900 of them! We also need less in the Commons.

I wonder whether an elected second house wouldn't be a better solution - by the way I wouldn't mind £300 per day just for showing up - where to I apply?

In my student days in London I lived just behind Sadlers Wells theatre.At that time Doyly Carte had several complete runs of G&S.there.I saw most of them several times.-queued up for the gallery seats. Iolanthe is my favorite

We had that experience too, absent. I used to read the libretti for fun. Strange child.

Nelliemoser I watched The Iron Lady on a long-haul flight earlier this year, even though Meryl Streep is a long way from being my favourite actress. (I have already expressed my views about Maggie Thatcher.) The awful thing was that I found myself feeling pity for the woman portrayed in the film and had to keep reminding myself of political aspects that the movie ignored.

anodomini My father was a Gilbert and Sullivan addict and we went to see many Savoy operas in my childhood, not to mention hearing many recordings. It's all there tucked away in the back of the brain part. I wish I could remember more important things quite so easily.

Well put absent

A couple of months ago I was trying to express this to my son who was 13 when Mrs T resigned so he had not really been aware of what a dreadful woman she was.

Leaving aside my negative opinions on her political views and actions. It was her appallingly condescending manner that probably made her so disliked. She finished up being defeated by her own delusions of power though.

No she wasn't – and that was made very clear to Carol Thatcher and the rest of us. She was/is truly an appalling woman in just about every way.

Thanks absent, I only half remembered the song!

Just one more reason to loathe and despise Thatcher! Carol seems O.K., she was never her mother's favourite.

annodomini

"He wished all men as rich as he,
And he was rich as rich could be,
So to the top of every tree
Promoted everybody."

WS Gilbert, in the Gondoliers had his 'Kings of Barataria' make everyone a peer so that 'they all shall equal be'. Perhaps that's the way things are going!

No – Dennis was made 1st Baronoet Thatcher, a title which Mark has inherited as second Baronet Thatcher. Mrs Thatcher was adamant that Dennis should be given an inheritable title as she was besotted with her wretched son.

Wasn't the Sir for Mark Thatcher for being implicated in dubious arms deals or a coup or something. Cynical

Well somehow he has managed to become Sir Mark Thatcher.

Wasn't there some talk of giving Denis Thatcher an hereditary title so the egregious Mark could inherit it?

FlicketyB While I don't doubt that some life peers are chosen because they are eminent in their field, I think many others are chosen for completely different reasons, not that I am suggesting that political donations and old boy network come into it.

When a prime minister wants to get rid of a useless MP he/she is sent to the House of Lords, where they continue to be useless.

The House of Lords is a mash up isn't it.
Difficult to know how one would construct a new one, if given a blank sheet.
Needs more than a few scientists to counteract the lack of them in the lower house, that's for sure.
My DH had a meeting with a hereditary peer once. Minor ministerial role. Verdict: "mad as a fish"

absent That's the clue I needed. I was trying to find the lyrics, I had narrowed it down to Iolanthe.

When Britain really ruled the waves
(In good Queen Bess's time) ,
The House of Peers made no pretence
To intellectual eminence
Or scholarship sublime ;

Yet Britain won her proudest bays
In good Queen Bess's glorious days..
Cho. Yes, Britain won, etc.

When Wellington thrashed Bonaparte,
As every child can tell,
The House of Peers throughout the wat
Did nothing in particular.

And did it very well ;
Yet Britain set the world ablaze
In good King George's glorious days.
Cho. Yes, Britain set, etc.

And while the House of Peers withholds
Its legislative hand,
And noble statesmen do not itch
To interfere with matters which

They do not understand,
As bright will shine Great Britain's rays
As in King George's glorious days.
Cho. As bright will shine, etc.

Good old W S Gilbert
With that I am to bed.

How many hereditary peers are value for money, I wonder.

The majority of life peers are chosen because they are eminent in their field and can contribute a lot to discussions in the House of Lords because they understand many of the subjects as they have spent a lifetime in the relevant profession. At various times I have listened to the House of Lords discussions on the radio and TV and been impressed by the depth of experience and knowledge shown by its members, incuding several with severe disabilities that would make being n MP impossible. One life peer, who speaks frequently and works for the disabled actually took a 'speaker' with her to read her speech as her diabilites made it to difficult for her to do anything other than read the opening and closing paragraphs.

What i would like to see is more peers of this kind and fewer political peers.

Nelliemoser Isn't the House of Peers the one that W. S. Gilbert described as "doing nothing in particular and did it very well"?