Democracy and the House of HUSH Part 1 of 3

Editor: Welcome to Mildred ‘Millie’ Tant, Red Brick’s Anti-Establishment Opinionator and Ardent Republican Reporter, although she is not really as radical as she makes herself out to be.

Hello everyone, I’ll begin by telling you what I think the House of Lords should be named following the shady financial business arrangements involving one or two of its members re the COVID Lurgy thingy.

House of Unelected Servants of Hegemony, hence the acronym HUSH, and who could argue other than to say it should read the House of Hush-Hush.

Hegemony: · Preponderant influence or authority over others.

· The social, cultural, ideological, or economic influence exerted by a dominant group. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hegemony

Red Brick entered the following words into the Google Search Engine seeking for an example of: ‘A definition of UK democracy.’ Below is the internet example we were provided with, so bear this in mind when you continue reading this article:

‘Democracy means ‘rule by the people’. In a democracy, like the UK, the people elect the government and have a say in how it is run.

They do this by voting in elections, a process that allows the people to vote for who they want to represent them locally and nationally.’

But what about us voters who never voted for the Lords to become our masters, because this unelected bunch do carry influence, have they been awarded a ‘job for life?’ The short answer is the same as the long one, yes.

Will the electorate ever be allowed a choice to vote these people out of their esteemed offices, yet the everyday electorate who are still in employment struggling to make ends-meet, will continue to metaphorically doff their caps to these elites, by literally having their hard earned pounds shillings and pence, the fruits of their labour, syphoned from their pay packets to sponsor these unelected financial millstones, as evidenced by the ever-increasing gap between the top box marked Gross and the bottom one marked Net on their payslip.

Still not convinced. According to a Wikipedia page re Hereditary Peers: ‘The hereditary peers form part of the peerage in the United Kingdom. As of August 2023, there are 805 hereditary peers: thirty dukes (including six royal dukes), thirty-four marquesses, 189 earls, 110 viscounts, and 442 barons (not counting subsidiary titles).’

‘As a result of the Peerage Act 1963, all peers except those in the peerage of Ireland were entitled to sit in the House of Lords.

Since the House of Lords Act 1999 came into force only ninety-two hereditary peers, elected by and from all hereditary peers, are permitted to do so, unless they are also life peers. Peers are called to the House of Lords with a writ of summons.’ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hereditary_peer

Google internet search: ‘As of 24 May 2023, there are 664 life peers eligible to vote in the House of Lords. This includes 215 Conservative, 171 Labour, 80 Liberal Democrat and 149 crossbench peers.’

Now, people might say that this system is designed to maintain the status quo where the privileged classes through their birthright and no other democratic means can maintain their power to change the way we live, or not to change as the case may be.

So, in this supposed system of Democracy where our ‘betters’ keep banging on about ‘UK Values,’ whatever they once were and have now become, one might ask where in this rigid and protected system of elitism does true democracy fit in, well, it does not, and the fact that it exists, is yet another example of the ‘Hypocrisy of UK Democracy.’

Now, I am not intending to be overly critical of hereditary peers, far from it, because these eminent people might well be the ‘gatekeepers’ who keep the other peers in check, you know, the ones whose ascendency to the upper house might have been accelerated through their unwavering devotion to a political party, with the ‘odd bob or two’ thrown in to help the recipient and or the party to keep the wolves at bay;’ it’s not as if there has not been one or two shenanigans with some diddly-bobs thrown in for good measure.

We have all seen the media headlines where certain people still sitting in the House of Lords came unstuck during their business lives prior to becoming ‘life peers,’ conduct that should have disqualified them from office, especially how they conducted themselves regarding the financial treatment of their employees.

Of course, this is only my opinion, but if the House of Lords is to exist, then it must be that the public makes the choices, or at least in part, after all, it is the interests of the Great British Public that they are supposed to truly represent and not that of their pals who put them there?

No more rewarding those who began their lives wearing ‘Teflon Nappies,’ before graduating into the Teflon Suits to keep them squeaky clean, at least in the eyes of the law that is, allowing them to take full advantage of ‘the system’ and sail both their private and or professional businesses close to the wind without actually breaking any laws as such,

and should they be awarded a life peerage, it would be a system they would now control.

A fairer system would be to allow the public ‘true’ representation in the House of Lords by allowing the electorate to vote for whom they would like to see being rewarded with a title, public money and all the fringe benefits that comes with the life of a Lord.

Finally, for those who would seek to uncompromisingly challenge this system by standing firm and staring it down in the hope it will effect change, there is a well-worn UK military phrase to keep in mind: Do not **ck with tradition.

Mildred ‘Millie’ Tant, Red Brick International Media News Group.

BREAKING NEWS: When I was preparing this article a few weeks ago I thought to leave it for a while just to see what, if anything, went down in the ‘hoods’ I mean the ‘houses,’ the housed being those upper and lower houses that are not only back-to-back literally, but also close enough to scratch ‘each other backs,’ metaphorically.

Seems I was right to leave it especially as I took the view that it was best to check out the lay of the land with there being a new government getting its feet under the political table so’s to speak.