Login
You're viewing the assemblag.es public feed.

Replies

  • Mandelbroccolimandelbroccoli@cupoftea.social
    Oct 24, 2026, 7:45 AM

    @ChrisMayLA6 leads on from how create landlords and developers are absolute parasites, and one of the less talked-about causes of our current state of affairs.

    💬 0🔄 0⭐ 0
  • Claire McNab2legged@mastodon.ie
    Oct 24, 2026, 8:17 AM

    @ChrisMayLA6 I blame the media, from the billionaire-owned press to the broadcasters & #TheGuardian.

    They all missed the core of what was achieved by the final removal of #HereditaryPeers from the #HouseOfLords. It created a chamber built entirely of appointed cronies.

    The lack of limits on political donations in the UK has made sale of peerages endemic. Labour, Conservatives, & LibDems are all at it.

    And of course, the wealthy are the people who can afford to buy a seat in the Lords.

    #ukpol

    💬 0🔄 1⭐ 0
  • JimmyB (he/him)JimmyB@mas.to
    Oct 24, 2026, 8:18 AM

    @ChrisMayLA6 so very true. I’m much less worried about the hereditaries than Boris’s appointments for eg. Well and all of the others too. It’s been full on cronyism for decades.

    Appalling,incompetent, narcissistic, extreme capitalists who are generally buyable at shockingly cheap prices it turns out.

    💬 0🔄 0⭐ 0
  • Houbahouba@spore.social
    Oct 24, 2026, 8:35 AM

    @ChrisMayLA6

    Reform? how about abolish?

    The people in that room will do nothing that challenges their privilege, their class, or the utter corruption endemic in the UK state.

    💬 1🔄 0⭐ 0
  • 💬 1🔄 0⭐ 0
  • Houbahouba@spore.social
    Oct 24, 2026, 9:09 AM

    @ChrisMayLA6

    Sortition would have my approval, and the demographic allotment is good. Nice proposition.

    The hard part would be how to get there, and it definitely wouldn't be called the house of lords, any suggestions?

    💬 1🔄 0⭐ 0
  • 💬 1🔄 0⭐ 0
  • Houbahouba@spore.social
    Oct 24, 2026, 9:24 AM

    @ChrisMayLA6

    I was thinking of House of Pain, as a message to the Commons.

    /jk

    Also maybe the House of Commons would be renamed to House of "Commons".

    💬 1🔄 0⭐ 0
  • 💬 1🔄 0⭐ 0
  • 💬 0🔄 0⭐ 1
  • Patrick Hadfieldpatrickhadfield@mastodon.scot
    Oct 24, 2026, 8:38 AM

    @ChrisMayLA6 I may have said before that I believe the institution of the Lords is pretty of the systemic (and rampant) inequality in the UK. It's in its very name! Get rid of it - a second elected house (using PR on a different timetable and system to the Commons). And the monarchy and "honours" system whilst you're at it!

    💬 2🔄 0⭐ 0
  • 💬 0🔄 0⭐ 0
  • Dan Hattononly_ohm@mas.to
    Oct 25, 2026, 9:41 AM

    @patrickhadfield @ChrisMayLA6

    The trouble with that is that, if you have a second chamber elected by a PR system and retain FPTP for the Commons, then that second chamber immediately has more democratic legitimacy than the Commons, and you face the awkward question of why it's the second chamber rather than the main legislative body (and the body from which the executive stems).

    💬 1🔄 0⭐ 0
  • 💬 0🔄 0⭐ 0
  • Alexa Devreux-Swiftalexadeswift@lgbtqia.space
    Oct 24, 2026, 8:41 AM

    @ChrisMayLA6

    We need a constitutional convention to determine the future constitutional settlement of all constituent parts of the UK, including everything from devolution to independence and abolition or retention of the monarchy, and relocation of the capital to better reflect the modern nation.

    Of course this is nothing new and something that has been spoken of here before, but I think in a rapidly changing world this is becoming ever more urgent.

    💬 0🔄 0⭐ 0
  • 💬 1🔄 0⭐ 0
  • Alexa Devreux-Swiftalexadeswift@lgbtqia.space
    Oct 24, 2026, 8:49 AM

    @ChrisMayLA6

    Is there any way that a "Peoples Constitutional Convention" could be organised, and with press and media coverage, to perhaps get some political will to make such a thing happen?

    After all such a thing either happens, leading to reform and this safeguarding politicians careers or the whole edifice implodes taking careers with it!

    I am ambivalent with regards to either happening, but the former could lead to smoother and more controlled change, the latter has the potential for disaster and instability, politically and economically.

    We have historical precedence too within the Atlantic Archipelago, namely Irish Independence.

    💬 0🔄 1⭐ 1
  • 💬 0🔄 0⭐ 0
  • MidgePhotoPhoto55@mastodon.social
    Oct 24, 2026, 8:47 AM

    @ChrisMayLA6
    I'm wary of declaring anything the _real_ problem.
    Even if we are tackling the surreal aspects of the upper house as well. #tourism #pageant #spectacle #BlackRod
    There are assorted problems, faults and hangovers.
    One was tackled early on in the last run of Labour govs, and has now been eliminated (with, as traditional, a little smoothing over - by hereditaries being remade life peers).

    Taking the rest from top and bottom, the most important and the easiest, can go on for a while.

    💬 1🔄 0⭐ 0
  • 💬 1🔄 0⭐ 0
  • 💬 1🔄 0⭐ 0
  • 💬 0🔄 0⭐ 0
  • spangherospanghero@ioc.exchange
    Oct 24, 2026, 9:02 AM

    @ChrisMayLA6 100 people in the Upper Chamber, selected at random (as per jury service). 4 year terms, mandatory and employers are legally obliged to keep positions open. 2 indicates of 50 every other year so a continuation of knowledge/flow is maintained.
    Clearly needs tweaking, but it’s more palatable than my other suggestion which is just burn the whole thing to the ground.

    💬 0🔄 0⭐ 0
  • Bruno Nicolettibjn@mstdn.social
    Oct 24, 2026, 2:22 PM

    @ChrisMayLA6 Appoint lords by sortition, with a fixed term of 10 years or so, rotating them in on some regular cadence. Stuff their mouths with gold with a huge pension and hang them if they take a penny from anyone else.

    💬 0🔄 0⭐ 0
  • Steve Woodswood5y@mastodonapp.uk
    Oct 25, 2026, 9:50 AM

    @ChrisMayLA6 The upper chamber has not been fit for purpose for well over a century.

    However, given this country's tectonic pace of change, any reform will take at least as long again.

    💬 0🔄 0⭐ 0
  • Tim Ward ⭐🇪🇺🔶 #FBPETimWardCam@c.im
    Oct 25, 2026, 10:32 AM

    @ChrisMayLA6 Considerations of funding would have to be part of any Lords reform, yes. At present if you're a working peer who does most of their work away from London you do need some other source of income. If you're in central London and you can pop out of your office for a few minutes each day to sign into the HoL then that's not so necessary, perhaps, but even then the day rate doesn't compare that favourably to what plenty of professional freelancers can earn.

    💬 0🔄 0⭐ 0