Labour peer jailed for dangerous driving

What IS going on with the House of Lords at the moment?

At least this case confirms the rule of law - even life peers like Lord Ahmed are not above the law.

On the other hand, he only got 12 weeks and his conviction was not related to being involved in a fatal crash, but to sending long text messages to a journalist earlier on the same journey. The last text was sent only two minutes before the crash - I wonder whether he was still looking at his phone? How the mighty are fallen...

It's not been a great few weeks for the reputation of the upper House. Should we keep it or bin it? What do you think?

Are the Lords above the law?

...or does the Rule of Law apply to them as it does to everyone else?

Have a read of the Times article here - a fantastic expose of the protection afforded to our parliamentarians.

Read what the person in charge of the House of Lords, Baroness Royall, has to say about this here.

Labour Lords "change laws for cash"?

So say The Times...

What price democracy?* Well, about £25 grand it seems - minimum!

Listen to the tapes from the Sunday Times here...

* Sorry, did I say democracy? Peers aren't elected in the first place!

42 days.. what else was in that bill?

Cracking article here by Marcel Berlins of the Guardian. More attempts to limit the use of trial by jury? Have a read.

Meanwhile Shami Chakrabarti, director of pressure group Liberty, is delighted with the House of Lords' verdict. Read her views here.