Isn't it great to have your prejudices challenged?  In my formative years I heard so much rubbish talked by Tories that I grew to assume that they never said anything sensible. At the same time my preconception of hereditary peers was that they were either dust-shrouded barely-twitching dinosaurs or young hooray-Henries and in either case with no connection to the real world.

So I was a bit surprised to find myself nodding in agreement with what Lord Strathclyde had to say in the papers today.

He says that the proposed reforms of the Lords are a "halfway house botched reform". My own feelings exactly.

I suspect that he is also right in saying that pushing through an unpopular reform will tie up other legislation, but that is probably unavoidable. One way or another any reform will involve a number of Lords doing their impression of turkeys voting for Christmas in order for it to get through.

What I don't understand is why he is pushing for an 80% elected Lords instead of 100% when he finishes by saying "Other countries manage to work bicameral elected systems without detriment to their system of government. I don't know why we cannot have that here."

Well for starters, one reason is that even those like Lord Strathclyde who are in favour feel they have to fudge and compromise.