No place for party politics in a reformed House of Lords

The Westminster Government, or at least the Conservative part of it, is bringing forward proposals for a reformed House of Lords in which most of the members would be directly elected, and democracy is normally a good thing ("LibDems 'holding a gun to PM's head' over Lords Reform Bill", The Herald, July 9).

However, after thinking about the performance of our elected representatives over the past few years, I'm not convinced that we need more of the same.

What we do need is a reviewing and revising upper House, filled with people who have good judgment, knowledge and broad life experience. Exactly the sort who are conspicuous by their absence from the Commons, and who would run a mile from the shenanigans of modern party politics. We aren't going to find many of them on political party lists for an elected upper chamber, so how do we find them?

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