I AM going to watch with great interest the coming appointments to what will be the new House of Lords.

You will note I use the word "appointment," not "election."

It really is going to be yet another waste of taxpayers' money to appoint either some trumped-up aristocrat, ex-military or religious buffoon, or legal millionaire, all of whom live lives completely divorced from the way of life of the majority of us.

I have no doubt there will be a degree of nepotism and "old boy" network involved.

A good example of the point I make is the recent appointment of magistrates in East Lancashire.

Take a look at this list - company director, school bursar, civil servant, Methodist minister, teacher, local government officer, social worker and a housewife from Beardwood, - not one of the more deprived areas of Blackburn.

No doubt each one of them has given good service in the sphere of their occupation, but where are the builders, publicans, bus drivers, shopkeepers?

Do they not have any experience of life to offer?

Let's not clog up the bench with the cocktail party bunch and Hooray Henrys. Let's induce a bit of real life to dispense justice.

T HOWORTH, Carlinghurst Road, Blackburn.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.