Article (Guardian): revised House of Lords must not include clergy

Jack Straw's white paper on reform of the House of Lords is supposedly an attempt to "modernise" the upper chamber. Unfortunately, that ambition falls at the first hurdle with the government's complete refusal to abolish the anachronism that is the bench of bishops. According to Mr Straw, not only should the bishops stay, they should also be supplemented by representatives of other religions.

But by not completely ruling out ex-officio clerical representation, the government is missing a perfect opportunity to bring Britain's parliament into line with the rest of the western world. Read more