>Plaid Cymru chooses its peers through a membership vote. Smith only came second, behind a man, but she is taking the seat because it was deemed to be a woman’s turn. Many even in her own party thought this positive discrimination was unfair. “Plaid Cymru is a party of equality. When you have systems and institutions that predominantly have men in them, you need some mechanisms to change that,” she counters.
He must have been gutted. Seems very unfair to me.
> Many even in her own party thought this positive discrimination was unfair.
No discrimination is positive. How have we ended up in this situation?!
Given my username I’d prefer it went back to the pre-1999 rules, thank you.
Haha, just Plaid Cymru being Plaid Cymru. What a joke of a party.
It’s a joke that she’s considered so highly qualified as to be put in the Lords.
Apparently she dropped out of a law degree after one year to become Deputy President of the National Union of Students Wales.
Debates in the Lords can be quite cerebral and are always very measured. It’s good to have a counterbalance against the excesses of democracy. Sometimes we need tedious scrutiny of legislation instead of ra-ra political sloganism.
Once Carmen gives her maiden speech and gets abolishing the chamber out of her system I think she might struggle a bit.
I mean I want to abolish the unelected lords aswell, why have 800 people receiving money because they are goverment cronies that can stop elected MPs from making laws?
Isn’t this meant to be a democracy, why are we allowing an unelected pm to choose unelected lords to decide our lives?
Let’s dismantle the democratic system because the current decisions don’t meet my minority liking.
>>Smith was nominated to the peerage by Plaid Cymru (via self nomination)
>>She does not agree with the existence of the House of Lords as an unelected chamber but said that she believes that the Lords need “people in there speaking up for Wales”.
So she self-nominated for something she doesn’t believe in and was beaten by a majority vote but was still elected and will have a peerage for life as a result (with all of the perks that go with it)…
It’s kinda ironic she hates the House of Lords for not being voted for yet she was not voted for. Like I don’t think their great either but seriously
I don’t trust her judgement. Adidas Gazelles are not very comfortable and unsuitable for all-weather wear.
I’m with her, it’s full of career politicians that don’t serve the people but just endlessly push their agendas for favour in their parties. Way past any modern day use.
The House of Lords has been ruined by the introduction of life peerages. Please bring back proper peers and while we’re at it get at least all diocesan bishops and probably the suffragans as well in there.
> Llanfaes is quite an unprivileged area. I’ve never met anyone with a title until now or any hereditaries unless I’ve bumped into them by mistake on public transport. I’ve never seen a duke; I’ve no idea what a viscount is. I’d like to buy some House of Lords mints.
Going straight for the gift shop to check out what the branded mints are like is very relatable.
The House of Lords should be reformed, not abolished.
Its job should be for checks and balances on government legislation to ensure it’s not over-reaching in scope, badly written, that it implements what it’s intended, and that it doesn’t pervert civil liberties.
There are limitations implied by convention there though:
1) It doesn’t block money bills
2) It can’t prevent an act or bill becoming law, merely delay and propose amendments for at most three sessions, or for a max of two years.
3) It doesn’t block bills that were a manifesto pledge (since it sees that as the will of the people, if it is in a manifesto a party was elected on).
That can be weakened by the fact that many Lords Temporal are affiliated to political parties. But the reason the Rwanda Bill has been held up (alongside legal challenges with the courts) is because the Lords have pushed it back twice.
Ok let me get this right. A political party, a nationalist political party, has made it clear that it does not respect a democratic vote.
That’s a positive sign……
> “I don’t believe in unelected chambers anywhere in the world,”
Is she stupid? she wasn’t even elected herself. She only got the place because plaid cymru decided a woman should have a go, not the guy that outright won.
Not like she has a duchy, is it, little baroness?
More seriously though, it’s kinda fucked that this is still a feudal country in so many ways.
19 comments
>Plaid Cymru chooses its peers through a membership vote. Smith only came second, behind a man, but she is taking the seat because it was deemed to be a woman’s turn. Many even in her own party thought this positive discrimination was unfair. “Plaid Cymru is a party of equality. When you have systems and institutions that predominantly have men in them, you need some mechanisms to change that,” she counters.
He must have been gutted. Seems very unfair to me.
Career path sadly looks typical for a politican – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carmen_Smith,_Baroness_Smith_of_Llanfaes
> Many even in her own party thought this positive discrimination was unfair.
No discrimination is positive. How have we ended up in this situation?!
Given my username I’d prefer it went back to the pre-1999 rules, thank you.
Haha, just Plaid Cymru being Plaid Cymru. What a joke of a party.
It’s a joke that she’s considered so highly qualified as to be put in the Lords.
Apparently she dropped out of a law degree after one year to become Deputy President of the National Union of Students Wales.
Debates in the Lords can be quite cerebral and are always very measured. It’s good to have a counterbalance against the excesses of democracy. Sometimes we need tedious scrutiny of legislation instead of ra-ra political sloganism.
Once Carmen gives her maiden speech and gets abolishing the chamber out of her system I think she might struggle a bit.
I mean I want to abolish the unelected lords aswell, why have 800 people receiving money because they are goverment cronies that can stop elected MPs from making laws?
Isn’t this meant to be a democracy, why are we allowing an unelected pm to choose unelected lords to decide our lives?
Let’s dismantle the democratic system because the current decisions don’t meet my minority liking.
>>Smith was nominated to the peerage by Plaid Cymru (via self nomination)
>>She does not agree with the existence of the House of Lords as an unelected chamber but said that she believes that the Lords need “people in there speaking up for Wales”.
So she self-nominated for something she doesn’t believe in and was beaten by a majority vote but was still elected and will have a peerage for life as a result (with all of the perks that go with it)…
It’s kinda ironic she hates the House of Lords for not being voted for yet she was not voted for. Like I don’t think their great either but seriously
I don’t trust her judgement. Adidas Gazelles are not very comfortable and unsuitable for all-weather wear.
I’m with her, it’s full of career politicians that don’t serve the people but just endlessly push their agendas for favour in their parties. Way past any modern day use.
The House of Lords has been ruined by the introduction of life peerages. Please bring back proper peers and while we’re at it get at least all diocesan bishops and probably the suffragans as well in there.
> Llanfaes is quite an unprivileged area. I’ve never met anyone with a title until now or any hereditaries unless I’ve bumped into them by mistake on public transport. I’ve never seen a duke; I’ve no idea what a viscount is. I’d like to buy some House of Lords mints.
Going straight for the gift shop to check out what the branded mints are like is very relatable.
The House of Lords should be reformed, not abolished.
Its job should be for checks and balances on government legislation to ensure it’s not over-reaching in scope, badly written, that it implements what it’s intended, and that it doesn’t pervert civil liberties.
There are limitations implied by convention there though:
1) It doesn’t block money bills
2) It can’t prevent an act or bill becoming law, merely delay and propose amendments for at most three sessions, or for a max of two years.
3) It doesn’t block bills that were a manifesto pledge (since it sees that as the will of the people, if it is in a manifesto a party was elected on).
That can be weakened by the fact that many Lords Temporal are affiliated to political parties. But the reason the Rwanda Bill has been held up (alongside legal challenges with the courts) is because the Lords have pushed it back twice.
Ok let me get this right. A political party, a nationalist political party, has made it clear that it does not respect a democratic vote.
That’s a positive sign……
> “I don’t believe in unelected chambers anywhere in the world,”
Is she stupid? she wasn’t even elected herself. She only got the place because plaid cymru decided a woman should have a go, not the guy that outright won.
Not like she has a duchy, is it, little baroness?
More seriously though, it’s kinda fucked that this is still a feudal country in so many ways.