>>>>>
>>>>>The idea of the second chamber being appointed still has merit.
>>>>
>>>>I would only amend that to read "the idea of the second chamber being appointed *by me* still has merit <s>
>>>>
>>>>> A lot of politicians have never done anything else and have no experience of industry or science etc.
>>>>
>>>>I think it should be required that no one can run for any public office until they have actually done something in real life for a minimum of 20 years.
>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>I sometime wonder if the second house should be appointed by some sort of random draft that would hopefully reflect the makeup of the nation.
>>>>
>>>>William F. Buckley used to say he'd rather be governed by a random selection of 100 names from the Boston phone book than the faculty at Harvard.
>>>
>>>We have program called Question time. Panel of politicians and the odd well known face.
>>>When they pontificate on spending cuts etc I'd like someone in the audience to ask them "put you hand up if these cuts would impact on you in anyway."
>>
>>Define: 'Pontificate'
>
>You know
>
>To act like a pontiff; to express one’s position or opinions dogmatically and pompously as if it is absolutely correct.
>
>like we all do here a lot of the time (me included btw)

We are an opinionated bunch, that's for sure ;-) Hopefully not all pontifical.