Member

The noble Lord, Lord Wallace of Saltaire, agreed in his contribution that elites tend to favour those who look and sound rather like themselves. That is why many of us are so troubled by resting so much power in the hands of one person, the Prime Minister, in leaving this as a House appointed by him. I am glad the noble Lord has seen the virtues of voting for ballerinas and agree with everything he said about the contribution that the noble Baroness, Lady Bull, makes to this House. I think a number of noble Lords took advantage, earlier on, to slip out and see a very enjoyable recital by the Yehudi Menuhin School up in the River Room, which the Lord Speaker very kindly allowed and my noble friend Lord Blackwell, a governor of the school, arranged. It was a reminder not only of the wonderful power of music and great talents of those young students, but that the late Lord Menuhin was a Member of your Lordships’ House. Personally, I would like to see a great deal more cultural figures sitting on our Cross Benches and contributing to our debates.