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Wednesday 23 May 2018

Britain demands Lords reform - poll

It seems our disgust with the behaviour of the upper house is far more widely shared than I imagined; the Mail prints the latest ComRes poll, part graphic below;


With 79% of respondents agreeing that the red leather benches are stuffed with those we've called "Worthless dross, dags and liggers, spivs and crooks ... bribers, rent-seekers and hairdressers" and 76% agreeing that they're out of kilter with the wishes of the British people, the pressure will only grow for deep reform.

With the odious little scrote squatting on the Speaker's chair in the other place also under increasing pressure for his misconduct, it seems common sense is eventually beginning to prevail. 

17 comments:

jack ketch said...

The poll of more than 2,000 adults also found that:

Chosen according to what criteria or by which algorithm , where from and how were they questioned?

Raedwald said...

Ah jack that I *can* answer, having been taught post-grad statistics by an econometrist who earned more from betting on horses than his academic sinecure.

ComRes polls work to a 95% confidence limit, and with a 2,000 sample size out of 45m electors, this gives a margin of error of +/- 2.19%.

So we can be 95% certain that between 77% - 81% of electors think the Lords are spivs, liggers and dags.

And they use a politically / demographically balanced sample

But you're right - the error comes from the means of asking questions. There's evidence that people answering on mobiles are not as honest as those using 'home phones' whilst those who only use 'home phones' are unlikely to be truly representative. This would be relevant if the result was 50%. But with results in the +70s, you can be pretty certain the view has a very clear majority. Good enough to bet on and be certain of winning.

jack ketch said...

Good enough to bet on and be certain of winning. -Raed

If there is one single 'good' thing to come out of the last couple of years then the realisation that only a mug bets on 'polls'. Didn't 'the polls' tell us Remain would win? That PMT.May-hem would landslide? For every poll showing that Remainers are becoming Leavers, there is a counter poll that says Leavers are repenting, donning sackcloth and crawling on broken glass as penance.

Yer pays yer money and yer makes yer choice.

That DM commissioned poll finds that 70% of people think the HoL needs reform is neither a surprise nor news, what however has me puzzled is that despite that 70% thinking the HoL needs reform, 60% think it is doing an effective job.

Anonymous said...


If it were done when ‘tis done, then ‘twere well It were done quickly.

But, what reason for such a deed can be brought forth to justify it?

DeeDee99 said...

Fundamental reform of the House of Frauds is now inevitable. They've set themselves up as the enemy of democracy and the British people by continually voting against the majority who voted to leave the EU.

Smoking Scot said...

No way, no how is the poll unrepresentative with one result.

Only 14% feel it's okay for them to remain for life.

Given your margin for error, that's about 7 people in 8 who agree with me.

Or maybe I'm - for the first time ever - mainstream.

Cuffleyburgers said...

Radders - look how well the last reform went?

I agree that the HoL has become a massive liability, but that was inevitable as soon as some spiv like blair stuck his oar in.

The only kind of reform that will deliver a truly beneficial result would be so radical that there is no chance it ould ever be adopted; such as for instance making it akin to jury duty and a civic obligation for all adults with no crimial record to spend say one year in their lifetime on HoL duty or some such.

It is quite obvious to anybody with more than half a brain that any sort of elected upper house will be a compet edisaster and even worse than the current (utterly crap) system.

Stephen J said...

The way things are going DeeDee99, the same could be said for the treacherous mob in the "other place" too!

I thought being in the EU without any sign of a referendum or meaningful vote on the existence (or non-existence) of this country, was at times irritating and a somewhat forlorn position.

Then we had 23rd June 2016.

And now I am really depressed, I am not sure that I even recognise my country.

Hector Drummond, Vile Novelist said...

No serious polling firm should be using such loaded questions.

Still, even if those numbers are greatly exaggerated there's still a lot for the Lords to be worried about.

Dave_G said...


rather than relying on polls I've been attuned to 'gut instinct' which has proven correct more often than any polls I've seen.

Gut instinct tells me that:

1. there's too much uncontrolled immigration
2. Islam is a BIG problem
3. most politicians are corrupt
4. the EU is DEFINITELY corrupt
5. MMGW is a con
6. a greater majority than the results showed actually support Brexit
7. the BBC are biased
8. banks are thieves and liars

I could go on.

But the results above (sort of) speak for themselves and I defy anyone to think they are wide of the mark - hence as reliable as (or better than) any 'polls'.

Sadly, despite the 'truth' that exists in my gut instinct, nothing will be done about any of them. Same goes for the HoL.

Raedwald said...

Dave_G - With the sole change of 'most' to 'many' in article 3, I agree with every single one.

Nigel Sedgwick said...

Do we have a 3-way poll result (agree, disagree, don't know) for the question: "It would be wrong for the House of Commons to try and thwart BREXIT?"

Best regards

jack ketch said...

Dave_G

I'd swap 1 & 2 around and change the indefinite article for the definite, deep six 6 but aside from that, yes that's my gut feeling too.

rapscallion said...

Dave_G

Concur

1, is linked to 4. primarily and 3.

Strangely I agree with jack ketch on swapping 1 and 2 around

I would add 9. Having Trump elected in the US has caused so many "progressives" brains to explode - thank God!

Sackerson said...

Poorly-worded poll, language far from neutral.

Raedwald said...

test for notification

Penseivat said...

The only conclusion you can draw from a poll is that someone has answered it.