I hate the fact that this unelected group of old men has a say in the legislation of our country - it’s about time we had an elected second house and left these people to the whims of a real Parliamentary democracy

No-one is arguing that the bishops or the Cardinals or the rabbis or the mullahs should not be able to join the debate on this issue. After all, their religion enjoins them to defend the disadvantaged and poverty-stricken. But they should join the debate on the same terms as everyone else who is not elected to our parliament: through lobbying, campaigning and argument in the media.