Engage with progress through technology and trade!

An elected House of Lords is a challenge to the House of Commons. It would be a source of confusion. The democratic mandates would often conflict due to the electoral cycle. For those that like First Past the Post, the allegedly decisive nature of UK politics would be lost. The House of Lords is a reviewing chamber and should stay so. We need a House of Lords based on expertise. To avoid party political bias, members should be appointed Ex Offico. The obvious pool of candidates would be the principal members' representative from trade unions, trade associations, professional associations, charities and the heads of plcs, even a few ex MPs. The Law Lords and the Bishops are already there but add other religions too. This is already done but not ex officio. To limit numbers, each interest group could be rotated like the Bishops at present. It would be important to have practicing professionals as representatives not paid administrators of associations. Such a version of the Lords

This is a work in progress. There will be additions and alterations. What is this list about? English historians usually do not write the histories of the other members of the UK as if they were separate entities and, a few nods to Scotland aside, the progress they make is ignored. One field that suffers is the role of Wales in the industrial revolution and beyond. Wales took perhaps the earliest part in the industrial revolution. The physical evidence of prior prosperity is there to see for example, in the big medieval ironworks in South Wales built by Cistercian monks. The copper industry was already active on an industrial by the 17th C both around Swansea Bay and in North Wales. In the late 18th C the iron industry exploded upon the world especially around Merthyr Tydfil. The world's first passenger railway and steam locomotive were from Wales as was the precision engineering to make the steam engines. This early activity led to invention and innovation of world significance.