Yes Steve, but I was responding to Jim saying they were 'unqualified' and in anticipation of someone (a Musket in this case) leaping on the matter of theological qualifications I checked that Welby did have something relevant to his previous career.

As to qualifications through experience I don't see how that of a bishop, especially an archbishop, differs that much from a top trade union official, business leader, university professor or whatever. They know the problems of keeping a complicated show on the road and have a constituency of people who's views they understand. Like it or not a fair proportion of the individuals in this country do have a faith.

If you had risen high enough in your Trade Union maybe people would have noticed you and think you should be in the lords.

Religions are not all about their deity, quite a lot of what they do is done by people who believe in other dieties or none

Raggytash. As Howard says it is a revising house. They have more time and a different/better pool of skills than the Commons to publicly chew over what the folks in the Whitehall backrooms have drafted.

I think the non-elected people we need to worry about are the lobbyists. If these folks were not in the lords many of them would be bending the ear of politicians and journalist in places like London private clubs.