Wednesday
Feb062013
by Bishop Hill
Good lord
Feb 6, 2013 Matt Ridley
This just in:
Just minutes ago it was announced that Viscount Ridley was elected to a sit in the House of Lords, taking the seat vacated by the death of Earl Ferrers.
Congratulations to Matt from everyone at BH.
Reader Comments (59)
ron at 2.00 am
thank you for that explanation.
Every day is truly a school day !
Does the fact that Christopher Monckton is a member of UKIP preclude him from being voted for in a Conservative election ?
With regard to his jottings on CAGW they seem to be generally well received at WUWT or am i being misled ?
Congratulations to Ridley for his success.
Son of an Earl? Or is it one of those sheriff-type thingys?
mojo - you could do your own research or yourself learn that his father was the former Viscount Ridley:
"Ridley is the son of Matthew White Ridley, 4th Viscount Ridley (1925 – 2012) and Lady Anne Katharine Gabrielle Lumley (1928–2006), daughter of Lawrence Roger Lumley, 11th Earl of Scarbrough.[18] With the death of his father in 2012, Ridley succeeded him as the 5th Viscount Ridley, having taken over the running of the family estate of Blagdon Hall, near Cramlington, Northumberland, some years before."
The Ridleys are, surprisingly enough, not the same family as the Shirleys who claim the title of Earl Ferrers.
+1 with Mike Jackson, Matt's a good guy and will do a fine job in the upper chamber, irrespective of how he got there.
[declaration of interest: my son once played in the band for one of the late Viscounts garden parties at Blagdon Hall!]
As a colonial, I can't see why a man with such brilliant, original thoughts would be interested in a podium granted only to nobility, a medieval anachronism. The office won't increase his credibility on this side of the pond.
The Economist had an article on the lessons from Northern Rock:
http://www.economist.com/node/9988865
Over here, a lot of bankers with far more experience than Matt were doing the same thing as Northern Rock, only they were securitizing sub-prime mortgages. In 2004, perhaps management wanted a chairman without the experience to challenge their lucrative, but risky, business model.
Frank, I think you have it backwards. Matt's already a highly credible figure. The effect of the appointment will be to raise the credibility of the House of Lords, not the other way about!
In earlier times most of the Government was done by the aristocracy. Over the centuries power gradually migrated from the House of Lords to the House of Commons.
The modern House of Lords became a conservative (small c) brake on the excesses of each government. The hereditary and life members gave governance a longer term perspective, with the life peers bringing a lifetime's experience and the hereditaries thinking in terms of generations.
Matt Ridley should make a useful addition to their number. I disagree with his stance on climate change, but welcome him as bringing diversity to the debate.
Cumbrian Lad: I agree that Matt might raise the credibility of any organization he joined, but IMO hereditary organizations lack credibility by definition. When the organizing principle of the House of Lords depends on heredity, rather than personal characteristics and accomplishments, how can it have credibility?
I remembered a few days ago that I never blamed Ridley for the fall of Northern Rock.
I would have locked up Robert Peston and thrown away the key ... and the guy that leaked the B of E loan. The idea that Peston is an investigative journalist is risible ... this came from the top of the BBC.
Feeling guilty.