Composition

The House of Lords. Membership is not attained by election from the population as a whole, but by inheritance or by appointment (Lords Temporal), or by virtue of their within the established church (Lords Spiritual).

The Lords Spiritual are 26 senior bishops of the Church of England.

The Lords Temporal make up the rest of the membership; of these, the majority are life peers who are appointed by the Monarch on the advice of the Prime Minister.

Membership was once a right of birth to hereditary peers but only 91, elected by the House from the hereditary peers, remain as members.

The number of members is not fixed; as of November 2010 the House of Lords had 738 members, as against the fixed 650-seat membership of the House of Commons.

The House of Commons. 650 members.

HM Government

• Con (306)

• Lib Dem (57)

HM Official Opposition

• Lab (258)

Other Opposition

• DUP (8)

• SNP (6)

• Plaid (3)

• SF (5, Abstention)

• SDLP (3)

• Greens (1)

• Independent (1)

• Alliance (1)

Speaker

• Speaker and Deputies (4)

7.2 The House of Lords Reform.

The Lords was once the stronger of the two houses of Parliament. The rising wealth of the Commons eventually allowed it to wage two civil wars, dethrone two Kings, and gradually reduce the power of the Lords. Prior to the House of Lords Act 1999 the power of the Lords had been diminished by the Parliament Acts 1911 and 1949 After eighteen years of Conservative rule, the Labour party led by Tony Blair won the 1997 general election. In the first year of Tony Blair's government traditionally Conservative House of Lords rejected Labour bills thirty-eight times. Blair claimed that the Conservatives were using the hereditary peers to "frustrate" and "overturn the will of the democratically elected House of Commons”

The House of Lords Act 1999 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that was given Royal Assent on 11 November 1999. The Act reformed the House of Lords, one of the chambers of Parliament.

The Act decreased the membership of the House from 1,330 (October 1999) to 669 (March 2000)

The Lords currently possess no governmental power whatsoever except to delay a bill passed by the Commons. They can attach and suggest amendments to bills, but these amendments are not binding and the Commons has no obligation whatsoever to follow them

12.1 Air and water pollution. What are the major sources of pollution? What are its consequences?

Air Pollution	Water Pollution
Air pollution is the accumulation of hazardous substances into the atmosphere that danger human life and other living matter.	Water pollution is the introduction of chemical, biological and physical matter into large bodies of water that degrade the quality of life that lives in it and consumes it.
What are the sources of air pollution? Some of the main contributors to air pollution are: Deforestation Automobile emissions Tobacco smoke Acid rain Power plants Manufacturing buildings Large ships Paint fumes Aerosol sprays Wildfires Nuclear weapons	What are the sources of water pollution? Some of the main contributors to water pollution are: Factories Refineries Waste treatment facilities Mining Pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers Human sewage Oil spills Failing septic systems Soap from washing your car Oil and antifreeze leaking from cars Household chemicals Animal waste
accumulation of greenhouse gases in the lower atmosphere Acid rain breathing problems Ozone Depletion	made marine life no longer hospitable