Democracy, dignity and debauchery co-existed peacefully at The House of Lords
Great Britain struggles more than any other country to let go of medieval pomp and ceremony. Burdened by a millennium-long obsession with prim and proper behaviour, the English have developed an admirable tolerance of anachronisms. So, when they talk of abolishing the House of Lords — that fountainhead of ritual that has kept alive the concept of hereditary nobility of men and the wearing of breeches and wigs well into the 21st Century — it is hard not to take notice.
(This story appears in the 16 April, 2010 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)