Nick Clegg's House of Lords reform is folly. Abolition would be a better option. — Martin Kettle

"The Lib Dem leader's plan is noble yet naive; against his party's interests and destined to fail. But do we need a second chamber anyway?" More »

House of Lords assembled. (Leon Neal/PA)

The unintended consequences of Nick Clegg's Lords reform are too unpredictable. If one really can't stand the upper chamber being unelected, then it should just be abolished in its present form. Allow the hereditary peers back and let it be a 100% ceremonial body, maybe convening only during the Queen's Speech.

Malapportionment of electoral districts in Malaysia

Parliamentary constituencies of Malaysia. (The Star Online)

A recent article on British daily The Guardian warned that democracy in the United Kingdom is in "terminal decline". Citing a study by research group Democratic Audit, the paper reports that unrepresentative politicians and indifferent voters are contributing to the decline of the democratic process in Britain. And these issues relate to a fundamental principle in representative democracy – the concept of one person, one vote.

Fortunately in Malaysia, voters are far from indifferent. Voter turnout has been near consistently upwards of 70% since at least 1982. However, as electoral reform advocates have pointed out before, while voters do their part by voting, the electoral system is inherently unrepresentative of the voters.