Lords Open House to Telly; All of Britain Can Nod Off

The aristocrats and bishops of Britain’s House of Lords--celebrated in song for doing nothing in particular but doing it very well--flocked in front of cameras today for the first live television broadcast of Parliament in session.

The British Broadcasting Corp. and its commercial rival Channel 4 dropped their afternoon soap operas and educational programs for several hours of broadcasting from the upper house of Parliament at the start of a six-month experiment to let Britons see what their legislators are up to.

Normally only about 300 peers and bishops from about 1,100 members of the mostly hereditary House of Lords gather for debates, but today the chamber was packed and a near-record 47 peers asked to speak during the first televised session.

The session began with a ceremonial procession led by the lord chancellor, Quentin Hogg, into the historic chamber and was followed by question time, during which the peers ask the government questions about policy.

Cameras scanned the 19th-Century neo-Gothic chamber for aspiring media personalities and those venerable members known to slumber on the plush red benches during often stodgy debates.

Gilbert and Sullivan a century ago praised the noble lords for their inactivity, writing in one of their operettas that the “House of peers throughout the years did nothing in particular and did it very well.”

But the lords are unlikely to topple soap operas and horse racing from the afternoon television schedules.

“At the moment the debates have all the cut and thrust of an out-of-work butcher with blunt knives,” one commentator said.

Topics up for debate today included discussion of the use of computers in schools, legislation on euthanasia, cuts in the BBC’s overseas broadcasts and North Sea oil revenue.

The neighboring House of Commons, the elected lower house where the real power lies, has refused so far to let cameras intrude, although it does permit radio broadcasts of its often stormy political debates.