A Modern Scottish View of Clans (and Gathering)

[O'Callaghan]

Some interesting points have been raised. A chief of the name is considered to be Irish nobility in Ireland, and the same goes for a hereditary Scots clan chief, i.e. that they are a Scottish noble, except that the English and later British governments never recognised any of this. Some of them got English titles as well, others not. The victors certainly got to redistribute the spoils.

Most of the above is moot anyway, as most of them have no real power anymore. Even those with English titles don't all get to sit in the House of Lords anymore. The UK Labour Party controlled government reduced the number of peers who sit in the House of Lords to a smaller number of 'representative peers', so the rest have only the title, although of course there are quite a few who still have a lot of the land they were given when their ancestors were 'ennobled'.

The House of Lords is a bit like the US Senate, except that instead of a reconcilliation process, the bills go through the House of Commons (made up of the elected MPs, who are a bit like Representatives), then to the Lords, and then back to the Commons for a Second Reading, where the MPs can undo all the changes the Lords made if they want to, except for 'money bills' which I think don't go to the Lords. Some of the peers in the Lords are hereditary, and some appointed for life by governments as they leave office.

[JSFMACLJR]

The House of Lords is a bit like the US Senate, except that instead of a reconcilliation process, the bills go through the House of Commons (made up of the elected MPs, who are a bit like Representatives), then to the Lords, and then back to the Commons for a Second Reading, where the MPs can undo all the changes the Lords made if they want to, except for 'money bills' which I think don't go to the Lords. Some of the peers in the Lords are hereditary, and some appointed for life by governments as they leave office.

This may be splitting hairs, but in all truth, the US Senate is a bit like the House of Lords, and the US House of Representatives is a bit like the House of Commons. The Parliament of Westminster is the Mother of Parliaments