Normal on Monday

Press, 21 October 1978, Page 1

Normal on Monday

By

JUDSON BENNETT

"The Press” on Monday should be a respectable newspaper and the usual 12c will be the price. Today the newspaper is free because. until this morning, we are complying with restrictions on printing news. For this issue the restrictions still apply, but we welcome the decision by journalists that their dispute with the Newspaper Publishers’ Association can be settled by a committee of inquiry.

From this morning the restrictions imposed by the terms of agreement are lifted. Journalists will be back at work today and “The Press” will begin to return to normal. Yesterday the printers’ chapels at this and other newspapers were informed by their union leaders that all bans on material had been lifted. While complying with the terms of settlement in the industrial disnute with journalists “The Press”

could not take advantage of the printers’ decision in order to enlarge the contents of today’s edition.

Assured of a reliable course for the settlement of the industrial dispute, “The Press” now sees the way clear to a resumption of full service to readers and of a relationship of trust and confidence between those who gather and present the news and

those who make it and seek it.

They can get a tax-free income of over almost $4OOO a year simply for sitting silently on a comfortable red plush bench: a motor-cycle escort if they are late for work, free stamps on their mail; and invariably the best table in a restaurant and finest seats in a theatre. Who are they? Members of the House of Lords. The 400 men and women created British life peers since the Life Peerages Act was passed by the Macmillan Government in July 1958. have found the perks agreeable. Today, two decades later, a life peerage is perhaps the most sought-after appointment in British public life, says a spokesman for Debrett’s. “It was feared that life peers might be regarded as second-class lords, but that hasn’t been the case at ail. In fact, anyone who is created a life peer is accepted as someone who has earned the honour through public service — and that can’t always be said about hereditary peers.”

To lie a peer these day s — and therefore to qualify for the $25 a day attendance allowance at the House of Lords — you do not have to be a landowning Duke. Indeed, there is no need to own anything at all. Life peers ca„ be trades union officials renting council houses.

Life as a peer is undeniably agreeable, said Robert Boothby, created Baron

Boothby, of Buchan and Rattray Head, as the first Life Peer in 1958. “The Lords remains the best club in the world — frightfully congenial, kind and generous.” There is no doubt that membership of the Lords — open to those who receive a Writ of Summons sent, in the case of Life Peers, only on the- recommendation of a committee representing the Sovereign or Prime Minister — is still the biggest perk in the whole business of being a life peer. In the cathedral-like valra of a building rebuilt after a fire in the 1840 s, members are cosseted by uniformed attendants in tails and white ties, resplendent in gold badges of office. They have, their own private dining-rooms, bars, libraries and secretaries. The superbly frescoed chamber, with its stainedglass, is resplendent in luxurious red plush. The late Baroness Stock, a principal of London’s University College, described the place as “a perfect eventide home." London clubs offering similar comfortable facilities are struggling to keep in business because of falling subscriptions. But the bills of this particular club are met by the taxpayer to the tune of SIOM a year. In spite of mutterings against the second chamber, the number of peers created grows every year. As Prime Minister. Lloyd George made 75 new peers; Attlee created 86 after World War 11. Sir Harold Wilson created 125 in six years and increased the size of the Lords by 12 per cent. The qualifications for being created a Life Peer are somewhat vague. You can be of either sex and be of any occupation at all. Apparently it does heln if you are well into middle-age — this year’s creations had an average age of about 57. If you are a young man you really haven't a hope of reaching the Lords, unless your father is a hereditary peer.

In the last 20 years not many have turned down the chance of a life peer age. One man who did was former T.U.C. general secretary, George Woodcock. who said: “1 was offered a knighthood and a peerage at different times. But 1 didn’t want either.” Assuming that you do win in the ermine stakes — it costs up to $2O a time to hire the robes if you can’t afford to buy them — the advantages don’t just stop at free stamps and travel. The actress, Barbara Kelly, runs an agency called Prime Performers, which will supply speakers from the House of Lords to grace just about any occastion. She said: "The Lords is a marvellous provider of talent. If you want an expert in salmon fishing, dog-breeding or high-pow-ered publishing all in the same day then the Lords alone can provide it under one roof, “A guest speaker with a title is worth a lot in itself. A peer who really knows his subject is a goldmine.’’ Barbara Kelly won’t reveal how much a peer can make for speaking with know-ledge on a given subject but she concedes that it could go up to .<2OOO Many firms, particularly small businesses aiming to get bigger, love a title among their directors. As one peer remarked: “They don’t give a damn what you know. They assume you’re a totally honest chap if vou’re a Lord.