10 August is Lords Reform Day

12.53.31pm BST (GMT +0100) Tue 1st Aug 2006

The clock is ticking on House of Lords reform...

The Elect the Lords Campaign have again declared 10 August as "Lords Reform Day." This marks the anniversary of the Parliament Act 1911 receiving Royal assent, the preamble of which states:

"it is intended to substitute for the House of Lords as it at present exists a Second Chamber constituted on a popular instead of hereditary basis, but such substitution cannot be immediately brought into operation."

95 years later, the Second Chamber is still not constituted on a "popular" basis.

Of course, a lot has happened since we marked Lords Reform Day last year. The "cash for peerages" row has at last injected some degree of urgency amongst politicians on this issue, and the promised vote on composition of the House of Lords is expected in the near future. However, the date for this vote keeps being pushed back and back and the government, which at first seemed to accept the case for a predominantly elected second chamber, has begun pushing for a "half elected" second chamber with members elected gradually over many years.

We can't allow for the momentum on this issue to be lost. The time is ripe for us to make the case for a predominantly elected second chamber. To mark Lords Reform Day, we are asking people to do one or more of the following:

• fill in our survey

• write to local papers

• blog about it

SURVEY

We've set up a simple online survey for people to have their say about how they want to see the Second Chamber of Parliament reformed and we'll be using the results of this survey as the basis for our campaigning next week.

If you would like to fill in this survey, simply click here (http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=332742403352) and answer the questions. It should only take you a couple of minutes to fill in.

WRITE TO LOCAL PAPERS

We are encouraging supporters to write to their local papers about the need for Lords reform. A sample letter can be found on our website (http://www.electthelords.org.uk/resources/index/Campaign%20Materials). Either cut and paste this letter and send it out or, even better, write something similar in your own words.

BLOG IT

If you have a weblog - and if you are mystified about what a weblog is, this BBC article should tell you what you need to know (http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/nickrobinson/2005/11/new_to_weblogs.html) - we are asking you to write a post next week on Lords reform to mark Lords Reform Day.

Dozens of bloggers did this last year and as a result thousands more people heard about the campaign and visited our website - you can read what they all wrote here (http://new-politics.com/index.php?p=133). What's more, the initiative helped lots of bloggers to increase their own exposure.

We've set up a pledge on pledgebank to encourage bloggers to sign up. Please sign this pledge so we know we can send you a reminder and more information next week (http://www.pledgebank.com/lordsblog2).

And finally, a big thank you to everyone who has bought one of our virtual peerages. We have sold dozens of virtual Baronies, Viscountcies and even a Dukedom over the past few months. If you haven't yet bought a virtual peerage, you can do so by going to our website (http://www.electthelords.org.uk/pages/buypeerage.html). Please note however that we cannot accept loans as payment (all major credit cards accepted).