House of Lords - swimming against the tide

Like most of us who are interested in politics I have been carried along by the seemingly unstoppable tide of opinion in favour of an elected second chamber. But just recently I have begun to lose the faith. This is partly because the current House of Lords seems to be doing a pretty good job. In fact it is looking more effective that the Lib Dem coalition leaders in blunting some of the Conservative Government's (yes I mean Conservative Government - that's what it is really) more controversial (daft in some cases) ideas - in education, health, constitutional reform etc. It is also because I am becoming jaundiced about the prospect of even more party hacks being imported to Westminster via a party list electoral system. An appointed second chamber would surely be more truly independent than a party-dominated upper house. OK we should remove the rump of hereditary peers and tidy up the appointments system, but why not an appointed second house ? I am also dismayed by the fact that all three main party leaders have, effectively, done nothing and have a very narrow experience of life. In short they are nothing more than professional politicians. How important it is, therefore, that we should have a legislature containing large numbers of activists who can bring a wide, varied experience of life to policy and law making. And, who knows, it may be that an appointed (largely non-partisan) second house might become a breeding ground for some more effective political leaders.