As mentioned in an earlier entry, Tuesday began in the House of Lords with a question about suggestions for a league of democracies. While the government took a studiously neutral position - most of the response from their Lordships was hostile.

The great fear was that this proposal would again divide the world into two camps. As Lord Hannay put it "...the undesirability, rather soon after the ending of the Cold War, of systematising the divide in the world between democratic sheep and undemocratic goats"

Other Peers pointed out that there were already a number of institutions which brought democracies together - including the European Union.

The full exchange can be read at http://pubs1.tso.parliament.uk/pa/ld200708/ldhansrd/text/80624-0001.htm#08062483000002