Thanks to the friend who alerted me to this article by Robert Shrimsley in a recent copy of the FT Weekend Magazine: https://www.ft.com/content/21dc7383-0152-461f-989d-0b3949e6d37d .

"What do I have to do to get a peerage?" asks Shrimsley, wickedly tongue-in-cheek.  The short answer, he writes, is: "It's going to cost you. You can pay in cash or political service, same as always..." And, while recognising that there is "no guaranteed way, at least since Lloyd George got so greedy that selling peerages became a crime," he points out that ex-MPs and those who get a job at Downing Street, have significantly higher odds of securing a title. By way of illustration, Shrimsley reminds us that "...If you worked for Liz Truss you only had to put in seven weeks, and Johnson was also liberal with the baubles."

He makes the serious point simply: "There are many good people in the Lords but the pathways encourage much that is wrong with the system." 

It is stated in the 'Summary of key developments' in The Fifth Report on the Operation of the Honours System, (May 2023), that "the honours system has sought to continue to consolidate and improve its work to improve integrity and fairness in, and equality of access to, the honours system." As Shrimsley's article makes clear, there is still a long way to go before this is achieved. 

Since recent governments seem unable (or unwilling?) to make this happen, I urge you, and family and friends, to sign this petition and join the nearly 57,000 others who, like me, want to see integrity, fairness and equality of access to the honours system, not just hollow words but the reality. Onwards and upwards. And thanks for the ongoing support. We're getting there!