The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative institution in the United Kingdom and British overseas territories. At its head is the Sovereign; it is bicameral, including an Upper House, called the House of Lords, and a Lower House, called the House of Commons. The House of Lords includes two different types of members—the Lords Spiritual (the senior clergy of the Church of England) and the Lords Temporal (members of the Peerage); it is a wholly unelected body. The House of Commons, on the other hand, is a democratically elected chamber. The House of Lords and the House of Commons meet in separate chambers in the Palace of Westminster, in the British capital, London. By constitutional convention, all government ministers, including the Prime Minister are drawn exclusively from the House of Commons or House of Lords.
Read the rest of this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parliament_of_the_United_Kingdom
_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:
1487: The Battle of Stoke Field, the final battle of the Wars of the Roses, was fought. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Stoke_Field)
1745: During King George's War, British colonial forces led by William Pepperrell captured the French stronghold at Fortress Louisbourg on Cape Breton Island after a six-week siege. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fortress_Louisbourg)
1846: Pius IX was elected pope, beginning the longest reign of all popes since the days of the apostles. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Pius_IX)
1963: Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman in space. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valentina_Tereshkova)
1976: Police in Soweto, South Africa opened fire on schoolchildren protesting against the imposition of Afrikaans as a medium of instruction in township schools, triggering a series of nationwide demonstrations, strikes, riots and violence. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hector_Pieterson)
_____________________ Wikiquote of the day:
"If we could first know where we are, and whither we are tending, we could then better judge what to do, and how to do it." -- Abraham Lincoln (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Abraham_Lincoln)