One little Dickie bird flew away

One of my friends, Chris Foxwright, says he thinks people in professions die in clusters.  Robin Williams was followed 24 hours later by Lauren Bacall.  Now, it is Richard 'Dickie' Attenborough.  Despite being a few days short of his 91st birthday, he was still active being a producer, in collaboration with Martin Scorcese for Silver Ghost, a project about the origins of Rolls-Royce.  Although of course Jurassic Park was Attenborough's most globally renowned role, important films I haven't seen are Brighton Rock, Oh! What a Lovely War (his directorial debut) and Gandhi.  Maybe crud clutters up my life too much.
One unexpected benefit from his demise though has been a reduction in the size of the House of Lords, the second largest legislature in the world behind only sessions of the Chinese Communist Party.  A quixotic place at the best of times, reminiscent of Monty Python's People's Front of Judea, Judean People's Front and Judean Popular People's Front with Liberal Democrats, Independent Liberal Democrat and Liberal Democrat Independent, it is one of the few upper chambers in the world larger than the 'lower' chamber (828 vs 659).  Personally, I would make composition half that of the House of Commons, fully elected with proportional representation based on a party list system so we retain that all-important 'experience' opponents of democratic reform always cite while keeping the primacy of the House of Commons (the other complaint) by members there being tied to constituencies.  So sad as is the death of Labour peer Lord Attenborough, the House of Lords has been marginally rationalised by the removal of a life peer.  It is no consolation for the loss but it is something.