UK's scandal-hit Lords enjoy rare day in sun

London

SNIFFING white powder with prostitutes, expenses scandals - members of Britain's House of Lords usually only hit the headlines for their colourful extra-curricular activities, but one recent debate proved an exception.

The unelected upper chamber of Parliament last Monday held a series of votes which forced Prime Minister David Cameron's government to rethink a controversial part of its austerity drive.

The result has reminded the public that the Lords are more than a group of ageing grandees nodding off on red leather benches after lunch.

"I haven't been stopped so many times getting on the train as I have been in the last few days with people saying: 'It's just really good you did that'," Steve Bassam, Lab…