Where are Mulder and Scully when you need them to investigate a mystery? The paranormal technology happening I am referring to is the strange case of the UK House of Lords publishing a handful of short videos on YouTube. The idea is OK, in that it has been designed to encourage youngsters to get involved with politics. But seriously, have you seen the bunch of old duffers that fill the House of Lords? I don't have the actual figures, but my guess is the average age of a Lord is probably about 80. If I were a teenager stumbling across Baroness Hayman explaining how there are two houses of parliament, or Baroness Williams of Crosby describing how the Lords examine new bills coming their way, let alone Lord Tyler banging on about how important they are then the last thing I would want to do is get involved with politics.

Kudos to their Lordships for embracing modern technology, but when it comes to energising an electorate, using YouTube to generate a passionate interest in politics then well, it's not exactly in the same ballpark as Obama. I got a sneak preview of the videos before the official launch today, and oh boy did it help me get to sleep. On the bright side, the videos do make the Lords of the Blog website seem positively upbeat and believe me that takes some doing.

Commenting on the launch of the House of Lords YouTube videos The Lord Speaker, Baroness Hayman, said: "The launch of the House of Lords videos on Parliament's YouTube channel is just one element of our ongoing efforts to engage with the public and young people in particular. The videos we have placed on the YouTube channel reflect the
diversity and expertise in the House of Lords and its relevance to young people, and we hope that they will help to combat some of the outdated stereotypes of members of the Upper House."

Sorry your Lord Speakershipness, I'm afraid I think you have failed on the combating stereotypes front...