Bit of a question to any Politics Buffs about understanding the voting history of the House of Lords.

I was watching Have I got news for you and was kind of bemused at how old Baroness Trumpington was. It struck me as kind of strange how someone that old could still be in Governance, especially since she's 90 years old. The fact that she was probably of an ilk of the 'old tory' ideology irked me as well, given their support towards homophobia and and exploiting peoples sense of patriotism.

I then became interested in her voting history and to be honest with you I'm not sure I understand what they mean when the website attempts to explain the voting system in such convoluted terms as in addition one member of that party was a teller for that division lobby.

It even has a FAQ about the 'political jargon' its talking about buts thats no better, I mean what exactly does the following mean? "Each political party has whips who try to persuade their members to vote for the party line. In return for loyalty, the party promotes them into desirable jobs and supports their re-election campaigns at the General Election. The whip sometimes refers to the letter sent to each MP by their party at the start of the week informing them of the divisions they are expected to attend. The word whip can also refer to the membership of the party -- so that removing the whip from a member is considered the ultimate sanction. An MP rebels by voting against the party whip. It striked me as a very odd, obfuscating fashion of making clear how one member of the house of lords feels about an issue and how they ultimately voted. Frankly its bizzare that we have such a clearly antiquated system of goverment in this regard.

edit hyperlinking, clarification, sods law.