In the “bad old days”, members of the House of Lords inherited their position because of some ancient ancestral merit.  As time went by, the descendants of the great and the good developed into a motley crew – some were rich, some poor; some gifted, some dull; some honest, some less honest etc.  In fact, by natural progression, the House of Lords came to reflect society at large, able to represent the population in a fairly random way but without the stigma of political placement.
Nowadays, the hereditary peerage has been swept away and been replaced by unelected political appointees, persons whose slavish dedication to the party line or lavish donations to its coffers have earned them this reward from their cronies, being paid handsomely and undeservedly at OUR expense.  Is this really an improvement?  The old way was at least a genuine lottery, whereas the present game is surely rigged.