Laws on Vellum
Traditionally, people write British laws on vellum, which is animal skin. Now the House of Lords is split on whether to stick to this tradition or to seek a cheaper option.
A conservative MP said that they laws ought to have a permanency to them, as they are important and powerful, and therefore they ought to be recorded in such a way that they will last for as long as possible.
While 80,000 pounds a year for the vellum may sound like a lot of money, the manager of the company which supplies the vellum explained that the long-term costs are very low. The Magna Carta, which is an important document from 1215, has cost only six pounds a century. Moreover, vellum can last up to 5,000 years!
Difficult words: vellum (a thin, delicate paper made from animal skin), the House of Lords (a government party in England), conservative (traditional), MP (member of parliament), permanency (ability to exist for a long time), Magna Carta (a document that a British king signed that gave the people more rights.