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.