Whew! I think I am less confused.
Your house of Lords is like our Senate - they're appointed by the sitting government, although I can't remember if it's for life or for ten years - and everyone likes to talk about making the Senate elected instead of appointed.
Instead of national assemblies we have provinces (which I have noticed, from my British friends' mailing addresses, don't seem to exist in the UK). Then, of course, there are provincial governments, which are like a miniature version of the federal one, minus the Senate. That is, whichever party gains the most seats has their leader become premier of the province. And certain subjects are under provincial jurisdiction, while everything else falls to the federal government.
Somehow your own political system seems so much more straightforward than someone else's!
Anyway, why don't they just form an English Assembly then? (Too simple a solution, I suppose...)
