How long must we live in the dark ages?

On the day of the EU's 50th anniversary the BBC ran a number of features on it's news web site along with a section in their ever popular "Have Your Say" section. To say that the response was predictable is an understatement. The eurosceptics were out in force and the usual range of comments were posted... basically the usual rants about it all being a waste of money, wanting us to pull out of the EU immediatly, blaming Europe for all our ills, and the usual collection of xenophobic anti-German and anti-French rants.

It really is about time that the anti-everything Sun and Mail reading little Englanders woke up and started to realise that their Murdoch-driven view of the world is about as innacurate and out-of-date as it can possibly get. Those of us with any sense will know that few of us, particularly in the most rampantly anti regions of the south east, could possibly describe ourselves as 100% ethnic British or English. Over the last 3000 years we have been invaded at various times by (in no particular order) the Nords, Germans, Romans and the French. At the same time we've had various peoples migrate to this country... the Jews and Protestants fleeing persecution over the centuries; peoples of African descent through the slave trade; Asians persuaded to migrate here in the middle of last century to take up the jobs that the "white Brits" didn't want to do. The list goes on-and-on. As hard as some groups might have tried, they will not have stopped inter-racial relati0nships over the years which have resulted in us becoming who we are today: a nation of mixed heritage.

So, put up your hands those of you who still think that you're 100% British. Those of you who put your hands up, re-read the last paragraph, you're clearly hard of thinking!

The rest of you, stop and think. Only a small group of Brits would openly state that they are racist, yet the Germans are often the first target. Both of the world wars are still fresh in the memories of many people who seem to forget that, as in modern society, the problem was the leadership, not the "man on the street", and that what happened, although horrific, is history. Many of these same people happily drive to work in their VW's, Audi's, BMW's and Mercs... many more in German-built Fords and Vauxhalls (Opel anybody?). And how many of these people would prefer we drop the Metric Celcius in favour of good old Fahrenheit? Guess what folks, Mr Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit was a German. Incidentally, so is our royal family!

The French also come in for a l0t of criticism by the "non-racist" Brits. Some are more than happy to recall the way that they let the German army just walk through their country during the last war. Others complain that the French are smelly and don't wash. Some will add comments about the typically French arrogance. Again, the French people themselves aren't really to blame for the war, after all how many of us these days would readilly stand up against a clearly undefeatable (at the time) foe? And for the smell, you have to remember that France had to rebuild almost everything after WWII and obviously some things (like public toilets!) weren't exactly top of the list of priorities. And arrogance? Many of us are most likely part-French and many a French man/woman will tell you that the British are arrogant, so we're really not much different. So, when you're driving your Renault, Citroen or Peugeot to the supermarket to buy your Evian or Volvic mineral water just think about that.

The Spaniards get their fair share of criticism too just as much as we like to spend our holidays there (or on their islands). The Italians too, even as most of our kitchen appliances bare "Made in Italy" labels.

Ironically, many Brits feel that we are better served forging closer links to the USA... the country that decided it didn't want to be ruled by us and forcefully evicted us from their land! They claim they speak "English" but can't spell properly. They call their system of measurements "English" but their pint, gallon and ton all differ from ours and they drive on the wrong side of the road. Ok, but they have a great lifestyle, things cost less (like food, petrol, cars, etc) and they have places where the sun shines all the year round. Ok, but then they have no National Health Service or usable welfare system.

Going back to my original reason for writing... the EU... what many Brits don't realise is that the world is shrinking. We need to work more closely with our neighbours and share what's good. Just because an idea isn't British it doesn't mean it's not good. There are many similarities between the European Union and the United Kingdom - single currency, many nations joining together for the common good, a lot of people who don't agree with it - you get the idea. But many Brits don't want to go metric... not because it's no good, but because it's foreign and so it must be bad. So why have the rest of the world (except the USA) and even NASA converted? We don't want a single European currency... forget the fact that we'd save ourselves thousands of pounds/euros every year by the simple saving to industry and the general public of not having to pay the extra bank charges every time we spend money in another EU country, we'd just rather have our own money and sod everybody else! But we'd like their nice low mortgage interest rate though, and cheaper cars and houses, oh and lots of that cheap booze we bring back on the ferries and through the tunnel!

Ok, so the EU has a long way to go. The USA didn't get where it is today overnight, and even their system isn't perfect, but they get to choose the people who run the country (even down to the judges and police chiefs!), they can use the same money whichever state they're in and can travel from Boston to San Diego without having to go through checkpoints every few hours. Yet each state still has it's own culture, flag and makes it's own laws. Differing use of language and dialect is alive and well as you will discover on the streets of New Orleans, San Francisco, New York or Miami. At the end of the day though, they had to stop fighting between themselves to achieve this, and much of Europe has managed this... so why can't us Brits stop thinking about ourselves and realise that we have a lot to gain from Europe. But we have to give too!

So, when can we say goodbye to the Lords?

98 years ago the British government made a decision to reform the upper house of parliament, the House of Lords. Today we awake to the news that finally the lower house, the House of Commons, has voted by a majority of 113, to make the upper chamber fully elected. So, it might seem that the UK is a step closer to becoming a proper democracy.

Well, over the years our "democratically elected" government has made many decisions, many of which had a large majority, only to be swept under the carpet. The British government decided about 150 years ago to adopt the metric system of measurements yet it took until the 1970's to actually start the process, something that has yet to be finished, so on that basis we could be waiting for another 30 years before we start to see any real movement on this.

So, what is the problem? As I've said here before, the UK is one of those strange political animals, it's something called a "Constitutional Monarchy". I'm no expert but I believe that this basically means that there is an elected government, but that government only manages the country on behalf of the reigning monarch who can assert their power at will at any time they see fit. "It's worked well for hundreds of years" you might say, "If it's not broken, don't fix it" I hear. Well, this is the 21st century and we're brought up to believe we live in a true democracy in the UK when we actually don't.

There are several problems with our current system.

The Monarchy: Many would argue that under the most recent monarchs that the UK has done rather well. This may well be the case on the outside, but we live in a world where kings and queens are seen more as celebrities than having actual power when the disturbing truth is that these people can really do as they please. She hasn't done it and probably won't, but our queen could take goods from a supermarket shelf without paying, she can break the speed limit, even commit murder, and would have full immunity from prosecution on the simple grounds that the courts and the government are hers! Her Majesty's Government could not possibly make an argument against her and you can just see that the case of "The Crown vs The Crown" is not going to last very long in court. Given his outbursts can you be sure that the next in line to the throne will not take a more hands-on approach to running this country? The fact he wants to ban McDonalds is a good indication of his state of mind - surely if we want to stuff ourselves with Big Mac's then it's our democratic choice to do so?

The House of Lords: This is the thing that the House of Commons has voted to change. This is an interesting beast in that like all other upper chambers in democracies worldwide it has the power to vote down any laws that are created by the lower house. That said, they have been neutered in recent years by things like the "Parliament Act" which basically allows the House of Commons to over-ride the Lords in cases where the elected chamber has a mandate from the electorate. The funny thing here is that now that the Commons has voted to make the upper chamber elected, the vote has to be given to the Lords too... the words "Turkey" and "Christmas" come to mind. That said, the Commons should, in theory, be able to use the Parliament Act to over-rule the Lords. We'll see!

The Constitution: Ok, what constitution. The simple fact of the matter is that the UK doesn't have a wrtitten constitution. Why? There are probably lots of theories around, but personally I believe that there isn't anything in writing for the simple reason that it makes it easier for those in power to change it. Take countries like the USA or France for instance - both have passages in their c0nstitutions that lay down specific rules for changing the constitutions, and both are clear that nothing can be done to change that document without the will of the people and that those changes may not take away those rights! Us Brits do not have that sort of legal protection. Looking at it from that point of view it makes it a little clearer why so many in power in the UK are against an EU Constitution. They wouldn't want the British public to have any written rights after all!

Quite frankly, the political system in the UK is a sham. People complain about the EU with it's ever-merging menber states and power being excerted by an unelected quango in Brussels... but what about the 4 member states of the "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland" (or just "Ireland" as it was until the 1920's). Scotland, Wales and Ireland were hardly given a choice in joining this union, one which is ruled from London... probably about as far as you can possibly get from the other members. This union has differing levels of "democracy" in each member state but ultimatly laws from London are imposed on the others. The union has a single currency. The ultimate ruler isn't democratically elected.

I'll leave you, the reader, to make up your own mind about this farce!