Democracy in Britain, land of sheep!

Last Thursday we Brits were given the perfect opportunity to change the political landscape of this potentially great country... and collectively we squandered that chance. So, what the hell happened?

I guess my first clue should have been postings on Facebook made by several of my friends.

The first would have been one chap who, although he liked the idea of changing from the first-past-the-post system, had come to the conclusion that it would make it easier for tactical voters to get their way and so had decided to vote NO to the proposed Alternative Vote system.

The second would have been several other people who were quite vocal in their opinion that the "common people" were wasting their time by voting and that even suggesting it was a good idea to vote was an insult.

So, that's it then. Democracy in Great Britain is officially dead... or is it?

I did actually consider suggesting to those who were so vocally abusive to the democratic process that perhaps they might want to consider relocating to, say, Libya, Iran, Saudi Arabia or somewhere similar... but thought better of it.

There seems to be some comfort in the fact that the Scottish people voted overwhelmingly for the Scottish National Party to run their own parliament; this is quite a significant event since the leader of the Scottish National Party has always been quite vocal about his intention to offer the Scots a vote on independence. If such a vote goes ahead I would wholeheartedly support independence for that part of the country as it would act as a demonstration for the rest of us that political change is indeed possible via the ballot box.

Indeed, it might be interesting to see where independence might lead Scotland with regard to a number of issues I hold close to my heart - working with the European Union, the Euro, rejecting the monarchy, having a written constitution and completing implementation of the International System of Units (otherwise known as the Metric System). Ireland, who gained independence from the UK in the 1920's have embraced all of these with no ill effects and it seems logical that Scotland could do much the same.

For now though Britain remains much the same as it was last week. A country stuck in the past, seemingly happier to be seen as a museum or a monument to Victorian times and the British Empire rather than a forward-thinking and modern democracy, part of the real world.

I sit and watch as more friends and colleagues emigrate to Australia, New Zealand and Canada and I wonder at which point I will eventually admit that the only way forward is to leave the land of my birth to live and work in a more progressive nation.

Democracy is at work in Britain... or is it?

In the wake of the spectacle put on by the highly undemocratic monarchy before the last weekend us Brits have been given an opportunity to vote for a significant change in the way our government is elected, if the "yes" vote wins it will mean the end to the First-past-the-post system that this country has used for centuries as it will be replaced by what is known as "Alternative Vote" where we will be allowed to indicate a second choice of candidate during elections.

However, as I sit here on the day of the referendum I have to wonder if there will actually be any change. The first (and so far only response) to my posting on Facebook is a friend who has already voted "no". As with the recent royal wedding I'm coming around to the idea that my long standing opinion that the people of my home country are able to make intelligent and informed decisions may be flawed. I'm getting to the point where I may have to admit that while my generation had an education based on being able to think for ourselves and look at all the evidence before making an important decision, the younger generation seems to have succumbed to the combined brainwashing of the last Labour government and the tabloid press; the dominance of last Friday's fawn-fest and the recent death of Bin Laden seem to have played into the hands of the two major political parties, the real issues behind the need for change in Britain have been largely hidden from the electorate with the result that those who can be bothered going to vote will probably decide to stick with the existing system.

It's ironic that a country so opposed to change voted "yes" in this country's last referendum that took us into what was then known as the EEC... and to this day there is a vocal minority who claim that people weren't given a proper choice in the matter and that we should leave the EU.

While I support the "yes" campaign and suspect that "no" will win, I stand to be pleasantly surprised when the result is announced.