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.