Mon 27 February - Future of democracy

"A committee of sorts has come out with statements that we are being poorly served by the government, and I presume they mean not just this present administration.

"They talk about the voting age being lowered to 16, and much more.

"I have one thing to say to that lot...raspberries....

"The lowering of the voting age to include schoolchildren? Are they right in the head or what?

"Raise it back to where it was some decades ago...21... Then maybe we will have something serious injected back into politics.

"As for the 'devolution' of parlaimentary powers down to town halls and 'The People', do they mean to the prats who run things at the moment? Do they mean the Sunday news rag when they say the people?

"Surely they cannot mean US, THE PEOPLE can they?

"Democracy has been DEAD for most of the time we have supposedly been democratic.

"Democracy does not mean the right to vote every now and again, it means much more than that, in essence it means that when we vote we expect to have OUR concerns addressed.

"WE mean that we want the government to take issue with the bad sectors of our society, and not have the judiciary play fast and loose with the legal system, seemingly making it up as they toddle along.

"What we mean is that a crime is dealt with the same way across the board, not fifty quid fine in Manchester and a hundred and fifty in York, or the reverse.

"Murderers being given life, which means they will be back out on the streets in five to seven years.

"Sick women being incarcerated for so called crimes that are defined by so called experts who have no concept of how her physical and mental state is, due to the fact they are simply not able to understand her predicament, or cannot understand that some kids just die without any assistance. 'There must be a killer because the kid is dead', what a mentality the courts look up to.

"In the meanwhile some poor terrified mother, and maybe father, is thrown into jail, because they cannot understand, or at worst, explain what has gone wrong.

"This is the very situation we are all in, we cannot understand or explain, to ourselves what has gone amiss in our 'democracy', so we just keep on voting in the vain hopes that some day it will come out alright for us.

"Some damned hopes, that day will never dawn.

"Then there is the taxation we all are compelled to pay - what sort of representation do we get for it, the cost of everything rising to fund the ever burgeoning and disproportionate numbers swelling the jobsworths in town hall and Westminster alike, plus of course the regional parliaments of Wales and Scotland.

"Where is the democracy in being fobbed off with the 'reasons' and so on that emanate from the mouths of all these well heeled, and self promoting occupants of officialdom's premises.

"Then again we have the fat cats rubbing their hands and massaging their overblown bank accounts every time there is arise in the global price of oil or gas products.

"Stuff that once was unable to find other than a land fill site, has now been turned into products we 'cannot do without', detergents and smelly stuffs to make our homes 'flowery fresh' for the want of something better to call it.

"All the while the money flows ever upwards, denying us our democratic right to a share in the wealth, unless you are unemployed, sick or crafty enough to skim the system. To the detriment of course of all those who are footing the bill.

"Democracy!? Go blow it out your ear, we ain't got it, never had it, and, as things stand, never will.

"They can change it all about, only a bit, mind you, but it will never be real, just another sham as usual.

"So you scratch a cross on a bit of paper every few years, and you think you have done your bit for democracy; think again.

"There are those in the political world who just love to hear your comments of how you have voted this, that, or the other party into office, in your eyes democracy in action. In their eyes just another small turn of events until the next false dawn of hope shines for you.

"Then you may see another crowd come into it's own, but do you get anything out of it? of course you do, and what is that? why another serious poke into your wallet, or bank account, as they dream up another nightmare scenario of tax, duty, and whatever else they can foist upon you all.

"So they want to give the vote to schoolkids do they? Taking into account just how and why they want to do so, makes me wonder what they have up their sleeve besides their arm.

"It's the old three card trick, now you see it now it's gone, and from where went to where it finished up is something they will not tell you about.

"Billions of your money has gone up in smoke, the smoke of the sleight of hand that follows any conjurer worth his salt.

"They bamboozle you, and you let them, they fool you into believing they are doing it all for you, but that is not the way I see it, and I bet you don't either, that's why you fail to turn out for elections these days, because you are sick of the flim flam politics they profess to practice on YOUR behalf, when in truth it's all mirrors and smoke."

Note - Morgan's views are not necessarily shared by the BBC