Lets start with a political rant....

Well, I've just cruised around everyone with a "Millbrook" link in Blogspot. Shame about the raving, self-interested Tory "Working for Rame" - I've had the misfortune to be at some meetings that she's attended and, by God, can she go on and on and on. Sadly, though, Sherryl Murray has nothing whatever to say of any interest. She just bangs on and on about how dreadful John Ault is (how dare he have beaten her in a free and fair election!?).

Voters of South East Cornwall - BEWARE - this woman has been selected as Conservative parliamentary candidate for our fair constituency. Colin Breed isn't much to write home about, but at least he has some of the basic social graces. I've encountered Mr Breed on several occasions and he's never been less than polite. I watch his voting record on http://www.theyworkforyou.com/ and apart from some seemingly anti-gay rights views and a penchant for thinking that foxhunting is a libertarian thing he's generally moving in the right direction.

I hold no torch for Mr Ault, either, I think he's essentially just as self-interested as the Tories - to the best of my knowledge he's not yet managed to attend a single Parish Council meeting in Millbrook.

What happened to the politics of ideology - where we debated ideas and political theories instead of arguing endlessly about personalities or who might be the best manager. Bring back Bevan, Scargill, Benn (Tony - not his lickspittle son), Foot. Anyone who actually had an idea and wanted to drive it forward. Instead of these and similar great luminaries, we are offered Sherryl Murray or Colin Breed? In Parliament we're given Bliar and the Scottish c***, faced by an already beaten foetus and an Old Etonian (he knows lots about how most of us live, then...).

Last night, over a few glasses of decent Bordeaux, a friend proffered the view that voting shouldn't be made compulsory, but that failure to use your right to vote should result in losing that right for a set number of years. Interesting debating point. Hopelessly wrong, of course. But interesting.

My own view on how to make voting more of a participation sport is that firstly, we do need to introduce proportional representation (I probably favour the single transferable vote system, but I'm open to persuasion). Then we need to make the vote compulsory, in person unless medically unable to attend (none of this rubbish about e-voting attracting the young). Finally, every ballot paper should have a "none of the above" candidate. The rule being that if "None of the above" wins, all the other candidates are barred from standing again for a set period of time and the election must be held again with fresh candidates (and another "none of the above").

Well, I enjoyed the opportunity to rant, I only meant to witter on for a short while about birdwatching on Millbrook Lake or something - but seeing Mrs Murray's blog just got my hackles up.