Fair enough, Mick. But what I have in mind, and what "those" meant there, are the ones who make a show of trying to raise the proportion of people voting, by gimmicks such as polling booths in supermarkets, or unreliable novelties such as electronic voting machines and extensive postal voting - but who rigidly refuse to do anything about what seem to me the real reasons why people turn away from voting.

By that I mean, dodgy voting systems that mean that, for most people, they know that their vote can't make any difference at all, and also that minority positions can't get a look in; and especially in England, centralisation of power so that no matter how people vote locally, the central government make the decisions.

Attitudes summed up in such sayings as "no matter who you vote for, the government always gets in" and "of voting could really change things, they'd abolish it".

All of which said, I'm hoping Americans resist the very reasonable scepticism they must feel, and vote for whoever can get rid of Bush, which looks like Kerry. And I think most people around the world would share that hope.