I get the feeling from his postings that Piers is still quite young, therefore has not shared the same experiences that most of the other posters here have.

I remember the first time that the unemploymment figures went over 1 million. I was a part of those statistics for at least a year, more if you count the various 'training' schemes I was sent on that did nothing to give me a trade or a permanent job, but did take a lot of zeros off the number of those claiming benefits. I remember clearly what Thatcherism did to the social structure of Britain, and how her government decimated the Unions to the point where they were almost pointless. Her policies gave me and thousands of others in my agegroup, an unsettled and image-led adolescence, set unrealistic goals and emasculated the organisations that fought for the 'little person'. Her successor John Major did little more than provide a figurehead (or role model) for the cabinet to continue their creaming and sleazy behaviour. Experiences like that can change a persons viewpoint.

I'm not saying that the last 5 years have been all sweetness, light and fairy cakes, but it comes to the point where any alternative has to be better than what you have.

As for not voting - one of the adverts on UK TV shows clearly that if you don't vote, if you don't 'do politics', you have no right to complain about the way the world treats you.

If you think the Government sucks, do something about it. Become a Union Rep, take an interest in your local government issues, use your democratic right, the right that people died to win, to vote.

LTS