Democracy is nothing special. Remember that when the Unionists ruled the roost in Ulster for fifty years, that was democracy. When Thatcher/Reagan made it fashionable, as it still is, to give to the haves and take from the have-nots, that was democracy (the haves were in the majority, and the have-nots don't vote).

So from that self-satisfied posting by Mrzzy and LJ's comments, I think we can safely assume that neither is black, and neither is one of America's millions of have-nots.

OK, so you've recognised some shortcomings LJ. But with one in 20 black Americans in jail, that wouldn't be difficult. But what about this: police states don't have independent judiciaries. Neither does America. Mandatory sentences are judgments imposed by here-today-gone-tomorrow politicians. They are an abuse of democracy, just as a franchise based on land ownership was an abuse of democracy in Northern Ireland.

I wouldn't mind so much about the shortcomings in Britain and the USA if it wasn't for the hypocrisy. In Britain, it took most of the 20th century and a mountain of incontrovertible evidence to prove that there could be such a thing as a miscarriage of justice. Now it seems like every lifer turns out to be innocent after 10-20 years inside. Thank God we didn't hang 'em all. Only some.

American politicians, for their part, clamoured for an international court of justice, but backed off with alacrity when they realised that its jurisdiction could extend to US citizens. That would never do, because US justice is the best. What?