I don't hold with the concept of compulsory voting at all, but we should always vote. I've just voted in our trade union elections for a new deputy general secretary (a couple of months ago it was for a new general secretary). It's all done by post, the union tries very hard to let us know what the candidates are like and what they stand for, but the turnout is always abysmally low. Low turnouts are not only a blight on the democracy that we're still allowed to have (watch out...) but they also give our political enemies grist to the mill. I always scrutinise the candidates' election statements with a fine-tooth comb and try to pick out the real lefties who I can vote for. This month I can "celebrate" my 50-year membership of the NUT/NEU (our main teachers' union). As a retired member I can still vote for our leaders but can't get involved in decisions about industrial action (and my fees are a lot lower!)

Our system in democratic countries means that we elect politicians who are forced to appeal to us for their votes, and we do not appoint instead faceless bureaucrats. We do need people to run the country and, with a million caveats, we have to cut them some slack. But the keynote of democracy is that we able also to ruthlessly hold them to account. If you haven't voted, you lose the moral right to do that (though who knows whether you've voted or not...) So I think we should always vote, even it it means holding our noses.