The end of democracy

This happened quite some time ago, but today's ruling by the government on adding a third runway to Heathrow is as good a symbolic date as any.

Here's the kind of country you and I live in:

• Thanks to our antiquated electoral system, your vote is not equal to mine. Based on the last election results, each Labour seat cost the government 26,300 votes. In contrast, each Liberal Democrat seat cost the party over 100,000 votes. This is a fundamental failing, which makes a mockery of our so-called democratic system.
• In 2000 Labour passed The Human Rights Act. This act makes it easy for the police to break up peaceful demonstrations under any pretext. This is the first step in a number of laws passed by this government that makes the country you and I live more like a police state every single day.
• Special interest groups have more direct access to the government than individual citizens. The more money you have, the more access you get through greater resources, never mind stuff that may or may not go on behind the scenes. Imagine that, where people like Rupert Murdoch, who is not resident in the UK and pays no tax, has more influence on government policy than any taxpayer.
• The decision to build a third runway at Heathrow was taken without consulting parliament. I was under the impression all laws had to be passed by parliament, but clearly when it suits this government it doesn't feel the need to consult the people via their MPs. Might also explain why Brown has decided to allow the runways to be extended even though that was not on the original plans. It seems our unelected leader doesn't feel bound by the law.

Personally I'm not surprised by any of this. When you consider the first point in the list, should we be surprised? We should certainly be angry, and at least this decision guarantees nothing (imagine this, me praying for a Tory victory next year so the whole scheme is scuttled!), but isn't it time the people of this so-called great nation woke up from their materialistic self-obsession and started guaranteeing the rights of their children to live in a genuinely free society?