post democratic era

One of the defining characteristics of the current government (in my opinion) is that it is basically anti-democracy and this is being supported by the Tories and the Lib-Dems to quite a large degree. Peter Mandelson (remember him) has actually said we are in a "post democratic era" and one expression of this is the transfer of power away from democratically elected representatives to people appointed to committees and quangos who have never faced a vote in their lives.

Hartlepool has the “Hartlepool Partnership” A committee of the great and the good (Chaired by the MP) who exercise infinitely more power in Hartlepool than any elected Councillor. What about something like the Hartlepool Hospital Trust board, can you name any of them? All appointees! Regional assemblies, another example of an appointed body with tremendous powers that no-one has ever voted for. In 2004 80% of those who did vote in the Referendum on a North East Regional Assembly voted NO but the assembly is still there and still controlling our lives from behind the scenes. Hartlepool’s representative on the Regional assembly by the way is the Mayor....who has NEVER attended a meeting. Regional assemblies are going to be abolished in 2010 but the small print on the announcement was "abolished, in their present form" and something else will take their place which will allow the same unelected figures to continue making decisions for which they are not accountable to anyone other than the people who appointed them.

The government of the European Union is totally undemocratic and run on the patronage system. Don’t be fooled by the European Parliament or the MEP’s that we vote for every 5 years, these are just window dressing, the most powerful British person in the EU is our "Commissioner" and he is appointed by the Prime Minster for 5 years and cannot be removed until the 5 years is up. Our Commissioner, Peter Mandelson (remember him again) was appointed by Tony Blair and now that Blair has gone Mandelson effectively answers to no-one since Brown will undoubtedly appoint his own crony when Mandelsons's 5 years are up. (As an aside, after 5 years as a Commissioner it as good as automatic that Mandelson gets a seat in the Lords, the ultimate crony chamber. Being a Lord will mean he can be in the Cabinet, a Government Minister and wield power in Westminster without ever having to go through the inconvenience of facing a ballot box again in his life.).