> The detachment between people
> and politicians has reached hugely worrying levels, and that's something
> which needs to be urgently addressed by the major political parties really
> reconsidering the way they operate and present themselves, but I don't see
> any of the three major parties doing that at all. In most cases this will
> lead to a sullen "all politicians are bad" mentality, but it could lead
> to more support for the BNP - despite the fact that their level of sleaze,
> incompetence and nastiness dwarves that of the major parties.
>
> Matthew Huntbach

Do I detect, in the 'zeitgeist', a feeling that whereas, say, fifty years 
ago we relied on government to provide most of the important things in life, 
now it is apparent that we can do them for ourselves, and do them better 
too? Pensions, hospitals, schools, railways, even roads (just today I passed 
a sign on the M6 saying 'M6 Toll - Clear/M6 - Closed at Junction 8'). In the 
public eye, might that leave politicians of any kind in the position of 
burglars or extortionists - deleterious, harmful and unnecessary? I think 
politicians and parties will have to set their sights on higher things, and 
perhaps leave the nuts and bolts of day-to-day living to the people. The 
'detachment' Matthew detects between politicians and people is a symptom of 
the realization that 'state' and 'people' are no longer synonymous (if they 
ever were) but antagonists.

Nick Russell
Herefordshire