A reminder.

It was just a little over a year ago that the Conservative regime avoided accountability in the House of Commons by suspending parliament for the second time since coming to power. You will recall that just before the parliamentary break the House requested (and were refused) access to documents related to prisoner transfers in Afghanistan, and shortly after returning finally in late March the speaker ruled that they must be produced. That bit of 'accountability' STILL has not happened with a parliamentary committee STILL deciding what can and cannot be seen.

This year they have decided to return as normal after the Christmas break but are busy flooding the airwaves with partisan attack advertising previously only seen during election periods. Is this a step forward or backwards? Its hard to tell, but to my mind it does not bode well for our electoral system when the government of the day shows so little respect for both our duly elected opposition MPs and for our citizens who, it would seem, are expected to believe this crap.

A year later and so far as I can see our Parliamentary system is still 'non functional and still in 'crisis'!

With the ever increasing secrecy from this 'government', the latest being a completely closed door on information regarding the 'negotiations' regarding Trade and Border Security (previously known as the Security and Prosperity Partnership), we wonder what else they are hiding and whats coming next. One such thing is the budget and despite much posturing by all side there is no way of knowing if it will pass or if the public will have another shot at selecting a more accountable lot of MPs to 'serve' us (is that an oxymoron?). Should an election be called we have a real problem, that being does one vote for the man or woman, the party, the platform, past performance or what. Many will no doubt vote for 'none of the above' by failing to vote at all, although thats no solution I find it increasing hard to blame them, the choices are far from clear. I for one will vote for none of those currently with a seat in the HoC, they have all had their chance and failed miserably, its time for some new ideas and less jaded folks to have a go. We particularly need those that would seriously examine and consider changes to our electoral system (they have all said they would, but once in a position to do so totally caved and have done nothing) and respect and improve upon our parliamentary system and rules.

I see little hope of this actually happening but submit that the status quo where MPs vote like sheep with their party and around 20% of the adult population enable a handful of uncountable power hungry demigods to dictate the future of our nation is unacceptable.

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