with Tom Smith

How much do you value your freedom? I don't mean the right to go where you like and see and talk to whom you want. I mean the right to think the unthinkable, the right to oppose, the right not to conform.

If you did not have that freedom, how much would you pay to get it? There are places around the world where such freedom can only be imagined, places where democracy is merely a word in a dictionary.

Whoever thinks that the overthrowing of Stalinist Communism has put an end to tyranny and oppression is seeing the world through rose coloured glasses. Reports in last week's Sunday papers suggest that the regimes in Saudi Arabia are illegally detaining the family of a witness, pressurising him not to give evidence in a British case.

Also, the people of China, for all their economic progress, continue to face stringent penalties should they criticise or in any way oppose the absolute rule of the Chinese Communist Party.

Did you know that anyone convicted of Christian Evangelism in Pakistan was subject to severe criminal punishment?

Iran, for all the attempts of its liberal president, continues to operate a hard-line Muslim government. I could go on and on ..Libya, Turkey, Iraq, Sudan.

Yet, how do we treat our freedom, or democracy? Might I suggest we treat it with contempt and generally take it for granted.

We tend to forget that at the beginning of this century, universal suffrage for those over 18 was thought unnecessary and probably harmful. A general election is counted successful when 60 per cent of the electorate casts its vote and local elections would see a fair turnout with 40 per cent. What a shambles!

In my opinion it should be a legal requirement for everyone to vote at every election, with those not able to vote being strictly vetted for their reasons.

Our democracy is not so well established that we should not treat it with TLC. The kind of Parliamentary democracy we live under is not subject to the checks and measures that exist, say, in the United States of America.

Lord Hailsham, in 1976, referring to the government with a huge majority, warned of an elective dictatorship. What is to stop this New Labour government, if it so wished, making law measures which would be totally unpalatable to the vast majority of the British electorate. The Tories tried this with the Poll Tax.

But, to return to my first paragraph. Does society allow us to think the unthinkable? I believe not. It laughs at and ridicules those who propose radical change. Have we the right to oppose? This is becoming increasingly difficult with big business and mega-money controlling so much of what we do. Have we the right not to conform?

Power rests with the establishment, and, as always, those who have the power dislike having it removed or reduced in any way. It is all too easy to say that we live in a democracy and our freedom is assured.

Let us learn the lessons of WWII and treat our liberty like a fine porcelain figure: fragile and endued with great beauty.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.