Hear - Hear.!

Absolutely - it's not using the vote that concerns me, personally, the most. There's simply no good excuse not to in my (humble) opinion!

I totally agree that disillusionment, frustration and cynicism can so, so easily get the better of us all. But that simply has to be the kick that we use to spur us on to be more vocal, agitate for the change we want to see and get out and make a difference. For me, it's one of the cornerstones of what makes us who we are both individually and collectively as a nation.

True Graeme - I can clearly see your point in utilising the vote irrespective of what is on offer, as it was so hard fought for by the brave service-people who are and have sacrificed everything.

Although at times it's quite easy to unintentionally overlook and to miss that important point once you have become so disillusioned with the pathetic shambles that we currently have on offer.!

I suppose it will have to be the UKIP candidate then and Yes to AV.!

: - (

And that's exactly my point, exterminator: not using the vote is - for me - equivalent to standing idly by, watching and whistling and saying "it's nothing to do with me, guv".

Those servicemen and women who fought (and continue to fight) for our liberty deserve - at the very least - for each and every one of us to get up off the sofa and down to the polling station to do their civic duty. We can argue all we like about whether we have the quality of leaders available or not, but it's down to us to make the real difference at the end of the day.

I, for one, am proud of my grandfather who fought as part of the Eight Army in WWII and saw some of the biggest (and worst) conflicts of the war. I'm not for one minute going to let what he fought so hard for go to waste.

Graeme - Until we have the similar sort of common sense type of leaders like we used to have, namely - Sir Winston Churchill who listen and represent the best interests of the majority by actually putting their wishes into practice, then I currently cannot see the point in voting for what is usually on offer.

We as British citizens are all having to and are expected to tighten our belts even further whilst essential services are being cut back to absurd and unacceptable levels in certain cases. At the very same time as the magic, " We are all in this together " hypocritical speech was made.... this country still allows foreign migrants and their families who have never contributed anything to flood uncontrolled into an already overcrowded under-resourced small island that was once literally known as Great Britain, only to serve to further deny the people who were born and brought up here of the vital services that they have indeed made contributions towards.

To make matters worse this all takes place at the whim of unelected officials who are based in Brussels, while the average 'Joe public' has to endure being shafted once again due to the undemocratic and ludicrous interventions of these faceless officials. Then in their wisdom the so called leaders we currently have who sound like, but couldn't round up a herd of Sheep between them send our troops into Libya and other places, letting off waves of Tomahawk cruise missiles at around half a million pounds a go in salvo's of hundreds at any one given time, which we clearly cannot afford.!

Now call me misguided if you like; but it is my opinion that the brave servicemen of this Country who were regrettably killed and who valliantly died while fighting for a good cause to keep this once Gt. Britain free and democratic would turn in their graves.... if they could now see what a disgusting pathetic shambles of a Country this once Great Britain has now sadly been allowed to decay into.

I voted for AV in the end after changing my mind several times. What made my mind up was the way the No campaign were just attacking AV using dubious information, as well as the Tories making personal attacks on their coalition partners.This to me looked a desperate attempt to maintain a cozy status quo. David Cameron was elected leader of the Tories under an AV system, so if it good enough for the Tories to use to select a leader and potential PM, then why is it not a reasonable system to select an MP ?

As for local elections, this was a two party race in the main, so not much choice of politics. On one ballot paper there were 5 candidates and you had up to 5 votes ! How daft and indicates a lack of people putting themselves forward as candidates.

By, It's a good job Fliss isn't nearby at the moment: she'd be reminding you all that women have had the vote for less than a hundred years!

C'mon gents...democracy's a great thing, surely? Isn;t this what we really mean when we talk about freedom: having your say and being able to influence the direction the country is headed in. Okay, the system (and politicians) may be far from perfect, but we're holding only the second EVER nationwide referendum in our history today. At the very least, it's a chance to say whether you agree with the system or not.

Personally, I'm not keen on any of my local candidates - but I'll still vote and have that slight buzz of patriotism and satisfaction afterwards. For me, it's one of those important things that defines who we are and what we believe in...

There is more chance of Mohamed Al-Fayed receiving an invitation to the Royal wedding, than there is of getting me to vote in their farce of an election.

If the elections mean that much.... then let the prisoners decide the outcome, now that they have been awarded equal voting rights.

I always vote for an independent in local elections. The last time for a local builder and a couple of others who were campaigning on certain local issues.

I get fed up of the main political parties as they are different shades of the same sh*t.

When party candidates come to my door, I just tell them all that I will be voting for them, so when their staff see me attending to vote, they all think they have my vote.

I have, today, received through the post a couple of slips of paper with about 20 names on it - for my local elections which are being held on 5th May (same day as the AV) - the problem being that I, presumably like many others - have no idea who to vote for - only one candidate has, so far - even bothered to put a slip of paper through the letter box - with "what they stand for / promise to do for the local community"

So - guess what - I won't bother voting !!