I've been sucked back into looking at the political stories of the day. It's doing my head in, I'm sick of it, yet still - I must WANT to punish myself. I've even toyed with the idea of joining a political party, something that I have always assiduously avoided. I'll know next week if that's something that I want to do - or not.

I believe that we are reaching the end of "Representative Democracy" in the form that it has taken over the past x hundred/s years. It appears to me to be self-evident that the incremental steps that lead to a huge shift in the shape of the world are about to reach a tipping point. That's big - isn't it? Yes and no. You see, I believe that there's more to this than our little problems here on the west coast of Europe. There are a few straws that I see floating in the wind, all pointing to one outcome, but I don't have the expertise or background to even verbalise these properly. Nevertheless, here are a few of those straws.

1. Something in my gut tells me that there's a symmetry to all things. The pendulum always swings - sometimes it's a backlash, sometimes imperceptively slowly. The trend has been towards globalisation, and I think that trend must now reverse. There will be many reasons; uncertainty and lack of confidence causing a fall-off in markets world wide, Peak Oil (probably), and many more that I don't understand.

So what is the reverse of Globalisation? I suppose that it must be Localisation. It was interesting reading David McWilliams blog tonight.
http://www.davidmcwilliams.ie/2010/09/27/recovery-is-going-to-be-local
Wierd to see your thoughts reflected in the writings of a well-known economist!

2. I think that IT and communications technology is going to cause as big a revolution as the printing press did in its time. News is now instant and interactive. We don't have the filter of journalists, broadcasters, etc. any more. DBT (Dan Boyle's Tweet) would be a good example. Mainstream media is now running to catch the coat-tails of 'new media'. The instant nature of new media is important, but it's that interactivity that's really key. Anybody with a computer can join in. Not just consuming the story, but telling it too.

There's more, but I'm tired. I think the answer is Participative Democracy - but I'm too tired to even try to explain. Leadership is required - leaders who are big enough to risk everything - failure especially.