The power of the internet to change people's lives, and more recently to topple dictators and corrupt governments is quite astonishing.
We have all watched in amazement, at the events unfolding in Egypt and the downfall of Mubarak is probably only one of many changes that are to come in the Middle East.
What we are witnessing is a clash of forces between the old order of autocratic rule sustained by state-controlled newspapers and other media, and the thirst for freedom of individuals and groups who communicate via the web.
Who knows where this may lead? It could even challenge the way that democracy operates in the UK and the West in general.
Here for example, why do we continue to adopt an archaic voting system? There is no longer any need to require voters to trail along to a polling booth to put a mark on a piece of paper on a single day. There are many other, perfectly secure electronic methods available.
Surely the time must not be too far off when our democracy truly embraces the 21st Century.
One place to start would be the House of Commons, and another would be Liverpool Town Hall and the other even more undemocratic local seats of power.
MPs waste hours of valuable time filing through the lobbies. It is amazing to watch. MPs can be sitting in a committee meeting, examining important evidence, the Division bell sounds, they trail off to vote and are away for half an hour or more. Idiotic!
At Liverpool Town Hall, so far as I can recall, most "decisions" are taken with councillors voting with a show of hands, unless there is a call for votes to be cast on paper.
Whether any real decision are taken at council meetings, held for some bizarre reason on a seven week cycle, is itself a matter for debate. Most decisions are taken under the "council cabinet" system, with this powerful cabinet meeting once a fortnight, under little real public scrutiny.
Other major areas of public works - police, fire service, transport and waste disposal - are all under the control of unelected committees. The members of these authorities are simply 'nominated' from the ranks of the local councils that made-up the long defunct Merseyside County Council.
It means that the chairman of the Merseyside Police Authority was elected by a few hundred voters in a seat in Knowsley, where anyone wearing a red rosette is sure to win.
This is completely undemocratic and it provides for very poor controls and governance.
If it were happening in Egypt or Tunisia it would be held-up as an example of what was wrong with the "one party state" rule that looks like being toppled by "people power".
Time then for some people power here. There is no need to re-instate the old County Council, but there is every reason why the members of the Merseyside Police Authority and the Merseyside Integrated Passenger Transport Authority etc should be directly answerable to the electorate, via an electronic voting system.
It would concentrate the minds of the chiefs of Merseytravel, when they come to impose a 10pence price hike in tunnel tolls, if they knew it was likely to produce a revolt at the electronic ballot box on the part the long-suffering electors and motorists of Wirral.
A velvet revolution that would see motorists staging a sit-down protest to block the entrance to the Birkenhead Tunnel, all of it orchestrated via Facebook and Twitter? Could it ever could happen?
Closure of the CUC in Liverpool - sad day
(Tue 03/01)
Banksy the religious bigot
(Thu 29/12)
The Big Yin is on his way... I can't wait
(Thu 10/11)
A tale of two museums
(Tue 30/08)
Rosie Cooper - we need more politicians like her
(Mon 06/06)
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