At the age of 11, I borrowed a book by Mitchell hedges, whose daughter found the rock crystal 'Skull of Doom'. The book, entitled 'Danger My Ally', struck such a chord in me, especially the epilogue. From memory, it was along the lines that, if you are young and have enjoyed this book, then find your star and follow it, even if it costs you your life, you will be fulfilled. The sentiment is that we are all going to live and we are all going to die. I have never wavered from that advice and I'm still alive. It is how we choose to live our lives, however long or short they may be, that is the important question.

Thank goodness we are all different but still have the choice of direction we take in life. Somebody once said, "Give me a boy until he is seven years of age and I will give you the man." It is very important that some percentage of boys grow up to be careful adults, concerned about their futures and long term aims. Without timorous but intelligent 'jobs-worth' beasties, where would civil servants, for example, come from? Like the underlings of tyrannical despots, these individuals whose pensions are guaranteed, and whose salaries far exceed their usefulness, are always ready to bleat that they are only following orders.

Thank goodness, also, that there is always a bedrock of honest, decent people who go to the marketplace and offer themselves for any labour whatsoever, with a willingness to exchange 'a good day's work for a good day's pay'. These people are the backbone of a country and it's most important citizens. Whether sewing up cuts, mending bones or emptying dustbins; driving buses, digging coal from beneath the ground or flying airliners; entertaining, educating or reporting the news - all are gainfully employed and are infinitely more important than flashy, garish, power-crazed politicians who have but one ambition: to be a fatter cat than the next in line.

The only people happy with the status quo are the layabouts, unemployables, louts and lead-swingers (see the Guardian) whose votes have all been purchased at the tax-payer's expense. The new class of political elite consider all of us as their minions. Remember 'Metropolis'? We are expected to do as we are told. Eat your greens! Give us your money! Give us your lives and don't expect to receive a pension until you are at least seventy years old. Don't do as we do, do as we say!

Unfortunately for the politicians, the wheels are not just falling off their wagon, they are lying punctured miles behind it. Politicians have never been so bizarrely out of control. The method of fixing their problems is to produce a metaphorical whip and thrash us with more taxes, more lost freedoms and more bureaucracy, in the attempt to have us drag their worthless carcasses behind us. Not one of them will get off and help to give the bandwagon a push.

I believe the time has come for us to say "Enough!" Putting 82-year-olds into prison for refusing to pay council tax and, at the same time, allowing violent thugs, burglars and rapists to be released from prison early to alleviate overcrowding, will just not do. Let's vote for common sense, a concept long forgotten by all political parties. We should take a hint  from Charles de Gaulle, when it comes to capitulating to the European Union, and just say "Non!"