Who cares? We do! Perhaps the visiting speakers, Jim McGlyn and Geoff Munnery from the Referenda Society, got more than they were expecting from a highly motivated and well-informed group of sixth formers who articulated thoughtful and searching questions to widen the debate on direct democracy. The Politics and History students listened intently to the presentation and declared passionate interest in using their votes when they are able.

But are we any more than powerless bystanders once we’ve cast our votes? The speakers urged us to stand up against political exclusion. We should have a say in between the ballot boxes on decisions about everyday things that impinge on our lives. The European Union’s dominance on policy-making, they asserted, has enfeebled our elected representatives and resulted in lacklustre performances in debate and attempts at legislation.

In the aftermath of the expenses scandal, they said, we have had our minds concentrated on what parliament is, what it does and how it should be reformed. It forced us to ask a big question: is the representative system, as it stands, still fit to serve us in the 21^st century? Isn’t it time to find a way to bring people into parliament, to give the nation rights of access and participation? To look at finding our own model of Switzerland’s direct democracy?

Opinions about the age at which people should be entitled to vote in a referendum bounced round the Lecture Theatre, and we discussed parallels between the ripple effect of the advances made in the Industrial Revolution and today’s technological revolution, and the part that digital media might play. It gets my vote for an absorbing hour.