John Jackson (London, Charter88): The right of citizens to have a direct say about what is important to them, what should be done about it and by whom is marching to an increasingly strong beat. I hear it in the impulse to support the Citizen's Convention Bill here in the United Kingdom. The sound of citizenship is also echoing across Europe in popular demand for "citizen's initiatives". Did you notice their inclusion in the proposed new Treaty, in the list of topics subject to majority voting? Combined with the notion of a legal status for the European Union as such, I suspect this could have profound consequences. Whether you welcome it or not, the idea that "citizens of Europe" are members of a European state and should be able directly to have a say in the shape and nature of that state will grow (especially as the election of MEPs is a pretty remote process). A very long way down the road? Yes. Will it happen? Yes. Meaningful citizenship of a democratic Europe, written for the moment however tentatively, is on the map.
Closer to home - indeed, where your home is - the Sustainable Communities Bill seems almost certain to become law, despite the determination of Whitehall civil servants to scupper it. It makes possible a fundamental shift of power from central government to local communities and their local representatives. It is remarkable that the progress of such a radical piece of legislation, which is the result of a popular initiative then given parliamentary life by a Private Members' Bill with massive cross-party support in Parliament, has attracted so little attention by the national media. Or perhaps it is to be expected. Its sensationalism has deafened it to the real sounds of a popular mood that will shake the relationship the political establishment has to the rest of us for years to come.
