I’ve always been a bit of a fan of public debate. In the England we have Speakers Corner in Hyde Park where debate is encouraged. Other countries have similar things.

Today I cam across www.changethis.com where people propose a new manifesto, people vote on their proposal. If there is enough interest they get to write their manifesto. The thing about a manifesto, though, is that this is no short sound-bite about an idea. If you write a manifesto you have to think it through and provide your reasoning.

This is a great idea.

So much of our media is taken up with completely misleading sound-bites based on prejudice and assumption. We need to have these prejudices and assumptions challenged if we are going to change, and they aren’t challenged in 5 seconds on the news. It requires some effort on our behalf, but it has got to be worth it in the long-run.