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Democracy. What other system of government could you even think of? We Brits love our parliamentary democracy and we are fiercely proud of our ‘Mother of Parliaments’, a model of democratic government that has been exported over much of the world.

Today I received a “free” newspaper with the “Derbyshire FIRST” masthead. Yes, that’s it in the picture. I say “free” in quotes, because I quickly realised that it was my money (and yours) that was being used to produce it. And think, ‘produce’ means not just writing the content, taking the pictures, creating the layout, printing and distributing the paper.

The media is full of references lately to the ‘New Decade’. Every time I see it mentioned I think to myself “How can this be?” This is another of those times when I feel like I am the only one in step. Surely, if you start from ‘time zero’ the first decade would comprise years one through ten and only when year ten was out would a new decade begin.

Being the sad and lonely nerd that I am, I look forward eagerly to receiving emails from my many contacts around the world – well, South Derbyshire mostly. You may have noticed that I usually respond quickly if you are rash enough to email me. That’s because I sit here all day constantly checking my mailboxes to see if anyone has sent me a message. Well, they mean so much to me!

I first met Marjorie Briggs when I ordered some cards from her at an exhibition of the Ticknall Art Group some years ago. Learning that we were new in the village Marjorie turned up the next day with not just the cards, but also a delicious home made lemon sponge.