We are fortunate to live in a democracy.  Winston Churchill expressed the view that "It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government - except all the others that have been tried”.  Democracy gives us a fundamental safeguard against oppression - if we really don’t like the Government we can throw them out.  Without violent uprising.  People fought and died for that right and even now not every country has it.   Even the UK did not get universal suffrage (an equal right for everybody to vote) until 1928 when women’s voting rights were made equal to those of men.  Or perhaps even later in 1970 when the age for voting was reduced to 18.

We don’t direct you to any websites or books on this subject.  Rather we advise you to get your kids used to reading a good newspaper or, better, several newspapers.  There’s really no limit to how deep an understanding they can go for but some of the basics are:-

• Understanding the differences between the parties and their policies
• The separation of powers – Parliament (legislative), government (executive) and the courts ( judiciary)
• Elections, voting, the Electoral Register
• The 5-year term of a government, the vote of no confidence
• National Government and local Councils
• Freedom of speech, freedom of the press
• The varying views and political stances of different newspapers
• European and international issues