Madam, – Ostracism was the ancient Athenian method of banishing a public figure for up to 10 years. The voting procedure involved writing the name of the person you wished to be ostracised on a piece of broken pottery. One person each year was allowed to be selected for ostracisation.
Wouldn’t it be a fantastic exercise in democracy if we could resurrect this practice? The entertainment value alone would surely increase our rating on the International Happiness Index and the increased tax revenue generated through the inevitable betting frenzy is badly needed. The only problem I can envisage is how to narrow the shortlist. – Yours, etc,