You know, I find that political involvement in the UK boils down to the same thing: "come down to <obscure place> to canvass for <obscure candidate> and help us win the by-election". I somehow find the idea of knocking on doors of people I don't know and are not even my neighbours to ask them to vote for someone I know close to nothing about other than they are members of my same party strangely unappealing.

Of course, political involvement in Spain where we don't have single-seat constituencies but party lists is even poorer around elections - though we seem to have a thriving culture of public demonstrations. The problem with that one is that when it gets too big it gets coopted by the politicians. When there are massive demonstrations after a deadly attack by ETA and government representatives are at the front of it, it makes you wonder who the government is appealing to... themselves?

When the capital development of a country becomes a by-product of the activities of a casino, the job is likely to be ill-done. — John M. Keynes