ALL things considered – and there are a lot of bad things to be kept in mind - I like being British so I am at a loss to understand why some people are intent on leaving this great family of ours. But there are those who would like nothing better, it see

ALL things considered - and there are a lot of bad things to be kept in mind - I like being British so I am at a loss to understand why some people are intent on leaving this great family of ours.

But there are those who would like nothing better, it seems. They want to go back many centuries to a simpler age, although I bet they would be loath to give up all the modern facilities they enjoy now.

I have received a missive telling me that, as disillusionment with the conventional political, economic and social systems of the United Kingdom reach unprecedented levels, people in the 20 counties of the Midlands and Central England - which includes Comet country - are increasingly registering as citizens of Mercia (which doesn't actually exist, of course).

They are acknowledging the Constitution of Mercia as the ultimate legal authority in the region, meaning that they regard themselves as sovereign rather than the monarch.

This sounds like revolution to me but it has been done very quietly so far. I've seen nothing on the news and failed to hear a single mention of it in Parliament.

Perhaps Gordon Brown, David Cameron and Nick Clegg are not too bothered just yet.

After all, across those 20 wide, well populated counties, only a touch over 2,000 people have declared themselves ready to become Mercians (I presume that is the right term for such folk). Interestingly, a whopping 89 are from Hertfordshire and 75 from Bedfordshire.

Their aims and ambitions are a mystery (at least they are not mentioned in the press release). All could become clear next week when The Acting Witan of Mercia, which is spearheading the drive to achieve the re-establishment of the de facto independence of the region, is hosting a free conference on the future of said region. It is in Stoke-on-Trent but I won't bother telling you where exactly because I can't imagine many of you would want to attend.

What you may find interesting if you like obscure facts is that witan were members of the witenagemot, the supreme council of England in Anglo-Saxon times, composed of the bishops, the ealdormen of shires and a number of the king's friends and dependents.

Come to think of it, perhaps I will unstable the horse and trot along to find out what is going on. It sounds like there could be some real characters there.

It is more likely that I will travel to the Royal Observatory in Greenwich in May when a new attraction, Violent Universe, will be unveiled. It sounds fascinating, spotlighting the intense forces which shape the cosmos, from super-massive black holes which can rip vast swathes of stars into tiny atoms to supernovae (exploding stars) which are unimaginably powerful explosions which scatter their atoms throughout space.

It is reckoned many of the atoms in our bodies were forged deep in the heart of a star before being jettisoned out into space in a supernova. Just think about that before deciding if you are really interested in becoming a citizen of Mercia. The idea does rather pale into insignificance.