In democracy's name, I was forced to watch the first hour of the closing ceremony to the Commonwealth Games.

I was recording the second and final part of The Blitz on the ABC, which was to finish at 8:25, but the ceremony was scheduled to begin at 8 PM on Channel Eddie. Based on experience, I protested that the first half hour would be back-slapping babble with the presenter and various sports stars and that the actual ceremony would not start until 8:30 or later. But no, democracy would prevail: the television set belonged to the family, not just me. I had to stop recording The Blitz.

So we watched, not thirty minutes, but around 40 minutes of back-slapping babble with the presenter and various sports stars before the ceremony began. This does not include several commercial breaks, which of course went on and on and on.

During the national anthem, we were blessed with a view of British PM Tony Blair and Our Own John Howard standing with the throng. I was accused of being boring when I sniped that here were two-thirds of the axis of evil responsible for the deaths of over 100,000 Iraqis because of their toadying to George W. Bush's illegal invasion.

One of our family, who is learning Italian, said: "Ma sta zitto, scemo!" This lovely phrase, I was told later, meant: Put a sock in it, idiot! *

Oh, I tried not to ruin the moment, but the MCG's sound system was so bad we could barely hear the rock bands and Paul Kelly. As for the on-field entertainment, meh. Nothing will ever top the truly awesome opening ceremony of the Olympics in Sydney -- possibly the greatest spectacle of all time --and this one was only slightly better than your usual half time silliness at an Aussie Rules grand final.

My sniping finally resulted in the storming out of the lounge room of this family's devotee to democracy.

As I was right on every count, the only conclusion to be reached is that democracy is only as good as the total awareness of each citizen as to what the bloody hell is going on just about everywhere.

After one or two seconds of remorse, I continued to watch a film I had started earlier in the afternoon, Death and the Maiden, which dealt with Sigourney Weaver's revenge over Ben Kingsley's state-ordered torture of her during Pinochet's dictatorship. I put the film on pause long enough to snipe at democracy's representative, now in the kitchen furiously ironing: "This film is about Pinochet, so admired by Margaret Thatcher who in turn is John Howard's ideal. Shall we go back to the Commonwealth Games?" The kitchen door was slammed shut.

OK, I'm an arsehole who won't give an inch. Which is why we have very few friends and the rellies only tolerate me on Boxing Day.

So, the Games are over, with Australia winning some 35,425,398 medals and the other countries getting some too. Too bad about the defectors from Sierra Leone, Tanzania and Bangladesh. They picked the wrong country. You can just hear the razor wire vibrating in the wind and the iron gates creaking open to welcome them to their newfound hell.

On a positive note, there was a tremendous amount of goodwill generated. The free cultural arts festival that accompanied the games was an astounding success. The volunteers at both events worked their arses off and they, far more than the sports stars, represent the true face of humanity. Given half a chance, people prefer the spirit of community to aspirational greed. Today's parade in their honour in downtown Melbourne is a fitting tribute.

After that, it's back to business. And I do mean business, as business rubs its sweaty, puffy little hands over the new workhouse legislation which goes into effect today.

* The "Italian-learner" first saw this phrase in Gabriella Coslovich's Home and its half-truths