As the population ages, young people are being poorly served by the democratic process - and the answer is clearly to lower the voting age. To six.

That's the considered opinion of Professor David Runciman, head of politics at Cambridge University, who believes that with the young "massively outnumbered" by the ageing population, a democratic crisis is being created, with an inbuilt bias against governments that plan for the future.

The prof thinks children as young as six should be given the vote in order to right this democratic wrong.

Of course they should! Thanks to technology, most six-year-olds are as much clued up about the ways of the world as your average 50-year-old, so will of course be able to give their considered opinions on such matters as Brexit, HS2, the defence of the realm and social care.

Locally, I'm sure our tots would be far more interested in the county council's fiscal plan regarding pothole repairs than in how much the Tooth Fairy will be stumping up for their next wobbly incisor; and with Christmas approaching, they will be wrestling with whether the winter fuel payment to the elderly should be means-tested, rather than wondering how Father Christmas is going to get their new bike down the chimney.

It's a marvellous thought, isn't it - giving six-year-olds the vote - and one that could only have come from a member of the liberal elite, who perhaps (and I'm only guessing here) hasn't spent quite as much time in the real world as he should.

The Labour Party must be delighted at the prospect of votes for the under-10s; after all, it's long-proven that the younger you are, the more likely you are to be a socialist, so enfranchising children would be Christmas come early for Jeremy Corbyn. And the little ones are bound to vote for him because he looks a bit like Father Christmas.

But imagine the scenes in our polling stations. Parents surely wouldn't be able to resist inflicting their voting preferences on their offspring. "Look, Johnny, I know you can't read yet, so just place a big cross HERE and then I'll take you to McDonald's. Good lad. Six nuggets or 12?"

Recalcitrant kids who don't do what they're told could be threatened with all sorts of sanctions. "You voted for a TORY? Right, you're grounded for the next two months - and no CBeebies for the next week."

Yes, something tells me that lowering the voting age to six wouldn't be without its problems. It's undemocratic, it would lead to bribery and bullying; and the young voters would have no meaningful say in the democratic process, despite the promises of their parents. We've already got the EU for all that - let's leave our voting system to the grown-ups. It's all working perfectly at the moment...