|
|
|
|
Renewing participatory democracy Multiple Differential Uncertainty
|
Week 16  Apart from reminding you of the Royal
Mail DIY fun-stamps currently on sale, let me acknowledge, yet again, the quality of theEarly Easter departures
Edwina Welsh Assembly Elections are in full swing, here in Wales - I love canvassing,
whether
by phone (tele- canvassing is now an important dimension of the campaign)
and on the doorstep (which is more time-consuming). Edwina
Hart, the "Welsh Chancellor" is our candidate for
the Gower Constituency,
and a popular local "favourite daughter" -
 Labour's principal task,
of course, is to resist the advance of Plaid Cymru
(pronounced Cum-rie, with first-syllable stress..)Driving under the Clyde Driving under the Clyde this week (as y'do..) I suddenly noticed that my mobile phone was working perfectly as my taxi went through the Clyde road-tunnel in Glasgow, my favourite UK city (after London, that is..) And on that very day the FT reported that Vodafone were in negotiation with Network Rail to extend coverage through all Network Rail tunnels - as a time-served workaholic communicator, that moment cannot come soon enough for me...
My New Party Line.. I have been struggling
I say now that separation of roles would be preferable. Each element should be given its own "power sector", with the work of Government and Opposition left to the salariat, allowing the volunteers to assume exclusive responsibility for the life of the Labour Party "in the country".
Budget Footnotes Budgets invariably throw up basic statistics which are difficult to come by, at other times of year - City in turmoil... they're missing the point Our
"City" institutions continue in turmoil. Board interests struggle to
protect their absolute, secretive power over company resources. The
regulatory agencies are getting tougher, with their threats of intervention,
forced disclosure, bugging, telephone-tapping - it's getting nasty.
But
they're missing the point. Tinkering will achieve nothing. The
doors of the Secret City must be thrown open, and the light of publicity let
in. This will require radical reform of company law, and would have to
be tackled by international agreement.
Keeping up
And he leant too far. The High Court too often calls in the doctrine of the "confidentiality" of property to protect public figures, when the Judges want to avoid the pitfalls of "privacy law" reasoning.
Budget Hoot!
Does politics mirror war?
Charitable Loos...
Psst! Can I interest you Annette Carson
One pleasure of web-logging is that of checking on ones own consistency over time, although one also may stand accused of E-narcissism. But on 12 May 2002, I was much exercised by the privatisation of Airport Rescue Services - what has happened to that important PFI question? Try BBC News, the public service website for the best and quickest access to the news, as well as a huge political data resource, the BBC is unbeatableFollow my August 2002 Russian Tour Diary, now unfolding in splendid technicolor - capacity problems have so far limited the scale of how much I can E-publish, but there is still plenty to read - St Petersburg Novgorod Moscow Tallinn (2) Special Footnote I love the online newspapers, which are my access to the world - share them with me - click through to their Homepages from here -
Diary 2002 Now up to date! I have re-structured my Diary to give you a day-to-day means of looking back, throughout the year
Week 16
|
|
T Is Blair on a roll? Rumours are circulating that Tony Blair will go for a second pre-emptive strike, back his own judgment, and call a snap Euro Referendum, whatever Gordon Brown thinks. Peter
Mandelson has been doing the TV interview rounds, indicating such a possible
turn of events. Denis MacShane, the pro-Europe Foreign Office
Minister, has long predicted such an outcome. And given the euphoria
of his "win" in Baghdad, that must be thinkable, for Blair.
The political risks would be enormous. But the temptation to over-rule Brown must nevertheless be huge. For the strategy, if successful, would put Blair back on track as a European statesman, and ensure his confirmation in UK office for another six years.
Budget Nuggets
I now deliver to that promise.
I thought this was a great Budget, both principled and pragmatic, laying the ground for a strong pitch for the Premiership before the Autumn...
We continued to stand vigil, last Saturday 12 April, before Swansea Quaker Meeting House - with a range of denominations (although our regular Morning Star seller was on the London March...) "Victory" in Baghdad does nothing to moderate my condemnation of the unilateral, pre-emptive, aggressive deployment of massive military force against Iraq. It was an unmitigated international wrong. For those concerned with the rule of international law, the problem is that most justice is victors' justice, and the Baghdad aftermath is no exception. As a lawyer, I am deeply ashamed at the way in which my leading colleagues have all faded into the background, gone to ground.
March of the Abdroids
Budgets always throw light on corners of the economy that ordinary reporting does not reach. And I can now reveal that this Budget will allow battalions of abdroids to march in and take over Lloyds of London, bestowing limited legal liability upon its huddled masses. How will Gordon use his magic wand to achieve this?
 Dear Ian...
Beware government collapse Has anybody noticed? David Walker, writing in the Guardian, sounded a warning this week, one of profound importance.
As one who is dedicated to the cause of strong local, community government, this is very bad news indeed. Our children could face the meltdown of a great English tradition, decimated by the voracious power hunger of Westminster and Whitehall. Subtle Squeeze Did you know that UK rail operating costs were £9 billion-a-year, of which only £5bn comes from all fares, taken together? The annual Government subsidy remains stubbornly high, at £2.5bn - leaving a
£1.5bn annual shortfall.
Transport Minister Alistair Darling, I forecast, will refuse to pay up, and
will keep the squeeze on Network Rail. The result will be network
reductions all round.
Police not War 
It must be clear that conventional "war" - the waging of a unilateral,
pre-emptive aggressive war, has now become impossible.
Transparency is killing off war.
Just as duelling and prize-fighting have been prohibited in every
ordered and peaceful society, warring-between-nations will also be prohibited.
I don't know when - but that will happen.
The absurdity of "world hegemony"
will be exposed.
Try BBC News, the public service website
Other recent topics
And read my own Big Theory itself, at
|
|||||||
|
Created by GMID Design & Communication COPYRIGHT NOTICE
|
New
That was what the Judge did in the
case of Naomi Campbell, remember? He held that she
had not been libelled, but that her actual medical records were
"confidential information", and that confidence had been abused.
In this case, Lindsay J has ruled that, by selling the wedding photo-rights
to a magazine, the Joneses had converted the wedding into an item of
commercial property.
I am sure
you will want to
keep in touch with what Steve Bell is drawing, in
The UK Court of Appeal verdict is now awaited by hundreds of thousands of UK
pensioners living abroad, deprived of their Old Age pension entitlement.
I think they will be
disappointed, sadly. My E-debate with James Nelson, the actuarial brain
behind the Australian pensioner campaign, continues over the Web, and has
been most stimulating. I have caused some affront, I think, with my
unvarnished Opinion - 
N
I
promised to return
selectively to three themes of Gordon Brown's Budget last week, once the
dust had settled - mortgages, immigration, and "Baby Bonds".
