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 New
Living Diary
Index
Renewing
participatory democracy
"Tame
the Corporations!"
My Little Red Book
A
New
Socialist Settlement
Globalise the Left!
Bevan
Re-visited
Multiple Differential Uncertainty
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0142 Make sure you have not missed the previous edition
Check
it out
And the one
before that?
Other recent topics
highlighted here
Week 45 Saturday
8 November 2003
Political Management
v Civil Liberties
My daughter Katharine replies
 I
confess - I am a hopeless mixture of libertarian and authoritarian.
I confess to being, by intellectual orientation, an "organiser", a manager - and I
consider the "good society" can be realised only by the deployment of
organisational skills of a very high order (= "politics"). On the other hand, I
do have a keen sense of the limitations
that should be placed upon "the State" in the pursuit of managerial
intervention. I explored these dilemmas,
earlier this week.
But my daughter
Katharine finds my " managerialism"
unacceptable, and argues for a much more radical view of the Government's
oppressive conduct at the London Arms Fair.
The
Secretary's Dilemma
 Let there be
no mistake. The early resignation of David Triesman from
his top Labour Party post is very bad news indeed for Blair. Triesman
joined after the last Election, as the new General Secretary,
and had not yet led the Party in electoral combat. Yet he is clearly
disillusioned with the Party's lack of influence in Downing Street.
Triesman has clearly suffered the same sidelining as the rest of us in the
Labour rank and
file. We are surplus to Blairite requirements.
So I cannot pretend to be surprised at his
departure. But next Saturday 8 November I shall be
working a a re-draft of the Party Constitution, with the aim of resolving
the Triesman Dilemma.
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My Revolutionary
November
1
November: I had a
fascinating day with
Labour Reform
colleagues at LSE - we are planning a major international
initiative to get to grips with company law reform, on the necessary
global scale - I shall be reporting
further progress with the
Company
Reform Coalition.
8
November: Work with Cardiff Labour colleague to draft amendments to the
the Labour Party Constitution, to create new Party structures, new roles
for the
"Party in the country".
22 November:
Founding Meeting, back home in Swansea, for the creation of a new, third, legal
profession, the Public Advocates.
29 November
In Cardiff - All-Wales Fabian Conference - experimental
member-involvement format, with ten participating speakers from Fabian
rank-and-file - I am committed to the re-invigoration of ordinary
political discourse.
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Unknown Doctor
A new voice penetrated the dark debate
about asylum-seekers this week, It was from an anonymous GP, writing
in The Times on 28 October. His account was perceptive, sensitive. generous,
imaginative - and liberal.
Single
Human Rights
Commission
The Government has finally opted for a single Commission, after many
months of "consultation".
That was its own original proposal. The separate race, gender and disability
commissions will be combined, together with a new originating jurisdiction
to uphold the Human Rights Act 1998 - that is very good news.
I am inclined to think that
opposition to the mergers will fade away. For my part, I certainly did
not welcome the prospect of having four different bodies,
all with overlapping jurisdictions.
Together, these jurisdictions reflect a broad contemporary understanding
both of individuality and equality. They have huge civilising
potential. They are the intellectual raw
material, from which the politics of the 21st century will be fashioned.
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Vitriol, Welsh
style
If you like a
little vitriol with your coffee, Hywel Williams' sustained vitriolic attack on Dylan Thomas
will do nicely. It takes a gifted Welshman to put our national cariacature
firmly in his place. Dylan Thomas has been responsible, perhaps more
than any other man, for the ruthless lampooning which prevents any real
appreciation - by the English - of the originality, the creativity and
the energy of the Welsh.
This Christmas 1st from the Royal Mail puts up a fine show - but what is it?
Does anyone have a clue?
Housing
Troubles ahead
for Labour
UK housing is in crisis.
"Shortage" fuels a price storm, triggered by low interest rates.
There is very little building other than for private sale for
owner-occupation. And even Labour's most recent designations
of residential land in southern England will fail to address the problem.
How has this
happened? The systemic governmental faultlines run
very deep indeed, and have crippled both Tory and Labour governments.
I should know. In the
1970s, I had the opportunity of serving the Labour Government
(Minister: Tony Crosland) as its Industrial Adviser on Construction.
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Remember
my chat
with TB?
My imaginary
chat with TB struck a chord
with my old leftwing friend and sparring-partner Michael McCarthy -
but
not the right one! He accuses me of failing to
understand the true issues between Labour and the Meeja, of being gullible
and naive - at least that's how I feel,
when confronted by those, like Michael, who perceive political strategems in every corner, in every shadow. I think I favour cock-up
theories, bumbling incompetence, ill-considered half-baked strategies -
they seem to me to be the norm...
I
enjoy dipping into informed US West Coast chat, always
up to the minute, which can be found at
www.metafilter.com.
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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 - I have
added the English-language China Daily ... and I now offer you the leading
English-language Indian paper The Hindu.
They are all
just a click away.
Daily Telegraph
Independent
The
Times
New York Times
Le Monde
Die Welt
Moscow
Times
China
Daily
The Hindu
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to top
One year ago
As a political activist, this time of
year has its own excitement for me - anticipation of the Queens Speech,
the Government's attempt to "set the political agenda" for the coming year
- these are the things I was thinking and writing about at the end of
October, 2002...
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Dear Roger
Congratulations on having
picked up on Emmanuel Todd. His new book "Apres l'Empire",
prophesying the decline of America, is the
best on what is currently going on.
I am proud to be a
fifth-generation Mauritian, and I write on behalf of many in the Indian
Ocean who are fed up with the policy of the present US Administration. We
have lived here - with Muslims, Hindus, and many other groups - for over
200 years, and we have never had a problem. The US is presently -
and illegally - using Diego Garcia to bomb civilians in Iraq. This
is where we cannot agree. We agreed with the war to liberate Kuwait
- but not with the blatant breach of international law which is now going
on.
Emmanuel Todd is
into the wider picture.
It is surprising
that his book has not yet been translated into English, as it is the text-book
of Russian and German strategists. I do not know Mr Todd – but I know for
sure that Vladimir Putin has
read a private translation - and that Todd’s
views are widely taken into account in Berlin.
Best - Louis Hein de Charmoy
Exeter College, Oxford, studying Politics Philosophy and Economics
 The countdown to Christmas is firmly
underway, with the Post Office selling its "Christmas" stamps.
Nothing conventional, though, about the puzzling combination of crystalline forms
which will adorn our mail for the next eight weeks!
Are there
prizes, for the first identifications?
The Strange Death
of Liberal England
This has been a dark week. I am dismayed
at the erosion of liberal values in our society. It is deeply
distressing to me that Michael Howard has been installed as Tory Party leader, to
reinforce the
illiberal drift of our society. The three pillars of oppression -
the "war on drugs", the "war on terrorism" and the "war on migrants" - are
grinding down the decent liberal instincts of a society of which I was
once very proud.
- The fight back, to re-establish elementary decency
in our social and political relations, will be a long haul. But we
have a duty to embark upon it.
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For those of you who follow
these things - I am delighted to report that the hit-count for this
website remains healthy, even with the falling interest in Emmanuel Todd.
The figure for the month of October was -
1159
Re-thinking
Political Parties
Recent Tory events have shown clearly that UK “Party democracy” took a
wrong turning in the 1980s. The mistake was to give “Party members” the
power to select a parliamentary leader. All three major Parties went down
the same experimental path, albeit with different formulae.
For the
Tories, it led to the disastrous selection of Duncan Smith, from which the
Party still suffers. Labour limited the experiment by giving Party
members only one-third of the voting-weight, and using the trade union
fixers to stop them doing any damage to the interests of the
salariat. Labour Party rank-and-file members have since been held
down, firmly under the heel of the professionals. The time has come to
put all these mistakes right.
Groups of elected representatives should all elect their own “Leaders”,
for the conduct of business within their legislatures (whether at
Westminster,
Cardiff Bay, Holyrood or Stormont).
They are peculiarly well-equipped to choose their own team captains, and
should not have leaders foisted on them by others. And the “parties in
the country” should be free to elect their own Presidents, hold their own
Conferences, and develop their own policies, free from direction by
the salariat. We need a looser, friendlier relationship between
the salaried career politicians and the wider Party membership – within
every Party.
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We need
a
far better
Census
Numbers matter.
Our understanding of many political issues is conditioned by the numbers
which are presupposed. If those are wrong, it is easy for everyone
to leap to the
wrong conclusion.
Events this week
have focused attention on the inadequacies of the 2001
Census. A recount has been ordered, of several city-centre local
authorities, following years of protest. In the screening of the
awful Secret Policeman TV-documentary, the "Pakis" were seen
as taking over the country. David Blunkett's "amnesty" of 17,000
long-stay families seeking asylum was exaggerated, out of all proportion
to the demographic facts.
back
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 "I
used to think of you as a very small Manager..." The Internet has happily reminded me of the remarkable
talent of the cartoonists for Krokodil, the Russian satirical magazine of the 1960s...
"The Secret Policeman"
The greater truth
 This great
documentary had a devastating effect on all those who saw it. Not
since
Kathy Come Home
can TV have made such a course-changing impact upon
our public life.
The true
lessons are not, however, about "racism" at all - I experience comparable
racist language in many other walks of life, even around the Boardroom
table, and I find it deeply distressing. The true lessons should lie
in a better understanding of the
character of police forces as such.
Drop me a line
Turnover growing
Great news of growing turnover from Remploy. This Government agency still owns 80 working factories
throughout the UK, and increased its commercial turnover last year by 5%.
Younger generations may well not appreciate the
strengths of this great socialist innovation of 1947. In the
immediate aftermath of war, it represented a great act of faith, creating
special-purpose environments in which those with disabilities (then,
often war-related) could earn a decent living doing productive work in
an environment adapted to their needs. Brilliant new management
methods were devised, to regulate the conduct of "fair trade" between
Remploy and mainstream firms.
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 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 unbeatable. We must never lose sight of the
distinctive qualities, and unique potential, of public service
institutions.
My diary
Now up to date (well,
more or less...)
I have re-structured my Diary to give you a day-to-day means of looking
back to January 2002 -
just
click through
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to top
Never miss Steve Bell!
His cartoons, from
The
Guardian
- his wit and perception
illuminate the absurdities of the political scene...
Recent topics
Economies to be responsive >>>
The Spin is in the Media...
...not in the
Message
>>>
Immigration Some Blunkett advances >>>
How to organise
the Police
>>>
Smacking children is
barbaric >>>
Judges rule OK
>>>
Missing liberal sensibilities >>>
Planning system in
disarray >>>
Robin Cook: No
Way Forward >>>
Judges curb
litigiousness
>>>
Blair could
implode >>>
International
community links >>>
And read my Big Theory itself, at
Multiple Differential
Uncertainty...
Or try my snappier and more practical analysis of the Corporations
and the Left
Coming to Terms
back
to top
0142 Make sure you have not missed the previous edition
Check
it out
And the one
before that?
Other recent topics
highlighted here
Week 45 Saturday
8 November 2003
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