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Diary in date order Jan 2002 to date
but you also find this search
engine useful, in keeping track of events
Renewing
participatory democracy
My Little Red Book
A
New
Socialist Settlement
Bevan
Re-visited
Multiple Differential Uncertainty
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040621 Make sure you have not missed
the previous edition
Check it out
And the
one before that?
Other recent topics
highlighted here
Week
26 Sunday
27 June 2004
Smacking
is barbaric
 There
are some subjects which I find beyond argument. I cannot
accord any weight to the insubstantial arguments in defence of the "reasonable
chastisement" of children by their parents. This week's
House of Lords debate again casts my Government in a very bad light
indeed, as guilty of superficial populism and moral cowardice. My
website "record" on this subject goes back two-and-a-half years, when I
still hoped that Labour would take action, and show a moral lead.
Progressive Dissociation
 My idea
for the EU
 The
EU needs radical innovation.
The new “Constitution” already seems old-fashioned, obsolete before the ink has
dried. Our politicians are playing games with the model of the old-style
unitary federal state, and the negotiations have been difficult because their blueprint is
already out-of-date. Indeed, the very idea of “passing laws” to be
implemented, at the same time and in the same form, for 25 nation-states, is
inappropriate - it does not meet the requirements of this key international
institution.
New creative thinking is needed.
 It is the job of politicians to devise
institutional forms which give expression to the views of their peoples. And the current wave of Euroscepticism –
while I do not share it, and consider it to be
ill-informed and unimaginative – is running very strongly indeed.
My idea? Progressive Dissociation.
Read all about it!
NB I remain convinced of my analysis.
There will be no
Referendum. Even
under all the pressure of the last few days, Blair has not once used the
word "Referendum" - he says merely that "the people must decide". I
am convinced that he is keeping open the option of calling an early General
Election, with "Europe" (Constitution and Euro) folded into his campaign
for a Third Term. Indeed, that would now seem to be his
only chance of winning
the day....
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Labour Party
Reform
I confess that I take "Constitutions" seriously, as with my suggestion
for the EU Constitution, above. But this weekend I returned
to North Cardiff (pic is the massive, beautiful Caerphilly Castle...) to
advocate
Labour Links'
proposed
reforms of the Labour Party. The occasion was a very
"traditional" occasion, namely the Annual Garden Party of the Cardiff
Fabians. And I delighted that my colleague
Peter Fitzgerald, the
Cardiff Solicitor who is Chairman of the Valleys Fabian Society, was
with
me to argue the case...
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Pensions
TUC misses
the point
When will the
Government grasp the pensions nettle? Public discontent rages on.
Ordinary pensioners are forced into the grip of means-tested State supplements
above very low income-levels. Private pension investments fail to
generate confidence, and their lack of credibility is probably terminal.
Middle-age anxieties accelerate, causing growing distress. Lobbies
for benefits-in-kind flourish, because of the Government's failure to make
provision for a satisfactory State Old Age Pension, payable as of right on
a universal basis. The TUC has now published an emotive attack on
"pensions at 70", which wholly fails to grapple with the real issues,
relying on appeals about those who
will "die before receiving their
pension". 17% of the population already die before reaching
the pensionable age of 65. That is not a rational basis for debate.
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The Politics of
Being a Student
 You
may recall that, having canvassed curious undergraduates during my
unsuccessful Labour campaign for Swansea City Council a fortnight ago, I promised to set out my political stall for them. Why should
a successful student bother about “politics” at all?
That was the
question.
I’ve now had a
chance to think about it. I have concentrated only on the “selfish”
reasons, ignoring the moral or systemic political arguments that might
come into play. It makes good sense to take politics seriously, as a
matter of simple self-interest.
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"Sovereign" Iraq
still under threat
The new UN Iraq Resolution has not brought peace to Iraq, nor indeed any remission in the
violence inflicted by the Iraqi resistance. The sham sovereignty, vested in a carefully-selected puppet Cabinet, has satisfied nobody.
It seems that the violence is now being directed specifically at the
puppet Government and its servants. I remain convinced that the only
solution is to move, within weeks, to a General Election -
and to run the
risks of democracy. They are preferable to the continuing risks of
autocracy. Thursday 1 July 2004 will be a dark day for Iraq.
- The UN has, misguidedly,
legitimated this undemocratic puppet Government, and further diminished its
credibility in the Arab world.
 Having
discovered this remarkable NASA website, linked with the Hubble Telescope
and the NASA Mars exploration vehicles, with its current photographs from
outer space, I am reluctant
to let it go
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Can there be anyone left cold by the sight of great ships? The Royal
Mail stamps for May mark the launch of the new Queen Mary.. Great
ships bring out the best in everyone.
 Never miss
Steve Bell!
His cartoons, from
The
Guardian
- his wit and perception illuminate
the absurdities of the political scene...
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I
enjoy dipping into informed US West Coast chat, always up to
the minute, which can be found at
www.metafilter.com.
Special
Footnote
I love the online newspapers, which
are my access to the world - share them with me - click through to their
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.
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Libraries & LIBRI
I was there!
I was at the London Seminar on
Monday 21 June, convened by
Culture Minister Andrew McIntosh, and reported by John Ezard in
The
Guardian. "How come?"
(I hear you cry...)
I am Secretary (and Founder
Trustee) of the Libri Trust,
a charity dedicated to the improvement and development of public libraries.
Our recent report, Who's in Charge?,
penned by the brilliant Tim Coates (photo courtesy Roger Tagholm,
Publishing News) formed the principal talking point of the Seminar. I am delighted that the Government response has
been so decisive.
And as a reporter, I can do better than
The Guardian. From a seminar held under "Chatham House
Rules", I can bring you the full text of Tim Coates' uncompromising address,
with his express consent.
And also -
Taming the
Corporations
The Chartist magazine has given me the
chance to seek support for the Company Reform Coalition.
It will require
a new UN Treaty to secure concerted international agreement on the
integrated reform of company law, to address and moderate the overweening
power of the corporate sector. The challenge to radical reformers is
to find a way of putting company law reform firmly onto the UN agenda.
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Asylum Legal Services
"Guardian" Travesty
I was appalled to read The
Guardian's leaked report of investigations into Licensed "immigration
solicitors", and allegations of overcharging. It was grossly partial
and biased.
This sector is indeed a murky and complex one, in which I am daily
engaged, working on a pro bono basis - I know how it works.
And I have no doubt that there are some Solicitors who exploit the system.
Friday's Guardian carries a wave of correspondence protesting - though
principally at the Audit Report, rather than the Guardian coverage.
But the system itself is a shoddy and
ill-conceived administrative scheme, which treats Solicitors shabbily and causes anguish to
many hapless asylum-seekers, as they are abandoned by their Solicitors in
mid-process. I am currently in contact with
eighteen asylum-seekers in Swansea who have been abandoned in
this way. I have to hold two "surgeries" every week, just to pick up
the pieces, from this shoddy scheme.
 In
some cases, I have simply had no option but to pick up
the papers and go to Court to represent them myself, in their appeal
proceedings.
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Where I am going
There is no way back
 Having
declared my hand, I intend to keep track, with you, of progress with my
" New" New Labour manifesto - at least my principal zones of interest and
concern.
The problem, as I see
it, is that New Labour has not been radical enough, and has now run out of steam
- politically and intellectually.
This
will be my fivefold focus
-
Defining
a new, lean Welfare State, suited to a society of growing personal
wealth, individualist rather than collectivist in character, and
minimising the incidence of means-testing...
I find that, in responding to the
doorstep taunts of Swansea undergraduates, I have also sketched out my
model of the future, leaner welfare state: read
Student Manifesto.
Developing new institutional forms for
Europe, to address the present discontents, and countering
British isolationism;
"Progressive Dissociation" - a new
way of managing diversity, within the EU - seemingly a "Tory" formula, but
I propose it as a non-party device to accommodate a wider range of institutional
flexibility, without undermining the essential unity of the
federal
European Union.
Engaging 1,000,000 citizens in the participative governance of our
society, fostering further devolution of power and generating new sources
of legitimacy for government;
I believe that the waning
legitimacy of "representative democracy" is waning, and that it must
be replaced by new forms of participatory democracy.
Solving current pressing problems of citizenship and immigration,
designated as "migration management";
This calls for a new wave of sensitive international settlements,
both within the EU and much more widely - I have addressed all the
practical issues, in my DOMUS proposals..
Rebalancing power, as between natural and artificial persons, securing
international company reform, and regulating the abuse of corporate power
throughout the world.
This is the agenda of
the Company Reform Coalition, furthered by forthcoming
article in
The Chartist.
I plan to use my
personal resources more selectively in future, to focus on these five policy
sectors. What
about “Human Rights”? For
me, human rights are not a specific policy-end in themselves, but they
constitute the medium within which all issues fall to be addressed and
resolved.
The Fabians
are a great, enlightened Left-Wing political community some 7,000-strong -
and we have many skills among our number.
PS
If, without joining, you
would
like to be added to
the monthly Fabian Update e-mail list, just e-mail
Fabian Research
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Left
Activists' Corner
.jpg)
I have three moderately-left political projects to engage your interest,
as 2004 advances to mid-point - nothing too revolutionary, you understand - and
now illustrated by the high diplomacy of our relationship with France,
which adorned our mail during April.
(a)
Company Reform Coalition
my group of fellow schemers met
in London on 20 April, I continue my attempt to give practical
expression to the underlying legal issues - and we are planning new initiatives for November
- in the meantime,
keep scouring
the news for insights - like
the
Rowe
Evans Case;
(b)
Questors - the
birth of a new profession, group planning expansion - we are seeking
allies, co-promoters, progress steady if slow,
as of June 2004, negotiations
are actively being pursued;
(c)
Labour Links,
the unconventional modification of the Labour Party Constitution, which
I delivered to the Cardiff Fabian Garden Party on 19 June...
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Recent
topics
Extending
the Welfare State
>>>
Adjustment Pay - for every worker
>>>
Pay
Guardianship Allowance
>>>
We
do not own
our children >>>
Australian EU perspective
>>>
Contemplative
Prince Charles
& I >>>
"I was a heroin addict.." >>>
Teenage Education Successes
>>>
Nuclear power: the only option
>>>
"Public"
Schools are not charities
>>>
" Institutional Racism"
a fallacy
>>>
Elimination of Roman
ius soli >>>
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
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040621 Make sure you have not missed
the previous edition
Check it out
And the
one before that?
Other recent topics
highlighted here
Week
26 Sunday
27 June 2004
|
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