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But this week, Emeritus
Professor Nigel Harris of University College London speculates on the
theme of political madness in the Old Left magazine
Red Pepper..
..that certainly seemed to be
the case at the end with Maggie Thatcher - Saddam Hussein obviously
harbours unhinged delusions, as did Adolf Hitler, and the cruel Mao Tse-Tung in his day,
perhaps even with Vladimir Putin today (with his Peter-the-Great complex) -
it could easily afflict George Dubya, given his own limitations and
the weird political world he inhabits - could it come to affect Tony
Blair? We certainly should not avoid posing these
questions.. |
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Renewing participatory democracy Multiple Differential Uncertainty
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Week 49 Photographs - most of them today come from the excellent website which is my first port-of-call each morning - and that is BBC News. Good liberal news 
But the announcement that Labour is to introduce a new legal framework for same-sex relationships is very good news. It is a sound liberal measure, foreshadowed by a private Bill introduced last year by my old friend the Lord (Anthony) Lester (formerly a sound Labour man, but sadly a follower of the Gang of Four...). I congratulate both Anthony Lester and the Government - let's have more evidence that Labour is developing a new form of socialism with a human face, a firmly liberal visage... What does Tony Blair was wrong to invoke the demons of the Seventies, just because FBU Andy Gilchrist said he would work to replace New Labour with Real Labour. Andy Gilchrist was in the wrong, certainly - he is obviously a young and inexperienced union leader, out of his depth, who has miscalculated badly, that's all - nothing less, and nothing more. Tony Blair should be able to rise above all that. But Professor Nigel Harris, writing in December's Red Pepper, speculates on the mental instability of our leaders - on the impact of "the crazies" who are wielding supreme political power - Harris is on a real rant - but we should not exclude the possibility that he has a point...
Young reject 
That's my opinion, anyway . New research suggests that the young, while interested in politics and public affairs, find the mainstream Parties uninspiring. They are right. We now have a national professional salariat of some 4,000 paid elected politicians from all Parties, whose principal concern is with earning a living, getting re-elected again and again, in unbroken sequence, before shuffling off if necessary to a retirement quango. This professionalism poses an acute problem for Labour, traditionally an ideology-driven Party. Questions of principle are an embarrassment, alienating voters, and getting in the way of continuity of income. This is not the stuff that dreams are made of...Foundation Hospitals Radical Socialism or Evasive Pragmatism? Labour minister Ian McCartney launches this week an impassioned socialist defence of "Foundation Hospitals", as a great exercise in popular "local ownership" of our hospitals. But he is short on facts. There will be no local electorate, merely a process of drawing Trust "members" from local residents and patients. And only a few hospitals will be admitted to this new democratic Valhalla, not all. My objections to the present formula still stand. However, if only Ian McCartney were correct, I would support him ...
The Deal You have picked up on my suggestion that the Government should be seeking a New Deal with the corporate sector, with both sides seeking to strike a bargain - this is what I said My fellow countryman.. 
..you will not, I think, begrudge me a few moments of quiet national pride today, as Welsh-speaking Dr Rowan Williams takes over as Archbishop of Canterbury - I am confident that he will bring to the office a keen sense of equality, and an intolerance of pomp and social pretentiousness... Photo from the excellent BBC Website check out new Home Footnotes Page Government Parties a new political phenomenon Several of you have expressed interest in my theory of the emergence of a Government Party. My suggestion is that Tony Blair, having taken possession of the Labour nest, has turned to exploiting Labour's systems to create a new, and entirely different, form of Party..What do you think? back to top
Buy Nothing Day
Nobody can fail to sympathise with the promoters
of Buy Nothing Day, which was
marked last Saturday. But the approach is nevertheless misconceived -
let me explain why...
What do you think?
back to
top I was a PC Father Christmas.. Last Friday, as General Manager of Green Park Station in Bath (one of my residual "jobs", as ageist redundancy takes its toll) I donned my Father Christmas togs and Yo-ho-ho'd my way through the aspirations of the children of Bath - only to be corrected, within the first few minutes, because an irate parent complained that a toddler was sitting on my lap. It was all in the very public environment of the Station - no privacy, no grotto - with hundreds of people standing around. For the remaining two hours the children had to stand in line in front of me, without physical contact, communicating from afar. Sad... Counting the hits...
These are the hit-count totals for the days of Yr 2002 so far, on this Website - actual hits, expressed as percentages of the total-to-date - for those nerds with an interest in such matters - in checking at this Webpage, Monday morning retains its prominence - from there, the week is all downhill...
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Right deeds, wrong words
But in two sectors, his actions belie his words. And I give him credit, because credit is definitely due. On immigration, he is decisively increasing the number of work-permits available (both long-term and short-term), and he has granted four-year work-permits to the 1,200 Kurds emerging from Sangatte. And in addressing the problems of heroin addiction, he is decisively increasing the scale of medical prescription. He has also scrapped the Jack-Straw drugs-policy "targets" of 1998, as "not credible". These are all enlightened and liberal measures. But no good will come of Labour's doing good by stealth. It is short-sighted political tactic, which always leaves the Government exposed to the risk of being outflanked by the Right (as is currently occurring, throughout Europe). Both on drugs and immigration, the time has come to raise the veil of illegality and start to sketch out the outlines of a more liberal and sympathetic society.
"As long as drugs are illegal the problem won't go away" This is Polly Toynbee's headline in Wednesday's edition of The Guardian. Hers is a courageous and principled position. If you want the opportunity to make your own public declaration in support of the decriminalisation of drugs, check out and sign in at the Angel Declaration.
The chaotic Old Left I read what I can,
quite regularly, about the surviving Old Left
- the Morning Star, and
Red Pepper.
Wasted political time  I regard the Government's action on hunting as a misjudgment. It represents a diversionary indulgence, without even making good pragmatic politics. If I were Blair, I would simply have left sleeping dogs lie. The proposed licensing will bring no great gain in civic peace or in the sum of human happiness. I do not propose to enter into further debate on this channel... This was part of a vacuous Queens Speech, merely displacing much more important work.. Network Rail reject me.. " Dear John Evans.." said this week's letter from Network Rail, using an automated mode of address extracted by mail-merge program. It came from one Sir Malcolm Field (who he?), telling me that my "application for membership as a Public Member of Network Rail as a Public Member has not been successful on this occasion." Now - I have had Dear John letters before, but this one is a pantomime - read the full story...
Three recent public speeches have underlined for me the difficulties faced by concerned Labour Party members. I heard the charismatic Michael Jacobs, General Secretary of the Fabian Society, Mark Seddon, the rising Editor of Tribune, and the urbane Welsh Leader of the House of Lords, Lord (Gareth) Williams of Mostyn. 
They were
all, each in their own way, anguished Labour activists. Rawls Revealed I am feeling very chastened. I have had to confess that I had not read (or even heard of) the recently deceased John Rawls, the American political philosopher praised to the skies this week by Roy Hattersley and Will Hutton. But his way of explaining acceptable degrees of "inequality" in society, sound to me very sound..
Grey Power Much nonsense is being talked about the political power of pensioners - the 11m of our fellow citizens who have reached retirement age. They are certainly important - but when it comes to political muscle, they are a busted flush...What do you think? back to top Graduate Tax Opinion is swinging behind a Graduate Tax, as a means of supplementing University finance. I agree with that. Roy Hattersley wants to extend such a tax to all graduates, whenever they graduated, where they get above-average earnings. Anthony wants to use the same mechanism, but merely to collect debts from those who borrow. And either principle might perhaps be extended to every person receiving public funding for post-18 training of any kind. whether leading to a "degree" or not. The result would be very low percentage premium, spreading the burden over many taxpayers.
What do you think? back to top Germany, Japan Their weak economies threaten us Do not lose sight of the situation in Germany and Japan - their problems are our problems, and socialists like me have a heavy responsibility to propound political solutions which are as effective for Germany and Japan as they are for the UK - so keep in touch with their problems... Diary 2002 Now up to date! I have re-structured my 2002 Diary to give you a day-to-day means of looking back, throughout the year just click through
UK
House Prices
Do you have a view on this? back to top
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New
David Blunkett
is not my favourite Minister. That is because he has
deliberately chosen to use intemperate language, to ingratiate himself with
an intolerant electorate. That is not acceptable, in my view, for a
Labour Minister - and I am sure that the Government would be stronger
without him.