09 Aug 2009
There has been a descent amount of debate and contribution such that we think it is worth while now to skim the cream off the top, boil that down and see what that looks like.What we are trying to capture here is only the really important society changing stuff.
Detailed debate can continue under the individual manifestos but this space is to capture the fundamental policies that are badly needed.
I have had a first attempt below in capturing what I think the balance of debate has been leading towards, it is there to be debated and amended like anything else, we have to start somewhere.
Summary below straight off the bat just for starters:
The Constitution
Total Number of local and central government politicians to be reduced by approx 25%
The house of lords to be replaced by a 'house of the learned' or something similar, the majority of members will earn a place by being exceptional in your field of practise outside of politics. Spaces for lawyers, bankers and politicians will be strictly limited. Methods of election of this new house and powers to be confirmed.
All honours bestowed in the last 20 years to be reviewed and all honours will be continually reviewed. You can only stay a knight of the realm if you behave in a genuinly selfless public spirited or some other exceptional way and continue to do so and do nothing to put the honours status into disrepute. These people should be role models we all aspire to. The currency of ' honours' has been cheapened to the status of cronyism. This is more important than many realise to restore a positive aspiration in society to achive 'honours'. It should be much easier for people to be stripped of honours, once gained it should be subject to review every 3 years (say).
Break up local councils into much smaller more local bodies (more like parish councils) for the people to feel a genuine connection with their community and have a direct influence over it. we must find a way to breach the 'disconect' between thep[eople and politicians.
Energy and the Environment
Phase out nuclear energy apart from for research purposes.
Phased re-nationalisation of energy provision services and reduced planning requirements for any renewable energy scheme.
Every constituency to issue an EDAP (Energy Descent Action Plan) explaining how it aims to ensure that food and shelter will still be available if/when cheap/available energy runs out. Regular public update to be issued on how the plan is progressing.
Divert funds from 'useless' quangos, good for nothing university courses etc into renewable energy research and industry, make it a national mission no matter what the energy companies say.
Employment, Education and Social Security
Set aside land / communities where the long term unemployed can choose to contribute in a 'kibbutz' type community rather than being placated on benefits on sink estates with sink schools. Give then something useful to do and aspire to that is sustainable and promotes a genuine sense of shared work and community, even if it simply sustains themselves they will feel they have apurpose and a descent social network.
Finance and Business
Automatic and mandatory 10% interest on all invoices outstanding over 60 Days to stop large corporations warping the credit market (Sainsbury / Tesco etc) for their gain off the back of great hardship for small suppliers and lots of hand rubbing for the banks.
55% of the board of directors of the regulatory body for the financial industry are to be drawn from business outside the banking industry. It is too important to society as a whole to only allow people with a banking background to monitor the banks. Break the banking crony monopoly where top bankers seem to swap between working for banks and regulating them with impunity.
Mandatory financial responsibility clause in all banking industry executive contracts and a binding code of conduct like other critical professional services to society (engineers, doctors etc).
A cap on interest rates at around 10% to both protect the vulnerable in society and the banks and broader society from their own greed. Banks 'we own' can borrow at 1% and lend that money back to us at 25% or more on credit cards and the like. Who does this arrangement help exactly?
The Law and Law Enforcement
Review of legislation which encourages the compensation culture..accidents dont happen anymore, a crack in the pavement you trip over..claim against the council. A postman sprains his ankle on your drive ..claim against the property owner. This is a tremendously corrosive force in society driven by greed. We used to just dust ourselves off, curse our bad luck and keep our eyes open. Now everything is viewed as an opportinity to sue your fellow man for a buck. The erosion of trust and social engegement this produces is terrible surely? Most people hate the compensation culture but nothing ever seems to get done about it..I wonder why..arnt most politicians ex lawyers?
An immediate stop to the roll back of trial by jury, more and more laws and complexity are being used as excuses to take justice out of the hands of the people and into the hands of the legal professions. This erosion of the fundamental principle of justice must stop.
Removal / amendment of the laws brought in to fight terrorism but are now being used by local councils to spy on where parents live and what they put in their bins or screen e-mails of environmental action groups by the police. This stuff if actually happening !!
Removal of those silly wigs for goodness sake!
Metaphysical discussion
Science has thrown up a lot of aparently counter rational but proven theories in the last 100 years or so. Is the school of reason in denial about what reason is now telling us about the way the universe works which is often paradoxical and well irrational ! If you dont believe me ..well see the double slit experiment, quantum mechanics , Kurt Godels incompleteness theorem and the recent scietifically proven Hardys paradox.
By example to show how narrow minded we are now trained to be. Consider that it is a proven scientific fact that the phases of the moon (La Lune / lunatic etc) influences human bevavior. There would therefore appear to potentially be some scientific basis to astrology? Astrology was based on the ancients looking at the stars, planets and moon and noticing links between human behaviour and their position. it was , in essence a scientific process, were they delusional? or simply applying reason without our modern day pre-disposition to dismiss it as hocus pocus?
The Mayan calender has been shown to be an extremely accurate predictor of the movement of the stars and the planets not the work of randon crazies and witch doctors modern doctrine would have us believe. Are we really so much smarter than the ancients? Could it be that in some ways they were much smarter than us could it be our modern lives are less rich by cause of our preocupation with rationality, which is often nothing of the sort and constrained by a type of 'rationality predudice when the results of scientific experiment seem to contradict pure logic and reason. The recent proof of hardy's paradox is a classic example of that. the scientists themselves described thier independantly verified results as 'proposterous'. Why was that challenge to our underlying philosophy in the west not headline news??
Join the debate....please
LGO