UPDATE Mon 25th:

In an interview with The Sunday Times yesterday, the darling Chancellor dismissed the move by Obama as acting for domestic political reasons only so there would seem to be no immediate rush to emulate the USA on this within the UK. “I don’t think America has any detail to show us” he said.

The Tories are however not quite so dismissive (see politics.co.uk). . . . .’Mr Osborne said. “I have said consistently that we should look at separating retail banking from activities like large scale propriety trading – and that this was best done internationally.” ‘

But notice that this contains a get-out clause, ie: it probably won’t happen unless every other country does it as well.

Candidates will be selected by lottery – tickets go on sale tomorrow at £1 each.  This is seen as a win-win situation for no-one because of the minimal cost of administering the selection process plus generating money for doing very little.  No-one thinks this is a good way of selecting people for what are effectively safe-seats because “let’s face it: it can’t produces a bigger bunch of bozos than the current system.  In any case,  no-one will make sure they do a good job.”

The manifesto is simple: “no-one will be in charge!”.  And so – as soon as the election is over – no-one will knock off and go home until the next election.  A special hot-line will be set up, should anything vital arise,  to be known as “no-one cares“.  Of course no-one will answer the phone – no matter how trivial the matter is.

In between elections,  no-one will be looking into doing bigger and better things.  Sources close to no-one had indicated,  yesterday,  that they had plans to take over a complete country almost overnight as a trial-run.  Today,  this was confirmed by REUTERS: “Who’s running Haiti? No one, say the people“.   So the people have spoken and now it’s up to no-one to sort this out. Obviously no-one will be be to blame if it all goes tits-up.

Initial concerns were raised about the “Anyone” Party as a potential threat,  because of the likelihood that voters might be tempted to vote for “Anyone” if they had the choice on a ballot paper.  These fears were quickly dismissed by the party’s top-dog (known as no-one special )  “Ridiculous. ” he said, ” The voters are not gullible enough to believe that anyone is really interested in them“.

(The Bullingdon Club)

When is a reformation not a reformation?

Exhibit #1.

Ed Milliband’s recent call for “Reform” :

• More power for parliamentary select committees to scrutinise legislation.

• The format of PMQs.

Exhibit #2:

David Cameron’s recent call for “Reform” :

• Limit the power of the prime minister by giving serious consideration to introducing fixed-term parliaments, ending the right of Downing Street to control the timing of general elections.

• Strengthen local government by giving councils the power of “competence”. This would allow councils to reverse Whitehall decisions to close popular services, such as a local post office or a railway station, by giving them the power to raise money to keep them open.

–

So what have we got? Here’s a glib truism:

The founding priorities of any institution fall to second place upon formation – and the first priority becomes self-preservation.

What we are “given” is a series of empty gestures that are so facile, that you could change the context and they’d become satire. What we will always be “given” as reforms from they-that-would-be-reformed, falls into two main categories:

1) gestures designed to placate, so business can carry on as normal

2) shock-doctrine tactics designed to push through (same-old) agendas that were previously unpopular, ie: bad.

Really, I’m not bothered what MPs wear, they can dress up as giant bees for all I care, so long as they don’t:

- sell 220 million worth of IR buildings to a company (that we now (and forever) (have to) pay rent to) operating out of a tax haven
- commit us to 200 billion in future spending in highly dubious PFI deals
- get us into an illegal war, ignoring millions of people who took to the streets and protested, and about which we were told lie after lie after lie

and so on.

And as I am paranoid, I’m inclined to interpret David Cameron’s call for “giving power back to individuals” as being a species of the “small government” new-speak as lovingly crafted by the massively corporate-funded free-market think-tanks in America.

“Small Government” is slight of hand for reducing democratically mandated control over corporations – so creeping privatisation becomes galloping privatisation, the 4th Estate consolidates to become even more of an arm (or mouth) of the ruling elite than it already is, and externalisation of corporate costs can become even more egregious and exploitative than they already are.

It’s not about reducing the power of government, it’s about reducing the power of democracy. It’s about ceding power back to a baronial class.

And this (given the photograph at the top) really ought come as no surprise to anyone.

So… we can’t let the terms of reform come from political incumbents – they’ve got to come from us.

So what do we want? What questions do we need to be asking ourselves?

David Cameron is trying to use these as a platform to call for a general election in the UK, will the results of these european elections indicate the mood of the country or will people just be reacting to current issues which they will forget further down the line?

A remarkable number of independent candidates this time round and its also the first time out for the Jury Team- it will be interesting to see how they fare.

As a non voter for nearly ten years (in all elections, local, national or otherwise) should I bother now? The political process is so fundamentally flawed is a vote for anyone just an endorsement of a system that I don’t believe in?

Blown in the Wind

I dont think saying sorry will make any difference anymore.

You say sorry to someone for accidently bumping into them in the street, not for systematically screwing what you can within the rules of parliamentary expenses.

For that you have to first resign, then say sorry, nothing else cuts the mustard for people who would have us believe that they are selfless ‘public servants’ in the job to ‘help hard working families and small business’.

Exactly how many of our standard bearer public servant politicians resigned over being ‘clever’ with expenses rules.?

NONE

They prefer to hide like cowards behind the exact wording of ‘the rules’.

The currency of all politicians is the lowest I can ever recall, the labour party have dragged the whole institution down with them. Only the lib dems seem to be left with a shred of integrity and honesty of action intact.

Talk to the ‘man in the street’ everybody is sick to death of them, there is no ideology to vote for no passion, no alternative vision, just a hobsons choice between the charisma of the leaders.

I wish something compelling and fresh and decent would come along and sweep this lot away, even that is hard to imagine. The incumbents on both sides have learnt the system so well now alternative views never get a serious look in the media unless you dress up as superman and strap yourself to big ben…then and only then do you get coverage but in the process lose mainstream credibility.

Done for by creeping complicity and lack of vision, what ever happened to building jerusalem in Englands green and pleasant land after WW2?.

Now all we aspire to build is shopping malls, casinos and cafe bars.

Worse than that we are now getting set up by the incumbents to line their pockets for one final time before the big crash.

Investors take note, banks will offer you 3.5% interest so long as you sign up for 1, 2 or 3 years. They know and are actively lobbying for the conditions such that next year interest rates will be on the climb again in a big way and hey guess who will be creaming off all the profits and bonuses on your savings locked in at 3.5% ????

Yet noboddy does a god dam thing about it, not the BBC not the newspapers, not anyone, they are all part of the same club.

We used to be able to rely on the BBC at least until Alaister Campbell cynically and systematically pulled out all their free spririted journalistic teeth for their ‘weapons of mass destruction’ governmental deception. How many weapons did they find again? How many links to Al queda did they find again??

Why arn’t more people angry, why arn’t journalists furious with governments and bankers?

Are we all so wrapped up in surfing the net,saving for pensions that will be worth nothing and trying to achieve the impossible of staying young and rich forever to bother building something sustainable and beautiful?

I was in Edinburgh this week, we are not even capable of building the beautiful architecture you can see there now, all we can build is cheap and nasty looking pre-fab glass and steel edifices that look rusty, dated and dirty within a few years. Where is the magnificence in society?

For goodness sake wake UP!!!

Why do I bother.

We will carry on like this until a crisis forces us to change. No point in pointing out the obvious it seems, the only thing that will get people off thier backsides will be when mass uneployment or worse directly influenses a critical mass of people.

Unfortunately due to our technology and effciency that threshold will be very high in the modern world, if people can claim benefits and still eat and have broadband and a crate of high strengh lager a week nothing will happen, except of course noboddy will have any real pleasure in existing.

Rant over, nobody ever does anything anyway, im just p****** into the wind.

Jericoa

I think people will vote for an alternative vision if it is compelling and backed up by debate and publicity. Once it reached a critical mass it would sweep the self interested incumbents away.

The trouble is since the intellectual collapse of the socialist ideal there has been no debate on anything fundamental about how we live and interact with others. The media as a whole are simply a mouth piece for which ever press baron or government party owns them.

That is why the BBC’s response to this is so disappointing. Since Alaistair Campbell pulled out the BBC’s teeth following the weapons of mass destruction affair it appears as if there is an unspoken ‘gentlemans club’ complicity between politics, finance and media to promote the status quo, which is, funily enough, in their own interests.

Even our education system is geared that way, people are not taught the art of free thinking, they are spoon fed facts and figures and measured by a string of multiple choise ‘tick box’ exams throughout their schooling. They are, in fact, trained to be compliant and be rewarded by being compliant without free thinking getting in the way. Big brother by stealth in effect, dressed as efficiency, ‘a good education, crime prevention and health and safety.

Nobody will vote for it because any alternative views are portrayed as being held by some unconvincing ’swampy’ type character in a baggy jumper and a cheeky smile by the mass media’.

We are in a democracy at the moment that only gives the illusion of choice.

People will vote for an alternative alright, embrace it in fact if it is worked out, debated and given a tangible credible voice that breaths some passion back into the population.

There is no deliberate conspiracy going on by free masons or anyone else, I think it is just the natural end product of the darker side of human nature and the system the world is currently run by has been taken over by it without anyone really noticing or putting up a fight.

The only way I can do this is to go via the JuryTeam route.

In order to be nominated I need as many people as possible to text the word

NEIMOR01 to 86837

So thanks for your support.

*First posted on the original Lobby Group blog by contributor Bobrocket.