Category: Politics

For when the job has not worked!

Difficult to know how to express myself at present, our local government employer has recently had a new chief executive appointed to run the organisation and one of their first actions was to inform staff that they are not allowed to divulge information or talk about elements of their work that they know about to the press or media including social media outlets that the organisation wishes to remain confidential. So therefore I am not even sure if I am allowed to say the last sentence that I have just written without getting into trouble with my employer and it’s bugging me.

It’s not like I work for the secret service and am disclosing where the local spies live and what they are up to or that I work for the ministry of defence and am announcing what weapons are being shipped out to the Ukraine and when they are arriving and where. No what I really do is work for a district council which yes is controlled by a political party and therefore I guess the sheer act of commenting on how it is run or where it is not in my view not running well is political!    

One of the managers in my organisation who is an honourable and hard working employee joked in my work this week to me saying there is a quote he read in a book concerning ‘if you know who the person is in your organisation that knows everything then sack them immediately!.’ I think it was funny when he said it, rather than how I am able to type it.

Last Friday I went to a small and perfectly formed gathering of people to send off my former manager on her way and wish her best of luck for her future. She is a wonderful human being and for personal and professional reasons resigned. I was nervous in that I was not sure if I ever would see her again when she first left as she left work, very suddenly and only announced that she was not coming back a month after she had gone. I am nervous about what the future holds for myself my team and how managers will manage the situation concerning what work we can do, what needs to be done or what they consider no longer able to be done. It’s all still very much in the air with no decisions or plans being in the open or agreed upon, so speculation about what they can, will or should do is also futile due to the ‘though shall not disclose information clause at the top of this blog!

Though don’t get me wrong I really do enjoy working for my employee and it is far more enjoyable than being sick, jobless or working for an organisation where I do too much or even not enough, the work life balance is good and I work hard and feel I make a contribution to the organisation, I am mentally and possibly even physically healthier for having this job and for better or worse can’t presently see myself working anywhere else in Exeter at this moment in time. I do believe it is possible to be both constructive and critical about something both at the same time.

Well I hope I have been able to express myself whilst also not over divulging. Sometimes when I am not sure what to write on my blog, it’s because I know exactly what is bugging me but not sure how to express it in a way that is clear, allowed and appropriate.

So like a good little composting green machine I gather the fresh leaves and grass cuttings of my thoughts press them down, to where the previously gathered ideas have been left to mulch over in time and then see what comes out the other side in my writings.  I then lay freshly made compost of ideas and see what new seeds of thought can grow from those that I have broken down.

Nick Drake – Fruit Tree

Green shoots of growth and hope for a future worth voting for and living within

Just voted again for the green party this week and so pleased to see how well they are doing in Exeter and across the UK as a whole. In Exeter with 6 councillors they now are the second largest party on the council behind labour who have a large majority.

The Green party did win overall control of its first council in the UK in Mid Suffolk District Council, which is a huge achievement. I would love for them one day to be running my local district council. They also doubled the amount of councillors they had that were up for election in England with an increase of 241 councillors with 481 in total elected on the day.

To have some sort of chance of surviving the current and future climate crisis we need forward thinking green politicians in power that focus on long term growth of the environment and not growth of the pound in peoples pocket.

UK ELKECTION RESULTS KEY PLAYERS MAY 4th 2023

  • LABOUR PARTY
  • 2,674
  • +536

Labour elected 2,674 councillors 536 councillors gained

  • CONSERVATIVE PARTY
  • 2,299
  • -1,061

Conservative elected 2,299 councillors with 1,061 councillors lost

  • LLIBERAL DEMOCRATE PARTY
  • 1,626
  • +405

Liberal Democrat elected 1,626 councillors 405 councillors gained

  • INDEPENDENT COUNCILLORS
  • 874
  • -80

Independents elected 874 councillors 80 councillors lost

  • GREEN PARTY
  • 481
  • +241

Green elected 481 councillors 241 councillors gained

The economic model of growth for growths sake for an economy is a busted flush on a world with finite resources and will only lead to long term environmental damage and therefore a new way of managing and caring for the environment and the people that live within it is desperately needed to enhance our chance of survival, rather than simply pandering to money markets and capital.

Social justice and the birth of the labour movement were very much needed at the beginning of the last century and it feels like and I hope that now is the time for ecological and environmental justice in political parties and progressive people and protestors alike.

Though as with all political movements, views, perspectives and opinions we might not agree on all things concerning what is broken and what needs fixing and how to go about fixing it but at least by thinking, voting and expressing and enacting ecological and environmental views and voting in those that aspire to solve and tackle these very real issues there is a great chance of survival for people and planet and surly that can only be a good thing.

Nick Drake – River Man

Thoughts on hate bouncing around in my head this week

Hate seems to be a real driver in politics and life today along with fear too. The thing is though I genuinely struggle to hate although I do experience fear. I tend to fear those that hate the most in any political sphere or even life in general.

Fear – anger – hate – suffering (clip from star wars the phantom menace)

Home secretary Suella Braverman said those coming to Britain in small boats had “heightened levels of criminality” – including drug dealing and prostitution – but failed to provide any evidence for the claim. If this is not incitement to generate fear, cause anger which will lead to hate and suffering then I don’t know what is.

Immigration minister Robert Jenrick also went on to say that small boat arrivals were “essentially asylum shoppers”, as the Illegal Migration Bill cleared the Commons despite a tough time from Tory MPs concerned by the plan to detain and deport Channel migrants.

Its times like these when the UK is reminded that we have a right wing government in power. I fear for the politics of hate I also feel sorry for those that are hated and demonised; no good can come from this level of manipulation of a situation in order to score political points.

The conservative can continue to peddle lies and propagate damaging legislation into laws because they have a majority in our house of commons and they have they have that majority by wiping up hate for those that would challenge them.

I also saw the above photo doing the rounds on a hipster cool anti government page on Facebook in the UK about the state of American politics and their only crimes are probably that people have been taught to hate them. You might not agree with their views or how they conduct their politics or business but that does in no way make them criminals.

Peel below the surface of people that peddle this kind of disinformation and your in for one hell of a lot of conspiracy theories that just amount to zero fact and plenty of incitement to generate fear, cause anger which will lead to hate and suffering.

Was not sure whether to have dancing to the jail house rock as a song here today or something completely different!

Live Lounge Allstars – Times Like These (BBC Radio 1)

Jockeys, horses, Police & Protestors – The Grand National 2023

Today was the 175th Grand National horse race at Aintree, I know I am old because I still enjoy and support the running of this horse race. One horse sadly died during the race and 118 people were arrested who attempted to stop the race from going ahead. I did not enjoy the actual race this year as I was quite fearful of the risk to jockeys, horses, protestors and police had a protestor tried to take matters into their own hands and run on the course in an attempt to stop it during the running of the race. This would have been a sad and sickly sight with potential fatalities’ that would make news all around the world all for the wrong reason.  

Protestors at this years race

These protestors have decided they are hell bent now and at future race meetings aiming to stop this event by breaking in to the event on mass and trying to chain themselves to race course jumps fences in order to prevent the event from going ahead. We live in a democracy where we can without harm to ourselves or others say and do what we like. But we should not and cannot aim to inflict or forcefully implement our views onto others.

If the law makers that we vote in decided that something is wrong, immoral or cruel and we need to stop doing it,  then the legal process to stop doing the said event or activity is there and would result in something that the people as a majority do not want to happen to stop. But in no democracy should the will of a few be forced onto the many. To my mind when you say people no longer have a freedom of choice your moving swiftly into the realms of a form of fascism and totalitarianism, where you are not free to think or do things for yourself because someone else is telling you how to think and what to do and I am very strongly opposed to that kind of control, without dam good reason.

There are reasons that I can think of where people’s rights to do something should be restricted and the majority of the population did agree in this country with that restriction and that time was with gun control legislation. It is one of the greatest successes in legislation in the UK to my mind because of how many lives have potentially been saved.

But there are things that I still think we have a choice to do such as eat a beef burger or watch a horse race. Some people are passionate about the idea that I have no right to eat certain animal and fish based foods and I am also no longer able to watch horses racing at Aintree. If a utopian view of veganism was adopted overnight I would dread to see what a vegan Britain would look like and also how the vegan police would enforce and prosecute those that broke the new vegan based societal rules.

Also if animals in the countryside were no longer being farmed for their meat does this mean that there would no longer be profit or a point in looking after any domesticated animals in the countryside. What would be the point of keeping an unmilked cow or an unprofitable pig. The domesticated animal market would be dead overnight if a vegan utopia was adopted. Would we also be arresting and jailing those that continue to trying to eat meat or race horses over fences.

Well we could reintroduce rewilding which I am a huge believer in and I worked for a charity called Moor Trees as a Trustee for a number of years that works towards the rewilding of Dartmoor to a woodland and more natural environment, this is a wonderful concept and one which for many areas of the world I fully support. But a wild environment is no utopia in itself, its wild, no vets and pretty bleak and brutal at times. The natural environment is a wonder awe-inspiring place but there is no such thing as a clean death in nature or a wonderful life in the wild.

A wild environment is not some giant entertainment centre for a vegan to play and populate the planet from. Its wild, brutal and potential deadly environment to live, survive and thrive within. The domestication of plant and animal life has happened over thousands of years for very good reason. Because a wild natural environment is a brutal and repressive place to live it’s no Disney movie or fantasy play ground and often this is ignored or overlooked by vegan society advocates. You have more chance of being a happy, safe and sheltered vegan by being plugged into a computer and playing on your favourite games than you do by being at one with a completely wild environment.

Whose Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses – U2

Trump is kind of an odd felon

He deserves to be condemned and convicted by his own words, action and deeds. Though the writing is not on the wall for Trump concerning the first 34 felony counts towards him all relating to hush money payments to three individuals and I am concerned about the over complication of this first case and whether that could lead to Trump being let off the hook.

The clip below is a quick brief look at what fascism looks, sounds and acts like in the USA today.

Make Trump Hate Again

He still thinks he won the last presidential election he desperately tried to steal. I don’t understand the type of rightwing prejudicial Christianity that seems to ebb and flow from in the US then forgives Donald Trump for all his sins and misdemeanours and felonies and yet condemns others not deemed godly enough to be saved under there scorning hate for none fellow believers. It’s one thing to vote Republican and believe that your views on politics respect and reflect the views of Christ, it’s another even great sin to then think that by voting for someone like Trump is in some way a morally righteous and Christian thing to do.

If you see the divine in Trump, what does that say about you?

The man does not understand or express any forms of truth and justice, in the traditional American way although you might often see that many are mistaken for thinking he often thinks that does this.

The world looks on while the USA is split between those that do believe in Trump and those that can not.

A form of patriot game and political positioning that sadly still has quite some way yet to play out. If the story of Trump were a chess game, I’d say Trump still has plenty of pieces left on the board and there is simply no way yet to see how this game will play out or who will lose or how and at what cost too.   

Eliot Higgins
Sinnerman

Better to have Life on earth than a death that takes you to paradise

The headline is not intended to offend but to thought provoke and it was rattling around in my head when I woke up this morning because of a dream I had! I was also watching Question time on the BBC last night which is a political debating show prior to going to sleep. They had the usual selection of politicians and a representative from the right wing press but on the panel there was also the chief executive of Oxfam. Oxfam is a global community of people who believe in a kinder, and radically better world, where everyone has the power to thrive not just survive. We believe we can overcome poverty by fighting the injustices and inequalities that fuel it. There was also a priest/vicar from Bristol who spoke a lot of sense in the clip below.

Question time 30th April 2023

It is heart warming to know that there are organisations and people out there that do such good works for lives on earth. The people in the audience of the Question Time show also consistently argued for a better environment, fairer immigration system and also had local needs such as an aspiration for more affordable housing for the young. These simple political desires of a better global environment, fairer immigration system and aspirations to have somewhere to call ones home are very much the present aspirations of the majority of British people that I know and I would even argue reflect the majority view of the UK at the moment.

But you would not think that when listening to Government Conservative Politicians and spokesmen from media outlets such as the Spectator or Daily Telegraph in the UK that seem to try to argue and peddle the idea that every decision being made in government is good and in the interest of people of Britain and their doing their best for the environment, immigrants and life as a whole. The things that keep on going wrong for them and getting worse do so because the challenges are complicated and difficult not because there solutions are flawed and doomed to failure, the audience did not buy those answers and that narrative for one minute which was heart warming to see on the News Night show last night.   

  

Coldplay – Paradise

The world is still a dangerous place

I don’t really have a top worrying headline to read on the news this week there are many. The first headline that sticks out to me is one about the DUP or Democratic Unionist Party have decided to yet again reject a deal on Brexit for Northern Ireland, this means that for a further unspecified time there will be no local elected representatives of democracy sitting in power in Northern Ireland and instead leaving major decisions on how to run things within Northern Ireland to British Civil Servants and the British Government.

By Tadhg Hickey a comedian; actor; writer & director.

The politics of Northern Ireland are complex and not easy to resolve but by refusing to take part in the decision making process being the decision that they choose to make is not really one that benefits the people of Northern Ireland and does not ensure there is political accountability in the long term.

I really am a strong believer in political representation, you vote, others vote, those elected then collectively come to a decision on how best to run your council, parliament, country and though at times I might not like what a local council or national government does at least I and others have collectively been involved in the decision making process that resulted in the decisions that then effect me and others taking place.

I even possibly somewhat naively like to think, that sometimes the more insane and off the wall decisions that an opposition party make against my own views and opinions means that there are more chance for those decisions being rejected, ridiculed and voted against in the long run. One such decision that is looking like a slow car crash of a political decision at present is the Illegal Immigration Bill which plans to make those that arrive in the UK via irregular routes ie via a small boat across the channel from France or in the back of a lorry will if caught be detained for 28 days and then deported.

In 2022, 45,755 men, women and children crossed the Channel in small boats to reach the UK, most of whom then claimed asylum. Nearly 3,000 people have already made the crossing this year, with official estimates expecting more than 80,000 this year.

In 2022, a total of 20,446 people were detained at some point. Official statistics show that 47% were detained for seven days or less. The current detention capacity in the UK is about 2,286, according to estimates by the Refugee Council, so detaining everyone crossing in a small boat for 28 days would require extra capacity.

It would also be very expensive – it costs about £120 to detain someone for one day so detaining 65,000 people for 28 days would cost £219m a year, and that’s before the additional costs of building more detention centres.

The UK Conservative government when it comes to delivering a policy or service or implementing government decisions is very much the McDonalds of the political world, it provides cheap and  somewhat inedible and unhealthy solutions to serious and as yet undigested problems.  

The arrogance of wealth and inequality that exists when it comes to global poverty and even local poverty is astounding. People with money often say they must keep all of their wealth and the feckless and poor don’t deserve any of their money or that there is never enough money to solve the problems of the poor.  Though I agree that politics is the art of what its possible in a world of finite resource. This does not mean that in an attempt to solve a problem you in fact take a decision and create a solution that will then only make the problem worse.

Global poverty and inequality is a huge problem. Often exacerbated by trade barriers, forcing poor countries to not be able to trade with wealthy countries on an equal footing. In many ways people are designed to fail and live within poverty depending upon which country they live within and how much money their parents have when they are born and which country they are born into.

People fleeing global poverty, war and climate collapse and starvation will only continue over this century and a UK government MacDonald’s Big Mac bite sized government policies, will in no way satisfy the apatite of the global community or be a serious solution to serious political problems facing the world. Yes we must do what we can with the limited resources we have. But be under no illusion about just how much we must be prepared to do and if the system that we lives in sustains both poverty and climate damage then just tinkering around at the edges is not a valid solution to these global problems. I fear that if things get worse which they could and are likely to do the western northern hemisphere is more likely to try and fail to shut the door to the worlds problems while those very same problems persist in battering down that very same door.

I don’t think and write about these things because I am a pessimist I think and write about these things because they are real issues, affecting our times and people across the globe in the past, present and future. Though some in power might not wish to worry about such problems or see solutions, I am happy to continue to try to speak truth to power and continue to vote for those that I hope and believe can be a part of the solution and not part of the problem.

Sam Cooke – A change is Gonna Come

How do we hold our councils to account?

Sometimes we can’t vote for a solution, because a decision has already been made, by others that we must then learn to live with. I feel a little sick in my stomach when trying to type this blog post today, it’s one that I feel while trying to find my words and also what I should be saying and what I should not be saying. The council where I work has had its chief executive step down from their role and it looks like they have collectivly decided at the top of the orgnisation to have a seamless transition of power from the chief executive to the deputy chief executive.

This has been all legally able to happen and it was announced to staff today that the deputy chief executive is now been offered the role of chief executive. The person had an interview and was successful in their interview. The job was advertised to council internal candidates only and the successful candidate was likely the only person qualified to do the job.

What puzzled me though was who decided that this role should be only open to internal candidates when the normal recruitment method for the council is to nearly always advertise both internally and externally and the one job you think would be the most important one for them to recruit to outside the organisation as well as internally that of the chief executive goes to an internal candidate after external candidates were not allowed to apply.

It is likely that the people of the council specifically chose to advertise this job as internal only as they knew who they wanted to be granted the job to their chosen successor to enable the decision making process to remain consistent with what went before continue with what happens next.

If the council was run well then you would think that would be a great idea but you could argue there are many key areas in which the council is failing that really do matter. It no longer has the resource or ability to effectively interact with the most vulnerable within our society. It wants all interactions with the public to be via a computer screen not person to person and it wants payments to be made without the use of cash but by BACS or online payment transactions a so called cashless council. All modern working practices you might think, well done council.

But often those that need the councils support, help and advice and services are often the most vulnerable, deprived or poor with limited access to phones, computers or with a desperate need to speak to a real live human face to face in order to be assisted, or have a problem assessed for them and be supported with their problem. Such types of council practice is now out of place and old fashioned in the eyes of the executive and as they do more number crunching and cost cutting they forget or choose to ignore those that will suffer in the march for progress and cost efficiency measures.    

The council has won awards for a glossy ground breaking new leisure centre and construction projects, but as far as having the manpower to have an effective Financial Services Department or Human Resources Department or Face to face Customer Services delivery to residents then it is severely under-resourced and this lack of staff or ability to get the job done across departments will not change and is damaging to the council as a whole.

A lot of the decline of council services across the whole of the UK and not just in my city and is not just sometimes due to mismanagement of resources but is very much a consequence of Conservative leadership at the heart of UK government policy and power. With key resourcing decisions consistently made that result in less money and resources and having had them in power for over 12 years since May 2010 it has very much resulted in councils being treated like a dead piece of meat which is slowly being cut back year on year slice by slice to the bone until there is very little left.

There are other services across the public sector that are also damaged irreparably in this country, due to conservative ideology that cut backs are good and spending money on people and resources bad. We are in no way unique or worse off than the NHS, Police or Fire Service and having a Labour run council is also an advantage. There are many people that work tremendously hard for the council and local government in my city and I hope and look forward to seeing the new chief executive working hard for the city too, but the jury is still out.

Right now on the news in the UK today there is talk of our Conservative Government bringing laws to stop the sailing to Britain of immigrants and stopping them from being legally allowed to claim asylum once they arrive here. This is seen as a conservative righteous and necessary policy which is a true celebration of conservative law making and intelligent government standing up to foreigners that wish to live in Britain. We were probably all immigrants once.

The rights of foreigners and responsibilities of this nation to people that are not British are very easily forgotten though when people arrive in a jet plane or on a yacht, this country has consistently turned a blind eye to how that wealth was made for so long as it was spent here.

Where as if you turn up in a dingy clutching your only remaining possession which is your child then somehow what your doing is criminal and we will invent new laws to criminalise your desperate plea for shelter and an opportunity to contribute to our society by instead deporting you to a country that is poor enough to accept our money to take you in instead.

Dreaming the dream!

So it is 3.33am as I write this, the heating is now back on after 3 days of being off and it was uncomfortable and depressing to be without it for a few days. I had to persevere with try with trying to get in contact with the right person to come and fix it, I also got some advice from a Facebook group on how to contact my landlord which was really helpful. One of the pieces of advice was to contact the team I work for in the council on Monday but luckily it is all fixed now so I should not have to worry about it for a while (fingers crossed).

I had just woke up from yet another war like dream this time it was about Russia invading and attacking Ireland and bombing the place with some kind of poisonous gas. I feel extremely sorry for those people in the Ukraine living in such a cold country at this time of year going through an invasion by their neighbour, going without electricity, gas and food on or near the front line. It’s still very unclear to see what will happen with regard to the outcome of the war and what Putin wants to happen. I do worry that it could still escalate into world was 3 in our life time and that really is a scary prospect and that worry does appear to be showing up in my subconscious as I hope for the best but fear the worst.

Oxygene Part 4 (extended) – Jean–Michel Jarre.

A Press Pack full of hate for Harry

So Harry has now published his first book and been caught up in a storm of media scrutiny and vitriol

I think the clip above shows clearly how Harry is happy to be able to laugh at himself and try not to take things to seriously.

On the other hand in the British press at the moment there has been a lot of hate and bile shouted out and spat out towards Harry whipping up a storm of hatred and vitriol towards him in quite some fashion. Which to my mind says more about them and their lack of judgement and taste than it does about Harry’s.

The British press and it’s attempt to tell us what to think and why we should think in a certain way is all too apparent during the present hate for Harry campaign, I’m so pleased that the majority of Americans have not bought into this whipping up hysteria that we get in Britain and I do hope Harry continues to have somewhat of an enjoyable and well lived life as he continues to live and be listened to and respected in the USA. He does not need little Britain’s press put they very much need him or who else will they pointlessly whip up a storm about?

It must have been an incredibly brave decision by Harry to stand up and walk away from the royal family and their wealth, protection and privilege. To stop suckling off the milk of the bosom of the cash cow that is the British monarchy.    

I expect they have herd that one before!

I live in an old country with many traditions and rich vein of its own history and self importance. Though thankfully we no longer burn witches or float slave ships across the world. I love living in Britain and am pleased that I have the chance to be a citizen here but I am not a subject, I don’t hate the Royals (I just don’t see the Point).

I don’t see the point in Lords and Lady’s controlling our second chamber of government of a king being a ruler of Britain. It’s not common in the UK to be an out of the closet republican. We are all taught and meant to be Royal loving subjects happy with our lot and thankful for their privileges. I respect Harry for standing on his own two feet and stepping away from a monarchy it would be great if a few other of the inheritance heirs also want off and stepped away from the monarchy too. The bit that I most dislike is the democratic deficit. We are not allowed to elect the leader of Britain and it is likely to always be so in my lifetime but it’s a vote I would love to be able to vote upon.

I’d be annoyed if we elected Boris Johnson as our head of state for sure but if that was the will of the British people then on our head of state so be it!