It is possible that this will be just another normal Monday. But I doubt it.
The Labour Party is at war with itself, or rather its membership, in Brighton, struggling in the process to find both its own democratic processes and policy.
Boris Johnson is in the USA to discuss climate change. He has announced a paltry new commitment of £1.2 billion, which is maybe one-fortieth of what is required. As token gestures go that is on the pathetic scale, and worthy of derision.
The Supreme Court might rule. And the longer it takes to do so the more likely it is that it will deliver a judgement saying Boris Johnson acted illegally. After all, if it was going to say that his actions were acceptable it would have taken very little time to do so.
And in between all that Julia Hartley Brewer will, no doubt, continue to publish the home addresses of those who are subject to death threats, as she has done in the case of Jolyon Maugham.
The four issues do, of course, have something in common. They are all about breakdown in the accepted order. Labour is unable to find a modus operandi that might deliver a viable social democratic agenda when confronted by those dedicated to a materialist politics from an era long gone. Boris Johnson is in denial of expert opinion, as is now common amongst those dedicated to the materialist economics from an era long gone. The Supreme Court is having to consider the use of the Royal prerogative, based on the deference to power of an era long gone. Whilst we have to witness the public endorsement of threatening behaviour that should, but does not, belong to an era long gone.
The commonality is simple: as yet what we cannot escape from the past of what we were. All I can say is that unless we do the crisis that we face is almost insurmountable: global and cannot be tackled using the politics of an era long gone.
Thanks for reading this post.
You can share this post on social media of your choice by clicking these icons:
You can subscribe to this blog's daily email here.
And if you would like to support this blog you can, here:
Hartley-Brewer?
More like ‘Heartless’ Brewer? How an earth can she get away with that?
Last night I watched ‘Tories at War’ and there was a financier one ‘Crispin Odey’ a backer of Boris who apparently has bet on the down sliding of British business – precipitated by BREXIT – in other words helping to create the chaos that will enable his bet to win and to enrich him – and still at large in the community. Let’s tell everyone what he is doing and publish his addresses, eh?! He’s nothing but a scumbag – saying that prerogation will remind Parliament who is in charge!! Ha!
It isn’t the people who are in charge – its people like odious Odey.
Those too many grey male fat bodies I keep seeing at BREXIT party meetings think that THEY are in charge? They’re just puppets with hands up their arses – the hands of creatures like Odey and his ilk.
There needs to be reckoning after this. A legal one, a constitutional one – but there has to be day of reckoning for the wreckers.
And now, along with the Nasty Party (the Tories) The Opportunist Party (Lib-Dems) we have – courtesy of the Labour Party – The Stupid Party – who would rather concentrate on their internal factions than help the country.
God it seems is STILL away on business.
Amongst the many deceits (or even conceits) of Brexit, the idea that it is a revolt against the ‘elite’. is one of the worst. They don’t get much more elite than those driving Brexit – like Odey – who are amongst the very few who stand to benefit from it and are insulated by their wealth from the consequences.
And yet to point out to people how they have been conned and lied to, is to be patronising.
That there are ‘fellow travellers’ (or useful idiots as I believe Stalin used to say) on the left, going along with the deceits, is even more depressing. The failure of Labour leadership to challenge those deceits is in effect to support the idea that the UK’s problems are caused by membership of the EU, rather by years of Tory policies. The result is that they undermine their most potent line of attack.
When they are not busy attacking each other…
To misquote Adam Smith: “People of the same party seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public, or in some contrivance to deny them their rights.”
Parties and professional politicians are a large part of the problem. Over recent decades they have demonstrated that none of them are fit to govern, whether it’s austerity, capture by wealthy interests, opposition to voting reform, opposition to constitutional reform, failure to understand economics, or evidence or the current bourach of Brexit.
It’s why I want to see “The End of Politicians” (by Brett Hennig) and why I’m “Against Elections” (by David Van Reybrouck. Participatory, deliberative democracy is the way forward out of this mess.
it’s curious isn’t it, how the old order is so terrified of anything slightly resembling socialism,
yet, in a somewhat Newtonian way every action has an opposite and equal reaction,
in some respects the excesses of capitalism have pushed many people into living rather socialist lives,
when English law has been upheld and revered for so many centuries for it’s property rights, yet the youth of today are unlikely to ever own much property beyond their personal possessions,
the Englishmans home is no longer his castle, it’s a rented flat subject to the caprice and whims of it’s landlord,
the urban youth are much less likely to own a private car, it’s all very expensive to keep and run, the roads are clogged, there’s nowhere to park it when you’re not using it, to walk or cycle or take the bus or train is actually quite liberating and potentially more sociable, even egalitarian,
the motivation to save and build up capital of your own has been taken away by decades of shrivelling interest rates which now are less than the real rate of inflation,
to put aside money and invest it for your retirement seems somewhat futile, your pension fund contributions will be churned and skimmed and churned and skimmed, endlessly, by the fund managers, quite possibly when you reach retirement age there will have been an asset bubble bursting and the fund managers in their smart suits and plush offices will say ‘sorry, there just isn’t much left, it’s the markets you see’
that dear old Protestant work ethic of work hard and diligently to improve your lot and the prospects of your children seems to have been turned on it’s head, now, no matter how hard you work you just can’t attain the living standards of your parents, what can you promise your children?
the ultra capitalists, in their lust to have it all and own everything, have taken the chance of actually participating in and reaping some of the rewards of capitalism from so many people that they are now terrified that, possibly, even justifiably, many people might choose to discard their model and try something else?
although accused by some as being a socialist FDR most definately didn’t come from a working class background,
FDR was a capitalist, but he had the sense to realise capitalism was failing due to it’s inherent selfishness and he set out to rescue capitalism from itself,
and how did he do this?
he made a New Deal.
Although it was a single issue, whereas Brexit is a country-changing process, Ireland’s stuggles with the constitutional and legislative issues around abortion over the last four decades is informative. During a period of political and governance instability in the early ’80s right-wing religious pressure groups (with the support of the RC church) forced the holding of a referendum in Sep. ’83 to amend the constitution to proscribe abortion (the 8th amendment), but the amendment (which was supported 2 to 1 by voters) was not accompanied by any draft legislation setting out in practical detail how the prohibition would be enforced and implemented if voters chose that course. It took 35 years of protests, struggle, court cases and further constitutional amendments before the 8th amendment was repealed in a referendum which this time was accompanied by detailed draft legislation.
It appears clear that Britain cannot move on to address the vital challenges you outline until Brexit is sorted in some form or other. In the context of the Irish experience the current constitutional and legislative mess highlights the perils of conducting a referendum in a parliamentary democracy without it being accompanied by detailed draft legislation to implement a change in the status quo if that’s what a majority of voters decide.
A majority of voters opted to leave the EU, the process governing withdrawal was initiated (Article 50), but the draft legislation authorising the terms of withdrawal was thrice defeated in the Commons. The only principled and practical course is to secure modified terms of withdrawal, draft enabling legislation and put the whole packake to the people in a second referendum. This, belatedly, is where the Labour high command has ended up. But only a government enjoying stable majority support in the Commons can implement this process. And this, having passed the test on principle, is where the Labour leadership’s position fails. There is no evidence of majority support for this position in the country or in the Commons – and there is a vanishingly small probablility that a general election would yield the necessary majority in the country or the Commons. The consitutional rules on holding referendums require major changes, but there is a general and understandable opposition to changing the rules in the middle of game. Any changes would require substantial popular support. And it’s not there.
And so the saga will drag on. Like so much else the Labour party will suffer potentially terminal collateral damage in this rolling mix of tragedy and farce and we’ll continue to be, as Sean O’Casey put it “in a state of chassis”.
I like Rebecca long Bailey’s commitment (?) to Government spending providing more charging points for electric cars. It sounds sensible to me – as is this business about ending non-dom status.
But politics at the moment is full of the static that is BREXIT.
These ‘good ideas’ from Labour are just going to be lost in all the BREXIT noise. That would be a tragedy of epic proportions given that the Lib Dems are just talking about revoking A50 and other BREXIT centred stuff. It’s hugely risky this and if Labour kicks their own can down the road…………well………..!!??
Electric cars are not the answer: we cannot have a future where a ton of metal is lugged around at a time
we just can’t keep up with the energy supply demanded by our fantasies about having a Star Trek future,
the opening paragraph of this article gave me a bit of a ‘slap to the face’ of reality,
https://www.feasta.org/2019/07/16/our-lighter-website/
“Over 50% of the world’s population now have internet access and the average time people spend online each day is 6 hours and 42 minutes. As our connectivity increases, so too does its energy use. Some analysts predict that by 2025, global communication technologies will be responsible for more carbon emissions than any country except China, India and the United States.”
and the fantasists want to add 2 billion electric private cars too, all powered by optimism and wishful thinking?
But electric (or hydrogen) buses may be?
Far better to organise your transport network such that an alternative to individual car ownership is very attractive, affordable and of course sustainable.
Oh yes….
I’ve said before that I do not how we can resource so many car batteries from existing and finite resources so I agree with you about that.
Electric cars will be part of the answer, as will electric delivery vehicles but it seems to me that we should never have got rid of the tram or trolley bus and they will make a come back.
But at least Long-Bailey went to the root of the matter either wittingly or unwittingly in that it is Government who can make these changes happen and facilitate a swap over to more sustainable transport through investment.
BTW – I think electric cars will be smaller and much lighter than anything we can think of now derived from petrol and diesel engines.
And still our car ads sell the lie of unlimited travel!!
Matt B.
Electric cars are not the answer I agree, but that is because of the battery technology largely. However as I was telling Richard last week there is no shortage of energy. We just need to be more efficient at generating it from renewable sources. In principle solar electricity from a 20 x 20 km patch of the Sahara would provide all the electricity currently used in Europe. Also not very sensible to have one car each that is only used a couple of times a day.
I am a bit of a trekkie, btw. Star Trek is entirely carbon free. Plus the replicator is an energy – matter converter so if you developed that then shortages of minerals, etc become a thing of the past. You will have noticed that money does not feature much unless you are Ferengi.
More to the point, we do need to get off the planet. Not sensible to have all your eggs in one basket, and there is a way. I think we are in the equivalent of 1490 wondering if there is anything to the west other than water and the edge of the World.
There is no viable way, of that I am entirely sure…
I live in the Netherlands and no longer own a car. It helps that I live on the edge of a big city.
My car is now an electric-assisted cargo bike. It fits multiple kids inside it and a ton of shopping.
Given that big cities are increasingly becoming grid-locked by having too many cars on the road, and the emissions and climate implications that this poses, I think we need to be more radical.
Imagine if you were to ban 90% of passenger car traffic from the streets of London? Change the roads to be primarily used by cyclists, buses, trams. Most of the heavy freight to be delivered overnight, the rest to be delivered on smaller electric cargo vehicles (or cargo bikes).
London is not a hilly city. You could get around so easily on electric bikes or cargo bikes if only it were safer. Have huge rental electric bike schemes at major train stations and transport hubs.
This is the future.
Well, that’s a cheerful start to this first day of autumn. The good news is the Brits had a successful evening at the Emmys. Top quality bread & circuses. The media moguls fiddle while the planet burns. (No disrepect to the talented Phoebe Waller-Bridge). Meanwhile, Thomas Cook crash lands putting 21,000 people out of work. A woeful story of financial greed and appalling management. What does it take to awaken people? A 16 year old with Asperger’s? Hopefully.
Whither British politics and the future well-being of our ancient country? It’s anyone’s guess.
“The future is dark, with a darkness as much of the womb as the grave.” (Rebecca Solnit).
Happy Mabon! 🙂
FAO Tim Rideout,
well if you truly do want a Star Trek future you need to think big, I mean really big, and act, act now!
I read whatever I can find in English about China’s One Belt One Road Initiative,
one aspect of it is the aspiration to build a continuous belt of solar panel farms around the girth of the planet so as to follow the sun as the planet revolves and distribute it through a very high voltage distribution network,
this article gives a taster of the scale of investment they are currently committed to,
https://www.brookings.edu/blog/techtank/2018/11/27/chinas-belt-and-road-initiative-is-poised-to-transform-the-clean-energy-industry/
it’s all happening in China, we could be part of it too but for some curious reason our ‘Glorious Leaders’ don’t like China and would prefer to shiver in the dark rather than participate!
oh, and this is an estimate for the minerals required to convert the UK fleet of internal combustion engined passenger cars into EV’s
https://www.nhm.ac.uk/press-office/press-releases/leading-scientists-set-out-resource-challenge-of-meeting-net-zer.html
unfortunately the replicators in Star Trek only exist in the imaginations of screenwriters,
The problem with the NHM figures is that they make the assumption that the cars in 2050 will be built using last year’s technology.
There are plenty of battery chemistries which don’t require much (or any) cobalt, lithium is actually pretty abundant and can potentially be extracted from seawater economically. If you think lithium is too scarce, Sodium Ion and Magnesium Ion batteries are under development amongst many other potential technologies. Electric motors don’t require rare earth magnets and permanent magnets without any rare earths have been developed. Not to mention induction motors. We’ll need copper, of course, but there are many approaches which require less of it than current technology uses.
Electric cars are actually a perfect solution to many of the issues we face. The main thing is to make sure that the electricity which charges them doesn’t come from fossil fuels as it tends to at present. Same goes for hydrogen which is pushed by the fossil fuel companies for a very good reason – steam reformation of natural gas is by far the cheapest way to produce it. Not that I’m a fan of hydrogen for energy storage as there are just too many tradeoffs.
Well, I think I have just solved one of your four problems. I now know why we are leaving the EU. If I understand correctly our Prime Minister’s explanation (and he did express his desire to be “clear”) in his interview in New York with Gary Gibbon of C4 News, we are leaving the EU in order to end the trade in shark-fin soup.
That should be decisive.
🙂
I watched that. A good effort by Gary Gibbon in contrast to the easy ride that Johnson gets from some quarters (BBC anyone?) . Showing Johnson at his waffling, evasive, shifty, blustering worst. How anyone could watch that and see him as the right person to be PM, or even just an MP, beats me
Yes, Gary did well, but not as well as Eddy Mair in his legendary interview: ”Boris Johnson, the fact is you’re a nasty piece of work…”
Eddy Mair was indeed masterly. I’ve often wondered why he left the BBC. He was one of the very few prepared to take on the Tory right. Not a coincidence I suspect
I agree with what Charles Adams just said: “Far better to organise your transport network such that an alternative to individual car ownership is very attractive, affordable and of course sustainable.”
The beauty of this partial, short-term solution is that it could be implemented quickly.
It’s not hard to improve bus services so they get people where they need to be. “People” includes people who live ‘out of the way’ or in pockets of cities where bus routes currently don’t operate. Or in rural areas and villages and small towns. Nationalising bus services doesn’t require any complicated construction, or any inventions that haven’t happened yet. Just a willingness to do what helps society, and not what brings immediate profit to the private sector. It worked before, and can certainly work again.
Where I live, in the middle of an urban area, the bus that reliably got us into Glasgow for the past 20 years–once every half hour during the day–is being removed from service as of end of October. Thousands have signed a petition to retain it, and our MSPs are working hard to get that decision reversed. But whatever the outcome, this is a decision should not have been made.
My husband and I gave up car ownership back in 1994, and we rely on buses. Giving up a car is one of the most effective things an individual can do to slow climate change, but people can’t do that if they then can’t get to their work, or wherever else they need to be.
The bus services across the UK need to be re-nationalised and revitalised ASAP. Margaret Thatcher’s deregulation needs to be reversed. It’s something that can be done right away, if the political will is there. A small step, but a significant one.
As a big fan of bus travel, I agree
Look – I’ve been reviewing (very quickly) how things currently are in terms of individual vehicle usage.
The carers who visit our elderly neighbours – they all drive diesel cars; our landlord repairs services all drive diesel vans; the deliveries to shops and businesses in the mornings, the Post Office – they’re all on diesel. The scale of required change is enormous. My brother in law who flits between the UK and Croatia has just bought a diesel Seat after looking into electric which he has discounted because he found there was no infrastructure for his power needs. He wanted to buy electric – he really did.
The provision of charging points may well be a useful transitional tool – not a final one.
The power to weight ratio of electric vehicles also needs to be looked at . The Tesla range look like carbon cars to me – too heavy, too much car – aping carbon to win sales – who needs electric cars that look like sports cars for goodness sake?
There is a lot to do but there has to be a certain amount of incrementalism in whatever action is taken. The biggest area of investment has to be in public transport – no doubt about that, as carbon is effectively wound down.
As someone who predominantly uses the train and his bike, over the years I have noticed more and more that you can taste and smell diesel and petrol emissions whilst cycling around a smaller city like where I work. Even the rural area where I live was suffering congestion the other day and the fumes were palpable. We have become addicted to driving to out of town malls for our shopping – American style and Thatchers ‘great car economy’.
There is no doubt it is all messed up and we have to change – but the way the change is introduced is the key. One thousand more electric cars on the road in month is a step in the right direction. I’ll take that for starters.
Lower down the pecking order, those of us on more stringent budgets will scrap our polluting vehicles for less polluting ones that come from electric car sales. It is going to be slow and painful but with the right intervention in the right place we might make changes without resorting to bogus means like ‘carbon trading’ (it should be called carbon ‘treading’ because like treading water it gets us no where).
A GND could help fire a lot of this up.
But the question remains what is important to people at the moment – BREXIT or the planet? I fear that it is the former – the last thing we ever needed was BREXIT – the Great Spoiler, The Great Diversion of our times, from more important matters at hand.
BREXIT – a bourgeois concern and effectively nothing more than a self-fulfilling credit default swap against the country to make the Establishment even richer- effectively nationalised now as a people’s concern. It’s crime that has enabled other crimes. There has to be reckoning – there really does.
Brexit is trashing this country