{"id":58364,"date":"2021-08-01T09:42:49","date_gmt":"2021-08-01T08:42:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/?p=58364"},"modified":"2021-08-01T09:42:49","modified_gmt":"2021-08-01T08:42:49","slug":"we-need-a-peaceful-revolution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/2021\/08\/01\/we-need-a-peaceful-revolution\/","title":{"rendered":"We need a peaceful revolution"},"content":{"rendered":"

I just posted this as a thread on Twitter:<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

Gary Neville suggested we need a peaceful revolution yesterday. It\u2019s not the usual call for an ex Manchester United player who is now a football commentator. But was he right to do so? A short thread\u2026.<\/p>\n

I am not by inclination revolutionary. But we need to change our head of state.<\/p>\n

And we need to be rid of the House of Lords.<\/p>\n

We need electoral reform - because first past the post is nothing like democracy now.<\/p>\n

We need to respect the right of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to choose their own futures.<\/p>\n

And we need to revive local decision making, and democracy.<\/p>\n

Education needs to be back under state control, and not that of private academies.<\/p>\n

The NHS has to be locked into the state.<\/p>\n

And so does economic policy: the undemocratic farce of claiming that we have an independent Bank of England because politicians can\u2019t be trusted with the economy has to end.<\/p>\n

The House of Commons must be able to hold the government to account, which it can\u2019t now.<\/p>\n

It must be able to say ministers lie when they do.<\/p>\n

Ministers who lie must suffer penalties for doing so.<\/p>\n

Politicians who cause unnecessary deaths must be liable for them.<\/p>\n

The \u2018Treasury view\u2019 which means that whenever someone proposes something for the good of society we apparently can\u2019t afford it has to be shattered.<\/p>\n

The police must not be used for the oppression of opinion.<\/p>\n

We must have statutory rights that courts must uphold. The right to be who we are is essential.<\/p>\n

These rights must include the right to free speech and assembly, albeit with a legally imposed duty not to cause offence.<\/p>\n

The legal system must be respected and the rule of law upheld.<\/p>\n

Media ownership must be transformed.<\/p>\n

People must have the right to a trade union, and employers must have the legal obligation to recognise that union.<\/p>\n

The right to private property must be upheld. The demand that it be accountable when held in legal structures - whether companies or trusts - must be enforced.<\/p>\n

It should be a constitutional requirement that we have overall progressive taxation and the required taxes to deliver it.<\/p>\n

The right to support from the state should be enshrined in law.<\/p>\n

The state should have a legal obligation to ensure that those who need help get it.<\/p>\n

There should be legal restrictions on the delay in the supply of government services, from healthcare, to housing, to justice.<\/p>\n

There should be a legal obligation to fund key services like our tax authority, education and social care.<\/p>\n

The environment must be protected.<\/p>\n

We need a written constitution.<\/p>\n

It must reflect the country we are, not the country we once were.<\/p>\n

We need a peaceful revolution in other words.<\/p>\n

The system of government we have is not fit for purpose.<\/p>\n

Almost everything needs to change.<\/p>\n

Gary Neville was right to make his call.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I just posted this as a thread on Twitter: Gary Neville suggested we need a peaceful revolution yesterday. It\u2019s not the usual call for an
Read the full article…<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[106],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-58364","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58364","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58364"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58364\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58364"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58364"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58364"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}