Another week passes and GJ is too busy to write.....still with the football season now over perhaps there'll be less Chelsea stuff to write about on the Chelseablog to which I frequently contribute.
Giving me more time here!
So, we head into week number whatever of MP's expenses and maybe it's just me, but it seems the story has been milked to death. If I didn't know better I'd even suggest that press had a vested interest in keeping it going in order to avoid any scandal in their own back yard being uncovered. I mean surely no hack has ever fiddled their expenses.....or been known to frequent toilets with a mate called Charlie....have they?
It also seems to me that despite the morality issues being spouted the continuous reporting is detracting from the scandal of worldwide global mismanagement on behalf of the banks and financial institutions which has contributed to a global recession which has lost people their jobs and houses. In terms of priorities it all appears a bit out of kilter. However it has spurred me into looking at alternatives to the current system and the current parties.
And I don't mean the BNP. In fact the best thing I've read this week is the article in last Sunday's Observer which was one of the best hatchet jobs I've ever seen on the BNP.
I've become quite enamoured by Nick Clegg and his Lib Dems, who slowly, quietly but surely do seem to be setting themselves up as a genuine alternative to Gordon Brown's crumbling alleged Labour government. The trouble is until we get some sort of Proportional Representation system they have no chance of influencing the government. The Tories looked quite hopeful under Cameron's youthful and vigourous re-branding, but I can't be doing with their entrenched Euro-scepticism and desire (from the grass roots) to remove us from the EU, which of course most sensible people know would result in the utter collapse of this countries economy. Why? Because quite simply as China and India continue to grow as economic powerhouses, with the US sure to also remain a major player, and Russia's resurgence due to it's plentiful supply of natural resources the only weay the Uk could compete with these , as with any of the other European countries, is through the united trading block that is the EU. We're just too small and insignificant to operate successfully on our own. Others point to Sweden or Switzerland as examples of countries who have done it on their own....but be real...their economies don't come close to ours, and the Swiss economy is utterly dependent on sharp banking practices and dubious funding. So, no Tories for me thanks.
The Greens under Caroline Bellamy have some great principles, a really liberating drugs policy but for me fall down on their reluctance to embrace nuclear power. The french have been huge nuclear operators for years now without any major incidents and the cheapest electricity in Europe. I'm afraid the Greens arguments against nuclear just don't add up for me. it's a shame because like all of the progressive parties, they also support PR or some form of alternative to the patronising 'first past the post' system we use in this the UK. A system which means that around 60% of all votes cast in general elections are useless. Is it any wonder turnouts are down and people are disengaging from politics?
So, I'll continue to scour for a party to vote for, fundamentally socialist, with the will to reform and modernise parliament and the constitution, to change the voting system and to transform the tax system. A party that will genuinely try and tackle crime with stiff sentences for knife and gun carriers, whilst reforming drugs policy into something workable that doesn't put the proceeds into organised crime and terrorism. A party that embraces multi-culturalism but also understands the need for reasonable immigration controls like Australia has done. A party that wants students to be educated without being landed with huge debts. A party that genuinely wants to revolutionise public transport with huge railway funding programmes, that uses the road tax for roads and encourages home working through new technologies. A progressive party that is prepared for press and media backlashes against change that is necessary to bring the UK into the 21st century.
Looks like a revamp for the Liberation manifesto!
Later, GJ
