It’s been an interesting week for local democracy. Last Wednesday, Doncaster’s elected mayor, Martin Winter, was seen doing his best to avoid giving an interview to BBC2’s Newsnight. Then on Friday the elected mayor of Stoke-on-Trent, Mark Meredith, was arrested on suspicion of corruption. Stoke is the city that has already voted to scrap itsContinueContinue reading “Elected Mayors – An Afterword”
Author Archives: WR Archives
The People’s Ponzi
We’ve been hearing quite a lot recently about Ponzi schemes, as the financial chickens come home to roost. A Ponzi scheme is an investment scam that promises investors a high rate of return but in fact is paying earlier entrants out of the money collected from later entrants. Eventually, for whatever reason, the scheme willContinueContinue reading “The People’s Ponzi”
Hands Off Our History!
On Monday a letter appeared in the Bristol Evening Post advocating a radical overhaul of local government in Wessex, linking this with the name of our Party. The proposal was to sweep away both districts and counties in favour of Jacobin-style ‘cantons’:“the Canton of Oxford would include much of Berkshire, parts of Buckinghamshire and partsContinueContinue reading “Hands Off Our History!”
A Smaller World, Please
Think globally, act locally. The sentiment is sound but the first instruction requires a lot less effort than the second. A lot less effort, because successive centralist governments at Westminster have made the second instruction well nigh impossible to carry out.Take the example of planning, where local discretion has now been all but abolished. WhenContinueContinue reading “A Smaller World, Please”
Whither Wessex?
“At a number of places in his celebrated Imperialism (1902), J. A. Hobson used southern England as an image of the successful, imperialist side of British capitalism: a countryside of plush ‘parasitism’ drawing tribute from overseas via the City, supporting ‘great tame masses of retainers’ in service and secondary industries, and riddled with ex-imperialist hirelings.ContinueContinue reading “Whither Wessex?”
Property & Privilege
One of the more amusing, if nonetheless unpleasant aspects of the current financial meltdown is the speed with which ardent free marketeers have rounded on the regulatory authorities for not being tough enough with them. Regulation that inhibits profits is bad, lack of regulation that fails to prevent losses is equally bad. Regulation, for itsContinueContinue reading “Property & Privilege”
The Meaning of No
Sir Desmond Glazebrook: ‘Surely a decision’s a decision?’Sir Humphrey Appleby: ‘Only if it’s the decision you want. If not it’s just a temporary setback.’‘Yes, Minister’, 1981The rejection of the Treaty of Lisbon by Irish voters has been the subject of much triumphalist crowing by Eurosceptics, much dismissive arrogance by Europhiles and much fevered speculation byContinueContinue reading “The Meaning of No”
Beware of Barbarians
“…the forces of vandalism and cruelty are ever ready to exploit or destroy what so many generations have painfully laboured to create…”Dr Herman Finer, 1933Change itself is the only constant but there are different kinds or degrees of change. Some changes enhance the quality of life, others can diminish it (which is why ‘modernisation’ -ContinueContinue reading “Beware of Barbarians”
The ‘G’ Word
At the end of March, the Brown regime announced plans to further nationalise the control of development in Wessex. Those who thought local opinion could not be sidelined any more than it is already will be sorely disappointed.Remember that when Labour took office in 1997 it inherited sweeping powers to interfere in local decision-making. WhitehallContinueContinue reading “The ‘G’ Word”
Minding Our Own Business
“Peace is a coin which has two sides – one is the avoidance of the use of force and the other is the creation of conditions of justice. In the long run you cannot expect one without the other.”John Foster Dulles, 1956Dulles was not a man whose actions lived up to his words. Nor canContinueContinue reading “Minding Our Own Business”