There’s a water crisis looming. The Coalition wants us all to be more careful. Hippy conservationists seem to agree that water meters, dual-flush toilets and garden water butts will take the pressure off. Maybe sharing showers or bathwater would help. All of which is nonsense. It’s nonsense because we would actually have more than enoughContinueContinue reading “Missing the Obvious”
Tag Archives: Democracy
Crooks In Command
The Western Daily Press leads today with a story about an open letter from wildlife groups in Wessex and Cornwall “incredulous” about the Coalition’s “stunning disregard” for the natural environment, citing the Chancellor’s recent description of it as a “ridiculous” barrier to economic growth.Tony Richardson of the RSPB (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds)ContinueContinue reading “Crooks In Command”
One-Way System
“Localism is about liberating the natural desire of local communities to become more prosperous. The notion that communities choose decline and reject prosperity is perverse, wrong-headed and not based on evidence.”So says Eric Pickles. Two questions then for the obese obfuscator.If he’s that sure that local communities, left to themselves, will destroy their environment, acceptingContinueContinue reading “One-Way System”
The Biggest Society
Communists and fascists agreed that an efficient society requires a strong element of focused terror – the fear of physical attack. We may think we have moved on but in fact, ever since the 70s, we have been moving back, back towards an older idea that an efficient society requires a strong element of unfocusedContinueContinue reading “The Biggest Society”
The Hollow State
Privatisation is the social equivalent of selling a kidney to pay the mortgage. Except that, under current circumstances, it’s not even your mortgage you’re paying but that of some crook you’ve never met but whose well-being you’re assured is fundamental to economic stability.It was no accident that the real start of the privatisation drive co-incidedContinueContinue reading “The Hollow State”
Resentment & Resistance
BBC Radio 4 this morning picked at the dilemma facing the Coalition over planning. On the one hand are those concerned, genuinely or for electoral reasons, that our environment is being serially degraded by development and that something needs to be done about this. Handing control to local folk seems like a good start, thoughContinueContinue reading “Resentment & Resistance”
Review of 2010
Every year when we submit our accounts to the Electoral Commission we are also required to provide a ‘Review of Political Activities’ covering the year just gone. The 2010 Review has recently been forwarded to the Commission and here is what it says: During 2010 the Party’s on-line presence was maintained and strengthened. The websiteContinueContinue reading “Review of 2010”
Localism, R.I.P.
We have long been critical of the Coalition’s localism agenda. Not because we disagree with it in principle. Far from it. We would devolve power further and faster, and instead of dismantling those anti-democratic regional institutions we would democratise them in the form of a Wessex Parliament – the ‘Witan’ – an accountable voice forContinueContinue reading “Localism, R.I.P.”
Joined-up Looting
Plans to sell off forestry land have been put on hold as the Coalition confesses that it misjudged the public mood. The plans will be back. All three of the main London parties are committed to continuing privatisation in order to fund big giveaways to their respective backers.The great fire-sale is driven by five keyContinueContinue reading “Joined-up Looting”
Playing the Poll Card
“Be you never so high, the Law is above you.”Dr Thomas Fuller, 1733 (and others)No sooner had Phil Woolas been stripped of his Parliamentary seat than politicians and the media started questioning whether it was right for judges to overturn the people’s choice. Democracy in danger? It is a fair question but one with anContinueContinue reading “Playing the Poll Card”
Wessex Regionalists 