The Power of Capitalism to Challenge Totalinarianism

 A new force for good is emerging out of the catastrophe being perpetuated in Ukraine, a peaceful country being crushed by its neighbour, Putin's Russia.

Putin, who when presented with a choice to develop his country commercially and economically, or to militarise his country to win back the old Soviet Empire incredibly chose the latter. Clearly a man with little or no vision who has been unable to reject his old KGB training.

Encouraged by his relatively unchallenged land grab in Ukraine's Crimea and the Donbas in 2014 he has now embarked on a military invasion to subjugate the whole of Ukraine by force.

After 14 days Russia's military invasion by land, sea and air has been exposed as disorganised, ill equipped and having great difficulty in securing Ukraine. 

Clearly Russia will succeed in destroying Ukraine's infrastructure but at a cost in men, equipment and to their own economy and military that is clearly going to be unsustainable.

What is emerging now however, which was not taken into Putin's calculation, is the degree to which the democratic West has been able to cooperate over imposing sanctions against Russia. Never before have such a wide range of sanctions been imposed by so many.

However the corporate sanctions that are now developing could be far more damaging to Putin's Russia than the sanctions imposed by Govts., as the large Capitalist Corporations close down their investments in Russia from the Oil Corps to Macdonalds to Starbucks to car assembly.

Capitalism is but a way of trading and the big Corps have come under huge pressure from their consumers in the Free World who are outraged by the Russian attack on the Ukrainian people. 

Pressure has been exerted through the MSM and through the huge reach and power of social media. They clearly see great damage to their businesses and are responding accordingly.

This response by the Capitalist Free World will have a massive impact on the Russian people as Fuel forecourts, retail shops and restaurants et al are closed. The middle classes will see their quality and style of life deeply impacted and the damage to the Russian economy will be there for all to perceive.

This Ukrainian tragedy has sadly some way to go but it's clear Putin's Russia cannot 'win' and we are seeing the use of the West's new War Weapon ... Govts. and Capitalism withdrawing their investments and denying our markets to Russian goods.

This new 'Weapon' is proving highly effective and will be giving Xi of China food for thought about his own expansionist and totalitarian plans ! 

This new 'Weapon' could be the way to bring freedom and economic balance to the World by deterring tyrants like Xi and Putin.

We Need A New Democracy - Not A New Voting System

The General Election of 2019 has produced once again a governing party and an opposition who control our MP's through a tribal party system. These tribal parties disenfranchise our MP's and control them through a pernicious whipping system that takes away their freedom to vote and denies them the freedom to truly represent their constituents.

There are those, many with a vested interest, who are still demanding a change to our voting system from the current First Past The Post (FPTP) to a Proportional Representation System (PR), or its sister system Mixed Member Proportional (MMR), as they use in Germany & New Zealand. This despite the fact that the electorate voted against a proposed change in a 2011 Referendum.

It will be noted extremism in the EU this last 10 years has increased exponentially, in Germany the AfD have some 90 + seats in the Bundestag and this replicates across all other EU countries from Austria to France to Holland ... this has been facilitated by PR & endless coalitions in their Countries for decades, leading to voter frustration & extremist parties in their parliaments, there is a better way.

Any change away from FPTP to PR will leave the voters with the same broken system that we currently have and do nothing to improve our democracy, we will still be left with a tribal party politics that usurps our democracy and controls our MP's.

So we need to think this through carefully, before we look to change a voting system we need to fix/change a party political system that completely undermines our democracy and the will of the electorate.

The way forward has to be to diminish the power / control of the political parties and give to voters the choice and selection of our MP's.

• Open primaries to select our candidates for election as MP's
• MP's who are fully accountable to their constituents
• A Recall system with the power of dismissing an MP & calling a by-election

The rules of recall must not be so restrictive they are rendered meaningless or so loose as to be unfair to a sitting MP.

Such a system, where the power lies with the voter through their MP, will lead to less tribal politics, less left and right, and allow our representatives to speak and vote as their conscience demands.So representing fully the views of their constituents without being forced to follow the party line. 

It would be an MP driven House of Commons where it would not be unusual or unacceptable to vote with one's conscience or the party opposite and the whips would become a shadow of their former selves.

The executive of the political parties would have to persuade not coerce, a genuine democracy would rule, party politics could flourish by representing the people and serious policy errors like the Iraq War would be far less likely to occur.

Under such a system politics could become honest, the electorate would be part of the democracy and we would have a politics that engaged and truly represented the people.

@richardcalhoun

Political Parties Running Scared of Immigration Debate

All the parties are running scared, and that includes UKIP, who seem to be slowly going down the road of increasing the rhetoric against immigrants, sadly LibLabCon are following in their wake.

Its not about immigration in reality, which is good for the UK, its about the Welfare and benefits we offer which inevitably attract those that would not otherwise come to these shores, it is these people who are milking our system and giving immigration a bad name.

We need the immigrants that work, create businesses and as proven contribute greatly to our economy, they raise their families and in the next 30/40 years we will not have the demographic problems of Germany & Japan. This will ensure the future pensions and standards of living of our children and grandchildren.

We must reject the xenophobia of both left and right and follow the instincts of the great British public, which is broadly comfortable with immigration, but this tolerance will come under severe strain if the 3 main parties do not take a stand and discuss the real issue - Welfare & Benefits.

It is yet another signal that we must have a referendum on the EU, hopefully a vote to take back our sovereignty, so that the issues of Immigration, welfare & benefits can be fully addressed.

Regrettably Labour & Libdems are not willing to grant this to the British public, as we saw in the Lords this week, they do not believe we are equipped to make this decision. However once the Euro elections are out of the way I expect Labour will do a U turn and agree to offer a Referendum.

Whether Labour change their position or not on a Referendum I believe the Tories will do a deal with ukip to give themselves a chance of winning GE2015, probably by giving them a free run at 20 seats

Revolution -The Way To End Our Corrupt Party Politics

Yes, I know we Brits don't do revolution, but there is more to revolution than taking to the streets - Taking on the State on the Streets plays into their hands, they are the only winners when law & order breaks down, it blurs the issues & enables the State to end it by force.

Our politics stinks, it's controlled by the two political parties who have taken away the freedom & independence of the electorate by cynically having total control of our MP's.

We need real open primaries, where constituents choose the candidates for MP, & those candidates when elected are answerable & recallable by their constituents, answerable only to the people not the political tribes.

We need to reduce dramatically the number of MP's representing us, with modern communications we simply don't need 650 MP's

This would not end the party system but would dramatically diminish their power, the MP's loyalty would be to his/her constituents, and the party would come second, no whips needed thank you. Vote as your constituents demand or else.

The problem is how do we get there? Turkeys' don't vote for Xmas, and however much they pretend to consider changing the system, they only tinker and never ever give up their ultimate power over our Representatives.

So we are stuck, they won't move and we don't know how to move them, they keep bribing us with more and more welfare, we keep increasing our national debt, the situation goes from bad to worse inexorably.

The percentage of people voting has dropped from 80%+ to 60%+, the number of people not registering to vote is also increasing, resulting in the ruling party having a very small % of all registered voters supporting them.

We need to consider a new category of voter, we don't need to respond to their entreaties to vote, to endorse a corrupt & flawed democratic system, we need a 'Won't Vote' (#WontVote) category, organised with a set of demands to fix our democracy before we do vote.

Those demands I would suggest should include the following:
1/ Open Primaries
2/ 300 to 400 only MP's
3/ Granting Patronage & Honours taken away from govt
4/ Government devolved to the regions with large tax raising powers
5/ End of grants & tax favours to business, it only benefits the corporates

We should not attempt to politicise this by demanding low taxes / high taxes, nationalisation / privatisation, this should be left to the people in their devolved UK, a federation if you like, who are free to raise & reduce taxes as they see fit for their constituents.

This approach I believe, if presented clearly to the electorate, would prove to be very attractive to them. The goal of course must be to have over 50% of registered voters joining a #WontVote campaign and so destroying the credibility of any elected government.

The response I find from some people to this proposal is any elected government of  say 20% / 25% of registered voters would simply take power and govern.

I don't accept that would be sustainable for a moment, not when a #WontVote campaign has been seen to succeed in its declared aim. It would destroy the credibility, not only of the government but of the whole rotten system, and our political elites would be forced to take on the demands being made.

Social media is a very powerful tool, it is changing our politics and our society, used intelligently it can achieve much for the people, we should take it into our hands and demand change in the General Election 2015.

We should not endorse a rotten system with our vote, we should organise a #WontVote, so challenging the Political Classes & over turning a system rotten to the core

The UK & Ireland Resolving N.Ireland

The UK & Ireland Resolving Northern Ireland

The 1998 Northern Ireland Peace Agreement has at best been fragile and over the last few years is beginning to unravel, with the latest issue over the Union Jack fully exposing the Protestant distrust of the Peace Agreement and the huge divide between the two communities..

This agreement cobbled together by the Political elites attempting to appease all sides, and in collusion with the Clinton Administration, never addressed the real issues. Namely the sectarian divide, which has been accommodated rather than resolved, and the increasing Catholic population in Northern Ireland which will force the end of partition in time.

The only way forward is for the British and Irish governments to recognise the only real solution for the province and its people is the end of partition, and by addressing it now will allow a political settlement that will enable the Province to plan for the future of its people.

This is a difficult time to address these issues, primarily because both the Irish and British economies are bankrupt, which ironically will mean the politicians will not be able to fudge any political settlement as they simply won’t have the money to bribe the two sides. The taxpayer in both Ireland and the UK  have simply run out of money for the foreseeable future.

The failure of the UK and Irish governments to address the N.Ireland issue will be tantamount to criminal neglect to the people of UK,Ireland and Northern Ireland, as the result of failing to do so will be another terrorist war with a much greater danger of it engulfing Ireland and mainland UK  cities next time.

Understandably there is still a great distrust of British Governments in Ireland, partly history and partly because we are a much larger and more powerful country. However our own UK is under threat, we have the Scots seeking Independence, the Welsh devolved, many of  the Regions of the UK feel alienated from the Political Centre in London and the South East.

There has been much talk of devolving power in the UK  but precious little action to carry it forward, but people want control of their lives, and they do not have it when all the levers of power are centralised in London. It is clear, whether Scotland achieves Independence or not, probably not, there is a real discord in our Country that needs addressing.

The UK and Irish governments should be discussing a single Federal state, where the regions of the Single state have the power to run their own affairs, including fiscal control. All Federal States would be represented by a small central government.

When the people of Northern Ireland can see that the two countries. Ireland and the UK are serious about a single state then it will change the whole dynamic in Northern Ireland.
Northern Ireland with its population of 1.8 Million will not be able to hold the two governments to ransom, they will be part of the process of forming a single state but that is all.

There would be many advantages for both Countries, it would offer Ireland an alternative to the Euro, it would free up our economies, and drive forward our industry and employment. It would of course require strong safeguards with such a large population in England compared to Ireland, Wales & Scotland but when you give power to the regions this would dissipate the power of England as a whole to the advantage of its regions. Alliances may change?

Many will point to the fact that we are a monarchy, and understandably the Irish would not wish to accept a Monarchy, but this is not a real issue if you have a loose federation with real power held by each state of the Federation. 
It would be a nonsense to allow the monarchy to stand in the way, both monarchists and republicans could be accommodated.


The cultures of Ireland and the UK are broadly the same, we have a lot in common, particularly now that the power of the churches has diminished with their falling memberships.
We have a great opportunity to change for the better and  if we harness our talents together we will give our children the opportunity of a future unclouded by internecine strife.

I believe now is the time to grasp the nettle on this issue, to start the debate, and to look at the possibilities for all our people in this time of huge change, not only change in Europe but around the World.

A New Politics to end Tribal Politics

I have been banging on about tribal politics for some time, proclaiming the way forward to be open primaries using the 2009 Totnes open primary as a template. http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/aug/04/tories-totnes-mp

I believe the open primary route could provide us with a way to diminish the power of the political parties that have stolen our democracy. However there may be other ways and I would be interested to hear from anyone who has ideas on other alternative ways forward

The problem with our current tribal politics is that it brings down the debate to the yah boo level, people are so busy defending their tribe they fail to consider the logic of the argument for change.

However many people have difficulty in seeing the advantages of the  political parties power diminished, they think it would cause chaos and that you cannot do without a party system.

Of course you cannot eliminate the party system, we are tribal after all and we like to be part of a team, but you can diminish their power.
Currently we select a candidate for MP either as directed from Party HQ or by the constituency party, we as the voters have no say in this so it is not surprising that party memberships have dropped dramatically, the Tories for example from 3 million in 1950 to 170,000 in 2012.  http://www.parliament.uk/briefing-papers/SN05125 This is unsustainable in a democratic country.

It cannot be right that our MP's enter parliament having being given a mandate by the voters to represent us, only to be promptly taken over by the party machine and told which way they must vote, despite their constituents.

This results in any party with a majority pushing through legislation without proper debate and with which a majority of the electorate may disagree. In poll after poll you find the electorate often support measures which their party does not, the electorate are a lot smarter than they are given credit for, they have common sense.

Imagine a House of Commons with MP's who are directly accountable to their electorate, meaning they can be recalled by their constituents and if needs be sacked for not representing their manifesto commitment. This would also preclude them from signing up to the party manifesto as a whole if they disagreed with some aspects, a further curb on the parties issuing manifesto's they have no intention of honouring. (Referendums!)

This would lead to a House of Commons with independently minded
MP's, who although being a member of a political party, need have no hesitation in voting against their party if they believed by doing so they would be representing the views of their constituents.

This would lead to the Political Parties having to convince ALL MP's of the logic of their proposed legislation, it would mean that the government could be voted down regularly if they were not listening.

I can already hear you saying this could cause chaos with governments continually resigning, but I don't believe this would happen, if you can't convince the MP's of the validity of your legislation then you have to drop it. In the event of a government's legislation continually being defeated, then yes they would have to resign, but that would be no bad thing.

We would end up with a mature thinking House of Commons with MP's  primary concern being their constituents, and if needs be voting accordingly, even if it meant voting for the other parties, and without a threat to their future as MP's within the party.

The Political Parties  would have to compete for the votes of all MP's, without the aid of whips, so becoming the servant of the MP's and not the master, and through them the electorate.

Tribal Party Politics has Stolen our Democracy

We are faced with a political system that has stolen our democracy, supported by the political classes who   support the 'Party' before they do voters who elected them.

The Political parties have no intention of changing the status quo, after a brief flirtation with a successful open primary in Totnes, the Tories have quietly dropped the idea with no objection from their MP's. The other parties have made no movement or noise whatsoever, except to try and change the voting system to ensure they can stitch up the system in an even more comprehensive way.

The truth is they are all very comfortable thank you, a job for life in many instances, and none of the parties wants or has the courage to rock the boat.

The voters have responded very predictably, with their feet, totally resigned to the fact that all our parties are in essence in it for themselves, they have departed from the ballot box in droves. Indeed there cannot be a time since WW2 that politicians have been so discredited and despised by the electorate.

It is also very apparent we are totally over represented with our layers upon layers of 'elected' representatives,starting with parish &district councillors, county councillors & MP's. This is before you take into account the new assemblies in Scotland, Wales and N.Ireland, and throw in our infamous quango's for good measure.

It is time to grasp the nettle at Westminster by starting with a radical reduction in the number of MP's who represent us, it would appear that we could quite safely reduce them from the proposed 600 to 300 to 400 without impinging on our democracy.

The elephant in the room however will remain, that is the Political Parties whose power knows no bounds, this must be changed to ensure that we the voters are empowered to choose who should stand as our MP.
We must move forward to a system of open primaries, with the Totnes open primary of 2009 taken as a template. I am sure this could be strengthened further in favour of the voter so only the voters  have the power to choose who should stand for them.

We must diminish the power of the parties by banning the use of the Whips, this together with MP's chosen by open primary,plus the ability of the voters to recall the MP if they are dissatisfied with their performance,  will bring an independence to our MP's that has not been seen before in our lifetime.

Imagine if you can a House of Commons full of  genuinely independent MP's of all persuasions voting by conscience, common sense and their constituents wishes rather than voting according to the demands of the corrupt Tribal Party system. What a change this would bring about in our politics and our democracy!

But the question is how do we go about achieving this aim, to win back our democracy, and have the government and representation we want. It is clear the political parties in Westminster are not interested, UKIP have proven same old same by supporting the status quo and PR despite recent referenda.
Organisations like the Freedom Association do not have the wherewithal and the think tanks do not consider it to be part of their remit.

I have to confess I do not have the answer, which is the reason for this blog, to find the answer from others, for it is surely the only way we are going to clean up our politics. We need to find  an organisation willing to take on this task. Any ideas ?