Archive for March, 2008
Speaker Martin & Refurbishment Costs
March 31st, 2008 | 
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Over the weekend came news concerning the various refurbishment costs associated with the Speakers House within the Palace of Westminster, this resulted in a fair amount of flack with the implication that the Speaker was “at it” with public money again.
To be fair, whilst Speaker Martin has always been incapable of doing the job and should go, he is only a symptom of the main disease which really took hold in the 1997 Election when there was a sudden influx of totally new Labour MPs. The problem was that whilst these people were happy to be professional politicians, they had no feel for or love of the House itself and its traditions.
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Can Gordon Be Saved ?
Yes, I will admit that I am not a Gordon Brown fan but all my vitriol is not personal in the terms of wishing him any physical harm, I just want him to go away – forever. The reason that I pose the question is that following on from the “Embryology Row” I had one of those “What’s going on ?” moments and started thinking back to the less than a year since the One Eyed One, finally mounted the throne and pinnacle of all his desires by becoming Prime Minister.
It Was the Telegraph’s Fault…
It was responding to articles in the Daily Telegraph that led me down the slippery slope of writing my own blog. Of all the British media, the DT is the best and most generous when it comes to publishing reader entries but what I really want to do is to show how stimulating and enlightening taking an interest in mainstream comment columns can be.
I still post to the DT but not as regularly as I used to however, I always read the comments that interesting articles attract on a daily basis. Of course some of them are just people “farting on paper” but there are just as many who are very interesting and write well even if expressing views that are different to your own and can often make you think again…
Reform of the Lords – They Just Never Learn
That would be “Master of the Universe” or a least, his small version of it, Jack Straw is still banging on about reform of the House of Lords when it is the House of Commons that is in most and dire need of reform. It is all rather like a chap who complains about the holes in the toe of his socks and yet adamantly refuses to cut his toenails, it beggars all belief in the idea that Jack Straw has even a handful of functioning brain cells.
A Cardinal Speaks a Prime Minister Betrays
The one thing that I can guarantee being a Catholic and even with “Right Wing” views, the very mention of ‘Catholic’ in a news story of any kind will bring forth the usual anti-catholic rhetoric that comes so easily to the surface in these islands. Never-the-less, whilst I noted that the “Church” was opposed to this embryo research legislation, I as ever, conducted my own investigations and found that even large sections of the scientific community are opposed to it albeit, for highly technical reasons. There are many who question whether this is even pointing in the right direction and none of the people I read, quoted religious reservations as the personal reasons for their opposition.
Governing Constitutional Change
There are many aspects of our Parliament that need updating or changing. Practices that were once correct have subsequently been overtaken by events but, when it comes to anything that impinges upon Constitutional matters, one should hasten slowly and always start with a detailed examination of how things work and are connected to each other which, takes a little time.
Getting Public Services Right
The problem with politicians is that they will happily claim the credit when things go well but always pass the buck when they go wrong. So for years we have had Gordon Brown and Blair extolling the “Iron Chancellor, Prudence and Over the Economic Cycle, Golden Rules” and so on, but now things are going wrong it’s all: “Global economic events but Britain is better placed…Blah, blah.”
The truth is that even if Brown had been the genius he thinks he is, without the Thatcher reforms, he wouldn’t have been able to do a thing, the British economy didn’t start in 1997. Would a Tory government have done better ? Probably not but hopefully they wouldn’t have put 800,000 new people on the State Payroll.
UK Pensions – Political Change
The two previous essays were to describe a current and a possible future situation but in this one hopefully, I can try to pull the various elements together. As to whether my ideas are practical is a matter of opinion but at least I’m thinking about it and trying to communicate with others in order to provoke thought and discussion.
I want to move on to the more important part of these 3 essays, the politics and political impacts of change. The principles of democracy are far more important than just “one person, one vote”, they extend to the structures too and within which democracy is served.
UK Pensions – Alternative Solutions
This is the second article concerning using Pension Provision Reform as a major policy tool in the UK and as previously, I am deliberately being ’simplistic’ in describing possible solutions. As always, the Devil is in the Detail but in generating ideas, one should never be scared of being “shot down” by the naysayers and people with vested interests in the status quo, it goes with the territory.
My proposed solution is that over a period of 40 years, all UK pensions both public and private should be moved over to a “money purchase” system which whilst lacking the security of outcome that a final salary scheme delivers, is potentially both more realistic and fairer for all in society. If you like, in terms of social fairness and harmony, all the best government policies will emphasize “we are in this together” rather than the “Us and Them” mentality so sadly common of late.
UK Pensions – A Tool for Change
This essay is about UK pension provision, but it is as much about looking at the way our parliamentary system works and the impacts of a major change in just one policy area. However odd, it is intended to raise some questions and hopefully designed to provoke thought, in that regard it is the first of 3 essays – Background, Alternatives and the Political Dimension.
In order for me to explore some ideas, I need to set the background which means laying out the current situation in the UK on pensions before I can project a different course of action. Yes, pensions are boring but I don’t want to sell you one, I just want to broadly describe the terrain so that you can form your own opinion.