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Without being over optimistic and regardless of where the “cuts” come which might be better termed “redistribution”, the current situation may well prove the shot in the arm that this Country needs and oddly this fits rather well with the current Global Recession.

Whilst obviously Government spending must be reined in I believe we are looking at more than that, we are looking at a total realignment of the concept and basis of Central Government itself and a shifting of power away from the centre and it being devolved back to the individual citizen.

Global Warming

There is a part of me that falls about laughing over “Global Warming” which has become the accepted orthodoxy of thought, world wide. Personally I suspect that it is all a load of cobblers and I await the moment when the Jeremiah tendency decide that perhaps a new Ice age is back on the Agenda as it was in the 60/70s if I remember rightly.

It seems to me that if all this human activity which involves making millions of cars, pour fuel into them, burning all these fossil fuels to create all manner of manufactured goods, ship them around the globe, jump on aircraft at a moments notice and travel to the other side of the World…If all this is so bad, then a global slowdown in activity IS A GOOD THING !

However, I am not convinced that as the global recession eases over the next couple of years, that we will be going back to an exact replica of the “Days Before the Crash”, I think things have changed.

An Example

My personal passion photography

The Yashica roll film camera is purely mechanical, I’ve still got one and it will keep going for decades more, truth to tell, it is really a Japanese copy of the classic Rollei used by wedding photographers everywhere.

Below that is my first digital SLR a Canon D30. It only did 3.3 mega-pixels, had a totally metal body that would last for years but being digital, the sensor and ‘brains’ would date relatively quickly. I would suggest that a better future modular design would allow for the “electronics” to be replaced and the body continue.

This is not a novel idea the IBM PC has always been like this and over the decades I have built and upgraded my personal PCs on this basis. In the end all the components apart from the case get upgraded bit by bit and carried forward, it is much better than buying one off the shelf if not cheaper but, you get the PC and the performance you want.

In many ways, I believe that we are moving into a “less is more” society where unit prices and quality will rise but the lifespan of many manufactured goods will be extendable, the throw away society is passing or may well have already passed.

Reducing the size of the State

By the same token, the economic situation within the UK is also an opportunity to re-examine many things concerning the state and the citizen. It might well be a lot more than just reducing the size of the State, it will also be reducing the Reach of the State.

If we look at it coolly, we might see that there are things (services) that the State provides today that in previous generations were dealt with by the family. True the extended family of the 1950s where Uncles and Aunts lived within streets or doors of each other which I grew up in, no longer exists however, people do live in those same streets.

Things like say child care, before and after school care, could be done on a local community basis and be economically self contained. It is important here to understand what I’m point to; it is not the woman setting herself up as an official “child minder” as a business. This is perhaps one or two people being child minders but with full involvement by the parents of the children being “minded” with people knowing each other and together working on planning days out in the Holidays and so on.

We might take a similar view of looking after older people in their own homes, not quite so simple but possible.

Cut the Red Tape

This will mean dismantling all the rules and regulations so beloved of the Hattie Harpoons of this world and replacing them with common sense. In many ways, it will be possible to not just cut the State down to size but also in the process, build a sense of community and common interests. It is not just the number and type of services that can be redistributed to people at the local level, it must be accompanied by taking a scythe through all the pointless legislation that has drifted to these shores as flotsam and jetsam too.

If citizens are going to take on these things themselves, it also means that once we get past the immediate financial problems, they deserve to see their taxes reduced too.