baldysblog.co.uk

Archive for the ‘Reform and Change’ Category

It will take your ‘average journalist’ at least 6 months to wake up to what the ‘real story’ is about today, frankly most of them don’t have a clue and as proof, consider the following : http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/columnists/charlesmoore/8319768/If-Strasbourg-has-its-way-we-will-all-end-up-as-prisoners.html

All jolly good stuff but all, rather irrelevant given what currently drives the World of which the Egyptian Revolution was but a ‘taste’, the BIG ISSUE this day is Youth Unemployment combined with a ‘mature’ Commercial Sector that couldn’t think their way out of a wet paper bag on their best days which clearly, are long past. We need to engage with our unemployed youth, right across the Western economies, now…

Read the rest of this entry »

It would be hard for anyone from the UK with, however frustrating at times, a settled democracy won by our forefathers to fully understand just how the people of Egypt must be feeling right now. For them the whole experience of toppling what was, still is, a Police State by peaceful means must seem like achieving an “Impossible Dream” or climbing Mount Everest so well done to all of them and all of good faith must send them best wishes for a happy future.

Of course it will not be easy, the road ahead for them is strewn with many thorny problems but… If they can do this, why should they not also “do that” ?

Read the rest of this entry »

As someone who is ‘right of centre’ in their political views, perhaps the funniest thing in town is the ‘opprobrium’ showered upon both Tony Blair and Margaret Thatcher and often, by their supposed supporters from their own political parties.

However and only because he is more ‘immediate’ of the two, Blair is most relevant to today’s politics and our immediate future. The Iraq War has no great relevance in British politics today though of course, it does in Iraq and particularly to the citizens of that Country. The ‘Blair Years’ are important to us in the UK but for completely different reasons which, need to be examined…

Read the rest of this entry »

The other day, Liverpool Council that most “Tory” of towns announced that they were withdrawing from anything to do with the “Tory Big Society” idea because of the ‘cuts’ to their budget – boo hoo ! Could not even the blind, see that one coming from totally Socialist Liverpool ? They only ‘joined in’ the idea because perhaps by doing so, they thought they might ‘protect existing Central Government hand outs’, the fact that the ‘game’ had long since moved on, never occurred to them.

But it is interesting as an example of whether an idea such as the “Big Society” can even get a hearing in a totally selfish and self-centred world.

Read the rest of this entry »

Following on from the recent events in Tunisia, The Yemen and now Egypt, it looks as though there is a degree of revolution in the air and potential changes in Leaders and Regimes that may well threaten Western interests both politically and economically. Inevitably under the current circumstances, there will be a fear of Muslim Extremists stepping into any political vacuum that opens up during this time of change.

However, the reality is that whether in these countries, Saudi Arabia or a number of others, change was always going to happen sooner or later and it may well be that now, might be more favourable to Western interests than possibly at any other time if only, because now it is not just a matter of “American or Western Interests” alone, it also involves China and India.

Read the rest of this entry »

There will no doubt be many recriminations flying around over the next few days and whilst the Sunday Tabloids will focus on the winner of the “X Factor”, the Sunday broadsheets will grind on relentlessly about how the Police mishandled the “Student Demonstration” and the needless exposure of the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall to a break away group of protesters, there is only one reality:

Absolutely no one walks away from these events with clean hands and the attack on the Royal Couple was one sure fire way by which those students present, totally lost the argument…

Read the rest of this entry »

I have at times of boredom or weakness, engaged in ‘comments wars’, they can get quite grisly because hiding behind some anonymous name, people can feel quite free to be totally silly and downright insulting so normally I ignore them but the following mild example may provide some amusement.

One of the staff writers on The Daily Telegraph is Janet Daley who I rarely read because like Simon Heffer who also writes for the DT, she is none too bright and her right wing fan club that comment on her articles are pretty unhinged at the best of times however, today it was worth a crack: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/columnists/janetdaley/8165185/Why-dont-we-love-David-Cameron.html#dsq-content

Read the rest of this entry »

It seems appropriate to return to the topic of Higher Education, University and so on. Higher Education is not a “Right” as secondary education is, it is an option that should be ‘earned’ through personal ability and merit rather than an “Ability to Pay” or a Government measure based upon qualifying by a “Poverty Diktat”.

In this context and in terms of the 15% or so who could benefit from a purely academic education and providing the intake was kept to about that, via a system of grants and bursaries, most students could likely be fully funded which is never going to be the case if 40-50% of secondary school children want to go to University, end of discussion…

Read the rest of this entry »

Quite often, some might say all too often, the reader’s responses to articles published in the Media are often far more interesting than the published original and one response because no doubt of my personal experiences, caught my attention concerning “Carers”.

We all know that cuts in Government expenditure are coming and therefore in the run up to the final decisions being made in October, one can expect just about every special interest to be putting forward the case why they should be ‘left alone’. However and as I thought about it, there is rather more to this “Benefits Reform” and in a sense, the basic decision hinges around whether people expect help from the State on the basis of a ‘right’, a contractual basis or, on as ‘needed’ basis.

Read the rest of this entry »

A writer in the Independent today penned a piece entitled, “University is not right for everyone and that sentiment touches upon what I have felt for quite a few years now. http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/philip-hensher/philip-hensher-university-isnrsquot-right-for-everyone-2053386.html

It is a simple fact of life that when only a few people take part in any particular activity, it tends to be ‘Fun’. Driving a car used to be fun before everyone had a car and were competing for the same bit of road space. Likewise, not only are our roads overcrowded but in these small islands subject to heavy commercial air traffic, so too are the skies. If you fancy flying privately, it is only tolerable whilst there are few other people wanting to do the same, faced with congestion and higher demand, rationing of any activity by “price or licence” is inevitable.

Read the rest of this entry »