This article talking about the state of UK society and the need for organistation for national wellbeing versus private gain.... quiet appropriate.. the most striking thing about the article is that it was written over 80 years ago.. 1921
Oh how times change!

The good thing is that we all have to live and make our own mistakes to learn...
it is just a shame they are the same old mistakes made by every generation before us...!

However I dont think reading books will stop this... isnt it part of being human..
and the one thing about us which evolution can not "fix".

Just a thought.

H

Subsidies, Tariffs and Other Nonsenses of World 'Free' Trade

As Victor Keegan says in this Guardian aritcle, the WTO negotiations are very boring but the more you read about the details the more absurd and immoral it all is.

It is said this all starting to change, hopefully it will become more and more obvious to everyone how stupid and unfair the current system is. The sooner the better.

I remember hearing about how everything on the planet should be privitised - e.g meaning that someone would have an inherent interest in a specific cubed foot of water in the ocean.
Even though this exists already and is known as worldwide commons. (2) (3)

This did happen before but people were not too happy because all these common areas were given/ bought to people who could afford them- leaving the public in debt to these new owners.... the result of this was known as the land reform act or soemthing like that- I honestly think we are revisiting this area once again.

Where all this privately owned commons wil be reclaimed by the people.The thing that I have thought about history is that we can repeat history indefintely- because new generations make the same mistakes as past generations.

We only learn from our own mistakes- not others... meaning we will repeat history time and time again.

Anyways thats thought for the day..

UK Election 2005 - Sensible Party Policies

So, what would a sensible party's policies be for this election?
As food for thought, there's some policy areas to consider -

Crime - Policing, Anti-Social Behavior, Immigration and Asylum

Public Services - NHS, Council Tax, Education

Finance - Income Tax, Corporation Tax, Red Tape, Families, Transport, Pensions

Foreign Policy - Israel/Palestine/Iran/North Korea, Terrorism, EU

Government - Constitution, Reform, Monarchy, House of Lords, Parliament,
Devolution

The BBC list of issues is here

Opinion - Tesco's UK Record Profit

I'm generally a patient man but I dislike waiting around because of other people's incompetence. So, taking into account Tesco's record 2 billion pounds pre-tax profits , have a think about this next time you are standing in a queue at a Tesco store looking at empty, un-manned checkouts :

Teso annual Pre-tax profits - 2.03 billion pounds.
Number of seconds in a calendar year : 31449600
Therefore, Tesco pre-tax profit per second is 64 UK pounds and 54 pence.

From what I could find via a quick google, Tesco checkout operator hourly rate of pay (For over 18's), is : 5.65 quid

Therefore, if Tesco spent even a quarter of these profits on more staff, they could employ 3 man hours of checkout staff per second... Why do they not do this?

a) Sheer greed - our current economic system compels companies to make as much money as possible. If you haven't seen it, go and see / rent or buy the DVD of The Corporation for a thorough look at how psychopathic companies are.

b) Incompetence - If some customers are put off by hanging about and spend their money elsewhere on other visits, or even walk out and abandon their trolley, then Tesco lose profits from this. But, they spread their greed ethos down to their management. So what do the management do? They try and get by on as little budget as possible so they can increase their bonus / get a promotion / salary increase. They reduce their staff budget to the minimum they think they can manage on.
Result - You get left standing around, and every second you stand there the directors and shareholders are clocking up as much profit per second as you are probably going to spend when you eventually get served at the checkout.

The reason there are so few manned checkouts in the quarter following Christmas is that the managers used up all their budget on extra staff over Christmas trying to get as much of your cash as possible in their tills during the busiest period.

I wonder how much money Tesco would make if they were smart as well as enormously greedy?

"Our market share of UK retailing is 12.5 per cent - that leaves 87.5 per cent to go after.",
Tesco Chief Executive, Sir Terry Leahy

UK Election 2005 - Quote

"A politician is a statesman who approaches every question with an open mouth.",
Adlai E. Stevenson

Coming Home from Iraq

No matter what your position on the Iraq war, surely anyone would think what has happened to the US soldiers in this Guardian story is a disgrace. Homelessness is a blight on society at the best of times, that people who have offered up their lives should be let down so badly by the system that sent them to war is unforgivable.

Opinion - The Demise of the Trade Union

I found some of the comments in the 'Have You Say' section of this BBC News story somewhat ironic.

People bemoan union members for going on strike stating that the union is out of order for demanding a 5.9% pay rise because they (The complainers) would be lucky to ever get such a rise in their work place. Do they not even think for a second that the reason they could never get such a pay rise is precisely because of the lack of unionisation in their workplace? Do they not realise that we are increasingly headed backwards to a 6/7 day a week working week because these conditions are now dictated by 'the free market' and not by negotiation between workers and management? Unions were out of order to some extent in the 1970s in the UK, only now are we beginning to see the legacy of their loss. Sadly people seem to be so caught up in their own convenience that they cannot see this.

Alternatives to Neoliberalism
Interesting piece by Monbiot that contrasts the relative economic success of the UK and Sweden along with the gap between rich and poor in those countries....

The Bush Organisational Philosophy

This op-ed piece (c/o Mike, ta), makes some interesting points about how Bush appoints cabinet members. Worth a read.