Will Brett’s Post

BROKEN BRITAIN In his latest column in The Guardian today, William Keegan endorsed my friend’s new book, FIXING BROKEN BRITAIN: ‘In his stimulating book Fixing Broken Britain, Alun Drake of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg notes how “unlike Norway and most other European democracies, in the 1980s, the UK sold off its nationalised industries, raising billions of pounds for the exchequer but losing control of key utilities such as water, gas, electricity and telecoms. Ironically, many are now in the hands of state-owned enterprises from other countries.”’ As further explained by Keegan: ‘This was done by a succession of #Conservative governments who, having sacrificed so much economic sovereignty, then embarked on a #Brexit which was supposed to “regain control” but did no such thing. 'The terrible thing is that the combination of austerity and the sacrifice of 4-6% of GDP to Brexit has left us ill-prepared for the tough times which the International Monetary Fund, the Bank of England and leading thinktanks warn lie ahead. ‘According to the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR), “the UK is set for a decade in the doldrums” unless the economy receives a significant boost to investment.’ I can highly recommend William Keegan’s column and the book, FIXING BROKEN BRITAIN, by Alun Drake. Please seek it out on Amazon. https://lnkd.in/eWJ-uxHq

Big political change in N.I. Interesting read.

Over the last few weeks, and the last few days in particular, I've had a bunch of people ask me whether I'm suffering from severe FOMO from not being in a newsroom in the run-up to the election. Actually, NO. It is surprisingly easy to detach oneself from a campaign that, on the face of it, frequently appeared as little more than playground squabbling. Tune in for a moment, and ask the serious questions; * Ok, so how will these promises be funded? * What do you believe to be the root cause of the productivity problem in Britain and outline your well-researched, fully costed plan for empowering ALL the people living here? * Where will you find extra teachers from? * How do you keep teachers in education and doctors in the NHS? * How exactly will you reduce waiting times for medical assessment and treatment? * What are the goals and the delivery plan for social care in this country? * How will you support areas of economic growth and expertise? * What makes Britain a compelling international investment case? * Why should scientists stay here? * What is your approach to regulation of big tech and the upholding of human rights? * No one failed to notice we had three prime ministers in a matter of weeks in autumn 2022. Nor pitifully poor growth for nearly two decades. How will you re-position Britain to its people - but also on the world stage? * Given that you have significantly different climate visions to eachother, why have you decided to ignore green issues almost entirely during the campaign? Despite the general apathy and despondency with which many people have loosely followed the goings-on, the answers to these questions very much matter. Whether we like it or not, agree with it or not, who's in charge, what they tax, where they spend, how they improve efficiency, what they promote, what they condemn, how they conduct themselves in public and in policy matters. It matters to you and it matters to me. It has a direct bearing on the money in our bank account, the quality of care and support our loved ones receive, the probability that our business ideas will fly, the quality of the air we breathe, the security of our food system and the brightness of the future we can imagine. My erudite (and lovely) BBC colleague Chris Mason published a blog this morning: We stand on the threshold of a landmark election. Do we? Landmarks are used to give bearings. Their solidity confers direction. Are any of us any closer to having a clearer picture of what the future could look like as a result of the last month and a half? The truth, and Chris makes this point, is that the colossal gap in the opinion polls between Labour and the Conservatives has barely budged. Whatever level of success/defeat we see this week, the country needs direction. Direction and action. The buck stops here. And it stops with you. The responsibility is yours. Break time's over boys.

My blog for June 2023 examines the good side of being Irish. It is available below and at www.writesideoftheroad.com

For the past six weeks , the word , change , has gathered momentum and intensity mostly, from main two parties: Labour and Tory . They’ve been sprinkling the word, change , like confetti. For Labour, change , as a new beginning , new energy , new timeline. For the Tories, they may have realised ( a tad too late) they have to change, they have been acting like victims in a problem they have created. They have governed with complacency, lack of contrition and utter entitlement and lack of responsibility to the people they were supposed to ‘serve’ , instead , they mastered turning chaos into almost an art form. The game has changed, the nation’s mood has changed too. Politics has to adapt to an ever increasing volatile world . The global landscape faces the challenge of prolonged uncertainties therefore, a timely change of management for Britain has arrived after fourteen years of a party who was self serving . A new day , a new government but change and trepidation hangs in the air , palpable . Keir Starmer , this morning, has promised a new change ( here goes that word again, yep!) of governance , with servitude . I hope him and his Labour Party live up to that , because the world of politics is changing and that requires a new focus , new action plans and a new language has to change in accordance . The cookie cutter approach no longer serves a changing demographic and it’s multiple needs. Yesterday was history, tomorrow is ahead, and today is a gift, regardless of which party you voted for. Why? Because, we are very fortunate to live in a country where despite the outcome, we have democracy . The new government sworn in has been accepted not contested , no riots , and I am grateful of having the freedom to exercise my voting choice at the ballot box . This is not a given in today’s world, it must be protected at all costs. We can agree to disagree on so many things, that’s politics for you, but we must all agree , we have freedom to exercise our civic right to choose by way of voting, our next PM .

‘This is Joe Public speaking (control) I'm controlled in the body (C-O-N, control) I'm controlled in the mind…’ Complete Control, written by Mick Jones and Joe Strummer Except…it’s not true. We are not controlled in the body, nor the mind; we are free and autonomous agents. And when we do bad, stupid, and unimaginably tragic things, like leaving the European Union, or denying poor children one guaranteed hot meal a day, we do it because we choose to do it. And not because some heartless, wrinkled old man with more money than humanity coursing through his cold veins told us to do it. We do it, because, well, who really knows why? But make no mistake; we decided to do these things, and then did them. The departure of Rupert Murdoch from the public stage will spare us having to look at him, which in turn might help us, well, perhaps not all off us, to forget or not contemplate his worldview. Which, given his view of the world and of humankind bears more resemblance to our darkest nightmares, you know, like Sauron or, dare I say, Adolf on a bad day, will be a blessing. Of course, he’s not really going anywhere, is he? For if we think he’s not going to carry on doing just what he’s been doing with such maleficent malevolence for over half a century, then we’re more stupid than previously thought. No. Murdoch, and his stringed offspring will continue to wend their merry and destructive way through all that is good and humane about our world. Cockroaches will do what cockroaches do… But what we have to stop doing is believing that we do what we do because of any other reason other than the one that is true. That we do because we chose to do. Thatcher won because we voted for her. Not because Murdoch supported her, and encouraged us to vote for her; both of which are true, but in the final analysis…we chose her. Other, and better choices were available. But we chose her. And since 2010, we have chosen a party that is blatantly not by the people, or even, laughably, for the people. With leaders who make no bones about making life easier for the millionaire class, and very much harder for the rest of us; the ‘stupid class’, for want of a better description of a group that always, but always, chooses to slit its own throat. Every. Single. Time. So let’s not cheer the departure of an undeniably unpleasant and malign figure from the public sphere too much. For that would absolve us from the equally unpleasant and destructive responsibility that is ours, and ours alone. Rupert Murdoch made his billions and is what he is, because of us. We made him. And we gave him his successes. Because, and this is the truly awful, some might even say tragic, part, we chose it. His media spouts its hateful poison because he knows there are enough of us who like it. When Katie Hopkins described, in his paper, refugees as cockroaches, and cared not a jot about drownings at sea, she did so because it made him money. So…if we don’t like it, why do we choose it?

Will Hutton's diagnosis of the current ills of modern Britain -- and what steps must be taken to address them -- is the most lucid and encouraging text I have read in a very long time. Please read this. https://lnkd.in/e2YcFCmF

→ It starts with fixing a broken lightbulb, writes Alun Drake   𝗛𝗢𝗪 𝗧𝗢 𝗙𝗜𝗫 𝗕𝗥𝗢𝗞𝗘𝗡 𝗕𝗥𝗜𝗧𝗔𝗜𝗡   There’s little doubt that Britain is in crisis: growing use of food banks, enormous NHS waiting lists, deepening poverty, and inequality, to name just a few of our national ailments, writes Alun Drake, today’s guest writer.   Even a few years ago it would have been impossible to imagine children in one of the richest countries in the world suffering from rickets, scurvy, scabies and measles.   Or adults having to perform DIY dentistry because of a shortage of NHS dentists. Sometimes it seems like we’ve returned to the Victorian era of haves and have nots.   The government puts the blame on Covid, small boats, the Woke blob and the war in Ukraine.   Labour points to austerity and Liz Truss as the main culprits.   Nobody mentions #Brexit.   But the truth is that many of our fundamental problems preceded our leaving the European Union, and even if we re-join, they’ll still be there. Because what we have in the UK is an acute systems failure.   But it isn’t the democratic system that’s failed, for the simple reason that our system isn’t very democratic.   For decades we’ve been conning ourselves that voting once every five years in national elections qualifies us as a democracy. It doesn’t, for reasons I spell out in my book FixingBrokenBritain.co.uk   It's high time we removed our rose-tinted spectacles, smelled the coffee, and put pressure on our elected representatives to do the same.   We need to wake up to reality: Britain requires fundamental democratic reform if it’s to return to social justice and prosperity.   Changing the government is a step in the right direction, but only if it results in major upgrades of our political institutions.   So far, the signs are not encouraging. ****************************  ▪ Read Alun Drake's feature article, '𝗙𝗶𝘅𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗯𝗿𝗼𝗸𝗲𝗻 𝗕𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁𝘀 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮 𝗯𝗿𝗼𝗸𝗲𝗻 𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝗯𝘂𝗹𝗯'. On LinkedIn at: https://lnkd.in/e_xiXumR ****************************   #EU #politics #democracy

https://lnkd.in/e8cp8TkG https://lnkd.in/e7Cfstsy Days before unsurprising election results in France led to angry protests in cities all over that European nation, the excellent Guardian podcast Today in Focus published part 1 of its two part series The 14 years that broke Britain, about Tories politics (first with Libdems, then just them) since 2010. Shocking analysis, about how conservative 'politics' destroyed the essential fabric of a well to do country. Remember the completely ridiculous trickle down nonsense of less than 50 days PM Liz Truss, the record low pound to dollar ratio because of that ? Listen to these two episodes. Its conclusion ? “You know, there's elections going on right now in France. The mainstream goalist party is nowhere compared to the party of Marine Le Pen. The analogy is not perfect, but the further right can take over the centre right and it has happened on Europe. Why should we think Britain is immune? It would be one of the great ironies if in leaving the European Union by effecting Brexit we make the British conservative party much more like Europe and much more like Europe's right-wing parties, which is nationalist populist and aligned with the far right. That could be one of the long-term consequences of Brexit and this election. I think there is a danger there that Labour could win very big, but as a result of smashing the Conservative Party suddenly face a rival which is much more frightening than the British Conservative Party”. Elections in two days. After even Nigel Farrage could not resist getting back into politics, despite him first having to manage his affiliates' racist tendencies. See https://lnkd.in/eekg95Tg, and https://lnkd.in/eY29Gn9p. In similar fashion, hear BBC's Global Story: https://lnkd.in/eDURuNsZ. My personal view ? You reap what you sow. I do not agree. But I get it.