Help!

My country is in serious trouble. My countrymen and women by a little inattention to detail have elected to govern us a party intent on destroying us. Not, I should point out a majority of my countrymen. Less than half the voters voted for this party and only half the electorate voted so there is some comfort in the fact that less than a quarter of those entitled to vote actually voted for them. But it has happened and by the wonders of proportional representation they won by  a landslide! It is a bit like Germany in1933 you take your eye off the ball and wake up with a monster in charge. And so we have. A strutting self important angry ignorant monster. He has done nothing constructive, has attacked the role of the courts, has committed us to dependence on wind and wave for electricity despite no credible technology for the latter and astonishing costs for the former. He is now seeking to relocate at vast cost his personal residence to a castle folly on a hill a little reminiscent of Bertesgarden!  Now well embarked on his campaign of destruction he has taken a lesson from the American Republican party and has played the religious card - apparently suggesting god will see him through!  Spare us a thought as we descend into darkness. I certainly will for you!

Knox Kercher

Kercher was murdered
Knox is acquitted. Did she do it?
We may never know.
If  she did not this is a compelling tribute to Italian Justice.
If she did,  she knows it and no matter her future it will take its toll. She will never rest again.
Best of a bad job.

Ants take on Goliath role in protecting trees in the savanna from elephants

Ants take on Goliath role in protecting trees in the savanna from elephants
Read and rejoice. Lots of little ants protecting enormous trees from giant elephants!  Think about it when your local  plutocrats want to grasp yet more of your community resources. If ants can do it so can you.

Further Imbalance

Having reflected on the imbalance between the three contributors to every commercial enterprise I must point out an equally disgraceful imbalance in the application of Freedom of Information legislation - at least in my own country. The legislation gives the public the right to information on a wide range of public enterprises - and none whatsoever on information about commercial enterprises. So if you wish information about your local public hospital the law supports you but if it is a private hospital  the law is silent. Why should commercial enterprises enjoy this right to secrecy? I leave you to speculate.

An Unequal Relationship

There is growing evidence of the disorder surrounding commercial companies. Any commercial enterprise has three groups of players: the owners (often shareholders) who have invested capital in the enterprise, the staff who have invested time and effort, and the customers who pay for the goods or services produced. What is beyond question is that the owners are getting a disproportionate amount of the benefit as manifested by high profits. Where profits are high we know that customers are paying too much, staff are being paid too little, or both. Since customers and staff well outnumber the owners why not apply some of the principles of that sacred institution - democracy? Work in progress.

Would You Lend Money to ....

My government is upset at the banks. The banks are not lending "enough" to "small and medium sized" businesses and the government believes this to be a major cause of failure of growth.
I am no economist but I imagine the good old capitalist system expects businesses to make judgements in line with their own objectives, and that they would know better than anyone else what these might be. So here it is: banks wont lend to folks who might not be in a position to pay interest or repay the loan. That is what my government wants them to do. I seem to remember a few short years ago we got into a mess precisely because banks lent money to people who could not pay it back. My government wants to repeat that disaster? Apparently so!

Diagnosis before Treatment

When we consult our doctor with a problem we reasonably expect that the doctor will listen to our problem, make a diagnosis and recommend some treatment - in that order.
Politicians are less rational. My prime minister has decided to turn over our healthcare system. He has a clear set of proposals but has offered not one word of a diagnosis. Like all party politicians he knows all the answers before even asking what the question is. This one is however a bit unlucky. His chief adviser went to a meeting of private investors and extolled the major profits to be made from the changes. Now we know what the prime minister's diagnosis is - his pals are not making enough from our healthcare system. How creaming off more for them helps me get better care or value for money is not clear.

Party Politics are Dangerous.

We have reflected before on the evils of party politics. Till now it seemed that such activities could do little harm. Politicians amble about changing this and that but the people who actually get things done keep on getting things done. To an extent that is still true but to my concern I woke up yesterday morning to discover that my countrymen have elected to government a political party who are intent on destroying my country! Now it may not come to that but there is a real risk.  The people who get things done may yet restrain the unthinking party ideologues and life will go on. But perhaps not. Party politicians are people who have failed to find a role in getting things done and who yet can pose dangers to the rest of us. We need to re-engineer the system to correct this dangerous situation.

Twittering Celebrations

So the twittering classes of Egypt have got a result - of sorts - and we in the west are all hoop de doo! Here's the problem: what comes next? The demonstrators showed that they were from a class which had acquired resources despite Mubarak's rule. If he was as portrayed they are surely a minority. If they were a majority then where was the huge problem?  What about the actual majority who were unable to advance their position because of Mubarak's rule. Who will lead them and what will be their priorities? Will we yet see the twittering minority retreat to a Cairo Green Zone surrounded by a defensive shield such as we have in Baghdad or Kabul? I think it less than likely that the American or NATO armies will be on hand to protect them.