British – Page 31 – John Vincent

1982

In 40 years, much has changed but not everything. For me, a good part of 1982 was spent in Buckhorn Weston[1]. A small village on the edge of the 3 English countries, Somerset, Dorset, and Wiltshire.

It was the year, I graduated from Lanchester Polytechnic in Coventry (The Lanch). Having been a student apprentice, I returned to the employer who had sponsored my engineering education. That company and its name have disappeared from the lexicon of British manufactures. The Plessey company[2] was divided and swallowed up by others. The work that it did, at that time, continues but as part of a large European multinational organisation[3].

As a young design engineer, I found myself developing low noise preamplifiers. Yes, at that time analogue electronics played the major part in our lives. Digital systems were starting to break through as the recipe of choice for new designs. Each engineer had their own hardback orange catalogue of Texas transistor–transistor logic (TTL) chips[4]. It was the new frontier. Speculation was rife about growing miniaturisation.

It was a year of change. However, the pivotal moment of mine didn’t come until the end of the year. I was a fresh 22-year-old graduate with ambition and a rosy outlook as to what the world had to offer. Economically, the UK had been through some depressing years but in late 1982 the job market was good for a graduate of electronic engineering.

Living in the Dorset village of Buckhorn Weston had its eccentric moments. There were more than a few evenings spent at The Stapleton Arms[5]. On the opposite side of the road to the pub was a Post Office and a telephone box. When I moved to the village, I had little idea how that vivid red telephone box would shape my life for decades.

The daily routine started to have a rhythm to it, as there was a great deal to do at work. There wasn’t a moment when my diary wasn’t full. The summer had opened wonderful opportunities to cruise around the West Country lanes in my bright yellow MG Midget. My family being near by meant that family occasions didn’t go amiss either.

Then a Christmas party in Bristol had unexpected repercussions. It was early December. A good friend from The Lanch had got a job in Bristol working for a wine merchant. I had no hesitation in saying “yes” to an invitation to a party in the city. It wasn’t far to travel.

Now, 40-years on, Sue and I enjoy a life in the southeast. At that Bristol party we met for the first time. That’s when the cold nights standing in a village telephone box started. So, red Post Office telephone boxes will always have a special place in my heart.

In this mobile phone orientated era, a line from Monty Python comes to mind: “And you try and tell the young people of today that … they won’t believe you”[6]

[1] https://bwandkmpc.org/

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plessey

[3] https://www.thales.com/

[4] This remains with us in a different form https://www.ti.com/lit/ug/scyd013b/scyd013b.pdf

[5] https://www.stapletonarms.co.uk/

[6] https://genius.com/Monty-python-four-yorkshiremen-live-annotated

Break the cycle

It’s almost as if the UK is a private country club run by a desperate array of fundamentalist eccentrics. Interview after interview ponders on the machinations within this rotten privileged club. Manoeuvrings and diversions take on a soap opera quality where none of the characters are likable and all are fatally flawed. It’s a daily Machiavellian[1] mystery show.

Although I’ve concluded that our governance problems are systemic the case for letting the country’s people decide what to do next is now overwhelming. Political parties with a large majority in the House of Commons become warped after a long period of power.

The UK is a Parliamentary democracy or is struggling to remain one. The prospect of Boris Johnson returning as Prime Minister (PM) is truly astounding. If he strides back into No 10 Downing Street as the Conservative top dog, then we have flipped into an undemocratic presidential malaise.

Today, No 10 staff are preparing to give evidence at the privileges committee inquiry. Tommorrow, imagine the subject of that inquiry returning to be their boss.

Commentators are saying that many Conservative MPs will resign the party whip if Boris Johnson[2] wins the party leadership race. Sadly, this may not concern party managers given that they will still retain a majority in the House of Commons. Numbers matter.

Please don’t ask why is Boris Johnson has been on holiday when the House of Commons is sitting?

There’re a few oddballs who are saying that the British political opposition is scared stiff of Boris Johnson returning as PM, because “they know he’s a winner”. This really is turning the whole show into a sale of the century where honesty and integrity play no part in the proceedings.

The call an immediate General Election, so that the people can decide who should lead us through the extraordinary times, is right and proper. The chances of it happening are extremely thin. Pressing the reset button is of paramount importance. Trouble is that Conservative MPs prioritise protecting their jobs rather than the greater good of the country.

Britain’s last Prime Minister ran as bad a show as can be done in a short time. Likelihood is that Britain’s next Prime Minister will come the same discredited stable. Catastrophic results last time. Catastrophic results in prospect next time. The cycle needs to be broken.

POST: However strange, the support for Boris Johnson isn’t hiding under the covers https://twitter.com/LeoDochertyUK/status/1583418690120212482?s=20&t=08UMtfqXbbHzNjgiSahPjw

[1] https://marketbusinessnews.com/financial-glossary/machiavellianism/

[2] https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/boris-johnson-flight-liz-truss-sunak-prime-minister-b2208264.html

Reigate

You may well know that Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson is the British politician that led the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He served as Prime Minister (PM) of the UK. This is history. His term of office was a disaster. It was peppered with gaffs, lavish holidays, “terminological inexactitudes[1]” and jobs for his chums. Conservative MPs could take no more, so they got rid of him.

Circulating in the rumour mill is the possibility that this gentleman will be doing the “chicken run.” Boris Johnson’s current parliamentary seat, Uxbridge and South Ruislip would be among the 125 seats the Labour Party would likely win to secure a majority at the next General Election[2].

The rumour is that this former leader of the Conservative Party has his eye on Reigate. It’s a county constituency that has been a Conservative parliamentary seat in modern times. The only exception to this was in 1906 when a Liberal MP was returned to Parliament.

Reigate is a prosperous Surrey town, south of the North Downs and north of London Gatwick Airport. It’s at the heart of a Westminster constituency that extends north to Banstead and encompasses the town of Redhill. Next door are seats that have a simillar history as being safe for Conservatives.

The term “chicken run” became popular in the mid-1990s. As General Election defeat loomed, leading Conservative politicians started abandoning their parliamentary seats and getting themselves what they thought to be safer ones. This move was seen as a clear sign that the Conservative Party was conceding defeat. In fact, it took a while but it did turn out that way.

With Reigate’s current MP promising to stand down at the next General Election. There’s a vacancy. Who will the local party members choose? Boris Johnson in Reigate would be a dreadful prospect. However, this might bring about 1906[3] all over again. In the General Election of January 1906, the Liberals swept to victory with a landslide result.

Yes, Reigate could go Liberal Democrat. Now, that would be a good day.

POST 1: A Bring Back Boris petition has toped 10,000 in two days. It’s seems the rock and the hard place is playing out as Conservatives up and down Britain panic.

POST 2: Now, Reigate’s MP has been doing the rounds of the national media sudios calling for the current PM to stand down. Asking for the British electorate to tollerate yet another switch of PM. Absolute bonkers are far too mild words to describe the Conservative Party.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terminological_inexactitude

[2] https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/may/28/could-boris-johnson-lose-his-seat-in-the-next-election

[3] https://liberalhistory.org.uk/history/1906-election/

Our political class is sclerotic

It’s been pointed out time and time again. It’s not like it’s a new phenomenon. The education of our politicians is dominated by a small number of schools, universities, and courses. Having an Oxford PPE[1] puts someone in pole position. So, does attendance at Eton.

Yes, we are not the only society to exhibit such educational polarisation, but it’s deep rooted in the UK. Centuries of domination of select institutions are well documented. The UK is long in the tooth. One set of privileged people are often in the wings to replace another set of similar people.

Simple generalisations about this fact being bad are not so easy to sustain. On the list of those who were educated in this way have been some real reformers and progressive thinkers. Nevertheless, there are a significant number of dangers that come from such a narrow streaming.

Although the overarching heading of Philosophy, Politics and Economics contains a variety of options and differences, it’s been constructed as a machine in a factory for politicians. It’s a cooky cutter for a template Member of Parliament (MP). For a long, long time, local constituency party’s and a significant number of voters have taken it as read that this is the model for an MP.

An interesting question arises in the current chaotic political maelstrom. Is this phenomenon one of the roots of periodic failures and catastrophes in the UK?

Here’s several reasons why the suggestion can not be easily dismissed.

Narrow streaming is a great way to instil a “group think” in our governance. Thing is, I don’t think we (voters) need or want this to happen. The risks are self-evident. There’s a greater propensity to agreement on the wrong course of action. An example is the decision to go to war in Iraqi.

Linking “orthodoxy” and stability in the minds of the population may limit what can be done. This is a strange one in that politicians with a common background can be strongly motivated to be unconventional just for the sake of doing it. Maybe that’s what has just happened.

Diversity is not just a nice to have. Diversity brings strengths that are not available in a monoculture. It’s a good strategy to bring in new ideas. New thinking. Bring in people with a wide variety of different backgrounds and experiences.

Change is needed. The UK’s political class is sclerotic. It shouldn’t be a surprise that we just had a national heart attack.

[1] https://www.theguardian.com/education/2017/feb/23/ppe-oxford-university-degree-that-rules-britain

Blah Blah Blah

To comment on British politics, Twitter maybe the perfect platform. It’s one of the ways commentary and observations can keep up with the pace of change. So febrile is the current landscape of British politics that it’s almost impossible to predict what will happen next. Naturally, there’s thousands who will volunteer their views. It’s a wonderful entertainment but probably not terribly helpful.

What makes a good politician, or at least what makes an effective politician in 2022? Let’s forget what makes a great politician because that category is only ever seen in the story books.

Setting our situation in the context: however good a person maybe they will make errors and have failures. Let’s not get hooked on the ridiculous idea that perfection is out there to be found. That’s the territory of ideology and fanatics. There’s too many of them in Twitter-land.

What makes a good politician? I think it does come down to fundamentals. There is a big word that stands out in any community. It has done throughout history. It’s that simple but sometimes illusive quality of TRUST.

It’s not enough to stand in front of a group of citizens and espouse trustworthiness. It’s not enough to say – trust me, I know what I’m doing. There must be believability built on sound evidence. That’s a record of saying things and doing things that are correct, consistent, and coherent.

Not easy to do. The frenetic speed of News is like a hungry monster wanting to be feed minute by minute. Say too much and arguments are pulled apart ruthlessly. Say too little and the vacant space is filled with speculation.

Getting beyond the blah blah blah of ephemeral commentary is not so easy. Trust and communication can’t be separated. Saying what you mean and meaning what you say must run through every message.

Am I being naively contradictory? To start, I emphasised that it’s human to get thing wrong now and then. If public communications must meet unobtainable standards what hope does any politician have in this new media world?

Well, there’s a balance to be struck. That’s where we are – way off balance. Like a wobbly wheel spinning on a worn out axal. Both the wheel and the axel need replacing.

chaos

October 2022 and the art of defending the indefensible is rife. There’s a lot of it about. In Great British Bake-Off style, it’s to take a really badly made sponge cake and coving it with colourful decorative icing and sprinkles. It’s a simple deception. It’s the practice of turning awful News on its head. Intention being to avoid accountability for that unwelcome daily News.

Ministers so up to their necks in almighty screw-ups, travel the media studios spouting endless reasons why things have never been better and there’s no other choice but to stick with “the plan.” The word Growth gets banded around as it was glue powerful enough to hold smashed atoms togther.

Global economic headwinds, pressures amplified by conflict and devious opponents all are all depicted as the reasons why international markets are sticking two fingers up to this Conservative Government. Speculators are loving it. As unpredictable turbulence always opens opportunity for a few people to make a great deal of money.

Articles with such titles as: power cuts are not so bad, higher mortgage costs create a sense of responsibility, don’t pamper poor children and global issues cause our woes. It’s difficult to understand journalists and newspaper readers who think misery is good for you. It must be that the people who write such material are hired guns without a moral compass. They are paid to churn out counter factual editorials, warped options, and shock jock entertainments.

What’s the answer to this cavalcade of absurdly? Unsustainable situations are not solved by walking on by. There’s a strong need for a refresh. That does mean a General Election.

I know I’ve said a General Election is not on the cards for 2022. What’s new is that the more old school Conservatives, who’s order of priority is – Country, Consitituency, Party – are showing signs that they realise their Party is hurting the Country.

There is a petition to “Call an immediate general election to end the chaos of the current government[1]” and it is scheduled to be debated in Westminster. No prizes for what the outcome will be but, in a way, that’s not the point. An election is on the agenda.

NOTE: Sacking Kwasi Kwarteng is a desperate attempt to distract from the disastrous consequences of the PM’s own policies. It has been a day when the chickens have come home to roost.

[1] https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/619781

Where are we?

From time to time, we do need to remind ourselves what the differences are between pollical parties and their thinking. Those differences are particularly stark now. In fact, dangerously stark.

So called “conservatives” are in defensive mode. They are lashing out having lost popular support and legitimacy across the nation. The misinformation is suggesting the opposition will form a “monstrous coalition” with other parties. Failing to recognise that the Conservative Party of 2022 is as monstrous coalition at war with itself.

In my mind there has never been a better time to argue for Proportional Representation (PR). It’s a good way that a diversity of political thinking can be fairly represented. My words here are not an academic discourse so please don’t quote literate sources that point to flaws in my opinion.

Libertarian: It’s Anti-Government Government. In other words, reduce the size of the State to the absolute minimum. Thus, remove regulation and social support to create what is often called “UK PLC”. It’s a devil take the hind most thinking. Images of such a society are best captures in William Hogarth’s Gin Lane[1]. A small elite control and prosper but the majority languish.

Socialist: Almost the reverse of the above. Where the State is mother and father of every citizen. The “greater good” transcends individual aspirations and rights. Life is codified and regimented. A levelling takes place where tall poppies[2] are loped off ruthlessly. A small elite control and prosper but the majority languish.

Traditionally, these two have been characterised as far “right” and “left” in politics. Naturally, it’s not so simple as that because there’s lots of variations on the above themes. One common thread is that they both end up becoming authoritarian and destructive. Some would show the ends of the political spectrum as anti-authoritarian (anarchists) at one end and dictators at the other. So, there’s more than a few different ways of cutting the cake.

Where are we? It’s my belief that the vast majority to not fit in either of these two camps.

We live in a liberal democracy or have done until now. That, when it’s working well, balances individual aspiration with social responsibility. Our rights are respected at the same time as recognising our common journey as a nation. We work together to ensure that opportunity is spread far and wide. We cherish our environment. We build coalitions with common goals.

Britan needs to stop and take stock. The Conservative Party is pushing the whole nation in a direction it doesn’t not want to go. It’s strident libertarians are on a disastrous path. These are dangerous times.

[1] https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/picture/2012/sep/12/william-hogarth-gin-lane

[2] https://wordhistories.net/2018/11/12/tall-poppy-origin/

Eurovision

The right choice. Liverpool will make the best of best hosts for the 67th Eurovision Song Contest[1]. Last night, Liverpool was chosen as the location of the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest.

Don’t get me wrong. Glasgow would have done an excellent job too. It was a difficult choice to make between the two front runners. On balance, Liverpool can offer the excitement Europe needs after what will be a gloomy winter.

In 2008, Liverpool woke everyone up with its year as European Capital of Culture[2].

Being a long-standing political activist, I’ve participated in party conferences up and down the country. It’s a fantastic way of getting to know the heart of a city. Yes, I know it’s a superficial exposure in terms of seeing conference venues, hotels, and shopping centres but even so, the sense of a place comes across.

Party conferences are held in locations across the UK, at conference and convention centres that offer big enough venues, in fact the whole package, hotels, public transport and a good atmosphere. I’ve conferenced: Blackpool, Birmingham, Bournemouth, Brighton, Cardiff, Eastbourne, Gateshead, Glasgow, Harrogate, Liverpool, Southport, Torquay and York in springtime and autumn.

One of the most enjoyable conferences in my back catalogue is Liverpool. It’s a city that surprises. It has cultural and historic depth. It’s that mix of the city’s strong sense of identity and the pivotal role it has played in our collective history.

I had a, not all too uncommon, southerners’ ignorance of Liverpool. That was quickly dispelled by being there and enjoying its welcoming invitation, even when it’s raining.

What could be better? Liverpool has been twinned with Odessa in Ukraine since 1957. Fittingly, the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest is to be a Ukrainian celebration in the UK.

Also, Liverpool has been twinned with the German city of Cologne for more than 50-years. That’s a European city that feels like a second home to me.

Congratulations Liverpool. It’s a massive #Eurovision to look forward too.

[1] https://eurovision.tv/story/liverpool-will-host-eurovision-2023

[2] https://www.cultureliverpool.co.uk/

Unsustainable

One Minister say we want more immigration. Another Minister says we want less immigration. One Minister say we want to tax less. Another Minister says we want to keep taxes. One Minister say we want shale gas. Another Minister says we do not want shale gas. One Minister say we want more building everywhere. Another Minister says we want less building everywhere. One Minister say we can put tackling climate change on hold. Another Minister says we must act on the climate. One Minister wants to privatise the NHS. Another Minister supports public health provision. And, so on and so on.

What we have is an unsustainable UK Government without a mandate. No wonder the financial markets have been spooked. The more Ministers zigzag, U-turn, and twist and turn the more damage they do. In Truss and Kwarteng’s first month of Government chaos, it is reported that around £300 billion has been wiped off value of UK assets.

The UK is facing its biggest crisis since the Second World War. The threat is the Conservative Party. Their abject inability to set-out what they stand for has left the Conservative Party vulnerable to volatile knee jerk reactions and being led by the nose by fringe interests.

Poltical parties contain people with different interests and views. When there’s no alignment and common purpose holding those people togther then the fabric of a party fails. Trying to head this off, leaderships often get louder, more irrational and clutch at straws. Prime Minister Truss received Conservative Party conference applauds to her “anti-growth coalition” slogan but this is crazy in the context of recent Government preformance.

What is observable across the globe is that right-wing populist politicians love confrontation. They enjoy shouting down opponents. They like controversies of their own making that they can then attribute to others. The Conservative Party is broken.

Our immediate concern needs to be that this Government is sleep-walking into a mass of avoidable catastrophes as we move into the winter of 2022. Sadly, now, they are practicing the cartoon pose of an ostrich with its head in the sand.

Decaying Fantasy

I never thought that I’d read a political conference speech that referenced Jethro Tull[1]. Not the long-lived British rock band. Personally, I doubt if Minister Jacob Rees Mogg has ever heard of that group.

Like a cake baker who knows they have baked a poor cupcake his conference speech is sprinkled with 100s and 1000s. The bitterness of the sniping that interleaves every other sentence is an unsteady grumpy excess.

True that references to Adam Smith might be expected given the Minister’s known inclinations. However, reference to the Navigation Acts[2] is beyond the pale. The Navigation Acts, while profitable for Britain, caused anger in the colonies and contributed to the American Revolution.

The so called “Brexit Freedoms Bill”, a fantasy island piece of legislation, that is exactly the opposite of what is needed. We need to collaborate with others to increase the size of markets and not create even more barriers to trade.

On one major point on energy, fusion reactors remain as expensive experiments. Yes, they are expensive experiments that should be continued as global collaborative research, but they are a million miles away from being operational power systems.

Even the companies that have explored the possibilities of shale gas have concluded that it doesn’t have a future in this country. Our countryside, geology and ground water should not be put at great risk by a headlong rush into such folly.

The highlight of the Conservative party conference could be attributed bullnosed stubborn buffoonish fantasising. Meaningless slogans like: “We are the only party with the determination to deliver.” Have nothing to offer. Especially when the premise has already been shown to be a con.

The speech indicates a political party void of ideas and in terminal decline.

[1] https://www.ukpol.co.uk/jacob-rees-mogg-2022-speech-to-conservative-party-conference/

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Navigation_Acts