Democracy and Saving the Planet

The democratic Western way is not perfect. Thus the Irish having with considerable insight, voted "no" to the proposed European Union constitution, gave the answer which was not regarded by the mandarins of Brussels as being the correct answer. So the Irish are being requested to vote again. This re-run of the Yes or No question when the electorate has already voted no, smacks not only of patronising the voters but is also indicative of a major imbalance in the democratic system. If those who vote no are given another chance so that they can think about voting yes this time round, why should those who voted yes last time not now be given another opportunity to vote no?

Some political leaders were pragmatic (possibly patronising in a different way?) enough to conclude that their electorates could not be expected to understand the complexities involved so went ahead without offering peoples chances to vote on the matter at all.

There are issues so fundamental to human life that they should not be decided simply by the will of the majority. Capital punishment is a good example . Revenge and retribution by killing killers may seem attractive to a majority of voters but should not such an issue be decided by informed leadership? The New Testament answer would be a resounding no to answering death by death so the Scottish decision re the Lockerbie killings, if truly made out of compassion, was a New Testament response albeit doubtless contrary to the majority opinion. Revenge however can seem sufficiently 'sweet' to many to yield a "yes" answer in a popular referendum on the issue. It is noteworthy in the Lockerbie context that Scotland's Cardinal O'Brien
was in the fore of those seeking to pressure world's leaders to take action about mankind's tragic actions in polluting the planet.

Major Green issues likewise require great and informed leadership to determine rather than simply relying on the majority view. How many car drivers for example would vote for making private car ownership almost if not actually impossible? Yet if the ability to own and drive private vehicles at will continues to go unchecked, we may all drive ourselves and the planet to destruction; likewise a few other aspects of personal lifestyles.

Calling for referenda on such issues may be truely democratic but alas such may also be the actions of truly weak leaders.

The Catholic Church here on the planet is full of weaknesses but its reliance on leadership rather than democratic/popular opinions, is one of its strengths. The Scottish Cardinal O'Brien's stance on green issues is a hallmark of a good leader. The BBC reported lst week:

Scotland's leading Roman Catholic has warned the international community that "political wrangling" over climate change is putting the poor at risk.

A Sense of Humour

Humour often passes me by. Yet others obviously receive and givemuch pleasure from humour. Re reading many of my blog posts on occasion illustrates a lack in the jokes department. Another BU Blogger has a great blog interspersed with good humour see the Subliminal Mr Dunn at:
http://capeldunn.blogspot.com/

Often a good joke seems to be at someone else's expense and sometimes it is said that in the New Testament Jesus did not display a sense of humour. The latter view is I feel wrong - take the case of the Woman at the Well :

Go call your husband and both of you come back here.
The woman answered:
I
do not have a husband.
Jesus said to her:
You have answered correctly
that you do not have a husband, for you have had five husbands and the man your
now living with is not your husband. You have told the truth.

Fawlty Towers humour too I find side splittingly funny on occasion eg when Basil Fawlty's old British Leyland car breaks down in a scene which at the time long suffering BL ownersmust themselves have experienced, berates God for letting him suffer in that way. Jokes at God's expense I have always assumed are fine - his shoulders as our creater are bound to be broad enough to take our attempts at jokes at his expense.

Still jocular levity can be good for the heart as well as the soul - I could do with some more.

Citzens - Sea Changes Ahead!

The sharecrazy shares' investing site often provokes thought on non-investing topics. Mdtrader's thread: "Proof that the world has gone mad, just 6 months"; is one such.
Often posters myself included, gripe about, berate or worse;
"government" "insitutions" etc and a recent riposte to my comment that perhaps we get governments we deserve was "Nobody deserves a government like what we got".
That top down approach tends to peter out before reaching the bottom of the apex occupied by ordinary individuals such as yours truely, which is a shame as consideration of personal failings financial or otherwise is likely to result in more improvements than general political action.

Take borrowing; many say that they have overborrowed. Government responses are largely geared to demonising banks and bankers and may be then nationalising them. Yet is not a part of the problem caused by individuals offered cheap loans with few questions asked, acting like children faced with a heap of sweets being unable to resist tucking in?

The counterpoint to over borrowing is overspending. Larger loans were often taken out to buy new motor cars with govt. encouragement. Cars add to the quality of life in many obvious ways but at what a cost? Cars tend to be imported into the UK. The UK has a huge trade deficit; cars pollute and are intrusive. Despite all that and in London at least an extensive public transportation system, individuals' obsession with the private motor car continues.

Having dispensed with a personal motor car and opted for a Streetcar club membership instead
the benefits of dispensing with an individually owned car become increasingly obvious. They are illustrated daily by the sight of suburban and city streets strewn with cars mostly parked for most of the time depreciating and taking up valuable space. So far at least the decision to opt out of car ownership is yielding sizeable runing cost and capital financial benfits too. Such changes are obviously not possible for all to consider but presumably those who commute daily into work by public transport leave their cars gathering dust on most days. It's of course much easier to describe an hopefully positive personal action already taken than to dwell on others which could be but have not been taken (yet?) such as in my case too frequent flying as a low cost airline passenger...

Until ordinary adults take individual responsibility for their individual actions, community actions eg by government for the underprivileged and the greater good risk being forever hamstrung. A yardstick for determining whether individuals are accepting personal responsibily for their borrowing spending and climate change, may be how if at all their/our attitudes towards private transport change in the years ahead - I see sea changes (and in the air) ahead being somewhat of a challenge in both private and public life.

Political Expediency

The current debate about the Phoenix Four and their profit from their Rover take over and that company's subsequent collapse is typically misleading. Historically management, unions and government were always short sighted about Rover and its predecessor companies. EG the Morris Minor could surely have been developed and marketed around the like the old VW Beatle was. Likewise it has taken a German company to capitalise on the design and cachet of the Austin Mini.

The Unions at British Leyland under Red Robbo kept that company in a semi permanent state of civil war bewteen workers and management with the result that the company was almost beynd rescuing when BMW stepped in. Following the decsion of BMW to step out other possible rescuers came forward including Alchemy. Alchemy hoped to base the company for the future on its MG type sportscar heritage. This would have meant a smaller and as the saying goes leaner company which would have a reasonable niche in the marketplace. The problem was that Alchemy's paln would involve definite quite large job losses. the Unions whose actions over many years had contributed to British Leyland's sad predicament were agin Alchemy.

The Labour
govt was heavily union influenced, then fell for the charms of the Phoenix 4 and beguiled by the chimera of keeping most of the jobs going whereas proper objective analysis even at the time, favoured the Alchemy plan. After all if BMW a hard nosed car maker which still goes from strength to strength, was unable to keep the whole show on the road how should any body else realistically expect to do so?

The Conservatives too were hardly maintaining an objective approach at the time (Spring 2000)as they appeared to concentrate more on making political capital out the immediate job losses issue which would almost certainly have been part of the Alchemy plan, than on saving a good part of the business and jobs in the longer term that the Alchemists could well have achieved. However all this happened on Labour's watch and it is sadly typical of many of today's politicians that responsibility is not accepted.

Seminar Conference and Meeting

Last week was a busy one as regards personal and professional community activities. Interesting to compare the way in which networking took place. The first activity was an evening seminar for employment lawyers. This took place in one of the attractive sets of chambers in London's Temple. Packed - not a single seat available even for ready money. Possibly this was more a reflection of the huge volume of legal red tape being generated for employers by Europe and Westminster, than that of widespread concern for workers although to be fair the legal profession does attract many who do fight for the society's down trodden. The networking was facilitated after the event by generous glasses of wine being provided as one chatted with colleagues.

The next was a day Conference of Religious at a London University College. Again not a spare seat available which is especially encouraging as the fading importance of the Church and inexorable decline in numbers are often portrayed as givens but a conference like this makes one optimistic. The theme there was of care for the elderly encompassing not only aged parents but also aging members of communities for the Common Good. The mark of a civilised society being apparent from the ways it treated those in its margins was emphasised. 'Networking' seems too secular a word to apply to the spirit of this conference where there was no wine but much thought provoking prayer and other good nourishment in the form of coffee (plus lunch).

The third was a Saturday morning governors' meeting held away from the School at a local convent. Networking there arose not only from the common good but also the specific common
aim of enhancing the School's excellence. The theme was appropriately enough for an academic institution, succinctly described in Latin as, Cura personalis which signifies a concern for each individual. Normally a jog over Wimbledon Common on a Saturday is quite gruelling as a result of tiredness following a week at work in London but the uplifting nature of the Cura Personalis based meeting was manifest in a great run not beset by normal Saturday weariness.

Overall all three activities were well worthwhile. Committee meetings and other similar gatherings can sometimes be more of a drudge than a boon but where there is a good point to be discussed and where good will abounds, outcomes which refresh and reinvigorate are more likely.

Summer Holidays North Wales/South Cornwall?

The question mark in this post's title signifies the incredulity about whether staying in Britain this summer would feel like a holiday. Mrs maytrees being of the view that these days, airports and hot climes do not necessarily a brilliant vacation make, the decision to avoid both for summer 2009 was as some might say, 'a no brainer'.

The attic of a former boarding school house in Dolgellau made for a spacious holiday home. The town's best coffee shop (Roberts') was a converted drapery and linen store in which the huge original linen measuring bench was used as a table to sprawl over with maps and coffee. A walk from there ten miles along a disused railway track to Barmouth took one passed the old but packed Charlie pub, along an estuary teeming with birds and wildlife and ended with the foot crossing over the still used (just)rickety wooden and iron railway viaduct towards the beaches. A more energetic but frightening climb a few days later up and over the Roman Steps at Cwm Bychan was beset by heavy rain, wind, marshy bogs and absent a compass our heading for miles due East rather than West a Snowdon Ranger's mum whose house we chanced upon, amusedly offered us tea pending the arrival of a taxi to take us miles and miles back to the start point.

Cornwall was equally exciting. By contrast to the huge Dolgellau loft rooms, our Gunwalloe abode was a tiny cabin on the edge of the cliffs near to Chuch Cove. Torrential rain and gale force winds made the cliff edge site which was beautiful on sunny days seem very precarious at night. The Maori restaurant, Kota, at the tiny nearby harbour village of Portleven provided fare every bit as good as that we have enjoyed in Southern Europe and far less expensively than elsewhere.

No airports, good food, comparative isolation, sea, walks, mountains, bracing weather and time out together made for a vintage break, as good as any abroad.