What could anti-austerity look like?

So austerity isnt working and is being roundly rejected by European voters. What could the alternative look like?

A debate I seem to be constantly having with people recently is that there is no central rallying cry for the 21st Century. Other centuries have had ( rightly or wrongly) radicalism, republicanism, imperialism, communism, fascism, socialism and so on, but what is OUR 'ism'?

It strikes me that, to reject austerity, we need an alternative. We've also recently seen companies like Amazon making £7bn a year in the UK and paying zero tax, we know about tax havens and tax avoidance and how much the exchequer loses as a result. Can we overturn such things? What are the consequences?

If we tell Amazon, Vodafone, Arcadia et al to pay up- what happens?

Likely a WTO ruling against us, but can that be enforced? If we say 'No, we arent paying those fines', what can they do?

Does this approach mean we become Isolationist? If so, several questions come up? Can we feed ourselves? Can we freeze foreign owned assets here to keep ourselves going? Could we defend ourselves if necessary? The last question might sound silly, but we only have to look at Cuba, Guatemala in 1954, even Iraq, to see what happens when countries nationalise or restrict economic access.

If not, what else can we do to change things, to get out of this global boom and bust; away from unfettered and unfair capitalism

I know its a simplistic argument, but I really dont know enough about how the world either operates now, or could operate in a diufferent way, and I';d like to. What about energy security? Is globalisation just too ingrained? I just think that the current economic model needs overturning and it wont just happen by itself

So... loads of questions- I'd just like to start a discussion really.

Why THIS tuition fee rise is wrong

Yes, we are in a financial hole and cuts need to be made. Just want to point that out.

Im not going to come at this from a point of view of fairness, progressiveness, class, political ideology, income levels or any of the other worthy (but essentially circular) arguments

Instead, lets talk about society. An argument posited by some taxpayers is that they dont see why they should pay for other people to go to University. Well, here is why

EVERYBODY benefits from UK graduates. Our children are educated, perhaps even raised, by the Teachers that go through our University system. Our Doctors, Lawyers, Social workers, academics, scientists, business people and so on all do the same. These are the people that drive our economy, providing opportunities, jobs and a large proportion of income tax revenue that pays for the services that we ALL benefit from.

Yes, those people also benefit financially from their education but they have worked hard for it. This portrayal of them as a 'lucky few' is shortsighted. They work hard throughout school and through their degrees to achieve that.

So what Im talking about is a partnership. The student benefits, so they should pay something. Society benefits, so the state should pay something. This is about the sort of society we want to live in, not just about cuts or money. If we dont support our students and educational institutions, why should we expect them to form an ongoing compact with society. It becomes a case of 'F*** you Jack, I'm all right'.

This is not a society I want to be part of. These measures are being rushed through with little thought or time for a considered, reflective debate and can only harm the long-term future of Higher Education in this country

Imminent failure at Cancun

Well, its bound to happen, isnt it? Too many vested interests and petty jealousies. Lets face it, Governments are never going to give us the CO2 cuts we need to avoid runaway Climate Change.
Kyoto has achieved little other than to get countries talking (and, by definition, letting us all down once a year). Our own Government is overturning what it sees as bureaucratic and expensive regulations for new buildings, failing to address other problems and championing the consistently failing Emissions Trading Scheme.
So...... maybe its time to accept that we have lost this battle and will have to look to adaptation, rather than mitigation, as a survival route. Those of us in this industry maybe need to think about addressing our energy on exactly that. Energy. Carbon is so last week.
We are approaching Peak Energy, almost everyone now agrees so. Rather than finding new forms of energy, lets just reduce our ridiculous consumption. The UK is now a net importer of Gas and Oil and this wont change. We have found oil in the Falklands, but the decision to retire the fixed-wing element of the carrier force means that a serious Argentina could take and keep the islands. Even if we could keep them and transport that oil to the UK, we couldnt guarantee its safety- again because of defence cuts.
So, when we do reach Peak Oil and Gas, those with the resources will sell to the highest bidder- in this case guaranteed to be China as they 'own' most of the West's debt. Lets face it, all we can do is cut our energy use. Lets make our houses use less and ensure people have the ability to achieve Thermal Comfort long after cheap energy is a thing of the past

The IPCC enquiry

If this ends up in a witch-hunt for one policeman, justice will not be done. Any inquiry needs to look fundamentally at the tactics used both on the day and in the run up to it.

The media frenzy about expected levels of violence and vandalism has 3 effects: i) Peaceful protesters stay away ii) non-peaceful protesters are attracted, whether they have any political grievances or not and iii) whatever level of force used by the Police on the day is pre-justified.

Riot Police are kept in vans all day, in almost full kit. By the time they confront the crowd they are tired, hungry, edgy and hyped-up. Combined with 'kettling' the protestors, many of whom are peaceful and, by now, also hungry, edgy and frightened, there is little wonder that incidents occur.

If the protestors are all violent anarchists, as some of the media portray them, they are pretty useless at it. The one RBS branch with broken windows is a fairly poor return for thousands of 'hooligans'.

The Police are supposed to allow peaceful protest and have a duty of care to protestors and passing members of the public, such as Ian Tomlinson, alike. No such care was taken and the entire nature of the Policing of protests needs to be examined closely, including the almost unreported and quite violent dismantling of the entirely peaceful Climate Camp.

While it is true that there was some trouble outside the cordon, this removal took place entirely after dark. The Police say they will work with peaceful protestors who contact them beforehand. Yet on this occasion they let the camp set up, in the full knowledge that its intention was to stay for 24 hours, and kept a low profile until night-time, when the cameras had all left, and they moved in.

This is not facilitating legitimate protest, nor is it legal. After the de Menezes case, can we really trust Police statements in the immediate aftermath of an incident. The very sad death of Mr Tomlinson semms to show that we can not and only a root and branch public enquiry into both top-down and on-the-ground policing tactics on the day will be good enough.

3.30 am rant

So, here we are.
I may be wrong here, but it strikes me that humanity itself is standing, staring into the Abyss. And one of its mates- the one who eggs you onto do something a bit daft (yeah, we all have them!) Is saying, 'Go on, jump, you coward!'.

Squillions unemployed, gazillions in debt, and we are racing towards Climate meltdown, Peak-just-about-everything, mass starvation and societal collapse.
I know- lets watch, 'I'm a cock-get me out of here!'.

Yes, we have bought it on ourselves. 95% of us bought into it all. More, bigger, better, faster, more famous. And its all shite. You must have known.

Personally its been a great year. I got my dream job, teaching what I love doing. I have my own company, doing what I love doing and have started a new organisation that is capable of changing the world, if only someone will let us try. Happy Birthday Kindle- nominally one year old tomorrow and making its Ecobuild debut. All of which is probably why I cant sleep.

Come on Gordon- move over. You didnt honestly think that, after waiting so long, it was going to be anything other than a disaster. Come to that, move over all of you. They times they really HAVE to be a-changin'. We have no choice but to run things for people and not profit. And that means ALL people, so Sod Off Daily Mail!

The stocks markets and banks are collapsing. Well, why not- its partly their fault (and partly ours for buying loads of stuff). Maybe from the rubble something beautiful can grow, like banks owned by the people that use them and that look out for those people. Like companies that are only worth what they do, not what someone in a rich man's betting shop decides they are worth in terms of mergers and asset-stripping. Like a system based on fairness, where enough truly is enough and we finally prove to be good stewards of Mother Earth.

Yep, its a beautiful world. Well, it was!

Lets take it back from the insanity it has become and give it, and us, a future

The Big Till

Well, that was a surprise.
Being an original 'I survived Sunrise Festival' chappie, I got a free ticket to the Big Chill.
'Woohoo!' thinks I- brilliant

Well, well. A fantastic site and fantastic changeable British weather conditions, but I did not really chill. The days were great- a bit of Bill Bailey (in the smallest tent rather than on the big stage strangely), the ever-amazing Beth Orton and a few others, but the nights were awful. I always thought the Big Chill was a sort of Cafe del Mar sort of weekend but instead I had Apache screaming in my ear and Garage booming from the radio tent. Maybe its just me, but I find the words Apache and Chill something of a misnomer (and dont get me wrong, Apache is good stuff), but it seemed to be typical of the weekend.

When you have a big bag of Mushrooms to be going along with, a good selection of visually stimulating, random installations and wandering performers followed by a Psy-trance set with a sweet VJ is all I ask for. Thats all. Nothing else. I always thought the Big Chill would be all of those things, but it was none of them and maybe Im not alone. Sunrise were given one field and no budget and it was always full of a night while much of the rest of the site was underused.

As always with a festy I like to give examples of good and bad. BAD: everything to eat cost £6, hence the Big Till tagline; there was no ale anywhere (this from a place with a picnic area, croquet lawn and other niceties of the English summer
GOOD: The Somerset Cider Bus; Sporeboys mushroom risotto and burgers (only a fiver- Ching!!) , Leonard Cohen who made me cry with his stunning voice and gentle humility. Also, check out these guys on MySpace: The Travelling Band (who were the best act of the weekend) and The One Taste Collective (proving that Rap and Fiddle-playing can work)

Shambala for me next, I think. Something back on the Human scale, at least

The good, the bad and the sporty

Twenty20 is over. What a final, what a tournament! Whether you are a Cricket traditionalist or not (and I am well on the fence- loving all forms of the game) this World Cup had everything. The needle in the middle, the amazing crowds (contrast with the One Day World Cup), loads of entertainment and a spectacle for a finish.

The Rugby World Cup, although throwing up few surprises, is also entertaining. The crowds cheer on the underdog- who are in several cases playing better than the favourites (someone let Argentina into the Tri-Nations)- and there is some great Rugby being played- although not by the Northern Hemisphere.

The only real downer to each of the above is the cast iron certainty of boredom and bewilderment whenever England take the field. Take the T20 against India. Freddie stepped across the wicket every ball- and got it wrong every ball! When we were in trouble, we put Snape in. I have nothing against Snape, but he is not a hitter and hadnt played thus far. Why not Mascarenhas or even Broad?
As for the Rugby, someone tell me why we left Flood and Geraghty at home! And why is our pack still half-full of cart-horses like Corry. Basically, the attitude of the Six Nations Teams seems to be that forwards are for trying to bash walls down with and backs are there to make up the numbers. New Zealand weren't that pretty against Scotland, but what a dynamic pack, what strength in the backs and what quality on the bench.

Apart from a big Yeehah!!! that the Gooners are up where they belong- sporting rant over