SYSTEMS - GOVERNANCE - ADMINISTRATION - POLITICS - RESOLUTION
inner - local - regional - national - planetary
Issues/Discussion (20)Britain's claims to being a functioning democracy are only skin deep If the Tories’ coronavirus fiasco shows us anything, it’s that the public don’t have as much power as we’re led to believe. 'I've absolutely had enough': Tory MP embarks on anti-austerity tour Heidi Allen joins former Labour MP Frank Field on mission to highlight the poverty caused by her party’s policies. The Earth is in a death spiral. It will take radical action to save us Climate breakdown could be rapid and unpredictable. We can no longer tinker around the edges and hope minor changes will avert collapse. Immigration report is much-needed antidote to dog-whistle politics Migrant workers do not drive down wages or steal Britons’ jobs, finds advisory committee. The national calamity we don’t hear about – the death of local democracy Cuts and closures underline the flaws of a system dominated by Westminster’s power. From health to schools to housing, we need an urgent rethink. The Tories’ obscene joke: shred the safety net, then toss people into it From bedroom tax to universal credit, vulnerable people are being forced into crisis by May’s policies. And she’s gutted the system supposed to help them. Is this the night of the living dead? No, it’s Britain’s Brexit team The EU couldn’t have picked a better PM and her crack troops to lead Britain out of Europe. Michael Bloomberg: Brexit is stupidest thing any country has done besides Trump Billionaire media mogul says it is ‘hard to understand why a country doing so well wanted to ruin it’. Why The UK Must Move On From Tribalism When it comes to the fight between liberals, social democrats and conservatives, politics is more a battle of ideas than it is morals. Few people in politics are truly reprehensible, nearly all of us are seeking to make things better - we are each other's ideological opponents not enemies. We must critically engage and learn from one another, partisanship will tear us apart - it's time to relieve it from office. Who’s to blame for Brexit’s fantasy politics? The experts, of course Magical thinking about the future is not confined to the cabinet. Just ask the Office for Budget Responsibility. More than 100 charities claim they are being gagged by anti-lobbying rules Letter signed by 122 organisations including Save the Children and Greenpeace warns their voices are being silenced due to ‘draconian’ legislation. David Hare: Why the Tory project is bust They claim to have rescued Britain from industrial chaos. But in fact Margaret Thatcher and her heirs have created a selfish and divided society in which politicians and the people regard each other with mutual contempt A Storm of Ignorance Censoring official advice, stripping the hills and rivers, the government ensures that disasters like the Cumbria floods will keep recurring. Tory conference: Cameron's 'assault on poverty' pledge belied by new figures Resolution Foundation report says planned welfare cuts would lead to 200,000 more working households in poverty by 2020 Limits to Growth was right. New research shows we're nearing collapse Four decades after the book was published, Limit to Growth’s forecasts have been vindicated by new Australian research. Expect the early stages of global collapse to start appearing soon Bullingdon Club: Five Facts About The Super-Rich, Elite Oxford University Drinking Club The Bullingdon Club has a rich history, spanning more than 200 years. Yet it has recently become notorious for very wealthy students from Oxford University trashing restaurants and participating outlandish, criminal behaviour. Read This Before the Media Uses a Drowned Refugee Boy to Start Another War Children just as innocent and precious as Aylan are being driven into the sea in Libya, incinerated by drone in Pakistan, or starved to death in Yemen all the time, and it is all on your dime. A time lapse shows what 31 days of Assad's barrel bombs look like. This week the Syrian government is accused of bombing a Damascus suburb — again. UK-based war monitor Syrian Observatory for Human Rights confirmed claims of government fire in the suburb city of Saqba, where at least ten people were killed and an unknown more injured in the latest in a string of such incidents. The promised ‘transparency’ around TTIP has been a sham Sven Giegold The most important documents about the TTIP talks are unavailable to us MEPs as well as the public – and it suits big business to keep it that way Digital surveillance 'worse than Orwell' says new UN privacy chief Joseph Cannataci describes UK data protection as ‘a joke’ and says a Geneva convention for the internet is needed Use of fake quotes in benefits leaflet 'quite wrong', Iain Duncan Smith admits Minister says withdrawn leaflet is now subject of investigation, and publishing case studies based on fictional people is not DWP policy. DWP Admits Using Fake Claimant’s Comments In Benefit Sanctions Leaflet Government officials have admitted that claimant’s comments used in an official benefit sanctions information leaflet were “for illustrative purposes only”. What lies beneath the government’s push to frack Britain? The British establishment’s urge to frack over Britain seems deluded considering the environmental and economic impact. The Conservative Party has just introduced thought policing to the UK If this really is the struggle of our generation, it just got off to a bad start 5 Societal Illusions that we accept as Reality We have multiple religions, belief systems, schools of thought and scientific processes all claiming to be the true one, yet for every person who thinks their version is correct there are a million others who challenge it. Let me tell you bluntly why I am running, by Bernie Sanders "We are at a moment of truth. We need to face up to the reality of where we are as a nation, and we need a mass movement of people to change that reality." |
Solutions [11]'Bike theft is not inevitable': Vancouver rolls out a cycle crime revolution Bike theft is the scourge of cyclists around the world, with riders, manufacturers and the law struggling to coordinate a response. That was until city cop Rob Brunt and Xbox pioneer J Allard devised Project 529. “Co-operatives aren’t co-operatives unless they co-operate with each other” High-tech tools of exploitation are being repurposed to build a fairer economy. The digital platforms that have become the connective tissue of our lives – the likes of Airbnb and Google – have proven to tend towards monopolies, monetisation of surveillance and disregard for labour standards. But what stops us from using the Internet’s power for collective action to usurp them? Last week, an evening hosted by Outlandish outlined the prospects of platform co-operativism. Featuring Felix Weth, Sarah Gold, and Nathan Schneider, it covered ways of truly making the concept happen. The Future of Work Douglas Rushkoff's vision for a new, better world. What P2P means for the world of tomorrow on the emergence of the peer to peer civilization and political economy Egyptian Billionaire Naguib Sawiris Offers To Buy Mediterranean Island For Refugees An Egyptian Telecoms billionaire has proposed buying a Mediterranean island to shelter refugees fleeing from Syria and other countries. Naguib Sawiris, who is believed to be worth $2.9billion, announced his idea on Twitter this week. Greek community creates an off-the-grid Internet In an effort to buck the expensive rates of unreliable corporate telecom companies, a community in Athens, Greece, has created its own private Internet. After capitalism, what comes next? For a start, ethics The shift is evidenced by developments such as collaborative production and the sharing economy. Mason attributes this economic transformation to advances in information technology, particularly the global networks of people and ideas that are now possible. ‘Moving from Democracy to Sociocracy’ "What sociocracy is, how it works, what results it gets, and why it’s so damn important, which is because it’s non-authoritarian, it’s practical to use, it works great, it feels better to use, and it’s a more respectful way to relate to other people" Busting the Myth that Consensus-with-Unanimity is Good For Communities “Consensus . . . allows each person complete power over the group.” A City where Everyone Works, There are No Police and the Salary is 1200 Euros With virtually no police, crime or unemployment, meet the Spanish town described as a democratic, socialist utopia. The Village Against the World by Dan Hancox – review The 'Robin Hood Mayor' and the search for a socialist utopia in Spain
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