Community matters - participation
Portsea Island, Hampshire |
The Labour party seems to consider the direct participation of the local communities to be best limited to wheelie-bin democracy where local decisions are limited to unimportant issues whilst the party maintains full control over national policy decisions and large centralised budgets.
This is not good enough.
Local participation in national decision-making is greatly diminished by the political party basis of representation and inability of local communities to raise revenue. There is a need for faithful community representatives who remain free from collective dogma and for communities to be able to raise revenue to fund what they consider to be important.
In terms of benefiting from economic activities, the people of Portsmouth can do much to liberate themselves from the constraints set by the dominance of non-Portsea Island based businesses where no profits recycle back through the Island, to a more rational expansion in local initiative based upon more competitive mutual models which could raise real incomes and plough back dividends into the local economy. |
Portsmouth
Guildhall |
Governance with no mandate?
Participatory democracy?
Participating in decisions which count
Participating in the economy
Education
Before the disatrous comprehensive system was introduced by the Labour party, the Portsmouth education system was one of the few fully tripartite systems as intended by the Bulter Education Act. In spite of the system being based upon selection, initiatives by dedicated head teachers and parents helped build excellent schools and ways to reduce the impact of selection. However, the central control of education and the lack of adequate funding led to the well known decline in standards in the public sector. Lessons from the past show that when left to local initiative much can be done to advance standards and attainment.
Community education - Lessons from the past
Community education - Pathways to the future?
Governance, freedom & constitution
The government is demonstrating a lack of vision in their proposals for a constitutional settlement for the people for the United Kingdom. They have failed to engage the people in any meaningful fashion but have remained content to rely upon limited ad hoc disparate inputs.
On the other hand in Scotland, in a marked contrast, a minority government headed by the Scottish National Party (SNP) has stolen the show by holding a broad-based and popular National Conversation for Scotland concerning constitution and devolution. This openess has not been welcomed by Labour but rather has attracted the wrath of Gordon Brown.
Taking into account the stark shortcomings of the government's efforts in these directions, Portsea Island Post, Real News and Emancipation are preparing a series on the British constitution and the Union. These will be posted shortly.
The government have issued a green paper entitled "The Governance of Britain". This reviews propositions for changes in the British Constitution. Part of this incudes proposals on local participation in decision-making. These amount to very little more than wheelie-bin democracy and keeping the electorate at arms length, far away from any decision-making affecting national policies.
Why the Green Paper is not a basis for a constitutional settlement
Freedom
The government's emphasis on the performance of the economy relegates the essential role of freedom to a lower position in their priorities. A society which defends freedom as the essential imperative of social organization is one which can achieve and sustain a better balance between social and economic development.
The Real Economy
The current impasse where we see the government incapable of resolving the Northern Rock Bank failure and the general financial crisis facing the banking system in a graceful manner is caused by problems in economic theory and practice. In particular a significant amount of the problem arises from a conflict between macroeconomic policy and fiscal policy. Work on the Real Incomes Approach to economics, initiated in Portsmouth in the 1970s, helps explain many of the problems as well as identify solutions.
Constitutional questions arising from macroeconomic management
Using statistical indices to mislead
The dangers of financial commoditization - Lessons for housing stock
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