When I heard about David Cameron and what he had done in Europe my first thought was "now we will be an offshore tax haven" then I thought don't be silly and didn't think about it again until I heard a political commentator make a joke about becoming a tax haven and the Tory politician he had been interviewing laughed and agreed.
David Cameron's party is bankrolled by the very richest men and companies in the UK and he served his masters well in Europe this week, he has protected the City of London against the transaction tax, the regulations which will control feral banking practices and he has delighted his party by using the veto and in their minds starting the process of taking Britain out of the EU, no wonder they all had a big party at the Mansion House.
Years ago I saw Bette Midler at the Paladium, she was wonderful and she had a joke in her act where she said "when it's 15:30 in the afternoon in New York it's 19:40 in London" at the time I thought that was a bit unfair about us but it was only a joke about England being old fashioned. I don't think its 1940 any more I think we have gone further back in time than that. The politicians seem to think we have an Empire again and are a great and powerful country again. We don't have an Empire any more, we don't have any natural resources, we have no industrial base and we have no influence.
I know what I am saying will upset the people who wave the Union Jack and turn out for the Queen "God Bless Her" and really mean it but we have become a client state of America and act as her native troops fighting in her wars and hoping for the crumbs and we have just isolated ourselves from the one power base which would have helped us out of the Depression we are in, we could have become a big prosperous player in Europe and we the people not the City of London, would have lost nothing and gained so much.
But the City of London would have had to pay a transaction tax, would have had to follow regulations which in their minds would stop them making money so the Con Dems turned their backs on the national good and have gone back in time to the "golden days of piracy" I hope I am wrong but we may end up being a tax haven run by privateers, buccaneers and pirates with David Cameron as a version of Francis Drake, Captain Morgan of Jamaica and Captain Jack Sparrow but with we hope better personal hygiene. Britain as a ship anchored off France - 24 hour a day casino banking? That's the Captain's Cabin, corrupt speculation you need the Quarter Deck, hedge fund bets down the gangway to the Purser's Cabin while the ordinary people well, we are in the bilges pumping out the sea water, being flogged with a cat o nine tails when we dare to complain - what a terrible thought, I hope I am wrong.
Here's another fine mess you've got me in
When I wrote "Days of Thrift" back in March of this year I never thought that in the first week of December everything would be so changed. We are looking at a new Europe emerging very quickly from the ashes of the Eurozone implosion, a Europe Britain will have very little influence in if the politicians don't start to change their ways. I never thought when I was writing the chapter about being unemployed and how to buy cheaper food and how to barter that so many millions would be on the dole and more losing their jobs every week and some driven to suicide by the awful situation they found themselves in.
Back in March I didn't understand what the Government was doing, I thought that they were just stupid, too stupid and lazy to think through their policies but I think I have worked it out. They are aping the right wing extremist ideology of America. All the policies for shrinking government by sacking public workers, privatising health care, closing libraries, encouraging schools to become sponsored acadamies, early childhood projects and youth clubs must all be supported by sponsorship from business, rich people must not be taxed or questioned too closely about their wealth and the poor when they lose their homes due to a cap on benefits will not be "homeless" they will be socially mobile i.e they can move their cardbox anywhere they want to. These are the cruel ideas of the Koch brothers, the Bush clan and all the others who believe only in money and power and have no social responsibility.
I think that these ideas and the situation in Europe will destroy our coalition government. The reason I say that is there is a schism in the Conservative Party over Europe, Cameron has been out manouevered by Germany and France who are going to go forward with what you could call the Republic of Europe Britain has no control over this because we are not in the Euro and Cameron has already been told to stop annoying the grown ups while they sort Europe out. If treaties are re-written or new treaties created part of his party will want to pull out of Europe and they will demand a referendum about Europe to get their way ignoring the fact that Britain cannot withdraw if for no other reason than our trading and export links. This row will shatter the Cons.
As the catastrophe of the ConDem policies have overtaken our country more and more people have become politicised, people who have never stood on a picket line have gone on strike, UK Uncut, the various blogs and sites, left wing comedians, some interesting documentaries about money and power and the serious talk shows have started to talk truth to power and there is no Murdoch Press to spread lies and the right wing agenda because the Leveson Inquiry is showing all of us just how disgusting they have been and that they are not to be trusted to put the cat out.
I am not looking forward to any of this, I wish we had intelligent people in government not greedy, ignorant fools only interested in finding the next trough to stick their snouts in but that is our reality and we owe it to ourselves to think, read, discuss and understand politics and not say things like I don't have any opinions some one else who is cleverer than me can decide what to do, that isn't democracy and we need more democracy not less right now
Back in March I didn't understand what the Government was doing, I thought that they were just stupid, too stupid and lazy to think through their policies but I think I have worked it out. They are aping the right wing extremist ideology of America. All the policies for shrinking government by sacking public workers, privatising health care, closing libraries, encouraging schools to become sponsored acadamies, early childhood projects and youth clubs must all be supported by sponsorship from business, rich people must not be taxed or questioned too closely about their wealth and the poor when they lose their homes due to a cap on benefits will not be "homeless" they will be socially mobile i.e they can move their cardbox anywhere they want to. These are the cruel ideas of the Koch brothers, the Bush clan and all the others who believe only in money and power and have no social responsibility.
I think that these ideas and the situation in Europe will destroy our coalition government. The reason I say that is there is a schism in the Conservative Party over Europe, Cameron has been out manouevered by Germany and France who are going to go forward with what you could call the Republic of Europe Britain has no control over this because we are not in the Euro and Cameron has already been told to stop annoying the grown ups while they sort Europe out. If treaties are re-written or new treaties created part of his party will want to pull out of Europe and they will demand a referendum about Europe to get their way ignoring the fact that Britain cannot withdraw if for no other reason than our trading and export links. This row will shatter the Cons.
As the catastrophe of the ConDem policies have overtaken our country more and more people have become politicised, people who have never stood on a picket line have gone on strike, UK Uncut, the various blogs and sites, left wing comedians, some interesting documentaries about money and power and the serious talk shows have started to talk truth to power and there is no Murdoch Press to spread lies and the right wing agenda because the Leveson Inquiry is showing all of us just how disgusting they have been and that they are not to be trusted to put the cat out.
I am not looking forward to any of this, I wish we had intelligent people in government not greedy, ignorant fools only interested in finding the next trough to stick their snouts in but that is our reality and we owe it to ourselves to think, read, discuss and understand politics and not say things like I don't have any opinions some one else who is cleverer than me can decide what to do, that isn't democracy and we need more democracy not less right now
A Death in the Family
A few weeks ago I was going to start writing my latest blog something about the Eurozone but on the day I was going to write it I saw an item on the news which said a couple had committed suicide because they could no longer deal with being on the dole, they had been living in one room in their house because they couldn't afford to heat the whole house and had been walking 6 miles each Sunday to a food bank because they had no money for food. I felt as though someone had punched me so hard I couldn't breath. Since then I haven't been able to write - this blog, my other blog about spondilitis or do any work on my latest book "What Have Air Raid Wardens Got To Do With It?". Some people would say this is writers block after all, in this last year I have written 2 books "Days of Thrift" and my autobiography "Pulling Myself Towards Myself" which was pretty draining as I told the whole truth about myself and some could say I have lived a pretty scandalous life and known some very dangerous people plus I have written a childrens book "The Artistic Yetis Cafe" which is being evaluated by my agent; that is a lot of work. But it was not writers block, it was the great sadness I feel about that couple and all the other people losing their jobs, their hopes and knowing there will be more deaths by poverty.
Then I remembered Woody Guthrie, he literally had nothing but the clothes on his back and his guitar, a hobo riding the rails in America during the Depression looking for work. I had always liked his reply to a man who accused him of being a communist. He said something like "Yes, I'm a comm'nist, I believe in what we all have in common". So do I. I am getting back to work, there is a strike to support, a book to write, emails to send to annoy MPs, petitions to sign and I am working out how to disseminate my ABC ideas. I am using my sadness and anger about that couples deaths as fuel. I have decided we live in the twenty first century and now is the time to make a great society for all of us.
Then I remembered Woody Guthrie, he literally had nothing but the clothes on his back and his guitar, a hobo riding the rails in America during the Depression looking for work. I had always liked his reply to a man who accused him of being a communist. He said something like "Yes, I'm a comm'nist, I believe in what we all have in common". So do I. I am getting back to work, there is a strike to support, a book to write, emails to send to annoy MPs, petitions to sign and I am working out how to disseminate my ABC ideas. I am using my sadness and anger about that couples deaths as fuel. I have decided we live in the twenty first century and now is the time to make a great society for all of us.
A B C
I spent most of yesterday keeping up with Jon Snow's tweets about what was happening in Brussels. The things I talked about in the last blog Greece defaulting, Italy beginning to shake are happening; soon Greece will default on the entire loan because they won't be able to repay even 40% of the debt and I wouldn't be at all surprised if Italy's government doesn't fall and Berlusconi leaves office. Then I lay awake most of the night thinking about what I can do. Doesn't that sound arrogant, I am not an economist, when I was young I could hardly add up and now I am trying to untangle the mess we are in and make suggestions that are practical.
In the last blog I wrote a little bit about the "people of the abyss". The Victorians loathed, feared and shunned them. I started thinking again about our "people of the abyss" they are not the poor they are the ultra rich, the power brokers, the food and commodities speculators, the bankers - they are the feral criminal class and we need to try and break their hold on our society. I am not advocating revolution or violence. I am saying A B C. A is for Allotments. Very few of us have small holdings or allotments which would let us be self sufficient but as I said in "Days of Thrift" most of us have yards or little gardens and all of us have window sills where we can grow vegetables in pots or grow bags or perma tunnels if we have enough room in the garden. A grow bag will support tomatoes, herbs, potatoes (look at all the different sites on the internet where you can get information).
This leads onto B. B is for Barter, you can barter the excess produce for other goods and services. Because no money is involved you don't have to declare anything to the dole office if you are on any benefits. I would love someone to hoover my floors, I find this the hardest of the cleaning jobs because I find it difficult to stand for any length of time. I may not have grown any fruit or veg to trade but I can offer to help someone with their reading or writing, help write a CV, edit a story or piece of writing you may have done and I can swap an hour of help with a child's homework (unless it is maths or foreign languages) for an hours hoovering. I am going to send a flyer to every house in my street explaining what I think we can do together and see if anyone wants to join me, I am just going to cover my street, this is a small scale operation; each street can organise their own Barter and support their own neighbours. I will let you know what happens.
C is for Credit Unions. Take the money and its manipulation away from the bankers and their offshore tax havens. Credit unions are financial co-operatives owned and managed by the members who use them. They offer a convenient way to save and the opportunity to access low cost loans and a range of other benefits including stopping desperate people using loan sharks or those dishonest companies with the friendly names that advertise on television giving a helpful loan with an APR of 2,000%.
In the last blog I wrote a little bit about the "people of the abyss". The Victorians loathed, feared and shunned them. I started thinking again about our "people of the abyss" they are not the poor they are the ultra rich, the power brokers, the food and commodities speculators, the bankers - they are the feral criminal class and we need to try and break their hold on our society. I am not advocating revolution or violence. I am saying A B C. A is for Allotments. Very few of us have small holdings or allotments which would let us be self sufficient but as I said in "Days of Thrift" most of us have yards or little gardens and all of us have window sills where we can grow vegetables in pots or grow bags or perma tunnels if we have enough room in the garden. A grow bag will support tomatoes, herbs, potatoes (look at all the different sites on the internet where you can get information).
This leads onto B. B is for Barter, you can barter the excess produce for other goods and services. Because no money is involved you don't have to declare anything to the dole office if you are on any benefits. I would love someone to hoover my floors, I find this the hardest of the cleaning jobs because I find it difficult to stand for any length of time. I may not have grown any fruit or veg to trade but I can offer to help someone with their reading or writing, help write a CV, edit a story or piece of writing you may have done and I can swap an hour of help with a child's homework (unless it is maths or foreign languages) for an hours hoovering. I am going to send a flyer to every house in my street explaining what I think we can do together and see if anyone wants to join me, I am just going to cover my street, this is a small scale operation; each street can organise their own Barter and support their own neighbours. I will let you know what happens.
C is for Credit Unions. Take the money and its manipulation away from the bankers and their offshore tax havens. Credit unions are financial co-operatives owned and managed by the members who use them. They offer a convenient way to save and the opportunity to access low cost loans and a range of other benefits including stopping desperate people using loan sharks or those dishonest companies with the friendly names that advertise on television giving a helpful loan with an APR of 2,000%.
Members of a credit union save in a common fund. This fund can be then used to make low interest loans to the credit union's members. All interest on loan repayments is reinvested in the credit union and nothing leaves the community. Many credit unions now offer a range of services including Individual Savings Accounts (ISAs), insurance products, budgeting and debt management advice. I know not everyone can save anything at the moment because "moneys too tight to mention" but this a way for the community to take control away from the City of London.
I can hear people saying what you are talking about is so little, a tiny bandage on gangrene what about job losses and pensions being degraded, high university fees and now they want to be able to dismiss someone from a job if the boss "doesn't like you". We can only start from where we are. Although its not fashionable to quote Mao he said "a journey of a thousand miles starts with one step" and that was a man who knew about walking a long way.
I can hear people saying what you are talking about is so little, a tiny bandage on gangrene what about job losses and pensions being degraded, high university fees and now they want to be able to dismiss someone from a job if the boss "doesn't like you". We can only start from where we are. Although its not fashionable to quote Mao he said "a journey of a thousand miles starts with one step" and that was a man who knew about walking a long way.
food share, whose share?
"Food Share" is a national, volunteer driven charity which links food growers with local charities. It started in Cambridge where £1,000.
00 worth of fruit and vegetables were donated to a local children's hospice over a 3 months period. This is a wonderful idea. The need for food banks is growing, more people than ever, often people in full time employment, are having to resort to soup kitchens and food banks. I never thought I would write a sentence like this talking about soup kitchens and charity in one of the richest countries in the world in 2011.
We are continually told the worst is over, the economy will grow and the private sector will create jobs. I totally disagree, we haven't even seen the beginning of the "bad times" most people still have some resources; they still have a job although it's hanging by a thread and the hours have been cut, there is a little bit of spare money either on a card, in the bank or post office or a piggy bank sat on a shelf in the kitchen. The winter hasn't started yet so most of us haven't put the heating on yet or budgetted for Christmas yet, "yet" being the operative word.
"People of the Abyss" used to be the term the Victorians used about the poor, I started thinking about what pushes you over the cliff so that you can't meet the bills and how easy it is to find yourself in that situation. One of my cats is ill, she will have to go to the vets and I am looking at a bill of probably a hundred pounds or more. Of course she will go to the vets and I will make a deal with them to pay the fees off over the coming months, I've done it before I don't feel any embarressment explaining that I can't meet the whole bill in one payment. Lots of people are facing those sorts of situations everyday and I joke about mine saying I wrote a book called "Days of Thrift" which I published on Amazon as an ebook looking at being unemployed, broke and facing hard times in our modern society and now as an unemployed single woman with an incurable disease I am living in my book.
The question is what can be done? I think this is a wonderful charity and they are doing great work but a lot more needs be done in a more regulated way. I think supermarkets should give the food they would throw away at the end of the day or when the sell by date is reached to the local food banks, charities like "Food Share" or soup kitchens. A law should be passed requiring them to do this. The reason given by the supermarkets for not voluntarily doing this, which is very clever, is that it is a health and safety issue - they don't want to give food which is not safe to eat to the hungry. In my book I looked at "skip diving" and discussed sorting through the bins full of perfectly edible food and how you can gain access to these food mountains .
I hope this charity goes from strength to strength and I am going to set up a petition on line asking for a law to be passed to require supermarkets to donate their left over food to charity, when I have that set up I will blog the details.
Sometimes I feel like Cassandra, everything I have talked about for years in some cases (my neice has borne the brunt of my rantettes), written about, shouted at the television about and worried about is starting to manifest itself and this last round of "quantative easing" or "credit easing" which is just another bank bail out under a different name shows how badly things are developing. The economy flat lining and unemployment rising are the actual and visible proof of government policies which are not working and shows us all what an ignorant, clueless government we have - the coalition has no clear idea of what to do next about the problems our country faces, no compassion towards its people just the catch phrase "we are all in it together" nor wisdom to guide the EU as it faces problems such as the crisis about to explode when Greece defaults on its repayments and Italy begins to slide too, Germany won't keep picking up the pieces forever.
We the people are going to have to look to ourselves by organising, demonstrating, lobbying, signing petitions, joining UK Uncut and let's use the few decent MPs in Parliament to protect us and change the direction the ideology of the ConDems is taking us in so that we can re-construct a fairer society where "to each according to their needs and from each according to their abilities" really means something. Until then food banks, food share and soup kitchens are going to be a life line for millions of people. See you on the bread line.
00 worth of fruit and vegetables were donated to a local children's hospice over a 3 months period. This is a wonderful idea. The need for food banks is growing, more people than ever, often people in full time employment, are having to resort to soup kitchens and food banks. I never thought I would write a sentence like this talking about soup kitchens and charity in one of the richest countries in the world in 2011.
We are continually told the worst is over, the economy will grow and the private sector will create jobs. I totally disagree, we haven't even seen the beginning of the "bad times" most people still have some resources; they still have a job although it's hanging by a thread and the hours have been cut, there is a little bit of spare money either on a card, in the bank or post office or a piggy bank sat on a shelf in the kitchen. The winter hasn't started yet so most of us haven't put the heating on yet or budgetted for Christmas yet, "yet" being the operative word.
"People of the Abyss" used to be the term the Victorians used about the poor, I started thinking about what pushes you over the cliff so that you can't meet the bills and how easy it is to find yourself in that situation. One of my cats is ill, she will have to go to the vets and I am looking at a bill of probably a hundred pounds or more. Of course she will go to the vets and I will make a deal with them to pay the fees off over the coming months, I've done it before I don't feel any embarressment explaining that I can't meet the whole bill in one payment. Lots of people are facing those sorts of situations everyday and I joke about mine saying I wrote a book called "Days of Thrift" which I published on Amazon as an ebook looking at being unemployed, broke and facing hard times in our modern society and now as an unemployed single woman with an incurable disease I am living in my book.
The question is what can be done? I think this is a wonderful charity and they are doing great work but a lot more needs be done in a more regulated way. I think supermarkets should give the food they would throw away at the end of the day or when the sell by date is reached to the local food banks, charities like "Food Share" or soup kitchens. A law should be passed requiring them to do this. The reason given by the supermarkets for not voluntarily doing this, which is very clever, is that it is a health and safety issue - they don't want to give food which is not safe to eat to the hungry. In my book I looked at "skip diving" and discussed sorting through the bins full of perfectly edible food and how you can gain access to these food mountains .
I hope this charity goes from strength to strength and I am going to set up a petition on line asking for a law to be passed to require supermarkets to donate their left over food to charity, when I have that set up I will blog the details.
Sometimes I feel like Cassandra, everything I have talked about for years in some cases (my neice has borne the brunt of my rantettes), written about, shouted at the television about and worried about is starting to manifest itself and this last round of "quantative easing" or "credit easing" which is just another bank bail out under a different name shows how badly things are developing. The economy flat lining and unemployment rising are the actual and visible proof of government policies which are not working and shows us all what an ignorant, clueless government we have - the coalition has no clear idea of what to do next about the problems our country faces, no compassion towards its people just the catch phrase "we are all in it together" nor wisdom to guide the EU as it faces problems such as the crisis about to explode when Greece defaults on its repayments and Italy begins to slide too, Germany won't keep picking up the pieces forever.
We the people are going to have to look to ourselves by organising, demonstrating, lobbying, signing petitions, joining UK Uncut and let's use the few decent MPs in Parliament to protect us and change the direction the ideology of the ConDems is taking us in so that we can re-construct a fairer society where "to each according to their needs and from each according to their abilities" really means something. Until then food banks, food share and soup kitchens are going to be a life line for millions of people. See you on the bread line.
it's enough to make you swear
A definition of madness is to do the same thing over and over again and expect a different outcome each time.
This morning I signed the petition to protect our countryside, protect the badgers from a cull and stop the government plans for building on green belt land.
I signed the petitions after I watched David Cameron speak to Andrew Marr explaining his ideas for selling off council houses and building one new house for each one sold off. Oh, please give me strength and find the will to live, I shall end up raiding my secret stache of choccie bars and over dosing on flake bars in despair.
I banged on and on about regenerating our housing stock in my book "Days of Thrift" (sold as an ebook on Amazon) and in previous blogs. We do not need to be building houses on green belt land, we can renovate the boarded up shops on the High Street, provide social housing and re-invigorate the local communities, there are thousands of empty houses which could be taken into the housing stock providing thousands of hours of work for builders and all the surrounding trades as the empty houses are made good for habitation and there is plenty of "brown site" land to use. The green belt does not need to be used nor should the regulations and laws protecting the countryside be weakened or removed.
The bland self satisfied voice of David Cameron explaining in his earnest "head boy" manner (he always uses the same cliches and hand movements when talking to the "Great Unwashed" who don't understand how intelligent he is and how enlightened his proposals are) his ridiculous idea to allow bill boards to be erected anywhere in the countryside made me shout four letter words at the television (why is it that every time there is a conservative government in power I end up swearing like a trooper, I never swore half as much at Tony Blair and he did a lot of things I vehemently opposed and I consider him a war criminal as well so I definitely did not support Labour in a lot of their decisions).
I ask that everyone sign the petition to protect our countryside, we have such a beautiful land and we have to fight to protect it, again.
This morning I signed the petition to protect our countryside, protect the badgers from a cull and stop the government plans for building on green belt land.
I signed the petitions after I watched David Cameron speak to Andrew Marr explaining his ideas for selling off council houses and building one new house for each one sold off. Oh, please give me strength and find the will to live, I shall end up raiding my secret stache of choccie bars and over dosing on flake bars in despair.
I banged on and on about regenerating our housing stock in my book "Days of Thrift" (sold as an ebook on Amazon) and in previous blogs. We do not need to be building houses on green belt land, we can renovate the boarded up shops on the High Street, provide social housing and re-invigorate the local communities, there are thousands of empty houses which could be taken into the housing stock providing thousands of hours of work for builders and all the surrounding trades as the empty houses are made good for habitation and there is plenty of "brown site" land to use. The green belt does not need to be used nor should the regulations and laws protecting the countryside be weakened or removed.
The bland self satisfied voice of David Cameron explaining in his earnest "head boy" manner (he always uses the same cliches and hand movements when talking to the "Great Unwashed" who don't understand how intelligent he is and how enlightened his proposals are) his ridiculous idea to allow bill boards to be erected anywhere in the countryside made me shout four letter words at the television (why is it that every time there is a conservative government in power I end up swearing like a trooper, I never swore half as much at Tony Blair and he did a lot of things I vehemently opposed and I consider him a war criminal as well so I definitely did not support Labour in a lot of their decisions).
I ask that everyone sign the petition to protect our countryside, we have such a beautiful land and we have to fight to protect it, again.
If I ruled the world
The first thing I would do if I ruled the world would be to bring into international law the equivalent of the "Glass Steagall Act" which would prohibit a bank holding company from owning other financial companies. This would create a seperation between investment banks which issue securities and commercial banks. This would also prevent investment bankers acting as CEOs etc. of commercial banks. Any bank that broke this law would see its board, CEOs and top officers being treated as criminals with a long jail term (as this is my world I think I will include hard labour as well into the sentence), the bank would be nationalised so that the customers would not suffer and the workers would keep their jobs.
All tax havens would be dismantled and every person or company which used those facilities would be forced to pay back the last 10 years of taxes in full as if they were ordinary citizens. The money brought in from doing this would be billions and that money would be used to clear slums, build houses for the homeless, provide fully equipped hospitals, put every child into school, clean water and invent new irrigation techniques and invest in new green technologies, all these projects would create jobs for the people and inject growth into the world economy as well as the local economies.
I would outlaw speculating of the kind companies like "Glencore" specialise in especially in basic food stuffs and basic commodities.
I would insist that the EU create a monetary fund to support the EU countries. Failing economies such as Greece and Ireland for example who will probably default on their payments and bring about even more confusion in the markets would have their debts waived and start again with a "clean sheet" the only proviso being that the country involved start to invest in creating jobs for their populations, reform their tax laws (which will be much easier to implement with the huge burden of debt no longer hanging over their heads) and if they haven't already done so sign up to Human Rights Agreements. Any country that has populations of gypsies, ethnic minorities, gay, lesbian and transgender communities in their country must give all of them full equality and protection under the law and I would make sure the laws were used to protect these communities.
Capital punishment would be no more. Prisoners on "Death Row" in any country but especially America must have their cases reviewed and children under the age of 18 should not be held in prisons instead they should be in custody which provides a high standard of education and care.
I am enjoying this but finally I would make prostitution and all drugs legal. This would immediately remove the income pimps, gangs, slavers and drug dealers make at the moment from the most vulnerable parts of society. Prostitutes could form co-operatives and work in the same system that they use in Hamburg or Amsterdam. Drugs and clean drug paraphenalia would be issued at 24/7 clinics that would be found in every town and city the clinics would also offer counselling and rehab facilities.
As I said at the start of this little "rantette" this is my world but everything I have talked about is possible and we have to start thinking about new ways forward. We are at the start of the twenty first century we have to start thinking like citizens of this new century and - oh yes, I want every one in the whole world to go to an amusement park of their choosing for a free long weekend once a year! (people who don't enjoy going to places like "Disneyland" or "Alton Towers" can have free tickets to the opera).
All tax havens would be dismantled and every person or company which used those facilities would be forced to pay back the last 10 years of taxes in full as if they were ordinary citizens. The money brought in from doing this would be billions and that money would be used to clear slums, build houses for the homeless, provide fully equipped hospitals, put every child into school, clean water and invent new irrigation techniques and invest in new green technologies, all these projects would create jobs for the people and inject growth into the world economy as well as the local economies.
I would outlaw speculating of the kind companies like "Glencore" specialise in especially in basic food stuffs and basic commodities.
I would insist that the EU create a monetary fund to support the EU countries. Failing economies such as Greece and Ireland for example who will probably default on their payments and bring about even more confusion in the markets would have their debts waived and start again with a "clean sheet" the only proviso being that the country involved start to invest in creating jobs for their populations, reform their tax laws (which will be much easier to implement with the huge burden of debt no longer hanging over their heads) and if they haven't already done so sign up to Human Rights Agreements. Any country that has populations of gypsies, ethnic minorities, gay, lesbian and transgender communities in their country must give all of them full equality and protection under the law and I would make sure the laws were used to protect these communities.
Capital punishment would be no more. Prisoners on "Death Row" in any country but especially America must have their cases reviewed and children under the age of 18 should not be held in prisons instead they should be in custody which provides a high standard of education and care.
I am enjoying this but finally I would make prostitution and all drugs legal. This would immediately remove the income pimps, gangs, slavers and drug dealers make at the moment from the most vulnerable parts of society. Prostitutes could form co-operatives and work in the same system that they use in Hamburg or Amsterdam. Drugs and clean drug paraphenalia would be issued at 24/7 clinics that would be found in every town and city the clinics would also offer counselling and rehab facilities.
As I said at the start of this little "rantette" this is my world but everything I have talked about is possible and we have to start thinking about new ways forward. We are at the start of the twenty first century we have to start thinking like citizens of this new century and - oh yes, I want every one in the whole world to go to an amusement park of their choosing for a free long weekend once a year! (people who don't enjoy going to places like "Disneyland" or "Alton Towers" can have free tickets to the opera).
