I'm Just Sayin...

My recent posts seem at odds with the previous umbrella name for this blog-spot: The Personal is Planetary. It was a reflection of my passionate interest in the environment, climate change/global warming.   The issue strikes a chord for people all over the world, indeed the top five of my most popular posts are about the environment.      The passion is undiminished but now it's time for a change.   Over the last ten days, my attention has been captured by the machinations of the political world and the lengths to which politicians are prepared to go in order to hold on to or grab the reins of power. And it is true that the ideologically-motivated action of politicians have unintended consequences that affects the planet one way or another.    Who knew that Margaret Thatcher’s overwhelming desire to smash the unions in Britain, and particularly the miners, would have a huge impact on a major driver of global warming? Her speech to th...

Can you believe it, even before the race to find the new Labour leader gets underway, the jousting begins, and one knight (among the warrior women) has already broken his lance. Only three days after declaring his candidacy Chuka Umunna MP , dubbed the British Obama [1] and the bookies’ favourite, has withdrawn.   This is the wrong time for my candidacy says he; it has already subjected his family to unwelcomed attention and pressure from the media. [2] The press intrudes; that's what it does and it began some time ago. More recently, since  announcing his candidacy and going for such a coveted prize, Umunna would always be targeted for extreme scrutiny for very obvious reasons. Did he not know that? As an inexperienced novice, he would be hung, drawn and quartered. The outcome of the Leveson inquiry into phone hacking and the ethics and culture of the British press has had little to no effect; it failed to rein in the excesses of the media's pack mentality when i...

And so after the drama of another British election, the world which was eclipsed for 36 hours is back into full focus.   I switch from the scenes of yet another earthquake hitting Nepal to  more asylum seekers and/or economic migrants, especially women and children arriving on Europe’s Mediterranean coast. Theresa May , articulating the sentiments of those who voted for the British version of America’s Tea Party, says ‘send them back to Africa’. The new Justice Secretary is about to dismantle the Human Rights Act and he will be unopposed, except perhaps in the unelected and undemocratic House of Lords.   Without the Liberal Democrat veto, such that it was, it is open season for the Tories who secured some degree of clear blue water to put their manifesto into action. As Cameron was assembling his Cabinet, a cross section of the public together with MPs representing all political hues were gathered on the Green across the road from the House of Commons. They were be...

The day after the general election a friend wrote on Facebook “We really need to build a strong, effective and unashamed left wing movement to fight for people's rights and build a socialist alternative!”   Who is the custodian of this ‘socialist alternative’ I wondered; perhaps he will tell me over a bottle or two of red wine in the early evening sunshine in the garden one of these days soon.   Unashamed or otherwise, the very phrase ‘socialist alternative’ no longer chimes because it conjures up overflowing dustbins, smelly streets, power cuts and water rationing of the early 1970s.   Socialism began to dig its own grave during the reign of Ted Heath and begun to die in the Thatcher era. The psychological seduction of the ‘Market’ embedded by Thatcher is being continued today by Cameron.  It has one clear objective, the death of Socialism. Unable to beat them, Blair decided to join them. We are all property owning shareholders now, or at least 'aspire' to ...