Home Truths

The Blair government's failure to deal with the housing crisis is, perhaps, the best example of New Labour having wasted a great opportunity to alter the political landcape of Britain.

My latest piece on Comment is Free looks at the housing crisis and suggests some policy ideas which could, over the long term, begin to address the enduring problem of homelessness.

The nanny state

There's a great article by Simon Jenkins in today's Guardian on the overbearing efforts of the Health and Safety Executive to make our lives utterly risk free. Jenkins make the point that sometimes accidents just happen and there is not always someone to blame when things go wrong. I think there is something sick about a culture that has to find a culprit whenever something bad happens. The old legal term, 'an act of God' seems to have fallen into disuse. While perhaps not entirely accurate, it always seemed to me a useful device for apportioning responsibility when no one was at fault.

I have long thought that we are all becoming a little bit complicit in this emerging blame society: there must be complex changes going on at an individual pyscholgical level which are reflected in the slow process of cultural change.

Midterms voter turnout

Last week's midterm electioms in the US which, although they don't include a vote for the Presidency, are pretty much equivalent to a general election here in the UK are reported to have seen an improvement in voter turnout to just over 40 per cent. Well at least it's an improvement, even if the turnout, as is usually the case in the US, is staggering low.

The level of media interest in the midterms this side of the Atlantaic has been unprecedented, and surely reflects the importance of what happens in American politics for the rest of the world. But I haven't seen much comment on the implications of such poor participation in the democratic process in the US, a country which frequently holds itself up as an exmaple of the merits of democracy. It seems to me that the Americans need to put their own democratic house in order before they start telling others how to things should be done.

Global problems demand global solutions

Some time ago I came across the International Simultaneous Policy Organisation (website here) which campaigns for global solutions to global problems, and has devised an intriguing mechanism for forcing coordinated international action to tackle climate change and other pressing global challenges, through existing democratic institutions.

You can get more information and sign up as an 'adopter' of simultaneous policy at the UK website which is here, and I strongly urge you to do so.

I discuss the initiative in my lastest post on Comment is Free and that piece refers to a longer essay I have written on the topic which is available here.

Faith in common ground

Following on from my previous post on the debate last Thursday between Jeffrey Sachs and Nick Sagovsky, and the earlier bit about Martin Newland's Guardian article, my latest piece on Comment is free has a bash at tackling some of the philosophical and theological issues arising. You can read it here.

Carbon Capture and Storage

Last evening I went St Paul's Cathedral to hear Jeffrey Sachs in conversation with Nicholas Sagovsky, who is Canon theologian at Westminster Abbey. Encouragingly, a couple of thousand people turned up to hear them debate sustainable development, and Sachs argue that there is still hope for saving the planet, principally because we have so far only scratched the surface of the potential remedies which could be found through the application of evolving technologies and human ingenuity.

In practical terms, Sachs argued that it's most unlikely that we will be able to prevent the continued burning of fossil fuels, especially in China and India, where there are centuries worth of coal available for extraction. This being the case, he believes we need to explore the potential for capturing carbon dioxide when it is generated in power stations and transport and store it underground. He admits that this may not be feasible on the scale necessary to reduce emmisions into the atmosphere sufficiently to halt global warming, but he reckons it's worth a shot.

So does the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, so this weekend I shall be having a look at their report on the matter, and you can too, by clicking here.

Curbing Avarice

I don't normally listen to Radio Four's Thought for the Day, but John Bell of the Iona Community was worth a listen this morning. He made a serious of eloquent points about what needs to change if we are to effectively address the twin evils of poverty and global warming.

He said he sometimes wished there was a political party prepared to say that "we will curb avarice rather than encourage it" and that "we will limit consumer spending rather than increase it". In order for this to happen, of course, that courageous political party would have first to come up with a convincing blueprint for restructuring the global economy, but who else is going to give that desperately needed lead if not politicians? More on this later in the week.

If you have Realplayer, you can hear Bell's piece here.

Reform, Reform!

This morning, in connection with my day job, I visited the Reform Club in London's Pall Mall. Currently shrouded in scaffolding, the interior of the club is a wonder to behold: the art decorating the walls is exquisite, the architecture and furniture, a tribute to the visual creativity and ambition of the Victorians.

Opened in 1841, membership was originally restricted to those who pledged support to the Great Reform Act of 1832. There is a small but fascinating permanent exhibition about the various reform acts which were the focus of member's efforts a century and a half ago. The Reform Club was the first of London's clubs to admit female members in 1981. The club has a long history and supporting progessive causes and also reflecting changes in wider society.

As we lunched in the - slightly less plush - buffet dining room I was struck by the profile of the membership today. The Club is no longer aligned to any political party (membership of the Liberal Party used to be a pre-condition of admission) but it apparently attracts civil servants from the nearby Treasury, whereas their collegues from the Foreign Office generally patronise the Traveller's Club.

Looking aroud the dining room, it was difficut to imagine the Reform Club any longer providing a debating forum for progressive ideals or social reform. Perhaps, in the minds of today's members, enough has already been achieved. I'd like to imagine, however, that as the struggle for social justice continues, some of those who spend their time in the hallowed room of the Reform Club might follow the example of their forebears and join the struggle. Many of these people have considerable power: if change is to come, they will have an important role to play.

The source of religious belief

Martin Newland, former editor of The Daily Telegraph, has an interesting piece on religous belief in today's Guardian.

He argues that it is possible to be both religious and rational. As an atheist who suffers occasional bouts of agnosticism I must, if not disagree, then at least add a corollary: Newland's version of rationality must be very difefrent from mine, as my non-belief in god is key to the conception of rationality I bring to bear when considering any issue.

Newland says, "I see it as one of my most important duties to bring my children up in the faith", In that phrase he hits the nail on the head. I believe most people who are religous are religious because they are brought up to be religious. I don't know if there's any research which confirm this (I shall endeavour to find out), but I reckon that environmental influences (familial and wider-cultural) underlie virtually all religious belief. Surely if God existed, then he would have hard-wired us to believe in him/her, and to behave as s/he would want us to behave. All this sin and forgiveness stuff strikes me as a little to convoluted for someone who was able to do all that is ascribed to God by many of those of faith.

Newland also questions whether public office and religious belief are compatible. Would he be barred from public office because of his (traditionally catholic) views on abortion, for example. This goes to the heart of a key question: where lies the source of human values? I believe that such values, including those upheld in the great religous texts, are the products of refelction by human minds. That consideration can be more or less rational, and can therefore yield values which are more or less rational. The catholic ban on abortion is, I believe, the product of a value - one that claims all human life from the point of conception must be protected - which is not fully rational.

As for public office, there is no reason why Newland should not seek and attain such office without renouncing his views on abortion, but were he to try and legislate against abortion once in power, he must realise that he would be likley to come up against firm opposition from many who do not share his values. Democracy is the means through which individual values and beliefs are aggregated into a collective whole. There will always be a problem if some people believe their values to be better because they believe them to have been handed down from above.

That said, I believe strongly in the right of all persons of faith to both practice and preach their beliefs, as long they let me live according to my own, non-religious, credo.

Microcredit is not the answer

Muhammed Yunus, founder of the Bangladesh-based Grameen Bank which provides 'microcredit' to poor people in order that they may escape poverty by starting up their own businesses, is this year's winner of the Nobel Peace Prize. Not a bad choice: the man has done a great deal to improve the lives of many people.

But, as Daniel Davies writes on Comment is Free, "Grameen Bank has been going for 30 years now and Bangladesh is still one of the poorest countries on earth." Davies' piece is worth a read as he mentions Galbraith's idea of poor populations being adapted to poverty: a thesis with which I agree, but which only goes to emphasise that there can be no end to poverty without a wholesale restructuring of the global economy.

Hans Blix on nuclear disarmament

Hans Blix, the former head of the UN Inspection team in Iraq and before that repsonsible for the monitoring the effectiveness of the nuclear non-profliferation treaty, is a man to whom a great deal of attention should be paid.

Few individuals can have been proved so spectacularly right as Blix was over weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Someone who stands his ground when under the kind of pressure he was, deserves respect and attention, so I was all ears when he was interviewed on The World this Weekend earlier today.

Blix was asked about the wider implications of the UN resolution in repsonse to North Korea's recent nuclear test, and made the very valid point that the Nuclear non-proliferation treaty was never intended to be solely about ensuring that no addtional countries got nuclear weapons: It was also supposed to provide a framework under which the established nuclear nations could gradually disarm.

Blix made the point that the treaty's failure to prevent the spread of weapons to countries like Pakistan and India, and now North Korea, is directly linked to the failure of the big five (the USA, Britain, France, China and Russia) to make any progress towards reducing their own nuclear arsenals. With Britain now considering replacing its ageing Trident system (at the cost of tens of billions) and no sign of the other major powers cutting back on their nuclear programmes, Blix suggested it is no wonder that insecure nations, which exhibit all the behavioural problems of insecure individuals, seek out nuclear capabilities of their own.

As he said, we need to create conditions in which countries do not feel a need to acquire their own nuclear deterrents.

A few months back, Kate Hudson of CND made the case of not replacing Trident very eloquently here. And last year, former Tory defence secretary Michael Portillo did the same in The Times.

We fail to pay attention to the words of the very sensible Mr Blix at our peril.

Toynbee on Tax

Polly Toynbee is always worth a read when she's talking about tax. Today, she criticises HSBC and the CBI for complaining, against all the evidence, that high tax rates make the UK a bad place to do business.

I like the way Toynbee uses her column to make the moral argument for taxation, and the need for public services which the private sector will never provide.

It frustrates me, however, that when she argues for the importance of redistribution she generally speaks only of redistributing wealth, rather than finding ways of redistributing the economic opportunities that beget wealth. Like most commenators she appears to believe that nothing can be done about prevailing economic arrangements; that we can only strive to make the best of a bad job.

My piece in the Guardian outlines the importance of changing the way we think about tax if we are to alter economic structures for the greater good.

Who am I and why should you care?

If you've not come across me or my book before, there's more information about both on the book's website which is here.

So far, most who have read the book have liked it. Tony Benn liked it so much he agreed to speak at the book's launch, which pleased me firstly because I have always admired Benn (although I have not always agreed with him) and secondly, because, although the book is about social justice, it does not advocate a traditional socialist solution to problems of poverty and inequality.

For an insight into some of the themes and conclusions of the book, you might take a look an article of mine in the Guardian last year, which you can find here.

I plan to update this blog regulary with comments on, and links to all kinds of resources about, anything to do with the prospects for progressive social change. There may also be a some reviews and other cultural stuff as the mood takes me: there's politics in everything!

There will also be links to my writing on the Guardian's impressive group blog, Comment is Free, my back catalogue of which can be found here; links to work published elsewhere; and, most importantly, links to work that is only available here.

Thanks for stopping by.