Also coming up in Leeds is a Re-Inventing Our City: Creating Community Solutions for a Sustainable Leeds visioning event on Saturday, May 22nd at Left Bank Paris (the former St Margaret of Antioch church on Cardigan Road, LS6), running from 10-5. The event is free but they want advance notification via bookings@tinwolf.org.uk or 0113 2307127 is yoiu do go. There will be speakers, workshops, live artists, food and drink.
This event is part of the Transition town movement - go to http://www.transitiontowns.org/ or locally find Tinwolf (Transition Inner North-West of Leeds) at http://www.tinwolf.org.uk/ for more information.
Saturday, 15 May 2010
What Do Want? Fair Votes
When Do Want It? Now!
The chant of the purple-coloured ranks of the Fair Votes campaign as they set off on an impromptu march round Leeds Millennium Square and neighbouring streets this afternoon. About 60 of us, so not much smaller than the May Day March two weeks ago. Quite a lot of people in purple. Short speeches from a Liberal Democrat and ex-Liberal MP Michael Meadowcroft, and from the Labour Party organiser of the protest, and a Green from Calder Valley (only one to get welcoming cheers), before a final speaker brought the voice of extreme eccentricity to us. Basially a gathering of political herbivores, keen to see a new politics around coalitions. The left (as I understand was absent) and there was no connection between social and economic issues and the demand for a more proportionate voting system.
Go to www.takebackparliament.com for more information about the campaign. And look closely at people in purple.
The chant of the purple-coloured ranks of the Fair Votes campaign as they set off on an impromptu march round Leeds Millennium Square and neighbouring streets this afternoon. About 60 of us, so not much smaller than the May Day March two weeks ago. Quite a lot of people in purple. Short speeches from a Liberal Democrat and ex-Liberal MP Michael Meadowcroft, and from the Labour Party organiser of the protest, and a Green from Calder Valley (only one to get welcoming cheers), before a final speaker brought the voice of extreme eccentricity to us. Basially a gathering of political herbivores, keen to see a new politics around coalitions. The left (as I understand was absent) and there was no connection between social and economic issues and the demand for a more proportionate voting system.
Go to www.takebackparliament.com for more information about the campaign. And look closely at people in purple.
Friday, 14 May 2010
Steady State Economy Conference
On a greenish theme, the nef are promoting this conference, right here in Leeds, right close to home in the Rose Bowl at Leeds Metropolitan University. The presence of the Optimum Population Trust provokes some controversial questions about the direction of thought and policy here.
The Steady State Economy Conference
Saturday, 19 June, 2010 - 09:00 - 17:00
Never-ending economic growth is not possible on a finite planet; nor is it improving well-being. This conference will bring together NGOs, academics, businesses, politicians, the media, and the general public to explore an ecologically and socially responsible alternative to economic growth: the steady state economy.
Email: leeds2010@steadystate.org
By Alex E Proimos
Speakers include: Peter Victor, Professor in Environmental Studies, York University, Canada
Andrew Simms, Policy Director and Head of Climate Change and Energy, nef
Dan O’Neill, European Director, Center for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy
Tim Jackson, Professor of Sustainable Development, University of Surrey (by video)
In addition, critical issues will be addressed in ten interactive workshops. Workshop speakers include Kate Pickett (co-author of The Spirit Level),
Molly Scott Cato (Economics Speaker for the Green Party),
Roger Martin (Chair of the Optimum Population Trust),
David Fell (Director at Brook Lyndhurst),
Stephan Lutter (Researcher at the Sustainable Europe Research Institute), among others.
Tickets are £30 for registration by 31st May 2010, or £50 after this date. Advance online registration is required.
The Steady State Economy Conference
Saturday, 19 June, 2010 - 09:00 - 17:00
Never-ending economic growth is not possible on a finite planet; nor is it improving well-being. This conference will bring together NGOs, academics, businesses, politicians, the media, and the general public to explore an ecologically and socially responsible alternative to economic growth: the steady state economy.
Email: leeds2010@steadystate.org
By Alex E Proimos
Speakers include: Peter Victor, Professor in Environmental Studies, York University, Canada
Andrew Simms, Policy Director and Head of Climate Change and Energy, nef
Dan O’Neill, European Director, Center for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy
Tim Jackson, Professor of Sustainable Development, University of Surrey (by video)
In addition, critical issues will be addressed in ten interactive workshops. Workshop speakers include Kate Pickett (co-author of The Spirit Level),
Molly Scott Cato (Economics Speaker for the Green Party),
Roger Martin (Chair of the Optimum Population Trust),
David Fell (Director at Brook Lyndhurst),
Stephan Lutter (Researcher at the Sustainable Europe Research Institute), among others.
Tickets are £30 for registration by 31st May 2010, or £50 after this date. Advance online registration is required.
nef May 2010 e-letter
Leeds Taking Soundings has discussed and even attempted to invite the New Economics Foundation to come and talk to us, but they haven't managed to get themselves together enough to actually get round to it.
Here's their May e-letter to give an idea of what they are about.
nef urges politicians to tackle broken banking system
Take Back Parliament campaign for electoral reform gathers momentum
Fantasy Cabinet creates dream team for tough times
Recent publications
Upcoming events
Connect with us
nef urges politicians to tackle broken banking system
Despite the fact that the UK is still reeling from the effects of the most severe financial crisis since the Wall Street Crash, party leaders didn't really address the big question of financial reform in the run up to the General Election. nef believes that our broken banking system is still the elephant in the room for politicians. The new coalition government must take measures to ensure that we avoid future crises.Our new manifesto, Better Banking, draws on years of policy research about how to create a financial system which is fair, resilient and adaptable, and which brings credit and financial services to disadvantaged communities and to the small businesses who are at the heart of the British economy and job market. The manifesto outlines ten actions, including the creation of a Post Bank, curbs on bonuses and channels for green investment, which we believe are vital first steps for the incoming administration.>> Read Better Banking>> Deborah Hargreaves: Election is ignoring the dysfunctional banking system>> Madeleine Bunting: Finance is responsible for this savage new era. But it's off the electoral agenda
Take Back Parliament campaign for electoral reform gathers momentum
Last month, nef launched the Voter Power Index website which revealed the unfairness at the heart of the UK's archaic First-Past-the-Post electoral system. The site was viewed over 300,000 times since its launch, including 65,000 times on election day itself. Now, having had a hung parliament and seeing the Liberal Democrats gaining seats in government, the opportunity for electoral reform is greater than ever before. nef has joined forces with democratic campaign groups, environmental NGOs and think-tanks to campaign for a fair voting system. Last weekend, a thousand demonstrators rallied in Trafalgar Square before marching to Liberal Democrat head offices to demand that electoral reform remains on their agenda as they enter a coalition with the Conservatives. More demonstrations are planned across the UK in the next few weeks.>> Take Back Parliament>> Sign the Avaaz petition for fair votes
Fantasy Cabinet creates dream team for tough times
Seventy years ago this week, Winston Churchill first formed his cross-party war cabinet to deal with an era of exceptional challenges. It was in that spirit that nef celebrated Election Night, with our "fantasy cabinet" fink club special. We asked guests to come up with an unusual suggestion for both ministerial positions and appointments – to steer the nation on the Great Transition to a new economy.In our election, Green Party leader Caroline Lucas, won a landslide victory as Prime Minister. Other successes included Indian physicist Vandana Shiva as Minister for Food, and renegade-artist Bansky as Minister for Culture. There were also a range of radical proposals for new Ministerial posts: could we follow the example of Hungary and set up an Ombudsman for Future Generations? Or how about a Ministry for Common Sense comprised of a jury of randomly selected citizens to observe the cabinet process?As we make our way through a deeply unusual time in politics, we'd very much like to hear your suggestions for cabinet members up to the task in hand.
Here's their May e-letter to give an idea of what they are about.
nef urges politicians to tackle broken banking system
Take Back Parliament campaign for electoral reform gathers momentum
Fantasy Cabinet creates dream team for tough times
Recent publications
Upcoming events
Connect with us
nef urges politicians to tackle broken banking system
Despite the fact that the UK is still reeling from the effects of the most severe financial crisis since the Wall Street Crash, party leaders didn't really address the big question of financial reform in the run up to the General Election. nef believes that our broken banking system is still the elephant in the room for politicians. The new coalition government must take measures to ensure that we avoid future crises.Our new manifesto, Better Banking, draws on years of policy research about how to create a financial system which is fair, resilient and adaptable, and which brings credit and financial services to disadvantaged communities and to the small businesses who are at the heart of the British economy and job market. The manifesto outlines ten actions, including the creation of a Post Bank, curbs on bonuses and channels for green investment, which we believe are vital first steps for the incoming administration.>> Read Better Banking>> Deborah Hargreaves: Election is ignoring the dysfunctional banking system>> Madeleine Bunting: Finance is responsible for this savage new era. But it's off the electoral agenda
Take Back Parliament campaign for electoral reform gathers momentum
Last month, nef launched the Voter Power Index website which revealed the unfairness at the heart of the UK's archaic First-Past-the-Post electoral system. The site was viewed over 300,000 times since its launch, including 65,000 times on election day itself. Now, having had a hung parliament and seeing the Liberal Democrats gaining seats in government, the opportunity for electoral reform is greater than ever before. nef has joined forces with democratic campaign groups, environmental NGOs and think-tanks to campaign for a fair voting system. Last weekend, a thousand demonstrators rallied in Trafalgar Square before marching to Liberal Democrat head offices to demand that electoral reform remains on their agenda as they enter a coalition with the Conservatives. More demonstrations are planned across the UK in the next few weeks.>> Take Back Parliament>> Sign the Avaaz petition for fair votes
Fantasy Cabinet creates dream team for tough times
Seventy years ago this week, Winston Churchill first formed his cross-party war cabinet to deal with an era of exceptional challenges. It was in that spirit that nef celebrated Election Night, with our "fantasy cabinet" fink club special. We asked guests to come up with an unusual suggestion for both ministerial positions and appointments – to steer the nation on the Great Transition to a new economy.In our election, Green Party leader Caroline Lucas, won a landslide victory as Prime Minister. Other successes included Indian physicist Vandana Shiva as Minister for Food, and renegade-artist Bansky as Minister for Culture. There were also a range of radical proposals for new Ministerial posts: could we follow the example of Hungary and set up an Ombudsman for Future Generations? Or how about a Ministry for Common Sense comprised of a jury of randomly selected citizens to observe the cabinet process?As we make our way through a deeply unusual time in politics, we'd very much like to hear your suggestions for cabinet members up to the task in hand.
Gerry Hassan on Scotland
Again from OpenDemocracy a controversial piece about Scotland. Leeds Taking Soundings has discussed having a speaker about Scottish politics for a while (we fancied Christopher Harvie, without getting so far as invite him) and we certainly need to factor Scotland into our discussions.
Hassan makes the point that the Tories have an overall English majority of 61 over all other parties and 106 over Labour. What does this mean for our political future?
The Perilous Politics of ‘No Mandate’ and Genuine Scottish Self-Determination
Gerry Hassan, 13 May 2010
As British politics enters uncharted waters, Scottish politics seems strangely familar and returning to the parameters of the 1980s and the politics of 'no mandate', as Labour and SNP out do each other in the oppositionalist opportunism. How can we demand and expect more from our politicians than this?
British politics has just entered absolutely uncharted territory – with the establishment of ‘the Liberal Democrat-Conservative administration’ as David Cameron calls it. This is the first British coalition government – along with the first time the Liberals have been in office – since Churchill’s wartime administration – the anniversary of which was funnily enough on Monday (May 10th 1940).
Yet, Scottish politics seem to be settling into a pattern and set of positions which feels strangely familiar. The Labour and SNP can hardly contain themselves and seem to think the Con-Lib Dem alliance gives them permission to treat the Lib Dems as Tories in all but name, and vie for who can be the most opportunist, oppositional and inane. These are two supposed serious parties: one in government and one aspiring to office, both trying to out do each other in what looks like a politics of simplicity and childishness. Can we not expect more from our politicians than this?
I was just on ‘Newsnight Scotland’ with Alistair Carmichael, Lib Dem MP for Orkney and Shetlands, and Alistair Allan, SNP MSP for Western Isles, and it was a revealing occasion in the paucity of thought from the SNP (1). Allan trundled out the ‘no mandate’ argument about the Con-Lib Dems – arguing that the Lib Dems had got into bed with the fourth party of Scotland and one which only has one MP out of Scotland’s 59.
We really need to explore this argument of the ‘no mandate’ a bit further. In the 1980s this arose as Thatcher’s Tories saw their vote fall – from 31% in 1979 to 24% in 1987 – and their parliamentary representation fall by more than half from 22 in 1979 to 10 in 1987 (2). At the same time the anti-Tory parties began to define themselves as such and coalesce around a shared centre-left agenda.
Things are very different now. The Con-Lib Dem alliance has a base of 36% support in Scotland, nearly twice the support of the SNP (20%) and not that far behind Labour (42%). Yet something much more fundamental than number crunching is at work here.
And the rest is here.
Hassan makes the point that the Tories have an overall English majority of 61 over all other parties and 106 over Labour. What does this mean for our political future?
The Perilous Politics of ‘No Mandate’ and Genuine Scottish Self-Determination
Gerry Hassan, 13 May 2010
As British politics enters uncharted waters, Scottish politics seems strangely familar and returning to the parameters of the 1980s and the politics of 'no mandate', as Labour and SNP out do each other in the oppositionalist opportunism. How can we demand and expect more from our politicians than this?
British politics has just entered absolutely uncharted territory – with the establishment of ‘the Liberal Democrat-Conservative administration’ as David Cameron calls it. This is the first British coalition government – along with the first time the Liberals have been in office – since Churchill’s wartime administration – the anniversary of which was funnily enough on Monday (May 10th 1940).
Yet, Scottish politics seem to be settling into a pattern and set of positions which feels strangely familiar. The Labour and SNP can hardly contain themselves and seem to think the Con-Lib Dem alliance gives them permission to treat the Lib Dems as Tories in all but name, and vie for who can be the most opportunist, oppositional and inane. These are two supposed serious parties: one in government and one aspiring to office, both trying to out do each other in what looks like a politics of simplicity and childishness. Can we not expect more from our politicians than this?
I was just on ‘Newsnight Scotland’ with Alistair Carmichael, Lib Dem MP for Orkney and Shetlands, and Alistair Allan, SNP MSP for Western Isles, and it was a revealing occasion in the paucity of thought from the SNP (1). Allan trundled out the ‘no mandate’ argument about the Con-Lib Dems – arguing that the Lib Dems had got into bed with the fourth party of Scotland and one which only has one MP out of Scotland’s 59.
We really need to explore this argument of the ‘no mandate’ a bit further. In the 1980s this arose as Thatcher’s Tories saw their vote fall – from 31% in 1979 to 24% in 1987 – and their parliamentary representation fall by more than half from 22 in 1979 to 10 in 1987 (2). At the same time the anti-Tory parties began to define themselves as such and coalesce around a shared centre-left agenda.
Things are very different now. The Con-Lib Dem alliance has a base of 36% support in Scotland, nearly twice the support of the SNP (20%) and not that far behind Labour (42%). Yet something much more fundamental than number crunching is at work here.
And the rest is here.
Anthony Barnett sees the end of Thatcherism
Anthony Barnett (with background history as a long-ago editor of New Left Review, author of a very good and critical book about the Falklands War, key figure in Charter '88, founder and key figure in OpenDemocracy, leading advocate of the HangEm strategy in the New Statesman) has written a very controversial article for Open Democracy entitled 'The End of Thatcherism'.
No endorsement here, but a contribution to the debate we need to be having.
Anthony Barnett, The End of Thatcherism, 13 May 2010
This week's creation of a Conservative led coalition with the Liberal Democrats has brought the period associated with Margaret Thatcher after her election in 1979 to an end. The UK will continue to play its part in global capitalism but a new kind of domestic politics is on offer. One way of describing it, uncomfortable as it may be for me to report, is that the transition from New Labour to a Tory led coalition promises a distinctly more progressive government in the UK. If indeed the Coalition agreement is carried out, then the new government will be to the left of its predecessor by being:
tougher on the bankers
more focused on helping the very poor
more democratic
ending New Labour’s assault on liberty
Europeanising Westminster politics
implementing greener policies
reintroducing cabinet government
This is relative praise. It remains a Tory government. The new coalition says it is planning to stuff the House of Lords with 200 cronies to secure its majority there, who will stay for their lifetimes; it will not investigate our use of torture; it says it will ask the British people to decide on how we vote yet, despite language about “grown-up” politics, it will treat us like infants and not permit us to consider a proportional system. And, of course there is the famous chasm between words and deeds.
However, for those of us involved with the Convention on Modern Liberty, especially my Co-Director Henry Porter who led the way in campaigning against New Labour’s transforming the British state into an instrument of hi-tech despotism, the coalition’s programme is a triumph, as he has rightly claimed. First for what it delivers, in rolling back ID cards, the National Information Register and the promise of a Great Repeal Bill. Second, for prevailing not least thanks to the Guardian/Observer, over the Murdoch press and the BBC - which refused to report on civil liberties as a serious issue and still doesn’t. Third, in terms of political culture that the Convention plugged into - the latent energy of collaboration and constructive discussion of differences, as against tribalism. The first press conference of Prime Minister Cameron and his Deputy displayed an embrace of this culture proclaiming it as a different and better way of doing things.
The rest is here.
No endorsement here, but a contribution to the debate we need to be having.
Anthony Barnett, The End of Thatcherism, 13 May 2010
This week's creation of a Conservative led coalition with the Liberal Democrats has brought the period associated with Margaret Thatcher after her election in 1979 to an end. The UK will continue to play its part in global capitalism but a new kind of domestic politics is on offer. One way of describing it, uncomfortable as it may be for me to report, is that the transition from New Labour to a Tory led coalition promises a distinctly more progressive government in the UK. If indeed the Coalition agreement is carried out, then the new government will be to the left of its predecessor by being:
tougher on the bankers
more focused on helping the very poor
more democratic
ending New Labour’s assault on liberty
Europeanising Westminster politics
implementing greener policies
reintroducing cabinet government
This is relative praise. It remains a Tory government. The new coalition says it is planning to stuff the House of Lords with 200 cronies to secure its majority there, who will stay for their lifetimes; it will not investigate our use of torture; it says it will ask the British people to decide on how we vote yet, despite language about “grown-up” politics, it will treat us like infants and not permit us to consider a proportional system. And, of course there is the famous chasm between words and deeds.
However, for those of us involved with the Convention on Modern Liberty, especially my Co-Director Henry Porter who led the way in campaigning against New Labour’s transforming the British state into an instrument of hi-tech despotism, the coalition’s programme is a triumph, as he has rightly claimed. First for what it delivers, in rolling back ID cards, the National Information Register and the promise of a Great Repeal Bill. Second, for prevailing not least thanks to the Guardian/Observer, over the Murdoch press and the BBC - which refused to report on civil liberties as a serious issue and still doesn’t. Third, in terms of political culture that the Convention plugged into - the latent energy of collaboration and constructive discussion of differences, as against tribalism. The first press conference of Prime Minister Cameron and his Deputy displayed an embrace of this culture proclaiming it as a different and better way of doing things.
The rest is here.
Wednesday, 12 May 2010
Take Back Parliament
There are going to be gatherings around the country organised by Take Back Parliament on Saturday May 15th. In Leeds it will be in Millennium Square outside the Civic Hall from 12.00PM to 1.00PM. You can view the details of this event at any time by going to: http://www.power2010.org.uk/page/event/detail/wr4m
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