Another well balanced and interesting examination into what makes local politics work [or not!]. I think more and more people are unhappy with our current way of doing things. Frustration and anger with the new unitary authorities is starting to build more and more. Keep up the good work, NNJ!
Think the main issue here is that when parties alienate supporters with a shift in one direction or another, those seemingly disenchanted are not helping themselves or their cause by running away from their party of choice and waiting for something to happen to swing it back in their favour.
Jeremy Corbyn was not brought into the leadership of Labour by the work of those outside the party so if his is your politics then he needs your pressure to get him back into the Parliamentary Labour Party.
Similarly those Conservatives who are dismayed by the antics of Boris Johnson need to besiege their MPS to send in their letters to the 1922 committee to get him out.
More than ever we need to use creative imagining to build back the integrity that the country has lost resulting form the current government's leadership and culture.
There will also have to be political realignments to deal with the existential threats the planet faces ignored by those in power.
However since the Industrial Revolution capitalism has been at the core of wealth creation through continuous economic growth, which ever party has been in power. It is capitalism that must be modified as an economic system
Political theory is moving from capitalist economic growth systems to wellbeing economies. The green party is embracing these ideals. Ed Miliband's organisation Common Wealth embraces the concepts of the circular economy. Kate Raworth writes about limiting resource use to what we have extracted all ready through capitalism and to operate within those limits only. Jason Hickel in 'Less is More' promotes De-growth as the way forward; essentially looking at what we do actually need and building a more equal society around those needs.
It will need a planned transition period which should include political realignment and the formation of new alliances. It is heartening to read of such examples in NN Journal's article here.
As individuals we can / should be monitoring how we can implement our own home-bound Wellbeing Economics and have conversations , join groups, become activists promoting the need to change in anyway appropriate to us as individuals. Not everyone would want to join a political party or stick themselves to tarmac but we can find small ways to change.
We're all resistant to change but political parties or councils that have been in power too long become stagnating and resistant barriers to change, which wastes the precious time we have left to imagine and create new ways of thinking and behaving pertinent to the task of saving us as one species and the rest of our planet.
So the underpinning values of any party has to include strategic and practical policies for achieving net zero (i.e taking carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere) and regeneration and restoration of the natural environment in all its many forms.
Great article.
Another well balanced and interesting examination into what makes local politics work [or not!]. I think more and more people are unhappy with our current way of doing things. Frustration and anger with the new unitary authorities is starting to build more and more. Keep up the good work, NNJ!
Think the main issue here is that when parties alienate supporters with a shift in one direction or another, those seemingly disenchanted are not helping themselves or their cause by running away from their party of choice and waiting for something to happen to swing it back in their favour.
Jeremy Corbyn was not brought into the leadership of Labour by the work of those outside the party so if his is your politics then he needs your pressure to get him back into the Parliamentary Labour Party.
Similarly those Conservatives who are dismayed by the antics of Boris Johnson need to besiege their MPS to send in their letters to the 1922 committee to get him out.
More than ever we need to use creative imagining to build back the integrity that the country has lost resulting form the current government's leadership and culture.
There will also have to be political realignments to deal with the existential threats the planet faces ignored by those in power.
However since the Industrial Revolution capitalism has been at the core of wealth creation through continuous economic growth, which ever party has been in power. It is capitalism that must be modified as an economic system
Political theory is moving from capitalist economic growth systems to wellbeing economies. The green party is embracing these ideals. Ed Miliband's organisation Common Wealth embraces the concepts of the circular economy. Kate Raworth writes about limiting resource use to what we have extracted all ready through capitalism and to operate within those limits only. Jason Hickel in 'Less is More' promotes De-growth as the way forward; essentially looking at what we do actually need and building a more equal society around those needs.
It will need a planned transition period which should include political realignment and the formation of new alliances. It is heartening to read of such examples in NN Journal's article here.
As individuals we can / should be monitoring how we can implement our own home-bound Wellbeing Economics and have conversations , join groups, become activists promoting the need to change in anyway appropriate to us as individuals. Not everyone would want to join a political party or stick themselves to tarmac but we can find small ways to change.
We're all resistant to change but political parties or councils that have been in power too long become stagnating and resistant barriers to change, which wastes the precious time we have left to imagine and create new ways of thinking and behaving pertinent to the task of saving us as one species and the rest of our planet.
So the underpinning values of any party has to include strategic and practical policies for achieving net zero (i.e taking carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere) and regeneration and restoration of the natural environment in all its many forms.
Be great to share views we have to find a better way! james@hakewill.com
Nothing new in all this stuff.....that's life and politics....unless you want a united front and solution...."Come the Revolution"