Voting - FPtheP or P R ?

Are you completely disenchanted with politicians & politics? Do you agree with the policies & decisions of the last 13 years? Do you think that democracy in England is dead in the water? Would you help change all of that if you could?

You can. You just have to make your voice & everyone else's voice be heard. Currently that isn't happening.

 

According to https://www.makevotesmatter.org.uk/first-past-the-post  71% of votes were wasted in the 2019 general election. We need a system where all votes count equally. Seats in Parliament need to reflect the votes cast. The only aspect that counts in F P the P is getting one more vote than the next-nearest candidate in each seat. Where you live is often the biggest factor in deciding how many representatives get elected to parliament. The Conservative vote is highly concentrated in specific areas. The other parties are disadvantaged by the system because their vote is more spread out across the country.

Most democracies use P R. Most people in the UK want P R. Over 100 countries use either Proportional Representation or a mixed system to elect their primary chamber - 40 of the 43 countries in Europe use P R. Less than 50 countries worldwide use F P the P, one of which is the United Kingdom. Those who do tend to have it as a result of being former British colonies. https://www.electoral-reform.org.uk/

In September 2022 The British Social Attitudes Survey found that 51% now favour reform to the voting system for general elections. https://natcen.ac.uk/news/half-britain-wants-voting-system-change-clear-majority-among-labour-supporters   Labour, the Lib Dems & the Greens support P R. The Conservatives don't because they know that they would lose a huge advantage, which gets them elected time & again without a majority vote.

F P the P was introduced in the 1884 Reform Act - 139 years ago. It's past its "best before" & "sell by" dates. The UK today bears no resemblance to the UK of 1884. F P the P is not fit for purpose or the 21st century. Our devolved nations use a type of proportional electoral system. Scotland & Wales use versions of the ‘additional member system’ (AMS); Northern Ireland uses the ‘single transferable vote’ (STV).

Only England clings to the outdated F P the P system. How ridiculous is that!

 

Human Bargaining Chips - A Long History

Humans have used eachother for personal gain from ancient times. Different cultures, nationalities & religions have abused other people since hunter gatherers roamed the earth. By the time of the first civilisations in Mesopotamia in 3,500 BC, slavery was institutionalised. We have a very long tradition of not caring for the suffering of others. You could be forgiven for thinking it is "normal" behaviour.

Slavery & human traffiking is an international problem. Estimates of the number of enslaved people today range from around 38 million to 49.6 million. Slavery in the 21st century generates an estimated $150 billion in annual profits.

Today people, mostly women & children, are being exchanged across the border between Israel & the West Bank. Both sides, the Israelis & the Palestinians are ruled by extremists who tolerate abuses of human rights. There are many countries in our world where ordinary people, mostly women & children, are not safe from the brutality of men. 

It doesn't just happen in war zones. In 86 countries, women face some form of job restriction and 95 countries do not guarantee equal pay for equal work. Globally, women still have only three quarters of the legal rights afforded to men. Currently Afghanistan is the least gender equal country, but Iran must be a close second.

What is it about the human brain that allows individuals to close their minds to the complete immorality of what they are doing?  How can individual human beings treat other, often more vulnerable, human beings so utterly without any feelings of sympathy or empathy? How do human beings demonise other human beings? 

Psychological abuse is well studied. The feeling of being powerful and in control gives some abusers immense pleasure. Abusers may also derive pleasure from seeing people suffer. Narcissists, psychopaths, and sadists may be drawn to emotional abuse because of the pleasure they take in having power over others or seeing them suffer. 

But there must be more to the current Middle Eastern situation that that. Surely not all combatants on both sides of the  equation can be narcissists, psychopaths, and sadists. Training & indoctrination must play a part. So I have to question the role of  both Religion & Armed Forces. 

I think it comes down to repetition & brain washing. In both religion & the military there is a reliance on membership of & duty towards the group. Soldiers & terrorists are taught to be killers by repeatedly firing at an image of their enemy & are drilled in obeying orders without question. All religious groups follow patterns of communal behaviour which they believe will lead to their salvation. There is only one God & it's my God not yours. 

This has all been so deeply entrenched for such a long time I don't think that there is much chance of it changing despite the huge effort of more enlightened humans. There is good & evil. At the moment I feel that evil is winning. 

Tolerance & Intolerance

Should intolerance be tolerated? What behaviour is tolerable or intolerable? Who decides?

I met some friends who I haven't seen for a very long time yesterday. It didn't go well. I was at school with the woman & we have always been very different in everything. The friendship lapsed for years after school. When it resumed our husbands became good friends. So after my husband died we continued to meet very intermittantly.

The pub we met in got good reviews but really didn't live up to expectations. It was cold & not very busy. My friend & I ordered fish & chips. The food came quickly, which maybe should have been a clue. It was dreadful. The peas were cold & watery. There wasn't much fish inside the batter & it was overcooked, as were the chips. I did complain about the peas, but didn't want to make a fuss so ate the meal without peas. When the waitress cleared the plates my friend complained, very aggressively I thought, to the waitress. I was embarrassed because I wouldn't speak to someone in that way. Especially as it wasn't the waitresses fault & we had eated the food.

My friend was annoyed that her husband & I hadn't supported her, although I had agreed that the food wasn't good. I think his meal was fine. I said that I thought that the way she had complained wasn't how I would have handled it. I didn't say I found it embarrassing, but I did. My friend got more & more annoyed that her husband & I obviously thought that the complaint should have been handled better. We paid & parted.

The interesting thing about this little episode is it raises the question of what we as individuals should overlook & what we shouldn't. I find myself wondering whether I should not have said anything when I was challenged for, in her view, not supporting her complaint. 

In my view my friend is convinced of the rightness of her opinions. She prides herself on speaking out. There are no grey areas. You are with her or against her. I don't feel that she has a filter, or much capacity to hear other points of view. She tends to speak for her husband & dominates the conversation. 

There had been an earlier disagreement about entitlement to respect. My friend felt that as a 79 year old she is entitled to respect & people should not refer to her by her Christian name without asking her permission. Her husband & I disagreed. I don't care if people I don't know, like medics & receptionists, call me by my christian name. I care more about how they do their job. A title seems irrelevant to me & is quite old fashioned. But my friend was annoyed that we didn't agree with her. 

So a longstanding, but very on & off friendship bites the dust. I am a bit sad, but also relieved. I don't have to tread on eggshells anymore. I don't have to bite my tongue. I do wonder how her family tolerate her behaviour though. But then that is what familes tend to do, so the behaviour continues.

 

Cruella Suella Braverman

Suella Braverman elicits such huge antipathy in me that I feel the need to try to understand how such an obviously intelligent woman can espouse core beliefs which make me feel so completely negative towards her.

 

Her parents were both Indian in origin. Her mother, a nurse & a councillor, came here from Mauritius & her father, who worked for a housing association, came here from Kenya. A fairly ordinary background, but possibly surprising for a very right wing politician.

 

She is a Triratna Buddhist. They believe in Pali - the cultivation of Loving Kindness. Meditations revolve around Positivity – an other-regarding, life-affirming attitude. Receptivity and spontaneous compassionate activity. Puja is a ritual practice intended to awaken the desire to liberate all beings from suffering. I find it hard to reconcile Bravermans comments & political beliefs with these core tenets of Triratnas. It has to be said that Triratnas have generated a fair bit of adverse publicity.

 

She has 2 children & is married to Rael Braverman a manager for Mercedes, who is also politican, & keeps his personal & professional life well out of the spotlight. Their combined net worth is reported to be several millions.

As secretary of state  at the home office Suella earns £155,817.00 per annum which is £599.30 daily. She has previously been Attorney general, reflecting her Barrister qualifications. She has been an MP since 2015. 

There is much to admire in that back story. A clever woman making her own way & being successful. It's what she says that completely alienates me;-

"It’s not racist for anyone, ethnic minority or otherwise, to want to control our borders"

"The British people deserve to know which party is serious about stopping the invasion on our southern coast, and which party is not"

"I would love to have a front page of The Telegraph with a plane taking off to Rwanda, that’s my dream, it’s my obsession"

“We have got a lot of carrots to get people into work but we have got to add more conditionality and a bit more stick,”

"It’s the coalition of chaos, it’s The Guardian-reading, tofu-eating wokerati"

"We cannot allow our streets to be taken over by rows of tents occupied by people, many of them from abroad, living on the streets as a lifestyle choice."  

world leaders “will not be able to sustain an asylum system if in effect, simply being gay, or a woman, and fearful of discrimination in your country of origin, is sufficient to qualify for protection.”

"the Human Rights Act should be renamed the “Criminal Rights Act”

She warned of "a hurricane” of mass migration and attacked the “luxury beliefs” of liberal-leaning people"

I just don't get what game Braverman is playing. Other than I am fairly sure that the goal of that game is to be leader of the Conservative party & hopefully Prime Minister. If I'm right, god help the UK, because she isn't a team player, she doesn't believe in Cabinet ot Collective Ministerial responsibility. She believes in whatever will get her the most votes in the party & in the country.

I hope that her gamble has misfired. We are in a dreadful mess now following on from Boris & Truss. It can only get worse if Braverman succeeds.

 

Prison

I posted a Blog about Prison in 2017 - "Prison isn't Working". Since then the "justice" landscape has changed - Not for the better. 

The MOJ publishes weekly statistics on prison populations. On the 3rd November 2023 the prison population was 87,764 - 84,168 men & 3,596 women. It is projected to increase steadily to reach 94,400 prisoners by March 2025 and between 93,100 and 106,300 by March 2027. The biggest age bracket is prisoners aged between 30 - 39 at over 28,524 prisoners. There are only 3,625 prisoners aged 15 - 20 years old. Most prisoners have previous convictions. 70% of custodial sentences are imposed on those with at least seven previous convictions or cautions, and 50% are imposed on those with at least 15 previous convictions or cautions. Non-violent offenders tend to be the most prolific criminals. Prisoners without a substantial criminal history have usually gone to prison for committing the most serious crimes. 

27% of the prison population are from a minority ethnic group, which does not reflect the ethnic make up of Britain. Ethnic minorities are more likely to get custodial sentences & are more likely to serve long sentences. Britain has the largest prison population in western Europe - Third after Russia & Turkey. However, the United Kingdom's crime rate remains relatively low when compared to the rest of the world,

https://prisonreformtrust.org.uk/project/race/

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1138135/Prison_Population_Projections_2022_to_2027.pdf

The UK has 120 prisons, (16 managed privately). The newest prison, HMP Fosse Way, opened in May 2023. The oldest prisons date back to the Victorian era. According to We Own It prison privatisation simply does not work.

https://weownit.org.uk/public-ownership/prisons

What is prison for? The primary purpose is to punish wrongdoing, protect the public & hold prisoners securely while they serve their sentences. In theory prison deters people from further offending, which doesn't seem to be borne out by reoffending statistics - Of those sentenced to less than 12 months in custody, 63% will reoffend within a year of release. Compare this to Norway's reoffending rate of just 20%. Finally to rehabilitate.

It has been shown that, when available, there is a positive impact on reducing reoffending, by offender behaviour & education programmes and drug interventions. Cognitive-behavioral programs in prisons consistently reduce recidivism by 15 percent or more, with some leading to reductions of closer to 30 percent. Unfortunately the UK system is focused on punishing offenders rather than rehabilitating them. The amount of money spent on prisons far outstrips the funding available for social programmes and rehabilitation. There are worrying understaffing issues in prisons, so rehabilitaion courses can't be offered. In addition, Inspectors found that in local prisons 31% of prisoners report being locked in their cells for at least 22 hours a day, rising to 37% at young adult prisons. If they are in their cells they are not being rehabilitated.

The vast majority of prisons are providing inadequate conditions or unacceptable treatment, according to an Observer investigation. A Guardian article says that widespread overcroding and the refusal of the German court to extradite a man to the UK because of concerns about jail conditions in Britain both point to a system that is underfunded, understaffed & failing.

Don't for one minute imagine that being in prison is anything other than a real punishment. You canot envisage what the loss of freedom & any control over your life does to a human being unless you have seen it first hand. Suicide, self harm & depression are worryingly commonplace.

There must be a better way for our Justice System to work. Norway's prison system is renowned as one of the most effective and humane in the world.  Only 20% of Norway's formerly incarcerated population commit another crime within two years of release. Even after five years, the recidivism rate is only 25%. 

It isn't rocket science or magic. If they can do it why can't the UK?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cars - The Price we Pay

It's about time that we really added up the price we pay for our cars. Not just financial & in terms of air quality. Just think about the amount of land that is taken up with roads & parking. 

Knight Frank did a survey for the government in 2020 showing that there are 103,000 public and private surface car parks across the country, which comprise a land area of 20,000 hectares. Of this, some 7,555 hectares are owned by the public sector. 

https://www.knightfrank.com/research/article/2020-07-15-government-owned-car-parks-could-hold-the-key-to-110000-new-homes

Their estimate suggests that this alone could yield 2.1 million homes. Releasing this land could provide much needed new housing & generate income for the government. I found watching "Britain's Housing Crisis" - BBC deeply disturbing. 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/m001rkn5/britains-housing-crisis-what-went-wrong

The Standard did an interesting article for World Car free Day 2019 

https://www.standard.co.uk/homesandproperty/property-news/world-car-free-day-2019-80-000-homes-could-be-built-on-london-car-parking-spaces-within-a-mile-of-a-tube-or-train-station-a133491.html   

Parked cars take up two per cent of space in London — land worth £172 billion on which much-needed homes could be built. There are 868 car parks in London within a mile of a train or Tube station

Acording to the RAC 18 million (65%) of Britain’s 27.6 million households have – or have potential to have enough off-street parking to accommodate at least one car or van. 

https://www.racfoundation.org/media-centre/cars-parked-23-hours-a-day

All of this seems ridiculous when you consider that the average car or van in England is driven just 4% of the time, a figure that has barely changed in 25 years.

We have become wedded to our cars. We put up with the high financial cost & the frustration of traffic congestion & frequent gridlock. We struggle to find parking. We tolerate poor air quality which causes short & long term health problems. In 2021, 10 of the 43 UK national reporting zones suffered with illegal levels of NO₂ pollution. This is twice as many as in 2020, when lockdowns led to a temporary dip in NO₂ levels across the country. The World Health Organization (WHO) last year radically overhauled their pollution guidelines. The recommended guideline for annual average NO₂ pollution is now 10 µg/m - four times lower than the UK’s current legal limit. 

https://www.clientearth.org/latest/latest-updates/news/uk-air-pollution-how-clean-is-the-air-you-breathe/

This is a complex issue encompassing multiple areas of our lives - Health, Housing, Infrastructure, Finance & possibly more. But we are literally using up precious land & adversely impacting our health for the privelege of owning our own cars. A working integrated transport system is vital to our survival as a functioning nation & to each of us individually. 

Until we have that, the problems will simply grow exponentially. According to Wikipedia the UK has a road network totalling about 262,300 miles (422,100 km) of paved roads—246,500 miles (396,700 km) in Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales) and 15,800 miles (25,500 km) in Northern Ireland, but I doubt that is up to date.

We are literally letting vehicles dictate health & land use because successive governments have known all of this for years. They have had all the information about housing & transport issues, but do not have the guts to action what will be difficult policies to really tackle this. All political decision making on this has been populist & short-termist because the politicians want to remain in power instead if doing what is best for the people of the UK. I haven't even touched on the cost of road maintenence.

It has got to stop.