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You are in the company of
Roger Warren Evans
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This interim political phase, prior to
the beginning of the next Session of Parliament and the Queens Speech, has
its own special interest.
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Renewing participatory democracy Multiple Differential Uncertainty
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0089A
And make sure you have not missed the previous edition
of this Weblog
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Emergency ReportSunday 27 October 0500h. Problems, problems - a massive Atlantic storm breaking around my Swansea attic - and inside, my webpage design software has gone on strike - I cannot bring you my planned full Sunday 27/10 Edition. Please bear with me while I try to solve the problem (for Internet nerds only: I am making these limited changes by editing the text in my ftp-program CuteFTP, rather than Microsoft Frontpage, which has gone on strike).I've had a fascinating few days, at a Drugs Reform Conference at Ashford in Kent - on other fronts, I do not attach great importance either to Estelle Morris' departure or the Russian hostage crisis - but there are many other things to talk about. Chatting service will be resumed as soon as possible - Roger WE Angel Declaration Just back from a two-day Ashford Conference on Drugs and Society. Apart from my advocacy of drugs legalisation. Apart from my speech (which was just squeezed in, as the very last 30-minute speech of a full two-day programme), the whole Conference was dedicated to making prohibition work - of "reducing harm", to drug-users and to society - without challenging the basic legal framework. That will not do. The greatest individual injustices, the greatest social and political evils, are the product of prohibition itself. Drugs legalisation is a priority, on an international scale. We have handed a huge and profitable trade to the criminals and terrorists by our own misguided actions – and we are now reaping the whirlwind. We must start the process of legalising the drugs trade and bringing it under effective control.
Beneficial Bravo! The Government has decided to reform the Tory system of Housing Benefit, introduced in the 1980s, which was simply a form of outdoor relief for the rentier class. Reform has defeated previous Governments, while even the seediest private slum landlords have rejoiced. Now Labour is proposing a fundamental change of course. What do you think? back to top 
My love affair with postage stamps continues - sparked again by this month's fantastic
astronomical creations - my hope is that the PO's financial crisis will be resolved,
without dragging down the Stamp Design Division...Perpetual Innovation What is wealth? I have an unconventional view. I say that “wealth” is simply a reflection of the capacity of a society to keep all its people busy, active, moving, all the time. Societies with access to raw materials, and clement climates, clearly have natural advantages, that is not to be disputed. But every society, developed or developing, must first and foremost look to its activity rates, and to the process of perpetual innovation.Irresponsible Guardian Alan Rusbridger made a grievous error of judgment when reporting on "Iraq War" sentiment, last week. Two days after the Bali bomb, The Guardian announced that there had been a spectacular swing of opinion in favour of going to war, attacking Iraq. I exposed that claim, last week, as a statistical aberration, and accused the Editor of "wrongful war-mongering". This week, The Guardian put a further misleading spin on their polling results, arguing that opinion had swung back again.
The truth is that The Guardian's telephone poll methodology is so defective that, properly understood, the fortnight's results showed no significant change in opinion at all. Wrongful Closure The Government is guilty of the abuse of power, by simply closing, 3,000 sub-post-offices, taking only the economics of the Post Office into account. Corporations are justly criticised for the arbitrary closure of factories, destroying jobs and communities. Yet the Labour Government is doing precisely the same thing, to 3,000 neighbourhoods across the country. This has been handled very badly.
Oppression Watch out for your privacy! Reports abound of employees penalised for E-messages, and Internet downloads, effected while at work. Within most Intranet systems (in both the private and the public sectors) employers retain huge technical powers of scrutiny and intervention. And they are backed by a culture of employer dominance, as a matter of employment law. How should our rights of “private life” and “private correspondence” be guaranteed, in these changing circumstances? Socialists - keep in touch with my latest (unfinished) attempt to track the course of contemporary socialism - a long way to go, but c'est le premier pas qui compte - you can track my thoughts at the Newton Agenda. Diary 2002 Now up to date! I have re-structured my Diary to give you a day-to-day means of looking back, throughout the year just click through
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Firemen, Teachers I have little sympathy with either the firemen, or the teachers. The firemen are certainly entitled to a significant wage-rise, having lost out over the years. But any rise should be conditional upon their acceptance of sane working-hours and conditions for the Service, changes which would reduce the notorious moonlighting among firemen, and permit wider access to the job, particularly for women. And teachers should give up their dog-in-a-manger resistance to the deployment of classroom assistants. Our teachers (through the NUT) continue to protest against the introduction of 50,000 assistants into the classroom. By contrast, this week the French teachers have gone on strike in protest against their Government’s plans to withdraw the services of 25,000 classroom assistants. It's a funny ol' world... Check out the arguments Employers should leave the pensions stage Why is the Government continuing to waste time with the Employers, and with occupational pensions? Surely it must now be clear that private “employers” are unreliable pension providers? The fragile formalities of the “company pensions trust” arrangements leave workers grievously exposed to the weaknesses of their employers - the workers' eggs are tragically committed to one basket. Public service employers are likely to remain reliable, but not the private sector.
What do you think? back to top Brains for Business
What do you think? back to top
My own I do not believe in the war on "terrorism" - but I am sure there should be waged a war on terrorists. The campaign is global, and that is why I seek international approaches to the pillars of my campaign. I want to declare war on legalised secrecy, illegal trading, and the appalling illegal traffic in human life. Given success, this would make great inroads into global terrorism. What do you think? back to top Nationalising "Insurance" The very last act of the US Congress, before breaking up this week for the key 5 November Congressional Elections, was to extend Federal State backing to the beleaguered US insurance industry. But if the "private" insurers cannot survive without re-insurance by the State, does not that mean that the risk-industry has been nationalised? Is this not nationalisation by the back door? Follow my Russian Tour Diary, now unfolding in splendid technicolor 
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And read my own Big Theory itself, at Special Footnote I love the online newspapers, which are my access to the world - share them with me - click through to their Homepages from here -
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New
Why does Britain have so many second-rate captains of
industry? Government Minister Patricia Hewitt is paying £50,000 for
a special four-month study, by an American management guru Michael
Porter.