Public Sector Cuts

We keep hearing it. It's coming. Lots of public sector workers will soon be out of jobs.

Is it their own fault for being part of the Governments overspend? Is it the only way forward to get this country out of recession?

I read a great book about 18 months ago called "The Corporation: The Pathological Pursuit of Profit and Power" by Joel Bakan. I may have mentioned it before but it just seems so apt with all of the current public sector cuts being seen as a necessity. It also had a great interview with Noam Chomsky at the end from 24th October 2000.

In the book they point out that whilst originally being useful organisations, Corporations grew in the late 19th centuary and wanted to administer themselves rather than face public control. Corporations were legally afforded the rights of a person but of course they have no moral conscience, are concerned only for the short term and their only purpose also stated in law is to make money for share holders above all else.

"Any tyrannical system is going to want to maximise it's control over the society. So anything that is under some public accountability it will want". They make people believe the systems are in crisis (my mind currently springs to schools which in the main are great), so people accept when they are privatised. The best way to improve schools is to do things like improve teachers salaries, increase the number of teachers to make class sizes smaller or improve school buildings. The last thing they need is cuts, followed by privatisation.

In any recession where people are loosing their jobs and more people relying on benefits, what you need is a proportion of the working age population in employment, doing useful jobs, paid for by the state to help others. This keeps unemployment lower and means that people still get the services they need and rely on. Cutting the public sector workforce is asking for high unemployment and a lower average standard of living.

Corporations must create profits for shareholders assuming limitless resources, no matter the costs and detrimental effects on society. Why don't we try and change it. We need more regulation and to keep our public sector, surely?

With the risk of mentioning another party...

Did anyone else watch the Newsnight Labour Leadership Hustings and think Diane Abbot was the best of the bunch? From what I've heard from her so far, I think she should consider joining the Green Party.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/politics/10317445.stm

Cut Spending! (But don't mention Afghanistan)

The coalition government are introducing over £6billion worth of cuts. These will inevitably lead to more people being out of work among other things and are only the very first of what will be a whole series of spending cuts.

Of course we have to tackle the deficit sooner or later, I'm not trying here to join the already vast argument over whether these cuts should be made now.
But I do think it is ridiculous that we are being asked to face domestic cuts by the government while we are still maintaining a military presence in Afghanistan at a huge cost. Even those who supported the war should now accept that we can no longer afford it. Every time we are asked to face cuts we should ask why we are still fighting this war.

Coventry Green Results

Just realised I didn't post the local Green results, so here they are:

http://www.coventry.gov.uk/ccm/navigation/council--government-and-democracy/elections/

It's nice there was a higher voter turnout generally with it being a general election. Enjoyed going to the count, like watching democracy in motion but we still need proportional representation to reflect what people are really voting for:

http://www.jeanlambertmep.org.uk/news_detail.php?id=552

Food can help cut the fiscal deficit

I like this article in the Guardian. It makes so much sense, why are we paying hardly anything to people in 3rd world countries to grow food cheap for us when they need it to eat themselves. And why are we flying it half way around the world when we've perfectly lovely fields being set aside in the UK.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/may/17/food-help-cut-fiscal-deficit

The Truth about Climate Change

I've just come across this Youtube channel with a lot of good info on the issue of climate change.

http://www.youtube.com/user/greenman3610

At the moment there are a lot of voices who are saying there is no problem with man-made global warming despite there being a strong consensus on the issue within the scientific community. It's good to have some accessible sources defending the science on climate change since most of us don't have the time to read all the scientific papers on the issue.

Lets hope Lib Dems don't blow it

I am disappointed with the Lib Dems. After the elation of the first Green MP and it being a hung parliament (as opposed to Tories in control) it is disappointing that we may end up with a Cons-Lib Government after all. See Caroline's warning Will fickle Lib Dems blow their chance to make history?

The Environment vs Social Justice

Why do the main parties put the economy above everything? I know it's important but people's lives, social justice and having a world to live in are surely more important. See Caroline's interview with Jon Snow

I like that the Green Party realise what really are the important things in life. Instead of measuring countries using GDP, surely how equal, happy and healthy people are are much better indicators than how many TV's or cars people own.

More equal societies almost always do better than less equal ones. See the Spirit Level slides. I find this facinating.

What Do You Want Your MP To Fight For?

Simple but effective

Check out the Green Party - 2010 Party Election Broadcast

It's been a while

Sorry folks,
No blogging for a while because Scott the wonder blogger moved to pasture's new. I'm new to the whole blogging thing so will do my best to get things going again.

Check out the Green Party Policies at
http://www.greenparty.org.uk/policies.html

Over and out
Laura

Why Vote UKIP?

The rather impressive Re-Elect Jean blog (to get Jean Lambert returned as London's Green Party MEP) points out the flaws in voting UKIP if you're angry about expenses:

It is a shame that some voters are thinking of turning to UKIP as they react to the disgraceful revelations over MPs expenses. After all, of the 12 MEPs elected for UKIP last time, two of them were convicted for fraud, and one of them joined the neo-fascist grouping in the European Parliament. In contrast, the UK's two Green MEPs are the only UK grouping to receive a 100% rating from the pressure group Open Europe for the transparency and accountability of their finances, as this press release details.

Caroline Lucas in the Indy on Sunday

"People are wanting something fresher and more authentic and a bit of passion in politics. When you see all these MPs from the other parties hanging their heads in shame over the expenses scandal, there's a very dangerous – and wrong – sense that you can't trust anyone in politics. So trying to reinvigorate the whole political system is important. There's a real new focus in the party. We do feel we are on the edge of a breakthrough."

European Elections Broadcast

May Meeting - Coventry Green Party

Our next meeting is this Tuesday, the 12th of May, at 730pm, at the Cheylesmore Community Centre. Our guest speaker is Ann Farr, who is a member of Pax Christi, and she recently returned from a post-Gaza-war trip to Palestine. The Cheylesmore Community Centre is at the corner of Portsea Close, Arundel Road and Poiters Road in Cheylesmore.