CAMBRIA POLITICO

Political X Factor

Apr 302009

In the run up to the European and General Elections, Cambria Politico will be publishing occasional articles and opinion pieces about the reasons to vote FOR a particular political party. A great deal has been written about the negative ‘attack dog’ role of political blogs and, without giving up on our campaigns against corruption and loss of liberty, we want to provide a more balanced positive commentary.

We will be taking each party in turn and finding one good reason to vote for them, starting with NuLiebour oops! Labour. We will also be scoring them against appropriate parameters to put them in a historical and societal context.

Finding a good reason to vote FOR Labour at the present moment is difficult. However, the Labour Party/Movement has an honourable history, has accomplished many fine things, and has produced figures and personalities of international renown and historical significance. It has a proud and valued record of social and political achievements.

labourtide But that was then and this is now. Labour is now psychologically and socialogically an irrelevance. It has washed out on the tide of political thinking. In Monty Python terms, it is a Dead Parrot or on a par with the People’s Front of Judea or is it Judean People’s Front?

So where is the FOR reason to vote for them?

The brilliant SF author John Brunner, wrote a famous novel published in 1965 entitled ‘The Squares of the City’ (ISBN 0-345-27739-2). It is a sociological story of urban class warfare and political intrigue, taking place in the fictional South American capital city of Vados. It explores the idea of subliminal messages as political tools, and it is notable for having the structure of the famous 1892 chess game between Wilhelm Steinitz and Mikhail Chigorin. In this story, society is ‘managed’ using city planning techniques. There are no actual villains and heroes it is mainly an exploration of how people can be controlled using bulldozers, urban planning and surveillance. The grim and powerful result is a true nightmare foreshadowing present and possible future conditions in Britain.

So how does this relate to a positive vote for Labour? Brunner, Orwell and other writers, like the late J.G.Ballard, tell us that a truly ‘efficient’ and well organised government is the greatest threat to freedom and human liberties of thought. So a vote for a useless, chaotic, bumbling, directionless government with real identifiable ‘faces’ attached to it is a vote for liberty and freedom from faceless efficient supra national oppression. Labour is classically inept and disorganised and thus truly worthy of your vote.

Forget the lies, the minor expenses corruption, the broken manifesto committments, Labour is infinitely preferable to a Brunner, Orwellian, Kafka-esque world of super efficient civil service and control by ‘faceless’ bureaucratic elites exemplified by the frightening Kinnockian European ideal.

Political X Factor Scoring

PARAMETER	SCORE (out of 10)
Leadership	1
Grassroots Organisation	5
History	9
Corruption	2
X Factor / Charisma	1
Planet Earth Reality	2
Future Potential	0
Policies	8
Personalities	3
Financial Competence	1
Magic	0
Internet Awareness	2
Governmental Competence	4
Media Savvy	5

TIDE OF HISTORY : AGAINST

Selected quotes:

“[This Labour government] is the most mendacious, dishonest, endemically corrupt, power-hungry, incompetent, illiberal f**king shower of shits that has ruled this country…”—Devil’s Kitchen

Times’ David Aaronovitch – similar wavelength?

0.1% of Derek Draper’s time

Opinion 6 Responses »

Apr 122009

We’ve now had a sort of apology from Derek Draper of LabourList blog (see below) so now the people of Wales should get a similar apology from the scurrilous perpetrators of the Aneurin Glyndwr blog for their gross mis-representations of senior Welsh political figures and bringing politics into further disrepute (if that were possible).

Since the beginning of this year we have worked hard to build a Labour supporting presence online. 99.9% of that time was taken up by setting up LabourList and trying to build it into our version of ConservativeHome. I am proud of what we have achieved in those three months. But of course I regret the 0.1% of my time that I spent thinking about how we might set up a separate left wing “gossipy” site. We had been looking at the success of the right across the blogosphere and seen how effective their more scurrilous elements were. To be honest I think we were a bit dazzled by what they get up to.

In these troubled times, we need 100% of our politicians’ time to be devoted to serving the people rather than infighting on the blogosphere. Leave this to the modern versions of Jonathon Swift who do it so much better.

EU Funds converging into the public sector

Economy, News, Welsh Politics 2 Responses »

Mar 272009

snouts in the trough We at Cambria Politico predicted last year that the ‘credit crunch’ would result in EU Convergence Funds being ‘subsumed’ or diverted into public sector coffers and never see the light of day in the real Welsh economy where it is urgently needed and where it was intended to be delivered. The following article by Wyn Pryce illustrates how this was done to Objective One funding and is being done now to Convergence Funds.

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For many years the West Wales Business Initiative (WWBI) has expressed concerns about the economic policies of the Welsh Assembly, the size of the Public Sector in Wales and the consequent imbalance of the Welsh economy.

We have argued that the Assembly Government has channeled UK and EC resource into a rapidly growing Public Sector in Wales to the detriment of the private sector. Throughout the “so-called” good years of 1999-2007, when UK GDP rose significantly, the private business sector in Wales has declined. The opportunity to rebalance the Welsh economy was missed.

We have warned several times in submissions to Ministers and Civil Servants of the outcome of these mis-directed strategies. As scarce resources have been poured into the public sector so there was less for the private sector.

In the words of Welsh economist Ted Nevin in his Textbook of Economic Analysis, “Scarcity is the foundation of Economics”. Resources are scarce and have to be competed for. There is also the Opportunity Cost: the alternative use of resource. If you do one thing, you cannot do another. Whatever that may be. You cannot do, or have everything. Therefore, there is a choice. The Assembly has chosen to divert resource into the public sector. The majority of this into wages. 71% of the total Welsh economy is now dependent on the public sector.

Some commentators have stated that the public sector is now greater in Wales than in Russia in the 70′s or China in the 80′s. Therefore something has had to give. At the moment Wales is the “basket case” of the UK. Continue reading »

Oaten’s bed.Blair’s Kitchen

Opinion No Responses »

Jan 202009

So we, the taxpayers, paid £10,000 to have Mr.Blair’s kitchen refurbished and for Mr.Oaten to have a new bed (too much information). MP’s (and of course AM’s iPods as well) expenses are a perennial issue that crops up again and again.

It’s not so much the amounts (we paid £6,500 for the now defunct MFI to do our kitchen) that are involved than the principles or rather lack of them that grates. As the campaigner of Unlock Democracy Paul Facey has said below:

Unlock Democracy director Paul Facey said so far protests against the proposed FOI exemption had been largely restricted to what he termed “the civil liberties fraternity”.

But he was confident many ordinary voters would join the campaign, thanks to the power of the internet.

Mr Facey added: “I challenge senior MPs and leaders of all political parties to say where they stand and oppose this idea.

“The politicians must realise that by behaving so cynically, they will cause great damage to the reputation of Parliament.”

Source BBC

The reputation of our politicians is critical to a stable society. Without a political class seen to be ‘more or less’ representing the people and not ripping them off by having their ‘noses in the trough’, then all bets are off on widespread civil disobedience. Examples have been set.

Like a three legged stool, there are three pillars that hold society aloft : the financial system, the political system and the police/judiciary. If even one of these legs crumbles then the stool of society falls over. Throughout history politicians have had variable morals but the parliamentary system has contained them. There are clear worrying signs that Parliament is under attack and the normal checks and balances eroded. The Labour government has alot to answer for.

Roll over with Dover … in Caerffili’s Tory dirt

Welsh Conservatives No Responses »

Nov 132008

Those with long memories will quickly recognise Den Dover, the Tory MEP expelled from both party and group for directing no less than £500,000 in the wrong direction (ie, family-wards), as an old acquaintance.

When the Conservative Party was a term of abuse in Wales – in days when miners still existed, and the far-Left still thought it was going somewhere rather than nowhere – Mr Dover made an acquaintance with Wales.

He was no more than another Englishman sent to Wales to learn his political trade. I doubt he ever came back after the election. Indeed, a carpet-bagger once, a carpet-bagger always. Eventually he won a Parliamentary seat in Lancashire, where he was known for his anti-European ramblings.

When the tide swung against the Tories, he swiftly switched to become a Tory MEP for the same region, despite his true beliefs. Yet his family home has always remained in Hertfordshire, despite claiming he lived in Euxton, near Chorley, Lancs. Perhaps he was mixing Chorley, Lancs with Chorleywood, Herts…

Anyway, the family cash went to Hertfordshire.

In October 1974, he was his party’s Parliamentary candidate in Caerffili. His catchline was moderately memorable – “Roll over with Dover”, if I remember correctly. His vote, however, was far from memorable – he managed only 11.5pc, up against Plaid’s Phil Williams, who before long came within a ace of capturing the seat, also setting the foundations for his party’s current control of the county borough. Continue reading »

The Political Weather

Opinion No Responses »

Oct 112008

Just as the Climate Change debate is over whether Global Warming is man made or part of a natural cycle, so the political conversation is about whether we are in control over our politics or is it being shaped by global forces of change. God, Man or Chaos Theory.

Political dogma is fragmenting as a consequence of changes in people’s perception of government due to the Media and the Internet. There are no simple questions and answers these days with persuasive and bullying opinion being raised on every conceivable issue. Why is this? Is it because we are in the pre-ordained End of Days as foretold by religions or is it due to changes in our psychology?

Carl Jung, in his explorations of the nature of religion and human psychology, was one of the first to postulate the existence of ‘group minds’ or group (un)consciousnesses. He considered that there were four group psychologies (mindsets) that were roughly geographically based on continents ie. the Western, Eastern, African and possibly Aboriginal. We can now extend this theory to propose a new and different pan geographical and global group consciousness – the Internet. This Internet consciousness has a very loose and undetermined shape at the moment but it has all the classic characteristics of a group mind as explored and prefigured in science and fantasy fiction (cf. Tad Williams). It is a vast tag cloud of information, music, video clips, imagery, blogs, comment threads and random thoughts difficult to define and wholly unregimented.

Or is it? Just like the oceans, there are patterns and currents to this seemingly vast sea of infojunk. I find it is is sometimes useful to employ artistic analogies/visualisations to help with this concept. For example, even the UK government’s Dept of Trade and Industry has drawn from the imagination of the graphic artist M.C. Escher to try and get a handle on this in its publications of the role of the Internet in commerce. This new mind is constrained not by geographical and traditional societal boundaries but by access and technology and human psychology so this is the key to understanding how to use it. The politicians that can understand this fully and utilise it predictively , will be the powerful men and women of the future. Barack Obama and his campaign team exemplifies this new understanding.

These group minds are peculiarly susceptible to music (melody patterns). The Beatles were a music phenomenon which unconsciously gave expression to changes in the (Western) group mind. We find it very difficult to comprehend these days why the Beatles simple lyrics and melodies were so popular but it can be understood if explained in terms of being in tune or resonating with an unconscious mind. at a particular time in its evolution. It’s the vibes Man! Similarly today, it is no accident that music drives a large part of the Internet and is a powerful medium for disseminating music both old and new.

Peer to peer systems, the stock markets, blogging and the social networking phenomenon are manifestations of the new consciousness. These ‘viral channels’ are a kind of nervous system or ocean current and look how fast they react.

Politically, the important questions of today are how do the traditional mind sets of the West interact, use or merge with this new mindset. How does a politician locked into old ways of doing things – knocking on doors, holding surgeries, attending conferences, dealing in smoke filled rooms, troughing in pork barrels approach what is now a new paradigm? The politician of the present now needs to understand how the Internet works, not the techie bits, but the psychology of it. It’s not about issues but about surfing the wave breaks of the group mind – being in tune with the Internet and other group (un)consciousness. In Wales, most of the politicians are ‘old school’, and have little or no understanding of the Internet or its political and marketing tools. Well, except maybe for Chris ‘Pants’ Bryant! Some, like Peter Black and Adam Price are starting to use blogging as a means of communicating (mainly to political anoraks) but most only have their staff monitor blogs or news websites for stories that might be attacking them.

The political and economic climate is set to change and change fast. It is clear that none of our current crop of politician either here in Wales or the UK is ‘ahead of the curve’. In the US, Barack Obama is probably the closest. McLuhan was partially right. The Medium is now the Message is now the Mindset.

There will be much Tribulation.

Political X Factor

0.1% of Derek Draper’s time

EU Funds converging into the public sector

Oaten’s bed.Blair’s Kitchen

Roll over with Dover … in Caerffili’s Tory dirt

The Political Weather

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