Suggestions for Gordon

Everyone is making to-do lists for the new Government. Here, in no particular order, is mine:

• Simplify the tax system. Probability: very low - Mr Brown made no progress on this in the last ten years; Alistair Darling is unlikely to pursue it.
• Re-work the planning rules to encourage “green” activities; installing solar panels or wind-turbines etc. Probability: moderate – changes in this area would help to meet established Government targets.
• Encourage the building of new, or the reopening of closed, railways. Probability: low – the economic case for this is unproven and the costs are likely to outweigh, at least for the Government, the ecological benefits.
• Remove stamp duty on shares. Probability: very low – there is almost no chance of any Chancellor revoking an almost perfect tax, even if it further strengthened the financial services sector (and I do not even know if it would).
• Revise the drug laws. Probability: moderate – we spend a fortune tackling illicit drugs but maybe it is time to recognise that people’s private activities, when they do not harm others, are not the business of the state.
• Resolve issues of over-crowding within prisons. Probability: high – the Government will surely try to do this but their methods may be controversial and success is not guaranteed.
• Accelerate regeneration of inner-city estates. Probability: high – activities in this area are merely a continuation of the efforts of the last 100 years. As the country’s wealth continues to grow, more should be done to help the most disadvantaged members of our society.
• Tighten the rules on new building. Probability: high – to meet established Green targets, the rules governing the building of offices, factories and homes should be altered to enforce a minimum standard of energy efficiency.
• Remove lighting on motorways. Probability: very low – large parts of our motorway network are unlit, which suggests that the benefits of lighting, particularly away from junctions, do not justify the costs.
• Encourage a secular Government and state. Probability: low – the presence of the Bishops in the House of Lords, the creation of new faith schools (of any denomination) and the involvement of faith-based charities in areas previously the responsibility of the state should all stop.
• Improve the quality and quantity of equipment provided to our armed forces. Probability: moderate – we should not ask our armed forces to fight with inadequate or outdated equipment and the Government will probably want to avoid embarrassing press reports of shortages of body armour.
• Improve flood protection measures and sea defences. Probability: moderate – recent flooding and the complaints of the agency in charge of sea defences should prompt action in this area.
• Improve public transport. Probability: moderate – London and other large cities need sustained investment in their public transport systems to accommodate growing numbers of passengers and to discourage car use.
• Increase overseas aid. Probability: high – many areas of the world continue to need our support and we should extend this wherever possible.
• Education, education, education. Probability: high – independent and properly funded universities, high-quality secular schools, challenging and respected examination systems; all of these things should be medium to long-term cross-party targets.
• Redouble efforts to rebuild Afghanistan. Probability: moderate – moving soldiers from Iraq to Afghanistan and increasing the amount spent on reconstruction will help secure peace.
• Reduce barriers to foreign investment. Probability: high – efforts to encourage foreign investment should continue; reducing indirect business costs (red tape), strengthening the education system and improving the public transport systems will attract new investment and create jobs and wealth.
• Improve the climate for scientific research. Probability: moderate to high – improvements to the education system, sensible regulation of controversial areas (stem cell research, for example) and stout defence of legal scientific practices are necessary to encourage research.

The New PM

I know that it is not every day that a new Prime Minister is installed, but do we really have to have helicopters hovering over central London all day? Their purpose is unclear (I suspect TV or Press) but they make a hell of a racket.

Free Competition, Mark II

Looks like free competition has survived its brush with death in Brussels (link) after the French backed down.

EU Competition

There are endless debates in the UK press about the benefits of the EU but one area upon which there seems to be no complaint is the commitment to strive for "free and undistorted competition". It now appears that the French, who are uneasy with both globalisation and so-called Anglo-Saxon liberal economics, are trying to replace this with a "social market economy aiming at full employment", breaking one of the key strengths of the Union (source). This smacks of protectionism, the very thing that Europe should be trying to get away from, but maybe it is simply a negotiating ploy to force Britain to accept other, equally unpalatable, changes. Time will tell.

Quote of the Day

I found this quote on the Richard Dawkin's website (link) in one of the responses to an article by Rabbi Sacks. It identifies one of the fundamental issues that must be addressed if the major religions are to avoid continual strife and conflict with each other and with the secular world in general.

They need to give up this notion of 'difference'. However, in order to do this they must give up the idea of having exclusive access to truths provided by God, the notion of "God's chosen people" has to go and the idea that some of us are hell bound and others saved really has to go.

Persuading the faithful to consider these issues is going to be tricky, I suspect.

More Terrifying Laws

Gordon Brown has decided that we need to tighten our anti-terror laws (FT report here). He may be right, but I hope this is not the start of the promised new style of Government. Maybe his Stalinistic tendencies go beyond the running of his department; how many more of our liberties will be eroded in the war against terrorism? How long till our freedoms are restored?

On the other hand, can we really be said to have lost anything if only terrorist suspects are subject to these draconian measures? To misquote a saying from an earlier time: "I said nothing when they came for the terrorists, because I was not a terrorist."

The Cardinal Speaks

Cardinal Keith O'Brien, leader of Scotland's Roman Catholics, has been voicing his operation to abortion which he calls a "social evil" (details). He advances no argument to support his position so it is difficult to do more than do more than ignore his rantings but his attempt to draw parallels between abortion and the Dunblane massacre is insensitive, stupid and illogical. Senior members of the Catholic Church, which continues to oppose the use of condoms (thus aiding the continued spread of AIDS, particularly in Africa), do not have a strong position from which to pass down their moral judgment; O'Brien would do well to put his own house in order before passing comment on the affairs of a secular Government.

Public Computers

I had been using this computer (at David Lloyd, Port Solent) for several minutes, all the time wondering why the cursor was frozen, until I realised that somebody had removed the mouse ball. This does not make it impossible to blog, but it does make it rather tricky!