Ironic chancellor

I woke up with all this rattling around in my headache, so it’s as much a satirical rant as political commentary.

Why this man is a fool -->

Shark-boy

Campaigners for the separation of church and state often miss the point. It’s not just the encumbrance of traditional religions, and lobbying by modern cults, that hinder social progress; it’s also the many and varied, but all misguided, attempts to manage economies on national or global scales. Economics is simply another belief system, not a practical science. Consequently, there is no good news on political fronts, and I doubt there will be, unless the people demand/ enforce some radical social changes.    

Ministers in government can trace their jobs back to positions in the imperial system.The current Chancellor of the Exchequer probably thinks his job can be traced back to a royal treasurer for kings and queens, but he’s actually a modern version of the court jester. In popular mythology, King Canute became his own ‘fool’ when he seemed to believe that his royal blood granted him some kind of magical authority over the waves. Since tides are prompted by the Moon, what ‘delusional’ Canute really needed was anti-gravity technology.

That famous misquote: ‘the business of America is business’ no longer holds true, in any sense, because America itself seems no longer to be a nation, it’s just a business. Now, it's just too late to be an optimist.

Meanwhile, some notes for a hopeless manifesto:

For the 21st century, government needs inspired leaders not jobsworth managers. Of the currently elected officials, none are capable to solving the problems of a corrupted economic system. The political tools might well already exist, but the will to use them is not there. We need a new political system, and a social contract with a global reach. Something based on secular principles of a ‘united world’, not just a United Nations. Is it any wonder the dream of utopia (as process not destination) is lost?

The 'B' word

How to fix UK gov deficit & clear national debt? Emergency powers for a special wealth tax (at 95 percent) on British billionaires. Yes, BILLIONAIRE should be filed under 'obscenity'. Wealth super-tax ensures a minimum number of victims, but with maximum claw-back of dosh from greedy Brits. Let's face it, if they can't survive and live comfortably on 5 percent of a billion, then... who cares?  

The 'A' word

Austerity seems to be a current buzzword from the Con-Dem coalition, inflicting cuts to public services. I’d really like to see austerity measures applied to churches, too… Why not abolish the ‘charitable’ status for church institutions in the UK, and make them all pay taxes at premium business rates?

There’s no reason why the organised religions should remain a special case. A lot of church properties, on prime sites in town centres, could be redeveloped for proper commercial enterprises to make better use of the locations and land, which might even provide more useful services to local communities.

Coalition metaphors

Best wishes & hopes for LibDem efforts in coalition negotiations & wrangling with Tories. (Is Clegg really capable of parliament's 'Tory wrangler' job, in long term?)

Anything in politcal playground that kicks UK gov off Lab/Tory seesaw, and lets us play with swings & roundabouts of mainstream coalition must be worth a try now!

You never know what it might lead to... 
Perhaps one day soon, if there's a united or federal Europe (with Russian partners?), we'll visit that great theme park in the sky (somewhere over the rainbow on road to utopia) and try bigger rides like grand rollercoaster of world gov?

Mr Benn

Here's a British politician who actually talks a bit of sense! I agree with some of Hilary Benn's moderate socialist views on government, applaud his eminently sensible comments on the so-called ‘war on terror’, and I’m impressed by his common-sense attitude to solving the problems of inequality, but I do think it is quite naïve to rely upon the benevolence of ‘filthy rich’ UK citizens.

If multi-millionaires (billionaires should be outlawed!) fail to offer public-spirited support to charitable causes and ignore encouragement for any significant acts of philanthropy, then – if only for the sake of preventing future social injustice alone - some kind of (discretionary?) ‘super-tax’ on the financial resources of the UK’s top 100 ‘fat cats’ would seem in order to begin the essential process of redistributing the wealth in this country.

Same time, same planet

Where were you on Earth Day? Here in the Village, I got the leaky bathroom sink fixed, thus saving at least a few drops of (probably undrinkable) water, and made a better effort to recycle tins, bottles, and paper rubbish. It's still a work in progress, and that's the whole point, right?

But are supposedly global events such as yesterday's doing any real good? Is the green household agenda a worthwhile public pursuit when so many multinational corporations - not to mention USA.gov - refuse to agree on the problems, or even the causes of those problems?

Instead of a straightforward 'carbon tax' adding to fuel costs (a measure which impacts all users, and would probably drive inflation rates up), how come there are no easily accessible schemes to provide tax breaks at the grassroots level? I'd like to see lottery money available to fund more domestic solar panels and wind towers instead of the often-wasteful (and frequently ridiculous - see BBC news' football fitness story) projects currently being supported by lotto cash.