Paul Brownjohn @Paulos_the_fog@social.cleverlibre.org

@villavelius

No but in all the states that I know of where voter ID is mandatory, governments issue ID cards to every citizen so it is no problem in such places.

@pete @TimWardCam @PaulSchleifer

Yes, I lived in Thailand for a while where, for the 1st time in my life, I met lots of Americans socially. I was truly staggered at their overwhelming ignorance of anything outside of the USA. They had no idea what life was like anywhere in Europe and were extremely resentful if I tried to explain that universal socialized healthcare universal in Europe. Suggesting that it should be implemented in the USA was tantamount to suggested we barbecue a human baby alive for dinner!

@AdventuresofAJ

So far my few days interaction with Mastodon folk has been extremely agreeable in stark contrast to my interactions with folk in the birdcage.

@duncanh1903

Ahhhh the almost unbearable luxury of 65535 characters for a Toot

I describe myself as a leftish radical in my bio so I thought I had better pin my colours to the mast in terms of what I think we should be doing politically. This is by no means an exhaustive list of the policies as I write then down as I think of them and don't always remember.

This is then part of my manifesto - comments please:

A universal basic income paid to all over 18, whether working or not, of about £300 - £400/week. This will be paid to those who have been legally resident in the UK for 3 years or more regardless of nationality and will replace the state pension for the retired. Taxation on income above that level will be substantially increased.

An absolutely ring-fenced, explicit contribution to pay for the NHS that will be a flat percentage of earnings no upper ceiling and levied on both earned, individual unearned income and individual capital gains. In the case of employees, the employer will be liable for a proportion of this tax.

A massive programme of house and apartment building, all for low cost rental and the abolition of Thatcher’s “right to buy”.

Introduction of a free national identity card and National ID number to be issued to all residents. The underlying database will contain details of driving license, entitlement to NHS healthcare, current address, criminal record details, immigration status. Each organisation using the system will have access to an appropriate sub-set of the information held.

Introduction of the specific offence of “texting at the wheel” which will incur automatic permanent confiscation of the device used and a driving ban. The addition of permanent confiscation of the device, to the penalty for using a hand-held mobile phone for voice calls whilst driving, on a second offence.

Legalization and taxation of marijuana, the decriminalization of all other currently unlawful intoxicants. Further research to support other possible legal changes.

Break-up of the banks between retail banking and investment banking.

Abolition of zero hours contracts. A review of the employment laws with a view to eliminating the “gig” economy. Much more severe penalties for employers who flout employment regulations.

Voting to become obligatory for all those eligible even if only a spoiled vote along with implementation of the transferrable vote or another proportional representation system.

Removal of marriage as a legal concept to be replaced by Civil Partnership which will be open to all regardless of gender or relationship (marriage will continue to exist as an exclusively religious institution, but it will have no legal significance, status or implications. It will, however, be a requirement, if a religious marriage is sought, that the celebrants shall be in a civil partnership first). Bigamy as a concept under criminal law would be abolished however, existing civil partners would by law, be required to assent to any further partner.

The creation of a national, multi £ billion, fund to develop new antibiotics and other medication.

Complete overhaul of dental, optical and GP services under the NHS to ensure that every single resident can access a decent standard of appropriate care at minimal cost. NHS Dental clinics to be established in all large towns and cities to ensure provision of comprehensive dental services.

Abolition of road tax and the provision of 3rd party liability and passenger liability through increases in taxation on road fuel. Restrictions on young and/or inexperienced drivers driving the most powerful cars and heavy vehicles as is the case at present with motorbikes.

Restructuring of the driving test to include driving on main roads and motorways.

The introduction of a right to broadband with the poorest families provided with service at a no charge.

Negotiate re-joining the single market and customs union.

Reform of the house of Lords to remove all hereditary and nominated peers to be replaced by elected representatives.

A change in the laws of inheritance of titles and Lordships (including the royal family) so that the first born, whether male or female will inherit hereditary titles.

A code of conduct for civil servants and local government officers under which abject failure to achieve realistic goals or to uphold the law of the land will result in sanctions or, in the most serious cases, dismissal.

Creation of a law under which an elected politician deliberately lying to the public will become a criminal offence punishable by automatic disqualification from public office, a heavy fine, imprisonment or any combination thereof (as is currently the case in Canada).

A new type of taxation on companies, “tax on UK turnover”, will be introduced. This will be levied as an alternative to the usual tax on profits, where companies repeatedly attempt to use abusive tax avoidance schemes (like Starbucks, Amazon, eBay and many others). As the description implies, it will be levied on all UK turnover and will be at a lower rate than the more usual tax on profits.

Removal of the charitable status of all private (public) schools, private hospitals & clinics along with all religious institutions except where they can clearly demonstrate using the majority of their income to aid others like, for example, The Salvation Army.

Financing of major political parties from public funds and only public funds. No other source of financing to be permitted. Nascent political parties and movements to be licensed. Bank accounts of political parties and of politicians to be completely open to public scrutiny. Likewise, with all lobbying groups.

Tax returns of all individuals and companies to be made freely available to the public (as is pretty much the case in Norway).

All landlords, both public and private, to be obliged to maintain their residential rented property in a decent habitable state. In case of default the responsible local authority shall carry out the necessary works, invoice the landlord for them and if necessary, take possession of the property in case of default.

A requirement to pass a written and oral exam in English for all wishing to acquire British citizenship.

Introduce legislation that by default, a woman shall keep her maiden name following marriage, unless they choose to make an explicit declaration to the contrary (this is currently the case in Belgium, the Netherlands and Italy).

@abbiewilliams1001

I have a slightly different take on the whole oil -v- climate debate.

If we don't economize significantly on our use of crude oil to provide fuel for road, marine and air transport, we risk either running out or running very low on stocks of this particular natural resource. Although most people think of crude oil in terms of petrol, diesel, heating oil and perhaps kerosene (the fuel used in aircraft), much of it is used as a feedstock for the chemical industry. Crude oil is the foundation upon which the world's chemical and pharmaceutical industries are built. Without it, many chemicals and medications would be quite simply impossible to synthesize. Without crude oil, most plastics would be completely unavailable and although substitutes using other raw materials are under development, for the time being, the overwhelming bulk of plastic production requires a crude oil input.
We will be doing future generations a gross disservice if, in our manic scrabble for growth at any price, we deprive them of a supply of one of the world's most ubiquitous feedstocks.

@Mmelulu @billybrighton

As others have pointed out, you are probably doing more damage to Twatter by staying and Twatting less and less than by closing your account!

@TimWardCam @pete @PaulSchleifer

I long ago reached the conclusion that US society has a massive streak of masochism running through it; that, along with a deep longing for bondage and restriction! Why else would a society so extremely rich, forego the right to a proper universal healthcare system. Why else would they impose silly character limits on Twatter?

@billybrighton

Welcome to Mastodon!

I knew you in a previous incarnation and am pleased to see you here in your new one.

@pete @PaulSchleifer

As an aside point, why is it that American companies seem not to give a flying **** about their employees?
I used to work for an American bank and one day everyone on the payroll received an e-mail saying that the value of the banks shares had nosedived and that in order to support the share price, as they put it, “on the street”, some number of hundreds of employees worldwide would be fired.
I live in Luxembourg and was a party to the shouted conversation between the executive who made that decision in the US and one of the board-level managers where I worked. The American executive seemed wholly unaware that in Europe we have employment laws and that you cannot just fire people from one day to the next because you feel like it. In Luxembourg, there are procedures to be followed to make someone redundant and a very substantial sum is usually required as a redundancy payment. In the case of our branch in Luxembourg they ended up only firing one person because it would have been too expensive to fire very many. The one guy they chose to fire had been with the company for 12 or 14 years and was therefore entitled to 6 months full salary with holidays as a redundancy payment.

@Mmelulu

😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂

@duncanh1903

Yep! So far I'm absolutely with you!

I love that on my instance at least, the character limit is a staggering 65535 yes that is not a misprint - 65535 char limit. (some other instances have a less generous 500 char limit)