Ian Kenway @iankenway@social.cleverlibre.org

@freemo Thank you for your further comments. I think we may have more in common that you suppose! Maybe we can come back to this after the UK GE!

#politics #environment #ecology #green #global #uk #democracy #extinction_rebellion

Climate crisis: 11,000 scientists warn of ‘untold suffering’

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/nov/05/climate-crisis-11000-scientists-warn-of-untold-suffering

#politics #news #fakenews #advertising #IT #facebook #FACEBOOK #surveillance #capitalism #democracy

Targeted ads are one of the world's most destructive trends. Here's why

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/nov/05/targeted-ads-fake-news-clickbait-surveillance-capitalism-data-mining-democracy

@freemo

I don’t want to prolong this thread. We can probably come back to it again.

I would describe my own political position as multi-valent. If I’m a radical, then is driven in part (but only in part) by certain conservative traits – namely that tradition is important, that expertise has value, that scepticism has a role and ‘noblesse oblige’ shouldn’t always be the object of sneer.

From what you have written, it seems that you are a minarchist (no, not a monarchist!); namely that you favour minimal, ‘night watchman’ independent, small states. I genuinely respect this view but wonder if this (a) flies in the face pre-third-millennium history and (b) is currently defensible in a world where the internet has made “geography history”. In short is minarchism the last gasp of political romanticism.

On the question of federalism, federations can obviously take many forms re polity. The literature on this subject is substantial and there are many perspectives. My starting place would probably be here:
https://www.oxfordscholarship.com/view/10.1093/0199245002.001.0001/acprof-9780199245000

On the question of price fixing and fair trade within the EU, I would suggest that first port of call should probably be this:
https://europa.eu/youreurope/business/selling-in-eu/competition-between-businesses/competition-rules-eu/index_en.htm

Ciao for now!

#politics #brexit #eu #uk #russia #elections #democracy

No 10 blocks Russia EU referendum report until after election

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/nov/04/no-10-blocks-russia-eu-referendum-report-until-after-election

#politics #brexit #eu #uk #democracy

In this general election we must vote tactically to stop Brexit

https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/general-election-tactical-voting-stop-brexit-boris-johnson-latest-a9182241.html

#news #politics #global #eu #uk #democracy

Food for Thought

https://www.phidoc.net/food_for_thought.html

@freemo

My apologies that 48 hours turned into 96+! I’m happy for you to respond to me further about this either on QOTO or privately. I’m also happy if you don’t have the time or are simply disinclined to take the discussion further. No problem.

When you wrote “While I am anti-EU myself and pro-trade-union…” are you implying that the EU seeks to curb trade union membership or collective bargaining with employers? If so, perhaps you could be more specific.

More broadly, I’m also interested in why you describe yourself as “anti-EU”. Do you regard the latter as ‘imperialistic’? Is your main beef the character of its bureaucracy? Or do you simply dislike large institutions and trading blocks, along with multi-lateral trade agreements? If the EU is ‘bad’, then what is your position re NAFTA, CAFTA, ASEAN etc.?

Or, again, is the main issue for you that of federalism? Language aside (though not completely), do people living in Alaska, Montana and New Mexico, say, have more in common than people living in Ireland, Estonia or Greece? Is the Russian Federation or China too big? Should Catalunya or Scotland secede from Spain and the UK respectively? (Or, indeed Chechnya from the RF or Kashmir from India?)

Then there’s the question of the relationship between capitalism and globalism. They are not of course synonymous. If you are a libertarian, can you be a socialist as well (or vice versa)? That seems to be quite an interesting question.

Also, can you really have free trade when it’s not fair trade (and I mean ‘fair’ from a wide variety of perspectives)? Ultimately, are regulatory regimes absolutely essential to ensure that trade is transparently fair? If so, shouldn’t the real debate in this area be about the scope, quality and constituency of those regimes, rather than whether or not those regimes should be required at all?

Just a few questions. Not to provoke, but merely to puzzle over!

#politics #brexit #eu #uk #democracy #environment #austerity #NHS

Something In the Air Tonight (Video)

https://www.phidoc.net/misc/something_in_the_air_tonight.mp4

#symi #greece #schrodinger #beer #refridgeration #IT

Schrödinger's Symi Fridge

(no magnets involved!)

http://i.picasion.com/pic89/23f0e2269f93404b0e05022425b754ad.gif

#politics #brexit #eu #uk #democracy