Democracy without elections?

Posted on

What if our democracies didn’t depend on celebrity politics or money-fuelled elections but rather on systems that served the majority of humanity and the planet more widely? That may seem the stuff of dreams for citizens enduring the likes of the US presidential elections yet it isn’t as far fetched as all that. Experiments in […]

GDP vs something saner, more human

Posted on

It so happens that two news reports out today neatly show the difference between dead-hand conventional economic measures and something that would do more to reflect people’s real lives and the performance of conventional politicians in trying to improve those lives. This may seem like dry abstract stuff but it’s the raw material of most […]

Ten Steps to Improve Our Governance Systems

Posted on

I was asked this week by Harald Schendera, an editor, web designer, and internet marketer, what were my 10 Steps to Improve Our Governance Systems. He put the question out of personal interest and also to help me clarify what I’m trying to do in re-designing my various web presences. I was intrigued. No one […]

What might Corbyn and his cohorts do on degrowth?

Posted on

Guardian columnist Aditya Chakrabortty wrote an insightful piece about Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour leadership victory today, adding his usual depth to current events. It prompted me to chip into the comments thread. Great work – I invariably finish reading Aditya Chakrabortty’s pieces with a broader, deeper perspective than when I began – I’m grateful for that. […]

Talking about democracy – an interview from the frontline

Posted on

It’s easy to rail about the failures of our governance systems – the unfairness of elections, the unaccountable behaviour of our governments or the grotesque abuse of democracy unfolding with Greece’s fiscal evisceration by fellow eurozone governments, the European Commission and the IMF. These sorts of failures increasingly bumped up against my conventional understanding of […]

Glints of light in our governance gloom

Posted on

Paul Mason is one of the few regular journalists I make a point of watching out for. He does a neat summary of the state of alternative politics in Greece and elsewhere in a comment piece featured in today’s Guardian edition. It’s certainly worth a read, and a comment if you’re so inclined. This was […]

Communicating climate change – both tricky and urgent

Posted on

I decided to jump into the comments stream on this Guardian-hosted event on the best ways to communicate climate solutions, as below. The format was somewhat of a shocker, requiring a read-through of multiple comments coming in at all angles, and yet produced various pointers to useful resources on the subject. It’s clear we are […]

Scotland doing its own election thing – get used to it

Posted on

There’s a lot of talk about Scotland being the critical element of the UK general election 2015, things along the lines of a long analytical piece in today’s Guardian. Scotland’s election result is the single factor most likely to shape the next government. No combination of parties would have the required numbers without the votes […]