Media myopia isn’t the only crime – but it is one of the worst

by Peter May  on

While all eyes are turned upon the possibility of preventing a proroguing of Parliament (the spoof twitter account ‘Not Boris Johnson’ is currently thanking the 274 MPs who voted in favour of him closing down Parliament and running a dictatorship instead, whilst ‘Our future our choice’ has, wonderfully, dubbed Johnson as Trump with a Thesaurus),… Read more

Non inflationary Basic Income

by Peter May  on

By putting a price on everything in terms of monetary value, we devalue the things that cannot effectively be priced. This is a rough quote from Professor Guy Standing, he of Universal Income fame, from a recent ‘Renegade Inc’ interview. So happiness is both priceless and worthless. Anyway Professor Guy Standing has produced a report… Read more

Why any job guarantee is a bit suspect

by Peter May  on

There is an excellent article on Vox reviewing David Greaber’s ideas on ‘Bullshit Jobs. “The point of an economy should be to maximize leisure in order to pursue passions, not “make work.” This is also, I’d suggest, effectively Mariana Mazzucato, who infoms that the state usually creates the origination, as it were, of most original… Read more

Did Goebbels know best?

by Peter May  on

This is a tract from Dr Joseph Goebbels. I’m afraid we have to ask ourselves whether it reminds us, just a little, of our current situation regarding the Brexit referendum. We are in a Parliamentary democracy  – but we must cede all power to the government working on behalf of the people. Step forward Theresa… Read more

Anti-semitism is not Labour

by Peter May  on

There is a very instructive article on Labour’s supposed anti-semitism, which has long been a trumped up charge in my view. It is written by Jonathan Rosenhead, Emeritus Professor of Operational Research at the London School of Economics, and also Chair of the British Committee for the Universities of Palestine. So I suppose suspicions might… Read more

Modernising in the Neoliberal way

by Peter May  on

A wry smile crosses my face when I read about the effects of ‘modernising’ the French rail system, described in Monday’s ‘Le Monde’. They are a bit behind the UK in their neoliberal zeal but catching up fast. One poor passenger had to travel from the suburbs into central Paris to get her ticket because… Read more

Is Interest the Opiate of the Masses?

by Peter May  on

This is the title of an interesting article examining alternatives to interest bearing debt including Islamic finance. Now, looking at the website on which the article appears, I must emphasise that I am not of any religious persuasion and I’d be wary when it gives voice to some rather dubious – to me anyway –… Read more

Keeping Corbyn Out

by Peter May  on

This is from the latest blog post from Jonathan Cook. I consider it all worth reading, but in case you decide against, the final paragraph is worth some attention: As long as we colluded in the manufactured consensus of western societies, the system operated without challenge or meaningful dissent. A deeply ideological system destroying the… Read more