There are now some fabulous posts on the other thread about scenarios for the next few months and afterwards.
I’ll pick bits of a couple.
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Debate!
Fantasy Post-CV Society thread
(112 posts)-
Posted 4 years ago #
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Afterwards: negative interest on excessive savings. Educational apprenticeship schemes whereby the right to work freely is earned through exposure to vital service jobs, sort of like national service but doing the bins and power generation and water treatment and nursing so that there's a huge permanent reserve of partially-trained staff available in future crises. Property developers and construction companies to maintain a license to build private developments through continual non-profit development and pro bono maintenance of hospitals, schools and affordable housing. Secondary school and uni provided as a form of waged employment. Government through a combination of science/industry expert representation and popular representation through sortition, with partially mandatory remote voting (limited number of abstentions per citizen) both for representative election and review of government proposals.
Now: ban on party-directed parliamentary behaviours and immediate deselection of any elected representative judged to be working for anything other than the urgent protection of the entire population.
Posted 4 years ago # -
“
Much of the detail has changed, but many of the ideas here have shaped the world we have lived in for the last 70 years. At the beginning of a new decade, Britain is making a historic break with some of the key structures which were informed by that vision. It is worth asking how far we now want something different.
The attachment (the Preface and Table of Contents), gives some sense of the scale and ambition of the work.
http://www.stephenmcnair.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/BWP-Full-contents.pdf
“
http://www.stephenmcnair.uk/index.php/2020/01/12/the-british-way-and-purpose/
Posted 4 years ago # -
I had a think about this in 2013;
1) Land Value Tax as the principal way of allocating resources to the state.
2) Universal Basic Income that covers food, clothes, heat and a room to live in for everyone.
3) Legalisation and regulation of all drugs.
4) Fairly elected parliaments with a revising chamber selected by sortition.
5) Immediate wartime effort to get fossil fuel use to zero.
6) Adoption of the Single European Haircut.
7) Adoption of reported well-being and Quality Adjusted Life Years as the measures for assessment of any proposal or activity.
8) Political parties to be funded purely by subscriptions from individuals capped at a month's UBI.
9) Single nationalised bank.
10) Single nationalised retirement income scheme.
11) Massive concentration of police activity on domestic violence and protection of children.
12) Waging of aggressive war anywhere and by any means to be punishable by exposure to the ravens for any individual involved.
13) Written constitution.Posted 4 years ago # -
Ensure our scattered communities are fully equipped with flamethrowers so as to protect members from roving bandit gangs trying to steal their last potato.
Posted 4 years ago # -
@IWRATS, never understood why the Single European Haircut never took off
Posted 4 years ago # -
Was just on C4 News saying international cooperation was better after WW2 than WW1 - nationalism, Crash and WW2.
Posted 4 years ago # -
Universal Basic Human Decency, which essentially involves Ian Duncan Smith visiting every household in the country and apologising sincerely whilst performing a menial or tedious task of each household's choosing several times until they deem him to have performed it to a sufficient standard.
Posted 4 years ago # -
“sincerely”
Well this is the Fantasy thread.
Posted 4 years ago # -
My brother (highly successful investment banker, usually right about stuff) points out that when this is over and our economy has largely collapsed, with a valueless currency, it will be great opportunity to re-balance the country. Our cheap currency will allow us to sell to the rest of the world, and the 'north' of England can once again become a powerhouse of global manufacturing.
Posted 4 years ago # -
George Kerevan writes on BC.
https://bellacaledonia.org.uk/2020/03/19/viral-truth-of-labour-power-revealed-as-economy-stops/"In the late 19th century, these economists came up with a brilliant ideological wheeze called “marginal productivity”. Generations of economics undergraduates have been bamboozled by this notion ever since.
The theory works like this. It’s true that workers add value to production. But the more workers you add, the less each individual contributes to overall output. Call this their marginal (extra) product. The wage a worker is entitled to is equal to the value of this marginal product – because no rational company pays more in wages than they get back in production.
This is the justification for low wages. As one more shop assistant, waiter, delivery person or Amazon employee adds only a tiny personal fraction to an organisation’s output and revenues, so they earn a tiny amount in turn. Not to mention each health ancillary, cleaner, carer, primary teacher, gardener, and so on. And if you are female, you obviously add even less. "
Being a 'key worker' is no indication of your financial reward.
Posted 4 years ago # -
Posted 4 years ago #
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Universal basic income is the best way to help the self-employed
Owen Jones
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https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/mar/26/universal-basic-income-help-self-employed
Posted 4 years ago # -
Owen's head spinning as the Tories introduce full luxury socialism as Mr Corbyn heads for the allotment?
Posted 4 years ago # -
Yeah they can really splash the cash as a State Socialist Party the err Tories
Posted 4 years ago # -
Sunak, what a great Socilaist, more than Tony Blair who I think he sounds like?
Posted 4 years ago # -
in times of plague, it is forbidden to spit at cats
Posted 4 years ago # -
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Those who invite you to see all this mess as an opportunity for planetary renewal will help you to put things in a larger perspective. You will also find them terribly annoying: nice, the planet is breathing better because of the halved CO2 emissions, but how will you pay your bills next month?
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Posted 4 years ago # -
“
People in the UK need to shift from cars to public transport to address the challenge of climate change, the government says.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said: "Public transport and active travel will be the natural first choice for our daily activities.
"We will use our cars less and be able to rely on a convenient, cost-effective and coherent public transport network."
“
Posted 4 years ago # -
I predict that weights/fitness equipment will be selling on ebay/gumtree at next to nothing as the market surges with unwanted equipment in 4 months.
Can't buy weights anywhere at a reasonable price, decathlon, amazon, even argos wiped out.
Posted 4 years ago # -
“
“I think we’re just so different to how we were before we saw the aftermath of the 2008 crash,” said the American writer Rebecca Solnit, one of today’s most eloquent investigators of crises and their implications. “Ideas that used to be seen as leftwing seem more reasonable to more people. There’s room for change that there wasn’t beforehand. It’s an opening.”
The argument, in its simplest form, is this: Covid-19 has revealed the political status quo to be broken. Long before anyone had heard of the new coronavirus, people died of diseases we knew how to prevent and treat. People lived precarious lives in societies awash with wealth. Experts told us about catastrophic threats on the horizon, including pandemics, and we did next to nothing to prepare for them. At the same time, the drastic measures governments have taken in recent weeks testify to just how much power the state does have – the extent of what government can accomplish (and quickly!) when it realises it must act boldly or risk being seen as fundamentally illegitimate. As Pankaj Mishra recently wrote: “It has taken a disaster for the state to assume its original responsibility to protect citizens.”
For years, in mainstream politics the conventional line – on everything from healthcare to basic living expenses such as housing – has been that even if the world has its problems, expansive government intervention is not a feasible solution. Instead, we have been told that what works best are “marketplace” solutions, which give large roles to corporations motivated not by outdated notions like “the public good” but by a desire to make a profit. But then the virus started spreading, governments spent trillions in days – even going so far as to write cheques directly to citizens – and suddenly the question of what was feasible felt different.
From this perspective, the task today is not to fight the virus in order to return to business as usual, because business as usual was already a disaster. The goal, instead, is to fight the virus – and in doing so transform business as usual into something more humane and secure.
“
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/31/how-will-the-world-emerge-from-the-coronavirus-crisis
Posted 4 years ago # -
@chdot It might promote change but right now it just heightens division of wealth and privilege.
Governments will say this is a danger to everyone no matter your wealth. View from our little corner of the world is s bit skewed though. eg People living in townships/ghetto will die faster and in greater percentages.
Watching a clip from state broadcaster SABC - huge lines of people queuing for food despite South African lockdown. They have no choice as they only got paid after lockdown was announced - and that's with an ANC government. Scenes of police trying to force them back into their shacks. If SABC are broadcasting this then it's bad news.
For rich South Africans self isolation is easier of course - just as it is for wealthy people everywhere. Report from daughter says only allowed out for shopping or medicine. These would be car journeys mainly so they are being denied exercise. Racial majority get plenty of exercise of course.Once this is over things will change but fear reprisals as 'someone must be to blame'. There'll be enquiries here of course with some Lord taking evidence with years of submissions.
Posted 4 years ago # -
“It might promote change but right now it just heightens division of wealth and privilege“
Not even sure about the “right now”.
Talking things up/optimism hasn’t worked well recently...
Posted 4 years ago # -
@chdot - sorry it is meant to be good news / alternative reality thread which we all need. Will try and find some good news!
Posted 4 years ago # -
Post CV-19 outcomes could be 'positive' either way ;-)
- For 'consensual' people:
- an end to exceptionalism as governments learn that it's better to work together. That could be across the nations of the UK, Europe or the world.
- Remarkable seeing a German hospital plane taking people from North of Italy to Germany
- EU pulling resources and asking UK to join in (we didn't but at least they asked)
- Understanding that people are more important than profit and that the non productive casino of money markets are not immune from the health of people
- A Scotland with space to house homeless people as city centre hotels can be bought outright as global tourism goes out of fashion
- The realisation that city centres are better without cars - families cycling up to the castle today
- The desire to improve our health and health services linked in to the above.
- A Holyrood that shows cross party cooperation works - revision to keep jury trials kept ScotGov in check
- UKGov realise that USA won't really be ready to do any deals so opts to stay in EU
For 'exceptional' people.
- This August they'll be launching an exclusive range of Covid Free resorts
- Flying to Covid Free Florida on state owned Virgin Atlantic
- Save money if you have Covid Free status
- Masks become a fashion item
- Is your business CV Free? Sign up for accreditation and get back to work ahead of the rest!
Posted 4 years ago # -
Is your business CV Free? Sign up for accreditation and get back to work ahead of the rest
ooft.. that's scary plausible, but they'd soften the lingo round the edges
Posted 4 years ago # -
@bax - yes was thinking how commerce may try to get 'business as usual' kick started. Maybe shouldn't suggest even in jest.
Glad to hear you are slowly getting back to some exercise btw. Very nasty and hearing more people with coughs when out today.
Posted 4 years ago # -
never had the cough this side.. just the initial headache, mild fever one night, then limbs and lungs from there on in
lawnmarket didnt fare too well in the TB plague, btw
Posted 4 years ago # -
@bax - lots of red dots. This was pre Patrick Geddes so no courtyard at Riddles Court.
Patrick had one third of the building demolished so there are communal balconies and lad downstairs can now do basketball training. (PG was forward thinking!)Neighbouring block at Fisher's Close still has rear bit of building.
NLS resources brilliant.Posted 4 years ago #
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