The vote that counts by Angela Caldin
Right now, 6 January 2021, Georgia is most definitely on my mind. I can’t think of another local election which is of such importance to the future of the United States and of the whole world. There’s rarely been a clearer illustration of how much each individual vote counts. The Democratic candidates need to win both Georgia Senate seats if the Democratic Party is to have a majority in the Senate. If it loses both or one of those seats, it will not have the majority that it needs and it will… Read More
Beatniks, bombs and bollocks by Trevor Plumbly
Peace and love In the 60s, the British public weren’t ready for hippies. We had long hair, moustaches that struggled to impress and a creative scruffiness guaranteed to make mothers cringe. We were the new aliens; others tore themselves to pieces chasing the dictated norm, but we dwelt on a higher plane. We knew full well where the ills of the world lay, but didn’t achieve much in the way of curing them. We marched, of course, clutching signs saying, “Ban The Bomb!”, or the more creative, “Fighting For Peace Is Like… Read More
Teamwork to defeat poverty by Susan Grimsdell
Every aspect of life and development of 6000 New Zealand children has been studied year on year since they were born. They’re now 8 years old. The research entitled Growing Up in New Zealand, recently released its Now We Are Eight: Life in Middle Childhood report. The have-nots The results show that 25% of them have experienced poverty throughout their young lives. These children score higher on depression, they are behind in physical well-being and they are falling behind in many other respects as well. More than one third of all children… Read More
Let’s have a real Labour government by Susan Grimsdell
Faults of the free market Although most so-called conspiracies are fake, some are actually true. One of these concerns a group of wealthy and influential people (as it was 1947, I’m probably safe to say “men”) who met after the war and formed the Mont Pelerin Society. They conspired to promote the idea that the free market should dominate all aspects of society with individual liberty being the main and only guiding principle. They wanted to transform every aspect of life into an unrestrained marketplace where everything had a price, private enterprise… Read More
Desolation row by Trevor Plumbly
‘They’re selling postcards of the hanging’ We’re in the election war zone again, and the buggers have armed themselves to the teeth with righteousness in the hope of convincing us they actually care what we think! Deep down, lots of us oldies feel it’s a wasted effort, but years of ‘don’t vote, don’t moan’ have brainwashed us to the extent that we now feel obliged to do it. It’s not that the essence of the process is wrong; it’s like religion really, it’d work fine if people didn’t tinker with it all… Read More
