Concrete Achievements

Tag: democracy

  • British political-media class seem not to understand, at a deep level, that other…

    British political-media class seem not to understand, at a deep level, that other countries have democratic politics. They’re treated as plot devices and minor characters in the drama of U.K. politics.

    But now U.K. politics is impotent and these minor characters are writing the script, into one where the U.K.’s actions and motivations don’t matter. They can’t understand it. Why are these people not following the script? Why aren’t they listening?

    The U.K. turned up expecting Hamlet and is now watching Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead.

  • I’m very conflicted about #peoplesvote.

    I’m very conflicted about #peoplesvote. I see what they want and I see why they want it – but I don’t know that they should get it.

    First thing to say is that I want a strong democratic EU. That’s my starting point, that’s my frame. But I’m also a Brit (and Polish, and a future Belgian, but unmistakably a Brit).

    I think that Britain has an enormous amount to offer the EU and vice versa. But not Britain in its current state, and not Britain with its current politics.

    The Britain of the Great Reform Act and Hobbes, Locke, Smith and Mill. The Britain of the NHS and the single market. They are huge contributors to European politics.

    But today, and for the last decade or more, Britain has been semi-detached. Outside the euro, outside Schengen – both marginal decisions at the time, now hardened into dogma and a universal conviction that both the Euro and Schengen are doomed.

    Do I think this Britain can come back and have things as they were? Not really. They would be a destabilising force just when Europe needs to get its act together on reforms.

    And the reforms (if they are to work) need to put more democracy and openness at EU level, which means less big-state diplomatic shenanigans and more Parliament and #openpolicy – the U.K. would have opposed this in 2008, let alone now.

    So do I want Britain back in the EU? Not if it’s going to have the same attitude, because if it is it will hinder reform not help it. A member state where even remain voters lecture their partners on the need to end Schengen (Y. Cooper)

    the need to break the principle of free movement (T Blair) and the need for the U.K. to have special treatment vs the euro zone (D Cameron) – what good would they do that would outweigh the damage?

    Add to that the impact of another referendum, which if Remain wins it will win by another narrow margin, and it looks even worse. The old awkward-squad U.K. will be like Luxembourg compared to angry, divided, resentful returner Britain.

    And yet … I am British. And I want my country in a strong Europe, made stronger by its commitment to it. That feels like an impossible dream today. I would be delighted if #peoplesvote could deliver that. But given where British politics is, I don’t think it can.

  • This is a good (via @simonjhix) and worth reading.

    This is a good thread (via @simonjhix) and worth reading. I don’t agree, but it reflects a common problem with how people think of the EU’s actions – a sort of essentialism that sees the EU as a unit with fixed views. (Thread) twitter.com/danieljohnsalt…

    Why is this wrong? The EU is an assembly of member state and EU-level elected politicians. It has a bureaucratic culture, though that changes over time, but its political positions reflect the people who are elected to be there.

    When centre-right governments hold the reins, centre-right things happen. What happened to Greece happened to Greece because the political moment was one where governments who supported austerity held the reins in the EU.

    Had centre-left governments held the reins, things would have been different. Perhaps not very different given the pressure from national level, but different.

    (As an aside, saving the euro was not an ego trip. A collapse would have been a disaster that hit millions of people, affecting the poorest the most – the idea of the euro as just a policy choice is also a common UK error)

    So I understand why Greece made people angry. It made me angry, and in retrospect people have started to admit mistakes. But being angry at the EU *as an institution* rather than the people who made the decisions is the wrong way to look at it.

    It’s like being angry at parliamentary democracy for the chaos around Brexit, or at Congress for Trump. There might be structural weaknesses, but the driving force is the people in the system not the system.

    So my response to Daniel would be – the EU is never good or bad, except as we make it, through the politicians we send there and the actions we take as citizens. To control a world where decisions are global we need to be part of a democracy with global influence.

    The U.K. on its own will not just be poorer, though it will, it will be weaker and its citizens less able to shape the decisions that affect their lives. Stay in, campaign, elect the politicians who will make the Europe you want, locally, nationally and in Brussels.

  • Links from the week of 28 May 2018

    Articles, reports and other links I shared on Twitter this week.

  • Links from the week of 9 April 2018

    Articles, reports and other links I shared on Twitter this week.

  • Links from the week of 12 March 2018

    Articles, reports and other links I shared on Twitter this week.

  • Nick Timothy taking dictation from the Kremlin here.

    Nick Timothy taking dictation from the Kremlin here. I would take it as a great compliment to be banned in Russia and Uzbekistan. twitter.com/birdyword/stat…

    It just makes me angry. Trade obsessives who don’t understand the basics of international trade, people shouting about will of the people

    who parrot the talking points of the journalist-killing, Ukraine-invading, anti-democratic Putin gang; politicians who are so obsessed with

    Parliamentary sovereignty that they want everything to be done by Henry VIII clauses; the level of “does not fucking care” is beyond belief.

    All I hope is that the public humiliation these charlatans deserve comes to them in full measure.

  • Links from the week of 8 January 2018

    Articles, reports and other links I shared on Twitter this week.

  • Links from the week of 20 November 2017

    Articles, reports and other links I shared on Twitter this week.

  • Links from the week of 28 August 2017

    Articles, reports and other links I shared on Twitter this week.