tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2195624104631262068.post7209459943415170833..comments2024-01-14T03:48:26.232-08:00Comments on Community Media - Interactive World: Time to Bury Public Services?Dr Ian McCormickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15274889508215448048noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2195624104631262068.post-84051807902891853282011-05-03T13:12:05.469-07:002011-05-03T13:12:05.469-07:00"The government is scaling back plans to use ..."The government is scaling back plans to use the private sector to deliver public services, the BBC has learned.<br /><br />Leaked documents suggest ministers have decided the "wholesale outsourcing" of public services to the private sector would be politically "unpalatable".<br /><br />Ministers instead want to use more charities, social enterprises and employee-owned "mutual" organisations. <br /><br />SEE http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-13273932Dr Ian McCormickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15274889508215448048noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2195624104631262068.post-53229434567694693262011-04-15T16:02:12.577-07:002011-04-15T16:02:12.577-07:00Ian, democracy --as most people perceive it-- thro...Ian, democracy --as most people perceive it-- through the ballot box is dead; it is meaningless and the voter base is apathetic. The politics of today is not built upon the vision of a better society (not "Big Society") but on promises that are no better than the meaningless nostrums of tax cuts as a panacea for everything. <br />The idea of democracy as it is practicsed in the centre of the imperium, Washington DC, is open to the selectively filtered few; it is not about ideas and policy. <br />When the money required to wage an effective Presidential campaign is a budget of hundreds of millions of dollars then it is an affront to democracy. <br />I do have hope that the coalescing of the millions (as you described) is a start but am fearful that the so-called progress of the last 30 years will give way to something worse: the return of violent business cycles--the working and middle classes (or what is left of them) in the countries where we live are not at all prepared for this-- as corporate globalization holds sway. <br />One does not have to be a neo-Malthusian to realize that climate change, water, food, and commodity shortages are going to make the world unlivable for the Bottom Billion and increasingly helpless for the working and middle classes in the West. <br />The traditional media is loathe to mention the idea of class struggle even though the only individuals in the west who have truly benefitted materially have been those in the C-suite.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07857616719536009725noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2195624104631262068.post-15587967174008704582011-04-15T02:26:39.016-07:002011-04-15T02:26:39.016-07:00Thanks, Arijit, that's a helpful summary and i...Thanks, Arijit, that's a helpful summary and it's good to have an international perspective.<br /><br />I sense that millions of people are organising for a different world - on and offline.<br /><br />I don't know whether there are enough of them to make a real difference - a tipping point / or global economic crisis may be needed?<br /><br />It's astonishing that the last 30 years of 'progress' and technology which we hear so much about have only resulted in increased global inequality - shocking ...Dr Ian McCormickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15274889508215448048noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2195624104631262068.post-56897772925145597182011-04-15T02:24:59.779-07:002011-04-15T02:24:59.779-07:00This comment has been removed by the author.Dr Ian McCormickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15274889508215448048noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2195624104631262068.post-32415137704544555712011-04-14T08:14:47.150-07:002011-04-14T08:14:47.150-07:00The neoliberal transformation of British society i...The neoliberal transformation of British society in particular and the Anglo-Saxon societies (Canada, USA) across the pond in general --whose seeds were sown during 'The Winter of Discontent' in Britain-- is complete; the narrative is always within the framework of free market fundamentalism and any opposing view is considered heretical. There is no value given to the notion of a public good. At this rate we are hurtling toward a neo-feudal future where the Power Elites will reside in their gated communities while the rest of us scrape our way on The Road to Serfdom. Hayek's views paved the way for the Thatcher revolution and it is the title of his most noted popular work that will be our future unless we do something to change the narrative.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07857616719536009725noreply@blogger.com