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You are right about Charles Shepherd's work , firestormm, Dr Shepherd does well representing us in this area.
They are a tiny organisation.
Agreed - unfortunately most Charities are not member organisations in the sense that 'subscribers' are empowered under their particular Charity's constitution. There are many failings under UK charity Law - the worrying thing though is that the UK probably has the most comprehensive, effective and accessible Charity monitoring system in the world.The only ones who 'vote' on a salary arrangement are the Trustees from what I have understood - it should be the members! Sorry. I have a thing about what a subscription actually pays for - I think there is a lot to be said for improving transparency in the 'voluntary-sector'.
Joining any group/party necessarily involves giving up a certain degree of autonomy where the group is acting in the name of members - the best one can go for is to seek to influence the group as best one can and support those aspects that take the group in the direction one believes is right. Groups have more power to influence political and social processes than do individuals, and structures like AfME and the MEA are maximised to exercise influence. It is usually the case that individual effort is more effective within an organisation that outside one so that on balance, even if one has to hold one's nose because the ambient odour isn't everything one would want, becoming part of an established advocacy effort is a far better option than trying to re-invent the wheel.I'm never going to really agree with the approach taken by any one organisation, but they do seem pretty good for a big one, and we should probably try to support what we have.
I would like to point out that the Banks got millions in taxpayers money when they needed it.
It is socialism for those already wealthy. Too big and rich to be allowed to fail, the government has no hesitation in pouring taxpayers money into the city..
The Tory party are too stupid to realise you cannot reinvigorate an economy when the middle and lower classes have not got money to spend.
They also do not understand that incapacity affects all classes, not just those they have contempt for. They will be facing resistance from the professional and middle classes too, as these people also become disabled and will now face a drop in income..
It's pretty hard to ''reinvigorate an economy'' when your national debt is close to 100% of GDP. What would you do ?
Spend more and lose your triple AAA rating making it costlier to borrow ? Spend less and hope ( as the coalition are )
the economy will improve ?
Hi folks. I think we should think carefully before getting stuck into a political debate. It could escalate and it could be unnecessarily divisive. And it probably wouldn't be therapeutic.
Obviously, I'm not telling people what to do... Just suggesting that we think about if it's necessary.
Having said that, I can't resist replying to one point in Mark's post...
It's not a binary option, Mark. That's just the spin that's been put on it by politicians and the media. The UK is the fourth largest economy (or is it the fifth now?) in the world, so the wealth of the country is absolutely enormous. If the wealth was tapped, in the short-term, to help the economy and the deficit, then that could potentially help to solve the problems.
I'm not saying that's the best thing to do. I'm just saying that it's not a binary option.
What wealth Bob ? Gordon sold lots of our gold at rock bottom prices Most of what we could privatise, has been privatised. We are printing money ......our childrens money, our grandchildrens wealth. We are tapping into our wealth - their wealth.
Apologies for going off on one Bob. I won't post again on this thread