www.changetheuk.com

The Problem

Over the last year, I found myself getting very angry with the Government and then Parliament and then rule makers attitude towards each other and then their attitude towards the public.  Big sentence with many gripes and concerns but how do I move on with my life?

I started by asking myself a few simple questions.
1. How did Parliament and Government become so detached from the public they serve?
2. How did a representative democracy become so unrepresentative of those that elect them?
3. Why is the system only allowed to be changed by those elected by the current system?
4. Why are policy and law makers the only people to allowed to change the framework they are operate in?
5. How can 60 million effect the change themselves?

For some reason the image from the Pixar movie A Bug's Life jumped into my head.  A moment near the end of the movie when Flick the ant says to the leader of the grasshoppers "We are stronger then you and you know it".  The instant when everyone realises the game is up and whatever happens next it will not be the same as where we were.   The game changer.

The Experiment

So what is next?  I don't know where this will lead but I thought I would try something exciting (at least for me).  If you could hit control, alt, delete and reboot the system how would you like it to recover?  If you (the benevolent dictator) ruled the country could implement any change; what would it be?

The First Idea

Fixed term parliaments.  If a four year cycle and limit of two terms is good enough for 220 million and then why not for us too.  Along with that, a MP cannot serve more than three consecutive terms and cannot reapply to the position without a equal time spent working in industry.  Be a MP for 12 years but you have to spend 12 in a real job before entering Parliament again.  The point being that a good MP will cycle between industry and public service keeping them fresh with ideas and help them understand the demands and needs of the public from the coal face.

Let's see where this goes.

so full yet so empty

I, like every other music fan around the world, am feeling an odd sensation this week.  Ever since the death of Michael Jackson I find myself listening to the entire back catalogue of music from the early days of Motown and the Jackson 5 through to Dangerous - lets face it, the stuff after is pretty average.   Having lived through the seventies and eighties and experiencing this music when it was new and fresh and then watching the decline of a huge star, the great music (everything pre-1992) was damaged and the records pushed to the top shelf next to House Hits of 1986 and everything by Level 42.

In March, after the O2 concert announcement, I found myself routing around on the top shelf again.  Dusty, dirty and neglected the CD case was found and opened, the disc cleaned and held up to the light to check for scratches, finally I popped my copy Bad (circa 1987) into the CD player and hit go.  Inside of 10 seconds I was sixteen again, this did not worry me as much as my kids - don't expect a great response from a six old when you are singing "Who's bad?" at them.  The four of us then spent half an hour trying to moonwalk around the kitchen.  Yes, you look like you are walking forwards but move backwards - eh?  As a parent, I regret not introducing the monkeys to Michael sooner but I, like everyone else, felt uncomfortable with man but not the music.

The music is inoffensive, entertaining and gets us of the sofa and swing hips.  The kids really loved it.  We still listened to the music in private, rolling up the windows of the car when it came on and hoping no one else would notice.  The most guilty pleasure of the last three months.  And then he died.

I am so happy everyone is looking at the breadth of work with fresh eyes and he is the biggest selling artist in album sales and mp3 downloads.  As of today, the top 25 albums on Amazon include 20 various albums and collections of MJ.  Even the golf club had MJ playing yesterday afternoon.

For every great achievement there is some darkness somewhere, hearing about the decline of the man over the last fifteen years was sad and disillusioning for me.  I "lost my faith" a long time ago and hearing about the state of the man at the end did not surprise or shock.  The name that jumped to mind was Howard Hughes, a great inventor and philanthropist and so much to offer but the ending is similar.  Having everything and having it when ever you want is not healthy - as human we need to hear the word no to keep us in check.  No, you can't have that. No, that is stupid.  No, you need to get well first.  No more drugs.

I am listening to Billie Jean right now.

My favourite ML joke:  What is the Funk of 40,000 years anyway?  Bill Clinton must be close by now.

tough day

Tube strike days are always interesting days to be travelling if you
like to be people watching. It is a constant source of amusement to
me that folks can work in London for decades and still not known where
they actually work, walking or taking the bus is confusing and very
alien to them. It is like watching a bunch of tourist struggle to
make sense of the bus route spider maps, they know the information is
there, they just have to keep looking. The commuter magic eye picture
- look at it long enough and the hidden picture will emerge.

These confused individuals are keen to regale stories of distant
travels and time spent with native that and not even seen a black
person before but can not navigate the urban jungle. Commuters
reading map while walking should be run over - please!

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Lap

another boozer closes down

Have you noticed the number of pubs closing down in the London area?
Quite a few of my regular haunts, not regular enough by the looks of
it, are getting boarded up and put out to pasture. Please, please,
please no more trendy wine bars or gastro pubs. I want beer, nuts,
crisps and a dartboard.

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Lap

summer bliss

Just spotted a man, sitting on a bench in the grounds of a church,
drinking a can of lager. It is warm and sunny, boy does he look
happy. And here I am recovering from a dodgy curry a couple of days
ago.

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Lap