May 5th Elections and Yes to AV

'New Road Layout Ahead' gets my 1st preference!

It's that time again - time to head to the local polling station and cast not one, not two but three votes. The first two ballot papers will be the Local Council election and the National Assembly election and the third for a referendum on the AV voting system.

Voting in North Belfast I already know that I might as well not bother in the first two given there are already candidates almost certain to be elected on the back of their tribal branding.

It's like the democratic version of going to the supermarket and asking for a bottle of water but knowing you're going to end up being given a bottle of engine oil and a bottle of bleach - not exactly what is needed when you're thirsty as both will be hard to swallow and damaging in both the short and long term, but never the less it's what we're given by 'popular' demand.

I will be voting though. No point giving up as it's good to try and dilute things a bit. Sadly, the Greens haven't even been bothered to run a candidate in my area this time (for either vote, to be honest I don't blame them) so the lack of choice is truly underwhelming. I'm quite tempted to make an origami penguin out of my ballot papers just to give someone a smile but in reality, after doing my research again, it'll likely be a 1st preference vote for the Alliance candidate in each but after that I'm drawing a bit of a blank for 2nd preference let alone a 3rd or any other.

There is a silver lining somewhere in these elections though and that is the referendum. Sure, given a choice I wouldn't have AV or First Past the Post... so it is a bit of a bleach and engine oil choice again however at least there is a referendum.

In a twist of fate, the Assembly election will already be using what I would consider a better voting system - that of the Single Transferable Vote (a type of proportional representation). So this referendum for the General Election voting system isn't exactly the most amazing referendum there could ever be but it's a rare occasion anything is put to a referendum so probably good to make the most of it.

I'll be voting Yes to AV. Sure it's not perfect and it's not even as fair as some forms of proportional representation but it is at least a change towards that distant daydream of a majority view of the populous being represented in parliament (even if like in Northern Ireland I might personally disagree with that majority view).

The current first past the post method means that if there are many candidates in a vote, a candidate can be elected just by having the largest minority and a majority view being disregarded and worse than that in my eyes, FPTP is great for the more right wing 'traditional' parties - after all, there is a reason our out of touch Prime Minister and the BNP are campaigning for a No to AV vote. As stupid as they might look, they do have advisor's and they know a fairer representation will eat into their meal ticket.

As I don't really want either voting system but a third choice that we aren't being offered. The overriding thing (other than the reasoning above) for me voting Yes is the No campaign itself.

The No campaign's main reasoning is: "Our current tried and tested voting system gives everyone one vote and delivers clear outcomes. The Alternative Vote is a complicated, expensive and unfair"

Sure, FPTP gives everyone one vote... but then this current voting system means it is very likely that the majority of people's votes are not going to count for anything - your fate is in the hands of a few swing voters in a few locations in England - great if you live there but what about the rest of us whose choices are just swept under the carpet?

As for the criticism of AV as being complicated - The system we have for the Assembly elections here in N.I is already more complicated to understand at a mathematical level - at least with the vote counting - but yet amazingly, thinking of who you want to vote for and putting them in number order has turned out to be scarily simple. Sure, if you want a 2nd preference then it's not as easy as counting to 1 but somehow I think we'll all manage if we've managed to make it to the polling booth- obviously the No Campaigners missed that episode of Sesame Street with the count.

"Expensive"... only if you believe that a new state of the art system of voting machines will be rolled out - and given the fact STV requires more math and we still have hand counting, it seems a little presumptuous they would be needed... again with the whole No Campaigners missing too many Sesame Streets - I'll try to help... One vote... ah ah ah... twooo votes ah ah ah...

"Unfair"... but still fairer than FPTP!

Anyways, that's just my 2 cents on it all.

Happy Voting :)

The Big Society: Will All End Whelk?

Another cleaner fish who also enjoyed it's job of eating parasites off the backs of big fish came to the forefront of fishy pollocktics. This fish was more sympathetic to the small fish and at was elected at the next vote. Sadly though, the damage was already done by the Prime Fish who fully supported the big fish and the sharks, that fish who had pushed the branding of 'The Big Society'.

The reefs structure was irreversibly changed; the fish-public sector couldn't afford to buy back what it needed to work properly and struggled to keep the reef in one piece, the big fish continued to grow bigger and criticise the pro-public-sector fish in the hopes they could get their influence back and squeeze as much out of the small fish as they could. Corporation taxes went up but then big fishy business just left the reef, the government of the reef couldn't get the reef out of the social and economic mess left behind. The smallest fish still tried their best to have the best life they could but by now (for small fish) this particular reef was one of the worst reefs in the ocean to exist. The big fish society pre-branding still existed but social-capital was now weaker than ever and no good intentions from a Prime Fish sympathetic to the small fish could twist this around.

The future became bleak for the reef in general but the big fish turned a blind eye, the society of the reef was splintered but the big fish could always leave to another reef if things spilt over into their gated communities or it became unprofitable. In comparison, the small fish could not leave, they were stuck between a dying reef and dying on the reef. The Big Fish Society was indeed a Big-Fish Society but not the Big Society that the key Prime Fish of this story had portrayed to provide. The Big Fish Society was just superfishal.

There were of course booms and bust, but in the boom times the small fish only saw a little of the benefit of their hard work, during the bust times, as much of the burden as possible was unloaded their way. Life went on, but the reef never lived up to the potential it once had; it's potential to create a happy and healthy big society had passed. Instead of a happy and prosperous reef of the even bigger ocean community, it became known as just another unhappy mess of a reef whose leaders only seemed interested in growing their economy. It's environment and ecosystem soon succumbed.

But this is a fishy-tale, and stories can have happy endings outside the realms of reasonable possibility - after all, we are in a fishy world of fantasea.

Thankfully there was another reef. One far away from this reef at the other side of the sea.
There, they had a big society too but it was implemented by a cleaner fish who had much sympathy with the small fish. Though the fish on that reef were not as big, they didn't need to be, their sandbanks were less effected (even during the sandbank crisis) because they used fishy-sense and didn't cripple their social-capital many Prime Fishes ago. Their small industrial and resource providing reef towns had not been decimated decades before, the hard working fishes jobs had been slowly phased out and replaced by other forms of fishployment in a way that didn't decimate their local economies. They didn't cut public spending, they kept hold of many of the utilities that the reef depended on. A wise move for when global ocean energy prices went up the reefs fish-public sector found itself with a huge surplus to reinvest into it's society through research and development. This reef was leading the way in scientific discovery and had even harnessed the power of plankton in a way that didn't harm the oceans.

This far away reef had also invested a pot of money to encourage social enterprise many decades before, however rather than fish-public services being replaced, they were protected, it was the private sector whose enterprise's became social and the small fish knowing that the profit after reef tax from their goods and services was largely being reinvested back into their local area quickly took a liking to them. The social enterprises in the private market soon made a big impact and everyone felt valued. With less vulnerable smaller fish and more stability on the reef, all fish felt happier and small fish felt happy and had a real fair chance to become a big fish. Crime reduced as less fish had to turn to it to get by and more could be invested in reef defence and improving other reefs in need. The reefs economy was localised but competitive with the safety of a healthy public sector to help anyone who might fall off the reef and to provide key services.
This reef had free education to the highest levels. It's occupants had plenty of spare time to volunteer as their lives were easier for all. With more people free to be creative culture flourished and the reef grew.

The big fish didn't get so big but they had a reef and communities they could be proud of and a healthy and sustainable place for their spawn to grow up in.

Thankfully for the reef in trouble from the earlier part of the story, all the small fish from that reef who had good intentions were invited to come to the far away reef.

The old reef's economy collapsed as the only thing supporting the big fish and Sharks was taken away from their control. It was only a matter of time before the sandbanks collapsed again anyway so the small fish did not feel guilty leaving.

Back on the other reef, many of the big fish who didn't jump reef became small fish and realised what they had done, they were left to a decimated reef and were prey to the sharks they had encouraged and pampered.

The fish in the new reef didn't all live happily ever, even fiction has its limits, but they did live out their lives to the best of their ability and it did feel like they were truly a part of a big society. In time future generations learnt from the mistakes and positives of the past and evolved and adapted, eventually venturing out of the seas to other universes in time and space defying machines.

Fish with good hearts lived happily ever after.

The End.

Meanwhile... in a human dominated universe nearby... David Cameron had some choices to make... his Big Society guru Lord Wei led the BBC to describe the Big Society as:

A "coral reef" and we are the fishes.

Oh Carp. We're cooked.

[ Part 1 - A Fishy Tale ]

[ Part 2 - A Load of Carp ]

The Big Society – A Load of Carp.

The Big Society was a fishy government stance where professional and essential reef maintenance/services (which at the time were paid for by reef tax) were hoped to be largely taken off the fins of the fish-public sector to save costs and to allow the private fish sector to profit. Any voids in fish-public sector services would be filled by small shoals of local volunteer fish or private fishy businesses who were given more opportunities to make some more quick fishy money. This appeared on the outside like a good idea as it would save the indebted reef a lot of money. The trouble for the small fish was that the Prime Fish couldn't quite explain how The Big Society would work or what his plans of implementation actually were. The fish who were already playing an active role in the Big Society of the reef (those who already had a fin on the current), had their own ideas, but couldn't quite put their fins on the detail because it turned out there wasn't much there.

In an attempt to help the Prime Fish, one of his fishy party described it as being like a "human country" where the people of "the local citizen groups extend, vivify & shape their landscape".

As the reef was already a 'Big Society' many wondered what difference it would make. Several prominent fish stood up and watered their voices to the masses to ask what difference it would make to those smaller fish who needed the services more than most. The Prime Fish said his plans would go so far as to help small fish to help themselves but it did seem an odd way to go about it. After all, besides saving the big fish more money how could this help? The branding and scheme went ahead anyway, the prime fish decreed it his passion.

No one seemed to really understand the scheme fully, but here is what we understood it to be halibut at that time:

First - the fish-public sector was cut back to save funds; volunteer fish, social enterprise and private sector fishy businesses were urged to fill the wide open waters left behind.

Second, 'The Big Fish Society' that already existed was branded and claimed for the Prime Fish's own pollocktical agenda so whatever good was to come out of it in the future can now be claimed for the governing fishy-party.

Thirdly, a chest of fishy money was made available to those groups of fish who thought they could do a job through volunteering or setting up the reef structures and facilities required to replace areas of the fish-public sector run reef that had been cut.

Finally, a general trend underpinning this particular reef was the tax concessions to private sector fishy-business, given undemocratically accountable fishy business and private individuals concessions to fill any gaps in the reef and exploit it as they wished as long as the prime fish agreed. For anything unprofitable, other private groups of fish were asked to step up to fill the gaps and keep the reef in one piece, obviously for less than it would have cost the fish-public sector.

Simply, the big solution was to tell all fish something that they already knew; that they could do things for themselves. The underlying methods to giving out such control though resulted in leaving the poorest small fish worse off but very much helping those fish who already had the means to help themselves exploit the reef more. It turned out that the only underlying plan was for the small fish of the reef to pay to privatise their reef for the big fish and as well as that they were being asked to do more in their limited spare time to make this unfair reefy system even more detrimentally unfair.

And so it turned out to be: those areas of the reef where nutrients and resources were already still flowing and where the fish were already biggest, were able to take control of their needs and improve things further. They didn't miss the reef maintenance, their small part of the big fish society stood stronger for it.

The small fish soon saw their hopes start to unravelled when the bigger fish who gained from the changes didn't have any obligations in their contracts to help the bigger encompassing society of the reef. As seems to be fish nature, when they didn't have to, they tended not to, after all, it wasn't their problem. Wasn't that what the Prime Fish's government and the fish-public sector was for. They believed the small fish should pay to improve their own standard of life like they had.

For the Prime Fish and the big fish, the reef was being run the most efficiently it could be to give the big fish the best life possible and reach their goals, they could swim the sea so much easier with lots of fishy money in far offshore banks, from reef to reef they swam, gathering all they could - to do what with, no small fish knew, all they did know is that it didn't help the rest of the reef or the worse off fish in what became 'The Big Fish Society'. As life was great for these growing populations of big fish, they praised the prime fish for such a clever plan.

At the edge of the reef, things didn't swim smoothly at all. In fairness to the Prime Fish he did get some small fish into work who had been taking advantage of the reef-system such as with benefits and the likes, but the ways in which the Prime Fish did this also put strain on the already vulnerable fish who truly did need the help and now were left high and dry.

In many highly populated parts of the reef, the poorest fish struggled and this smaller part of the big society, if anything, degraded into poverty: The small fish tried to help one another, they swam together in small groups trying to keep going, as they always did do before this prime fish had come to power.

Lots of the smaller fish also struggled to volunteer because they were not in a position to do so: Many left their school at the age of 16 weeks, went straight into a minimum wage job and began to work long and unsociable hours just to get by, stuck in their jobs. Unfortunately though, with less and less fish-public services available, their health started to suffer, their coral accommodation and living situations became more transient and stretched. Some older poor fish couldn't even afford to cool their water and fried in the summer. Parts of the reef became no-go areas where sharks would prey on the vulnerable and no chest of money from the prime fish was enough to convince enough of the bigger fish to help, there just wasn't any profit in it. The fish-public sector was just a shell of its former self. Those who could afford private care still used it's resources but paid as little reef-tax as they could afford to. To compound issues, pollution soared all over the reef and it was left to the dwindling fish-public sector to tidy up the mess.

There were just more fishes in need and fishy problems then fishes able to help.
Around that time it was also reported that many homeless Squid seeking a shelter were inking themselves all over the reef as the fish-public sector couldn't afford to fund public toilets and voluntary homeless shelters couldn't afford to keep up with growing demand.

Originally when the chest of money was offered, even those with the means to help, those who already did valuable charity work ended up struggling with the fall in resources caused when the fish-public sector was hit and their income sources diminished. Their work suffered. The money that was given out sometimes went to private groups who squanderer it on schemes that were destined to fail but with no fish-public monitoring or accountability, these schemes continued helping waste the little money available. There was just no alternative, accountability or anyone to tell them to stop.

Those who did do a great job were up against it. The cleaner fish in charge of things didn't mind, they were deluded in the belief that market forces work just the same with fishy-social-capital as they did with fishy-financial-capital. The life of a fish in these poorest areas became much worse than it had before. The small fish had very few ways to hold to account those running the required services and provisions and it soon became apparent the big fish society didn't include them. They were as good as tinned.

Some divisions at the poorest end of fish society took it upon themselves to segregate themselves from the bigger society to get by, this compounded problems and lines of divisions much worse than in times of the not so distant past appeared. Fish tensions continued to rise as blinkered educational teachings and social segregation led to further introversion , ignorance and distrust. Small fish everywhere nibbled at the very foundations of the reef in order to get by and stay safe.

The big fish in the nice parts of the reef were disgusted by the small fish and wasted no time in getting their skates on to hire security fish to protect those well kept parts of the reef. Fish society on the reef became more divided than ever before. The Big Society had splintered, the biggest divide was between the poor and the wealthy and it was the small fish who got poorer and the big fish grew richer - society at the bottom of the reef was rock bottom. In the Ocean financial league tables, the reef still came near the top for its size, it's private sector was booming but very little was seen by the majority of reef and the reef and it's society were crumbling due to the divisions.

The Prime Fish however was still sure he had done the right thing and told the masses of small fish that he had given them the opportunity to improve their own lives and society. They had failed him and their society. To the Prime Fish, it was indeed all the fault of the small fish that his plan didn't work in raising social-capital and that the reef was not the Big Society he had envisaged. When the fish-press were not focused on the Prime Fish though, he was proud at how his scheme had risen monetary-capital for his friends the big fish and the Sharks and in turn were pleased with him.

What troubled the Prime Fish most other than trying to fix the mess his reef, was that the opinion polls were showing that he was probably going to lose the next fishselection.

The Prime Fish couldn't work it out in time and although a valiant attempt to put more spin on the whirlpool fishselection campaign, the prime fish was voted out at that next fishselection, but only just; 'Don't bite the hand that feeds you' was the campaign message but it didn't help.

The outgoing prime fish then went on to work for one of the fishy-companies he had helped to grow wealthy and powerful during his time at the top of the reef. He retired to the nicest part of another reef holding the same delusion that he had done to best for all his fishy-kin from the reef and indeed the sea. Other reefs even paid him to come and speak in-front of their leaders as they wanted their reef to be climbing those financial league tables too.

...To be Continued.

[ Part 1 - A Fishy Tale ]

[ Part 3 - Will All End Whelk ]

The Big Society - A Fishy Tale

Hi I'm Simon, a life form living on a reef in the future of a parallel universe. I'm also the author of this fishy story about The Big Society.  Just between you and me, I'm in lots of fishy debt to the Sturgeon Loan Company and I'm very much priced out of even the cheapest and most densely packed coral home locations. As it turned out though, these are small fry problems compared to some fish, fish whose lives are about to be battered and this could turn out to be any Tom, Jack or Marlin. So for their hake, I thought I'd re-tell this cautionary story about a coral reef's Prime Fish.

Before I get into the depths of this story, first, let me set the scene: The setting in which our story begins is a big and populous reef, a small distance across the seabed from the reef where I currently reside. The big reef had been a home to fish for a long time since it first grew. Its fish over time were involved in many events of ocean history, and at the time where we begin our fishy tale, it is a well know reef with a lot of influence around the ocean. Generally there are many pleasant parts of the reef, nice and safe in the shallow waters of sea, tides aren't too strong and the flow of nutrients can easily be harnessed.

Sadly though, the reef has always had a more troubled side; since the early days when the fish population really increased, there have always been those edges of the reef, densely populated parts, where the most fish live, where poverty still lingers and crime is easy to find. Here, a gathering of small fish are led by bigger fishes who can use their time and effort to gain prestige and more fishy money, it's a fish eat fish world. As gloomy as that picture sounds, things aren't always that terrible on the edge, in fact many fish choose to live there for its mix of fish, culture and excitement, however, fish society is a little more tense on this part of the coral, especially amongst the smaller fish with less fishy money. It is a sad fact that some fishes on the reef are very vulnerable but in general the big fish society at this point held out a helping fin funded largely through reef tax and volunteer fish.

So with that in mind for a few moments before our fishy minds forget, let me begin...

One day the fishy reef had a problem. Some of the biggest fish around the oceans had allowed sandbanks to lend to sub-prime small fish in some of the biggest reefs, their greed and poor judgement had led to a lot of bad debt and in turn a distribution of fishy money that the big fish on other reefs didn't want to trouble themselves with, it just wasn't profitable, it was some other fish's problem. It left the governing fish of many reefs needing to take action or have their reefy economies collapse on the humpback of what  became known as the sandbank crisis.

The sandbanks couldn't be allowed to collapse. “They are too big to fail” the big fish of the reef had told their investors in the past, the big fish were clever. There comments were true but only true because without them, fish society would collapse, they had taken the trust of a reef and profited from it. The reefs around the world couldn't hold individual big fish to account, after all, they had been so helpful in lending to the reefs in the past and employed many fish too. So it was decided that the debt would be passed on to the fish-public, the every day Jack and Dori would take on the big fish debts because they couldn't disagree or say no, that would have involved too much churning up in the surf for a reef of this stature.

The outgoing Prime Fish of the day hadn't done anything to stem the Sandbanks Crisis. The motions which set this wave of destruction towards the reef spanned back to much earlier Prime Fish, it was just encouraged since then because life for a lot of fish on the reef had improved from it. You see, the reef is a democracy and this is a good thing but in this democracy not everything is conducted in a democratic manner. Although it may have seemed like the smaller fish supported what the bigger fish were doing, in reality the smaller fish had little choice. Only 3 Prime Fish from similar breeding grounds were available for selection. Small fish were not excluded from the process, but as we will find out, in this underwater world, only the fish with the means were able to do anything. Sure, even if a smaller fish could make it to a position of power, they'd be part of the reef system and unable to rearrange any meaningful without exposing the reef to the rest of the sea and be at its mercy. This was always going to happen since the first big fish set the reef on it's path to trouble.

Reef pollocktics became rather important at the time when the sandbanks were collapsing, it just so happened to be a time when the reef's population had to select a new Prime Fish.

As I mentioned, each leader of their fishy parties was a cleaner fish but there were some who cared for the bigger fish of the sea more than others and some who alleged to care for the smaller fish of the reef more than others. However, it always turned out that the cleaner fish liked to help the bigger fish than them, it was just their nature. Without the big fish and sharks who would fund the required bait for their fishselection campaigns? Indeed, it seems unlikely that some of the cleaner fish would be in a position to be fishselected without their bigger fish support.

In the fishselection that year, not one Prime Fish was picked, the fish of the reef could not choose a  ruling fish-party because not one had enough support from the small fish. Fish opinion was as split as the corpse of a clam. There were of course procedures in plaice for such a scenario and so the Royal Fish let two parties agree a compromise of a coalition government then gave their blessing on the small fishes behalf to the main cleaner fish of the new shoal. A blessing granted to them from Poseidon himself, the ocean god not all fish believed existed, never the less, a new prime fish had been hooked.

The Prime Fish leading this coalition shoal was to be a fish who didn't care much for the smaller fish compared to others. He didn't understand why so many small fish became problem fish, but then why would he, being a cleaner fish he was privileged from birth and have never lived amongst the most disadvantaged fish of the reef. The new Prime Fish was of course from the pollocktical party of fish who like helping the bigger fish stay healthy and aren't so concerned as other parties about looking out for the smaller fish even though they depend on them to maintain their lofty positions - and possessions - on the reef.

In the last fishselection it was largely the areas where reef life is already good that voted for this particular cleaner fish. The majority of the reefs population (the smaller fish who were earning the least fishy money in the most densely populated areas of the reef) either didn't vote in the fishselection or voted for a different party to that of our prime fish. Unfortunately the system was such that their votes didn't matter so much. The reef's fishselection process had led to so many disillusioned fish that they just didn't care any more, what did their vote really make any difference to? The reef was in a pickle that most knew it didn't want to be in but as they say underwater, “every air bubble has a silver lining”, in this case, at least the reef now had a Prime Fish to lead the way.

The biggest issue after the fishselection was still the sandbank problem. In order to resolve the immediate damage to the sandbanks, the prime fish shored up the sandbanks by redirecting the fish-public re-reefing funds. When the time came, the Prime Fish handed over a fortune to the big fish and Sharks of the sea as quickly as he could. This bail-out was done even against the advice of other cleaner fish but the Prime Fish was egged on by the big fish and Sharks waiting to take advantage and didn't disappoint them. Oddly enough, these were the same big fish and Sharks who very much helped in the collapse of the sandbanks in the first place - he told the smaller fish "My fins are tied".

This particular reef wasn't the only reef to experience this, there were many such reefs over the ocean. Some with more problems than others. The small fish were not happy, but they couldn't do anything about it. They could only sit back and see what little they had reduce whilst somehow the big fish (who still managed the Sandbanks that the small fish had been forced to help shore up) were still syphoning profits to the big fish. It was not fair, but life on the reef had never been fair. Why should the prime fish try to change this?

Never fear though, the prime fish (a former PR fish, brilliant in the art of convincing other big fish to swim his way) came up with the next stage of a plan, a plan that was said to be key to helping the reef to resolve both its financial and social issues. Initially it was a big surprise to the reef when the Prime Fish pushed his idea forward. In order to bring some re-reef to the fishy society, his plan was going to promote what he called 'The Big Society', an idea that would help the small fish help themselves - the small fish wondered if this was too good to be true or indeed if the catch was going to be in the detail.

...To Be Continued

 [ Part 2 -  A Load of Carp ]

 [ Part 3 - Will All End Whelk ]

2010 Election: Capitalism, UK politics shadowing America and an idea.

Its less than a week now until the election and I'm depressing myself more and more investigating, researching and learning about the actual ins and outs of the financial world. For someone who thinks Capitalism has given too much freedom to large and multinational business which is just encouraging something of an Imperial dominion over the world, I find it hard to stomach listening to the ongoing debates which all seem to take for granted the long term and only seem to consider the short term.

This post is all just my view and maybe I'm being a little idealogical, but one thing that does seem to be emerging already is that the UK's Parliamentary elections are becoming more like the USA's presidential elections.

In my opinion the current situation is that the Labour Party is suffering from disenchantment since they've almost become a sub set of the conservative attitude, almost meeting them in the middle though still keeping a little more sense. The Lib Dems have taken great strides with the greater access to publicity, especially amongst the young who are starting to feel the inequality in the country for themselves as they enter further education and the work place. The Conservatives seem to have met labour in the middle from the other side of the fence and are saying whatever they think they have to to try and get elected.

It seems though, all three major parties have convinced a lot of people that the answer to the way out of economic problems caused by the financial world and wealthy people screwing us (by passing us on their debts instead of absorbing the shock themselves) is by giving the same people more freedom and opportunity for bigger profits... short term it is the only solution to prop up markets but surely aren't we setting the country up for a bigger fall? Where are the pledges to the long term overhaul to a fairer society? Where are the plans to limit the extraction of money or the slice of the pie able to be retained for those creating the value and therefore profitability of the country for us to be able to better our society and unlock potential in our children?

The lack of answers to those questions aside and this fall into a some bizarre US type blind faith that the leaders of major corporations will look after their workforce, the main reasons that I feel the UK's politics are becoming Americanised begin with the leaders of the key 3 parties in the UK taking part in live televised debates and how this is changing make-up of public opinion (should the press be trusted).

With the TV debates, a lot is down to the personalities, the two opinions that are gaining ground in the system here are starting slowly to align to the same political divisions in the US. The Lib Dems seem to be positioning to become the UK equivalent of the Democratic Party and the Conservatives matching up to that of the Republican. Labour seems to be being squeezed both ways with the class divisions in society more and more becoming income divisions due to the breakdown of the traditional British community led by Maggie Thatchers reign.

This is neither good or bad as times change so will the political landscape to meet new challenges. However the problem seems to be that the focus has well and truly started to ebb away from the local candidate (who could well be a moron or brilliant) and is probably going to be much more influenced by the personality of the leader. To me this is bad news. What I would consider the downside to politics in the US, that of celebrity culture and hype, is playing an ever increasing role compared to more in depth debate on issues and policies at a local level about what may be best for the long term prosperity of the individual, the locality, the nation and the world. The culture seems to be led by media profiteering and politics is becoming more and more a product with parties/candidates becoming brands, with TV debates selling tag lines and sound bytes, with tabloid newspapers alligning with a candidate and selling a bias view of all events to people who need education to help choose wisely not spin from someone hoping to make money from them.

With the corporate world pretty much leading society where it wants and unelected people largely focused on self gain having such a sway in the eventual laws we are governed by and public spending,  it is slightly worrying. However to be fair, since the same 'independent' advisor's, religious leaders and commercial groups with vested interests have always had a large influence over what actually happens when the country is governed its not like much is changing, only a different face to an old problem.

Being slightly cynical; at least the - 'its who you know not what you know' system will be equalled by something equally as silly. Making a mess of a debate on TV or saying something on a microphone will be blown out of all proportion ahead of policies and could end your brands chances. Combine that with the spin that tabloid newspapers spew out and even with these aspects alone it all becomes quite a farce. A farce of trying to convince a mass of people who probably don't really have a great picture in their minds of the national situation let alone the international scene that policies you have will benefit them even if it screws someone else over. On the plus side its at least making politics a more entertaining spectator sport even if our lives get turned upside down and we're paying more for less to help someone else keep huge figures in their bank statements and investment portfolios.

What an odd political time we live in. The local issues in Northern Ireland are even more perplexing and disheartening due to the further divisions and tribal politics overriding any other issue.

As for me, I've been trying to think of a way I can get along in this society in the long wait for caps on wealth that whilst not adhering to the whims of the rich or reinforcing the injustice faced by the poor. A way to help society with retaining the benefit from its own hard work and not just benefit the greedy and ruthless, the already privileged or lucky. A way that might  empower every individual to unlock their potential within the system that has evolved to how it is today.

Short of the government doing much about it - which in Northern Ireland is like hoping for a piece of an asteroid to deflect the ball into the net at a football game - and in Great Britian with the Lib Dems or Greens unlikely to get into power other than as part of a co-collision government in a hung parliament (those being the parties who I believe have the policies that would at least start a bit of positive change - so come on a score draw on the 6th May and a hung parliament!) things aren't likely going to be much different tomorrow than they were today.

I'm starting to seriously consider doing something I've long thought about as a way to personally go about it... starting a Social Enterprise. If I think of a good idea, and manage to afford some time and money besides trying to eventually find an over priced run down shell of a house to call a family home and to pay the bills and for the odd luxury to keep us sane, then I'm going to be right on it :)

Any ideas?