Waving not drowning
I have never taken any exercise except sleeping and resting. ~ Mark Twain (1835-1910)
My first article on this blog was published in June 2007. Since then I have posted another 44.
I have been inspired by books, films, television, and above all by BBC radio. I have tried not to be overly topical. News always distorts. We are too close to immediate events and news which is particularly shocking tends to cloud the judgement. I have made a special effort to be measured in 
my analysis and comments. But I still have strong views and these are reflected in my choice of subject.
I now feel the need to give myself a few weeks' break. It is therefore a good time to provide a map of the topics covered since June, so that new visitors (as well as those who have been here before) can review the themes I have covered in depth.
The original reason for writing this blog was disgust at the way Tony Blair used the role of prime minister to indulge his shallow, unreflective shoot-from-the hip style of government. This has made Britain a much grimmer place. His approach was a crude response to the simplistic lounge-bar comment ("It shouldn't be allowed – there should be a law against it"), and it resulted in the passing of law after law after law. He filled the prisons to overflowing and the government now has to let people out to make room for others. We shall rue what he has done for many years to come.
But however detrimental these laws are to our freedom and safety in Britain, they are far less serious than Blair's support for the Bush administration's ill-conceived and ill-thought-out campaign in Iraq. And this links to another major issue – the terrorist threat. I have given that a great deal of thought too.
My main themes have been these:
- The structure of power and its use (and abuse) by the powerful. What is the raison d'être of those in power now they can no longer hide behind the doctrine of the divine right of kings?
- The nature of democracy and the abuse of the concept of "mandate".
- The protection of liberty (and the protection of minorities) against the dictatorship of the majority.
- The weakness of government as a mechanism for getting things done properly, leading to the idea that "less is more".
- The folly of the war on drugs.
- The recklessness of the "war on terror" and the misery inflicted on its victims – mostly innocent bystanders – by governments who should know better.
My guiding belief is that we have only one life and, provided we do not hurt others, we should be free to lead our lives as we choose. If we need help, we should be able to ask for it, but no-one should think it their duty to push such help down our throats. As well as examining my main themes, I have had a shot at explaining complicated issues as simply as possible.
So as I start my break, here is a guide to what I have written. I have tried hard to be measured and clear (and I owe a debt of gratitude to my wife for her extensive editing of my text). The articles can be divided into the following categories:
1 Constitutional issues. Whether we are subjects or citizens is a key question for me. And so are the ways in which politicians and administrators abuse their power and make lives miserable for various groups of citizens:
Political animal right or wrong
2 Corruption. An ever-present danger, it is theft by those in power. Endemic in many parts of the world, it also exists (as Eva Joly points out) on a massive scale much closer to home:
3 The way in which politicians manipulate voters and the electoral system. The more they get sucked into the political process, the less they are interested in representing the voters. They end up merely wanting power and they behave like playground kids in their efforts to obtain it:
MMR vaccine truth and consequences
4 The inefficiency of government. I believe that government structures get things wrong simply because they are inefficient systems for doing anything ("less is more" again):
Why I love the Millennium Dome
Why nurses hate Patricia Hewitt
How can I fuck things up today?
5 Drug laws, how governments have given themselves the impossible task of outlawing narcotic drugs (except, of course, alcohol). This gives intelligent and well-organised criminals an excess of riches and provides a career path for under-educated youth. It has fed a rise in crime, fuelled corruption and made the world a worse place in which to live. It would be a far less costly strategy to legalise the drugs, maintain a tight control on their distribution and manage the personal problems they cause. The pointlessness of the war on drugs is breathtaking:
The tragic death of Rhys Jones – the devil makes work for idle hands
6 The Middle East, the cradle of monotheistic religion and the source of some of the biggest dangers facing the world. President Bush has admitted (in so many words) that he sees his fight against Muslim terrorists as a Crusade. Not the best choice of words. I believe that the battle in the Middle East is predominantly Muslim-on-Muslim and that we in the West have merely been caught up in it (as not-particularly-innocent bystanders). I have tried not to be sucked in by the rhetoric of politicians or the press or even the victims, most of whom are innocent non-combatants living in Palestine, Afghanistan, Lebanon, Iraq, Iran, Israel, Kuwait (and not forgetting those who had the bad luck to be in the World Trade Centre in 2001):
The terrorist and the rubberneck
Sunni/Shia theological differences
A really simple explanation of Sunni/Shia tension and the Middle East crisis – Part 2: People
A really simple explanation of Sunni/Shia tension and the Middle East crisis – Part 3: The oil
Logic 101 and the terrorist threat
7 The media, which must share the blame with politicians for winding people up with exaggeration, distortion and half truths:
The terrorist and the rubberneck
Logic 101 and the terrorist threat
MMR vaccine truth and consequences
8 Erosion of freedom, the inspiration for my title: Notes from the Panopticon:
9 Really simple explanations. I had the idea of a series of articles called "a really simple explanation of ..." The one on the sub-prime mortgage crisis has proved to be most popular, but the ones on the Middle East were also well received.
10 Reviews of books, theatre and television programmes (these have also proved popular):
Waltz of the Toreadors by Jean Anouilh
Televised version of Alistair Campbell's diaries
Justice under Siege by Eva Jolly (A very important book)
The Last Confession by Roger Crane
I hope you will enjoy reading through some of these. I certainly enjoyed researching and writing them.
I you have not done so, try clicking on my heroes and villains. There are lots more underneath. I enjoy thinking of new ones and change those that grace the front page fairly frequently. If you have ideas about additions to either list, please leave a comment saying, in a few words, why you think they qualify. If I agree with you, I shall add them - it's my blog after all.
I shall be back before long when I shall be tackling: political parties being the problem not the solution, proportional representation, the fundamental weakness of fundamentalism, right wing Christianity, poverty, capitalism and globalisation, political correctness, a really simple explanation of government finance – and much, much more.
i miss you.
Posted by: hiptocode | Wednesday, 20 February 2008 at 01:31 AM