Kids

A hell of a weekend. Last Tuesday night my son Joe (3) woke up at 11pm with breathing difficulties. Thinking ti might an asthma attack brought on by the high temperature (it has been really warm here this last week or so) we took no chances and called an ambulance. It turned out to be a virus causing croup - an inflamed larynx causing the difficulty in breathing. By 2.30 am we were home and all was well-ish. Since then Joe's behavious has been dreadful. Totally non-compliant and rebellious. We think it might be down to the sucrose in the medicine he's been taking, causing him to be hyper, so hopefully as he no longer needs the medication, things will improve. But he has driven me to distraction over the weekend. And just he has recovered from the croup, his sister Rosa (6 months old) looks like she's got it, leading to more sleepless nights. The joys of parenthood,eh.
It's now Monday afternoon, and I've been able to escape to the office for some much needed rest.

2 minutes silence

I missed the 2 minute silence that was observed today by many across the UK and further afield. I'm unhappy with myself about missing this (I was involved in a discussion and simply lost track of the time), and once agian I am surprised by my strength of feeling over this whole tragic affair.

London Bombings

Just had to post a comment on yesterday's bombings in London as it has affected me more than I would have expected. Listening to the news reports last evening as I drove home I was fighting back tears so that I could see to drive. Not being prone to such emotional responses I was surprised by it, and still am. The attack is shocking, and has struck me more powerfully than other recent incidents, such as the Madrid train bombings, I guess because it is closer to home (a work colleague went through King's Cross station probably less than an hour before the thing started).
Perhaps it's something about having kids?
On which note, Joe is three years old today (which is a far cheerier thing to think about), and was up at 6.30 am to kick the day off in style.

Make Poverty History and the G8

So what will happen if the G8 summit happens and our esteemed leaders announce a package that goes some way towards achieving the goals of the MPH campaign, but does not actually put in place the required changes to resolve the issue?
Will Bob Geldof call on all those millions that have signed up at www.live8live.com to rise up and hold their leaders to account, and demand further action? Where is this thing going to go?

Hoon goes for compulsory voting: have they totally lost the plot?

This is madness - Geoff Hoon suggests that the way to reinvigorate our democracy is to make voting compulsory!
He has clearly missed the point. The three major parties in the UK, led by Blair's New Labour project, have successfully worked away over the last ten years or more to take the politics out of politics in the UK. Now they have succeeded they are wondering why no-one wants to play any more.
If the extent of democracy is to be limited to voting once every four years or so for a bunch of suits that are almost indistinguishable from one another, then its really no wonder that we aren't engaged in the process. When will they actually catch on to the meaning behind their own rhetoric, and truly enable ordinary people to take control in their own communities, and participate in the process of government, instead of simply allowing us to choose once in a while which amongst the elite will be able to exercise the power on our behalf. The people want a share of the power for themselves. Participative democracy is all we seek.
It's not revolution, but judging by their reluctance to make it happen, one might be forgiven for thinking that it was.
The internet gives us the tools and the power to do it for ourselves, without the need for hierarchy (if ever there was a real need for it) or massive party structures. These guys are living in the past, it's time they saw the cluetrain a-coming.

Live8 and the G8 summit

I'm listening to the Live8 concert from London as I write this.
It may be the spirit of the occasion that has taken me, but I think that if the G8 summit does not get a result next week - and by that I mean a substantial and immediate improvement on the commitments made to date regarding Africa - the nature of the relationship between the people of the G8 countries and their governments will be radically altered.
Trust of the politicians is already at a pretty low ebb. Failure of the G8 to deliver a result on poverty could fatally damage what trust we have, leading potentially to an effective failure of the current democratic system.
Turnouts at elections will fall away further, leading to a collapse in the mandate (already pretty flimsy) that our politicians have to do their thing.

Europe: why don't the politicians get it?

In the wake of the recent French and Dutch votes against the proposed EU constitution, it looks like the politicians are running around wondering what went wrong, who they can blame, and what to do about it.
I sense they are missing the point.
As I see it the people voted 'No' not because they necessarily disagreed with the constitution, but simply because they have not been included in the process that has got us to where we are. They see the EU as remote, bureaucratic, and unrelated to their daily lives and concerns.
The way forward surely has to be a major shift in how our elected representatives and national governments relate to the people they govern. The key word here must be 'participation'. If governments want the support of their people, they must be open, honest and enable real participation.
The rise in popularity of things like blogging and citizen journalism is not unrelated to this. We the people simply want to be involved, engaged and consulted over stuff that affects our lives. That's not too much to ask,is it?
We are no longer content to be passive consumers of government and big media spin. If they want our trust, they need to earn it. They do this by being open, honest, and placing some trust in us.
The sooner our elected politicians wake up and smell the coffee, the sooner we can get some real progress.