The Hidden Power

Special episode on the Doomed Career of Dominic Cummings.Dominic Cummings has been seen as a controversial and divisive figure, but as with so many people at the political extremes, significant parts of his analysis can be agreed upon by disparate factions across the political spectrum.In this special episode we unpick the good and the less good from this lauded and demonised character, assess the reality he found himself confronted with and also assess where he went wrong. His intent to improve significantly the capacity of central government to produce meaningful change throughout Britain has been felt by many past radicals in and around no 10.And we have the unexpected good fortune to have a co-presenter - Ed Straw - who has been deeply involved in an attempt to achieve the same aims as Dominic Cummings - civil service reform. And who can spell out in clear terms why, regardless of his wit, intelligence and muscle, he was never going to succeed in reforming the government machine.Why does the Civil Service need reform? What might be the best way to achieve it? Why was Cummings’ attempt more on less doomed from the outset? Indeed, why have all 5 attempts, over 5 decades, at civil service reform - failed? Is this a symptom of something else?Find out in this hastily assembled episode, dense with anecdote, comparison and analysis.Links:The actual control room - Chile 1973: “Cybersyn", no doubt an inspiration for James Bond films.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_CybersynStafford Beer “The Godfather of systems thinking”https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stafford_BeerSalvador Allende, Communist president of Chilehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presidency_of_Salvador_AllendeArticle by Ed as accompaniment to this podcasthttps://www.edstraw.com/four-lessons-of-civil-service-reform/The Economist is on side:https://www.economist.com/leaders/2020/11/19/remaking-the-british-stateEd’s 2004 report, adopted by Tony Blair - The Dead Generalist:https://www.demos.co.uk/files/TheDeadGeneralist.pdfPeter Hennessy, leading constitutional historianhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_HennessyThe Thick of It - Available on Netflix, or here are some "deleted scenes”:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=im_KryFuPegYes Prime Minister - also on Netflix, I think - On The State of Education:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yeF_o1Ss1NQ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Why should we care about political lobbying? Isn't business all about making connections? What's the problem? You hear phrases like "systemic" and "endemic" - but what does that actually amount to? Unfortunately it amounts to a vast global problem that creates the illusion of democratic process, but with out much actual democracy. Instead, all kinds of effects which are clearly and obviously problematic are ignored and suppressed - climate change, wealth inequality and much more. In this special episode we start out with a look at the hypocrisy at the heart of the preferential lobbying machine, and in particular we explore not only how it became visible to Ed during his time working with central government, but also how, as he and Ray Ison applied systems thinking to governance, all roads seemed to lead one way: preferential lobbying is the central problem in our many and various challenges, and it can only be adequately mitigated, and even eliminated, by means of constitutional change.Talking points:The true intent of the 2014 lobbying bill, and the way David Cameron expressed itStrategic lyingLobbying in the time of BlairCivil servants and ministers are not equipped to understandEd's report on the civil service got squashedThe problem with reform"Superficial civil servants and daft academics"Private meetings and address booksLegitimate lobbying and grey areasThe capability to employ professional lobbyistsSecrecy is a central part of the problemBroadband as a case in pointPreferential lobbying has emerged as a central theme...as a common root causePost master controversy as a case studyAppearance and reality in democracypros and cons of industry expertsTransparencyVisionary leadership vs. the reality of financial marketsPreferential lobbying is a zero sum game: it's wealth extractionA capitalist ideal vs. rent seekingEthics and pragmatismFeedbackBig pharma stamps out Teatree oilMultiply that hundreds and thousands of timesviable systems method - how these conditions were identifiedProblem - Analysis - Policy - Approval - Implementation - SolutionBut policy making is fundamentally experimentalThe need to build in redundancies9 conditions necessary for preferential lobbyingChanging the constitution is the necessary condition of stopping preferential lobbyingGood lobbying is about making your case in pubicThe Finance CurseLinks: Polly Toynbee on the 2014 Lobbying act:https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/apr/15/cameron-lobbying-act-business-politicians-2014-charitiesA corporate entertainment story - Biathlon (NY Times - article)https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/28/sports/olympics/biathlon-russia-doping-besseberg.htmlStrategic lying (The Conversation - article)https://theconversation.com/strategic-lies-deliberate-untruths-used-as-a-political-tactic-new-study-159723Chart of the Ascent of Everest (diagram/ infographic)https://historyshots.com/blogs/news/18078975-chart-of-the-ascent-of-everestBook recommendation:The Finance Curse: How Global Finance Is Making Us All Poorer - Nicholas Shaxson - VintageThe 9 key conditions that facilitate preferential lobbying:1. Preferential access to decision makers2. Government decisions made in private3. Low subject knowledge of ministers and officials4. Few restrictions on political party funding5. Availability of patronage6. An effective choice of two parties for government7. A politicised judiciary8. No direct or participative democracy9. Weak checks and balances on government decisions, especially the lack of independent feedback Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We're off for the Summer! But - I found a great quote on the great _nitch instagram this morning, by the writer James Baldwin, who seems to be almost uniquely articulate when it comes to things that really matter. So I thought I'd read it out.We've finished the Governments section of our Preflight Checklist series - basically, a constitution to save the world - and in September we'll be back, tackling what seems to be at the heart of human activity from the standpoint of the planet - Companies. How should we think about them? What do companies look like on a sustainable planet? Find out in these last six episodes of Preflight Checklist, coming this September wherever you find your podcasts. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The start of a new season is a good time to take stock, and as we look forward to the next series, on companies, we reflect on where we are now, nearly a year after the launch of The Hidden Power Podcast, on October 11th, 2020. But who has time to reflect? These turbulent years have been eclipsed by another Summer of wild fires and wilder floods, as the climate crisis begins to bite - presenting an appalling, stunning spectacle of human tragedy. So we have the IPCC report, with it's Code Red for humanity. And then there's Afghanistan, which one struggles to adequately describe. In this special episode, we assess the accelerating climate disaster and take a clear-eyed look at what next month's COP26 Conference in Glasgow has to offer. We have a think about whether the UK's "Levelling Up" can have any more meaning than previous political slogans like "Northern Powerhouse" or "Compassionate Conservatism". We also take a look at the storied link between war and business - and see yet again the dark fact of government capture at work. With all this darkness, we also look forward for some light. In the final series of our Preflight Checklist we will be examining the role of companies in shifting our societies to a sustainably happy future. Talking points:The IPCC ReportThe COP26 ConferenceAfghanistan and Preferential LobbyingDominic Cummings Is Apparently Still RelevantMichael Gove is The Minister of Levelling Up - will he fake it or make it?What is working in Systems Thinking? Deliberative schema: DAD and EDDWe Need To Talk About Companies. LinksStructures and systems and thinking (Youtube, 10 minutes into an hour)https://youtu.be/A3P5XJJVN3IHere’s the Big issue piece explaining why the supermarket shelves are often empty, and why HGV drivers are scarce - fed up with being treated as low lifeshttps://www.bigissue.com/news/inside-the-uk-food-shortages-why-nandos-and-sainsburys-are-running-out/Here’s a piece on the futility of the war in afghanistanhttps://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/08/what-i-learned-while-eavesdropping-on-the-taliban/619807/And here is a piece on what it cost and where some of it went:https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/sep/11/us-afghanistan-iraq-defense-spendingForeign intervention (article, behind paywall):https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v43/n16/charles-glass/hush-hush-boom-boom'In 2011, as Obama was considering what action to take in Syria, some of his advisers urged him to support the rebels. Before making up his mind, Obama commissioned a report on the history of US covert operations. Robert Malley, then Obama’s Middle East adviser and now President Biden’s negotiator with Iran, read the CIA’s classified report. It was, he told me in 2019, a litany of failure. ‘I think there were one or two, out of I don’t know how many tens of cases, where you could, at a limit, say that there was a success by working through opposition proxies.’ The vast majority of the CIA’s secret wars had backfired, from Albania in the late 1940s through Angola in the 1980s to Afghanistan in the 1990s. Despite this, Obama ordered the CIA to arm and instruct militants in Turkey and Jordan under a programme that permits such activities in defence of American national security. The outcome was both predictable and tragic: the insurgents failed to overthrow Assad and Islamic State emerged.’ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

"There's a class war alright," chirruped Investor Warren Buffet recently, "But it's our class making war on yours. And we're winning."It reminded me of the Lao Tsu, where he says that the Way of Heaven is to take from those with excess, and give to those who do not have enough."The way of man is different," the sage quips. "He takes from those who have nothing, in order to give to those who already have too much."When did the worm turn? When did the liberal centrist consensus become this nightmare of neo-feudalism? How did the Tories, in particular, drift from their one-nation, Compassionate Conservatism to the libertarian bandits who rarely miss an opportunity to darken our media with stirring xenophobia, and hallucinations of Getting Things Done? Was this written into economic neoliberalism from the outset?In this episode we rehearse the history and make some observations, not least the upcoming opportunity to vote.Talking Points:Some context of the Centrist ConsensusHow the worm turned: BrexitEmpire and Old ToryFeudalism in Britain and RussiaThe Thermocline of Truth: erosion of the middle classThe Irish answer to Neoliberalism and inequalityWill they ever learn?Links:Ed's Cris de Couer - Old ToryStart the Week - Left Behind But Not ForgottenIreland and Neoliberalism - David Mc Williams PodcastJohn Pilger - Governments and Media roles in War Propaganda | The War You Don't See - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mDuxFnn2RY Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How does power really work?This is what we explore in Series 1, "Proof of Concept" - and also, how it doesn't work, and how to get things working better. With Ed Straw and Philip Tottenham. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

New release date - Saturday October 10th - Episode 1, Ed Straw on the Hidden Power.We live in confusing times - and a lot of that confusion is about where power lies. With Ed Straw, former chair of Demos and consultant to government, & Philip Tottenham.In 2017 the UN, the WHO and the OECD all called for the use of Systems Thinking to deal with highly complex problems. But what does that mean?In Series 1 "Proof of Concept" we explore power - power in terms traditional ideas about it, and in terms of beneficial impact on the ground - and hear from people thinking and operating at the leading edge of where beneficial impact is taking place. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode introduces the experience and current thinking of my co-presenter, Ed Straw.We talk about his journey from being an engineering graduate to consulting at the heart of Westminster, how he encountered power and the confusion surrounding it. Then we get into his current thinking - he’s now a research fellow at the Open University’s Applied Systems Thinking in Practice Group, and has found in Systems Thinking many effective responses to issues that have plagued governments down the decades.Ed Straw:http://www.edstraw.com/about/The (full podcast!) story of General Motors' collaboration with Toyota is a great rehearsal of how systemic change can work, and the relevant challenges:https://www.thisamericanlife.org/561/nummi-2015W. Edwards Demming, genius behind Japanese revolution in manufacturing:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._Edwards_Demingand that revolution:https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/opinions/1993/12/23/japans-secret-w-edwards-deming/b69b8c00-4c5d-483a-b95e-4aeb1d94d2c6/Relevance of Drawing the Boundary to Systems Thinking:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boundary_critiqueThe Compassionate Frome Project:https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/feb/21/town-cure-illness-community-frome-somerset-isolationDAD and EDD:http://www.edstraw.com/new-public-service-management-from-dad-to-edd/Ed's story, told in more length and depth on Survival of the Kindest:https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/ed-straw-looking-at-it-in-the-round/id1525026504?i=1000489658805Real world example in Australia:https://johnmenadue.com/cock-ups-conspiracies-or-system-failures/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Professor Eileen Munro turned decades of inadequate child protection on its head with one simple question: are we helping or hindering the front line?In this episode, she reflects on the successes - and revealing failures - of her review into child protection. Eileen covers a lot of ground in a short space of time. It is fascinating.Talking points:Centralised processes can't protect children, and this centralisation is an unavoidable consequence of the current state of governanceHow child protection can work much better, when the system is re-aligned to its purposeKey role of feedback, service sampling, education, and the news media.In our commentary Ed and I pick up on these and other points, specifically the governmental conditions that allowed for success, and especially: leaders believing they have grasped the systemic nature of necessary change, when in reality they haven’t. What to do? Find out in this concentrated and stimulating episode.The Munro Review into Child Protection:https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/175391/Munro-Review.pdfEileen Munro:LSEhttps://www.lse.ac.uk/social-policy/people/Emeritus-Visiting/Professor-Eileen-MunroThe Guardian:https://www.theguardian.com/profile/eileen-munroDetail on what child protection actually entails (podcast)(listener alert - not for the feint-hearted):https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07ffxtr Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Where is the power? Julian Corner used a process of local ‘action enquiry' to bring about effective social change. This in places where, as he puts it, a system of ‘care' is effectively a system of oppression - siloed, systematised, and more focussed on privileging its own rules than on the value of human care. In this episode he talks about these challenges, and how this ‘action enquiry' model has allowed them to ask bigger, harder questions, or as he says "to navigate the uncertainty, to reveal what there is to be revealed, to adapt strategies - to connect new things together" - and, crucially, to create a community of fellow enquirers. Improvement flows from the enquiry: to learn is to change.As Ed points out in our discussion, we all have the opportunity, when the system of governance isn’t working for us, to set up alternatives. "These institutions are essentially inventions of the mind," he says, "and they always need to be refreshed... deconstructed, and reconstructed."About Julian Corner:https://lankellychase.org.uk/person/julian-corner/First person view of what “complex problems” actually amounts to - George the Poet - episode 1 is pretty inspiring, also the episode on the Grenfell Tower tragedy:https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p07mk7cxRobert (Not John!) Peel’s Principles - No. 7: “To maintain at all times a relationship with the public that gives reality to the historic tradition that the police are the public and that the public are the police, the police being only members of the public who are paid to give full-time attention to duties which are incumbent on every citizen in the interests of community welfare and existence.”Full article:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peelian_principles#Sir_Robert_Peel's_principlesNaGeneral discussion of national service:https://www.europeanceo.com/finance/redrafting-national-service-policy/Reintroduction of national service in France:https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/06/france-is-bringing-back-national-service/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

John Naughton, tech columnist at The Observer Newspaper, talks about that great Wild West of our time - Cyberspace. From its roots in “permissionless innovation” to the staggering dominance of a very small number of companies over most aspects of our lives, he surveys the absence of governance, and how two effective sovereigns - Apple and Google - have appropriated powers normally associated with sovereign powers of territorial control.In our discussion Ed and I pick up on the de-globalisation of the internet, the digital divide and on surveillance capitalism - and while it turns out these problems are not new, the perennial importance of Truth to our Age of Enlightenment once again comes to the fore.Talking points:Weaknesses in our systems of governing are at the root of the souring of social media. Constitutions can and must have provisions to ensure governments, politicians and citizens deal in reality. The basics would be - independent feedback, deliberative democracy and measures to minimise the culture of lies and inflamation. Most of our main challenges are bewilderingly complex, and they will never be solved through adversarial two-line posts. But they might well be mitigated by inclusive, deliberative conversations.John Naughton:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_NaughtonJohn Naughton in the Guardian:https://www.theguardian.com/technology/series/networkerArticle we were discussing:https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/jun/13/silicon-valley-has-admitted-facial-recognition-technology-is-toxic-about-timeGoogle’s dominance in search, as a graph that is well worth a view:https://www.visualcapitalist.com/this-chart-reveals-googles-true-dominance-over-the-web/Tech and truth - mainstream media turns out to be the biggest amplifier of White House disinformation:https://www-technologyreview-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/www.technologyreview.com/2020/10/07/1009642/mainstream-media-is-the-biggest-amplifier-of-white-house-disinformation/amp/These problems are not new (1984 interview):https://billmoyers.com/content/30-second-president/BILL MOYERS: What I see and hear deals more with the emotions than what I read.TONY SCHWARTZ: That’s right. We are in the business of using PR in a new manner, not in the old print terms of press relations. We are using PR as people’s reactions, personal retrieval of your feelings and associations. PR — people’s recall, of their experiences. PR — planning reactions. That’s our whole new business. It’s a PR business, planning reactions.BILL MOYERS: But isn’t it manipulating people to in effect tell them what they’re feeling instead of telling them what they need to know to vote?TONY SCHWARTZ: I use the word not manipulation, I say partipulation.BILL MOYERS: Partipulation?TONY SCHWARTZ: You have to participate in your own manipulation. In that, you’re bringing things to your manipulation. If you don’t want to participate in it, you could turn off the commercial. You could tune it out. But there are things that get into you. And that’s the participation.The global network of local internets is a step closer:https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-53686390Podcast - Facial recognition and racial profiling - cautionary tale: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-daily/id1200361736?i=1000486946788A spelling out of the substance and scope of surveillance capitalism (Alexander Nix/Cambridge Analytica):https://youtu.be/n8Dd5aVXLCcGoogle in China article (MIT):https://www.technologyreview.com/2018/12/19/138307/how-google-took-on-china-and-lost/China’s AI Surveillance State goes global:https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2020/09/china-ai-surveillance/614197/Podcast - More on Cyberspace and Governance - Preet Bharara (NY state prosecutor dismissed by Donald Trump after refusing to resign) talks to John Carlin, the US Justice Department’s former head of the National Security Division:https://omny.fm/shows/stay-tuned-with-preet/introducing-cyber-space-with-john-carlinThe world is awash with bullshit:https://www.callingbullshit.org/?utm_content=bufferfcd66&utm_medium=social&utm_source=linkedin.com&utm_campaign=bufferFilm - The Social Dilemma:https://www.thesocialdilemma.comhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Social_Dilemma Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dr Piret Toñurist, Systems Thinking lead at the OECD's Observatory for Public Sector Innovation talks about the sense of powerlessness at the heart of leadership. She discusses how the pandemic has offered an opportunity for change, and what transformation looks like. She characterises systems thinking as a neutral zone where the ideology of what has to be done doesn’t exist.Themed on this question of power, our discussion looks at what power is, really, when it comes to the granular detail.Talking Points- Connecting knowing and doing- The end-state fallacy, manifestos and political experiments- Politics as a rash- From where does innovation in schools come?Dr. Piret Tōnurist at the OECD’s Observatory for Public Sector Innovation:https://oecd-opsi.org/about-observatory-of-public-sector-innovation/Articles:https://oecd-opsi.org/author/piret/…at TalTach:https://old.taltech.ee/institutes/ragnar-nurkse-department-of-innovation-and-governance/department-11/academic-staff-5/piret-tonurist-3/“Wicked” Problems:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wicked_problemEnd-state fallacy:https://www.csis.org/analysis/end-state-fallacy-setting-wrong-goals-war-fightingToxteth Housing project: Welsh Streets, Liverpool:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welsh_Streets,_Liverpool Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For this final episode of series 1, I wanted to build on Buckminster Fuller's idea of our planet - our habitat and life-support system - as being like a spaceship - Spaceship Earth, as he calls it - and building on this idea to use two related models for our discussion: the post-crash analysis and the preflight checklistFirst we look at the globally used post-crash analysis as a model for investigating governance - "It's important that they are not looking to blame someone," Ed says.Then we get onto Ed's Preflight checklist - essentially a renewal of our global social contracts, or constitutions, as they are known, that would take into account the conditions necessary for our survival.Finally we hear from Gerald Midgley, philosopher on human systems and founding father of systems thinking as an intentional discipline, spelling out with some excitement the impact of what in many respects has been his life's work.Gerald Midgley:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerald_Midgleyhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_systems_thinkingEd’s preflight checklist for planet Earth:https://www.edstraw.com/principles-for-systemic-governing/Eileen Munro (Episode 2 Contributor) advocating post crash analysis model to address culture of blame in child protection:https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2009/nov/03/serious-case-review-child-protectionOn checklists - great article overall, if you want to cut straight to flying fortress story go about 1/4 of the way in, paragraph opening “On October 30, 1935, at Wright Air Field in Dayton, Ohio…” https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2007/12/10/the-checklistOn October 30, 1935, at Wright Air Field in Dayton, Ohio, the U.S. Army Air Corps held a flight competition for airplane manufacturers vying to build its next-generation long-range bomber. It wasn’t supposed to be much of a competition. In early evaluations, the Boeing Corporation’s gleaming aluminum-alloy Model 299 had trounced the designs of Martin and Douglas. Boeing’s plane could carry five times as many bombs as the Army had requested; it could fly faster than previous bombers, and almost twice as far. A Seattle newspaperman who had glimpsed the plane called it the “flying fortress,” and the name stuck. The flight “competition,” according to the military historian Phillip Meilinger, was regarded as a mere formality. The Army planned to order at least sixty-five of the aircraft.On the Psychology of Military Incompetencehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Psychology_of_Military_Incompetence9 Lessons from the Blue Zones:https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2017/06/changing-the-way-america-eats-moves-and-connects-one-town-at-a-time/Thoughts on Purpose:Listen to Why Cornel West is hopeful (but not optimistic) from Future Perfect on Apple Podcasts. https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/future-perfect/id1438157174?i=1000486452652Welcome to the Anthropocene: https://vimeo.com/anthropocene/shortfilmPerspective, via some very interesting maps:https://earthtime.org Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to The Hidden Power Podcast, Series 2 - Pre-flight Checklist, where we - Ed Straw, and Philip Tottenham - examine conditions necessary for a comfortable and flourishing life on Spaceship Earth, on the far side of the current climate emergency.In this nice, concise episode we revisit and draw some of the connections from series one - governance, systems thinking - and explore how, through this medium of a constitution, or "preflight checklist," as we frame it, we can alleviate some of of the pressures we face, and enhance the joys of the apparently unique paradise we find ourselves living on.Listeners have expressed how much they enjoyed series 1, but still were not clear about what we mean when we talk about systems thinking - so we also try to frame this complex but powerful subject in simple terms.Any questions or comments? Please email us at thehiddenpowerpodcast@gmail.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The first and fundamental principle of this series - and indeed this entire way of looking at things - reflects the unseen, creeping processes causing catastrophic climate change. Why do we need this? How are we to think about it? What can we do?Talking points:industrialisationlimits on human behavioursecondary effects of climate changeour personal relationship to the biosphereself-harm as an image for how we treat our environmentthe future generations act in Walesboundariesconstitutions filter through to all activitiesresponsibility at different levelswhat people with higher incomes can dofocus on where you liveThere are so many links relating to this topic, it's hard to know where to start - but to get a global view on an array of challenges on the horizon, it's hard to beat Earthtime, an open source mapping project which allows you to view other people's stories, or play around with available data yourself:https://earthtime.org/#New economic model: https://time.com/5930093/amsterdam-doughnut-economics/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Not all players convey links - find us on Acast if this text is not clear.Sovereignty - we've heard a lot in the UK about both sovereignty, and "taking back control" - but this taking back of control in the context of leaving the EU has so far barely extended to us as citizens. Why and how is the current UK system so paternalistic? What are the roots of the widespread and long-standing political apathy in the UK? What alternative models can we look to for inspiration?In this episode we examine how the UK's First Past The Post system creates, not least in Boris Johnson, but also Tony Blair and Margaret Thatcher, rulers that are effectively sovereign monarchs, and a citizenry of disempowered subject-consumers. And we explore what it would take for us to assert our sovereignty more effectively.Talking points:The planet is ideally sovereign, but to be practical it's people who are doing the doingWho actually exercises power in the UK?Centralisation leads to bureaucracy leads to powerlessnessThe Welfare System as a case in pointThink Tanks vs. Thinking TanksPeople are perfectly capable, regardless of backgroundSwitzerland's consensual democracy as exemplarFragmentation of the UK as an opportunity for thisHangover of Empire in the current administrationChallenges to active participationLeadership model in AmazonScientific Method, falsification and Karl PopperBonus Links: Sovereignty boffin and Brexit campaigner Claire Fox celebrates the engaging effect that the UK's leaving the EU has had on democratic participation in the UK, and that this is only the beginning - neatly illustrating that for some, Brexit is a gift that keeps on giving, even if for others it is a night - long, dark, damp, and cold - with no promise of morning. Brrr.Pioneering paediatrician and psychotherapist of family systems D.W. Winnicott's 1949 essay exploring the question of maturity in individuals and society, strongly anticipating themes of systems thinking.From the In Our Time History Archive - now pieces of history in themselves:Long history of psychoanalysis and democracy (2002)Thoughts on the Nation State (1999) - prescient and rather Brexity in retrospect. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Anyone following current affairs will see how the rule of law is often stretched to its limit by autocratic leaders seeking to either evade it or bend it to their will - and while this has come to the foreground in the US and UK since 2016, it is a long-running theme in many parts of the world. However the rule of law is not only about holding the powerful to account, it's also about a fundamental feature of life under a functioning government - personal safety. In this episode we delve into how it has emerged as a principle that requires clear articulation, what difference it makes and where we see versions of it in action.Talking points:the rule of law replaces the rule of violenceis an agreement as to how to liveautocracies emerge where constitutions are inadequateneed for independence in judiciarytension with business - eg with datainternational aspect a necessary elementre. the biosphereIreland, 13th C Wales, South Africaadversarial vs inquisitorial justicetruth as therapeuticlaw as empoweringlaw and normsGreat Wikipedia article on the subject:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rule_of_lawStanford SU discussion on rule of law in Hayek:https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/rule-of-law/#HayeThe late Lord Bingham, who posthumously won the Orwell Prize for literature with his book The Rule of Law, speaks at the RSA in 2010:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlMCCGD2TeMNo busted pluggers - Aussies make it easy to follow:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0R20U9zkMmgFrench TV series, Spiral, on BBC:https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0072wk9 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Its decisions are binding.Just because we don't live in a perfect world doesn't mean we can't improve things. If events surrounding the death of Ruth Bader Gainsburg in September 2020 left you despairing at the US Supreme Court, perhaps the Supreme Court of the UK's blocking of Boris Johnson and Dominic Cummings' attempted prorogation of parliament gave you hope.However a constitutional court is concerned with interpretation of the constitution into law, not law as such. And as such, it requires a degree of specialism.Talking points - It sits above the system of governmentThe tragedy of Sally Clark, ignorance in powerThe need for people who understand How is law made? vs How does government work?Diversity of perspectiveEg - Germany, data and social mediaWhat emerges when the constitutional court worksEg - South Africa escapes dictatorshipUS Constitution and separation of powersCitizen coalitionGentlemens' agreements and culture of trustNeoliberalism and culture of exploitationLoss of ethics across societyTrapped in absurd global monetary systemDelusions in the arena of powerThe value of rules and referees1 in 73 Million - tragic ignorance and Sally ClarkNot for the feint hearted - but if you want an epic survey of how our reality is constructed and why, have a look at Adam Curtis' series Can't Get You Out Of My HeadRepublic of South Africa - Court Youtube Channel Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

All lifestyles are accepted – within the constraint of not harming others or the biosphere.Rather than restate what we have been hearing, our focus here is on the logic of diversity from a governance standpoint - why blind-spots are self-destructive and the embrace of diversity is so enriching.Talking points:Pluralism and truthNeoliberalism and consumerist monoculturesRoots of logic of diversity in need for resilienceTribal societies and settled societiesDiversity of capitalist model - Co-ops and QuakersGlobal monetary system as de facto governorUnity in diversity - not liking someone is less important than burning to deathIt's a value - the richness of pluralist societiesLeadership, certainty and diversity of perspectivesHumility: disconfirmation of beliefs as the root of all wisdomDiversity in forms of feedback (language, media etc - vs truth as such)Monoculture in Chinese politics centred on fear of the leader = pandemic...and culture of target-settingLiberty, Equality, Fraternity - and Swiss National Service...as a way of escaping our media bubbles...and developing network of consensus on eg. climate actionListening to people you don't likePluralism as a political philosophyon wikipediaIbn Khaldun - Berbers and the Maghreb (14th C! Not 10th;)on wikipediaIn Our Time EpisodeSuccessful prison experiment in NorwayBastøy Prison Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

...as to what is in and what is out of the Commons, ie - what is commonly held. Is this about property, or value generation? These simplifications mask the vastness and complexity of human life, and in this episode we explore where common ownership might be effective, and what it takes to make it work.List of Talking Points:What is the commons?The Tragedy of the Commons...as it relates to the BiosphereEnclosure...and the commodification of the individual...and monopolies...and rent payingTypes of commonsEleanor Ostrom's design principles...examples around the worldOther commons to consider: air, open source software, drugsCommons forms as generating more valuelocal park problem traced to governance and taxation model...and federalism regarding cities etcCommons as a means of citizen engagementLocal action linked to wider system can bring about political progressEvolved definition of Commons: resource + community + set of social protocolsExtra-monetary value derived from commons...vs consumerismCommons thinking and global resource conflictsThinking forward to the next set of episodes: Democracy and SubsidiarityLinks:Commons Wikipedia article:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CommonsEnclosure Wikipedia:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EnclosureTragedy of the Commons on Wikipediahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tragedy_of_the_commonsEleanor Ostrom's design principles - wikipedia:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elinor_Ostrom#Design_principles_for_Common_Pool_Resource_(CPR)_institution...youtube (2 parts) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEcMLEwaltcplus https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTQPy9tC5WEGreat David Boiller exploration of commons enhancing city life:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3itmhDuem8 3000 year old Persian Qanats and Kariz on Wikipediahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traditional_water_sources_of_Persian_antiquity#Qanat_and_Kariz Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.