A timely reminder – The King is subject to the law.
‘to no one will we sell, to no one deny or delay right or justice’
An affirmation that authority should be subject to law arising from the community itself, Magna Carta is a foundation stone of constitutional and parliamentary government.
Let’s hope the Foundation for Liberty is correct when they say:
800 years on, Magna Carta’s best days lie ahead. As an idea of freedom, democracy and the rule of law, it is lapping against the shores of despotism.
The first comes from our own Clarke & Dawe. Corey Doctorow reminded me of this earlier in the week.
The debt crisis in 2010
The second comes from US Senator Elizabeth Warren [ @SenWarren ] speaking at the Re/code conference this past Tuesday. During a question and answer session, a voter asked why politicians aren’t building infrastructure or implementing other policy that respects the will of the people.
Her succinct response and treatise on democratic representation and public policy stasis…
The disturbing scenes in London over the last few days bring in to a stark contrast the competing challenges of the immediate, short-term need for social order and the extended, long-term need for social inclusion.
There are many thousands of pictures and words that will be written about this London summer.
The soul sinks at the pictures – of a woman leaping from a burning building, of the owners of a family shop seeing their life’s work turned to ash, at the sight of a thug unzipping the rucksack still on the back of an injured teenager and taking from it what he wants. The soul sinks at the sight of people trashing the places where at least some of them live.
Zoe Williams, also writing in the Guardian about the psychology of looting says:
Looting in Hackney
this is what happens when people don’t have anything, when they have their noses constantly rubbed in stuff they can’t afford, and they have no reason ever to believe that they will be able to afford it. Hiller takes up this idea:”Consumer society relies on your ability to participate in it. So what we recognise as a consumer now was born out of shorter hours, higher wages and the availability of credit. If you’re dealing with a lot of people who don’t have the last two, that contract doesn’t work. They seem to be targeting the stores selling goods they would normally consume. So perhaps they’re rebelling against the system that denies its bounty to them because they can’t afford it.”
Many are asking, “Is this a one-off or the beginning of wider, deeper unrest?”
I don’t know the answer to that question, but I suspect the longer-term response rests in the effectiveness or otherwise of some fledgling educational and social-enterprise experiments.
I am particularly familiar with Hackney, having visited and studied some of the educational institutions that have been developed in the area over the last decade, so the events there strike a personal and professional chord with me.
This is an economic struggle for social mobility and schools will be one of the keys to the success or failure of these communities, indeed the wider society.
Mossbourne Camera
Hackney and surrounds has been the site of unique educational and social-enterprise experiments [for want of a better word] with the introduction of the Mossbourne Community Academy and the Petchey Academy. These were part of Tony Blair’s “Academy” programme established in 2000. These schools are directly funded by central government and are independent of local government control. These schools receive additional support from personal donors, benefactors or corporate sponsors, either financially or in kind, they are self-governing and many are registered charities or operated by other educational charities.
Mossbourne community academy was established seven years ago on the rubble of Hackney Downs school, which was once dubbed the worst in the country.
Mossbourne Community Academy opened in September 2004 and is now an average sized
Mossbourne Grounds
inner-city school with substantially more boys than girls. The proportion of pupils entitled to free school meals is very high, as is the proportion of students from minority ethnic backgrounds. The proportion of students for whom English is not their first language is well above average and the proportion of students with special educational needs and/or disabilities is above average. The academy specialises in information and communication technology (ICT). In summer 2009 the first group of Year 11 students took public examinations. In September 2009 the newly created sixth form began with a sizable group of Year 12 students. The academy is extremely heavily over-subscribed. It reflects a fully comprehensive intake drawn from the locality. The academy has a stable staff and high student stability.
The Petchey Academy specialises in health, care and medical science. The academy moved into its new premises in September 2007. The students reflect the wide ethnic mix in Hackney; about half are of Black African or Caribbean heritage and a significant proportion come from homes where English is not the first language, but few are in the early stages of learning English. The local area is one of considerable disadvantage. About a quarter of students have learning difficulties and/or disabilities, which is higher than that typically found. The academy is significantly over-subscribed and draws its students from about 40 primary schools.
The initiative of the new Academy schools was [and still is] highly controversial, but the focus on producing achievement where previously there was none and focusing on access to employment and higher education pathways, where previously there were none has to be recognised as “drawing the line in the sand” for future generations.
Obviously, the proof will be in the results of these schools. The most recent Ofsted report [ Office for Standards in Education] clearly demonstrates exceptional and outstanding achievement rates for students attending the Mossbourne Academy and good achievement for the Petchey Academy.
In 2009, it was reported that the Mossbourne Academy produced an extraordinary 84% of its pupils achieving five good GCSEs including both English and maths – a performance way above the national average, by children who started out below educational par.
In the context of these riots and civil disorder, one wonders what role these institutions are playing, or can play in the future? This is a new dimension to the challenge of providing social mobility and the promise of participation in society for these schools.
Of course this is too early to tell, but the growing divides in modern societies in wealth, employment and more importantly, simple opportunity, are challenges that we all need to consider.
The Gini index of income disparity since World War Two offers some insight in to the challenges we can expect to see in countries around the world, as in many cases, fewer and fewer people not only possess more, but more importantly fewer and fewer seem to have access to any pathways, traditionally provided by a “good education” to the jobs, incomes and therefore the lives that are part of a traditional social contract.
Gini Index since WWII
The question for for our democracies seems to be, when is enough inequality enough?
One can’t help but wonder if the the lack of agreement between the Democratic and Republican parties over the proposed extension of the US debt ceiling is anything more than grand political theatre, although this time it appears to be a different ball-game with the growing role and influence of the “tea-party” members.
Perhaps more telling is the role of David and Charles Koch and the political and organisational might they bring to bare on the debate in Washington. If nothing else, these guys are serious.
If West-Wing writers are to be believed, then we will see a last minute agreement that will [probably] temporarily extend the limit. This has to make you smile…
The larger danger is perhaps the longer-term rancour and uncertainty these events will inevitably inject in to US politics. Going so close to the wire with those that genuinely are prepared to default, will spook the market and ratings agencies. I doubt the US will default, although this time, I BELIEVE they might. That’s all it takes for the markets to desert the ship. No doubt the ratings agencies will think long and hard about the ratings….
The Atlantic had an interesting article in May of this year, outlining the IMF’s charting of the US Debt and the similarities to Japan a decade ago.
This is a very new world. A generation of western nations that have spent, but not necessarily built [in the good times] will begin to demonstrate the lack of foresight that previous generations have had.
In its simplest form here in Australia, we have had decades of tax-cuts [enough for milk-shakes and hamburgers or perhaps a new television] but when it comes to genuine national priorities like Climate Change, Broadband networks, rail [fast or otherwise], ports, shipping, medical research, education, indigenous health etc, we seem frozen in the weakness of what will win the next election rather than bi-partisan commitments to improving the nation over the medium and long-term.
Modern western politics is not functioning as well as it should [perhaps it is doing the best it can?] and many are missing out on the riches and benefits experienced by increasingly smaller numbers within those societies.
The growing tail of inequity is seen most starkly in the education and health outcomes in communities across not only our own country, but many western democracies.
Drew Westin writes an opinion piece in the New York Times, thinking aloud about Barack Obama’s mind-set in the Presidency – What Happened to Obama’s Passion
Paul Krugman also comments on Westin’s piece with his own observations – “Stuck in the muddle”
AUSTRALIANS could use electronic voting systems in next year’s federal election if a proposed trial goes ahead.
The proposal arises from a report by the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters on the 2004 federal election, published in October.
Among its recommendations are a trial of electronic voting systems for use by blind and visually impaired people.
Federal cabinet would examine the recommendation within six weeks, a spokesman for Special Minister of State Gary Nairn said.
