“The old world is dying, and the new world struggles to be born: now is the time of monsters.” (Gramsci) 🇵🇸 🇺🇦
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2026-04-20T13:17:48+02:00 Event JSON
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Last Notes npub1u0ws28d25uwpssjmysvt7fccp86zf5fsvdz8j4527ktcy33t0nhs38jeq2 Simon Johnson depressing to read the DHSC response, missing the point entirely npub1u0ws28d25uwpssjmysvt7fccp86zf5fsvdz8j4527ktcy33t0nhs38jeq2 Simon Johnson I think it needs to be recognised though that the Green Party is also a coalition of interests encompassing also people who may have more (in traditional terms) right wing or liberal economic views allied with concern for nature npub1u0ws28d25uwpssjmysvt7fccp86zf5fsvdz8j4527ktcy33t0nhs38jeq2 Simon Johnson quite agree but taking as read the fact that Reform is full of deeply unpleasant individuals who are totally unfit to run anything, what I find even more shocking - and vindicates what Grenfell residents were saying even before the fire - is that this man is described as “former head of Homes England”. npub1u0ws28d25uwpssjmysvt7fccp86zf5fsvdz8j4527ktcy33t0nhs38jeq2 Simon Johnson the Grauniad was also reporting last year, when the DoH was leaning on NHS Trusts to accelerate its introduction, that frontline staff were also in revolt because the software was useless compared to what they were already using npub1u0ws28d25uwpssjmysvt7fccp86zf5fsvdz8j4527ktcy33t0nhs38jeq2 Simon Johnson maybe proposing some measures to introduce democracy rather than this 5-yearly sham of a reverse beauty contest in which most voters only have the choice of the least worst and are then put back in their box, excluded from any meaningful discussion by a perfidious media that spouts only court gossip, a governing class that holds citizens in contempt and a political system that embodies privilege & corruption npub1u0ws28d25uwpssjmysvt7fccp86zf5fsvdz8j4527ktcy33t0nhs38jeq2 Simon Johnson Just a #labour Prime Minister repeating two Islamaphobic lies in Parliament, so desperate is he to undermine the #greenparty that has replaced Starmer’s failed Tory-Lites as the progressive voice in the #uk npub1u0ws28d25uwpssjmysvt7fccp86zf5fsvdz8j4527ktcy33t0nhs38jeq2 Simon Johnson I think it’s a fool’s errand trying to read potential GE trends from a byelection result but the evidence from Europe is clear: when centre-left parties ape the far-right, they don’t neutralise them, they normalise & strengthen them. I’ve been saying for >2 years that Labour is rolling out the red carpet for Reform npub1u0ws28d25uwpssjmysvt7fccp86zf5fsvdz8j4527ktcy33t0nhs38jeq2 Simon Johnson as with all public services, it strikes me the collapse is principally down to neoliberal ideology that everything is a business that must be liberated from the scourge of taxpayer subsidy and make a profit or die npub1u0ws28d25uwpssjmysvt7fccp86zf5fsvdz8j4527ktcy33t0nhs38jeq2 Simon Johnson even in the unlikely event it was the printer’s error, that’s irrelevant. Conform UK’s election agent is legally responsible for compliance npub1u0ws28d25uwpssjmysvt7fccp86zf5fsvdz8j4527ktcy33t0nhs38jeq2 Simon Johnson the article only mentions in passing, and slightly indirectly in my view, the biggest reason why the notion of “sustainable peat harvesting” is a tautological & dangerous nonsense npub1u0ws28d25uwpssjmysvt7fccp86zf5fsvdz8j4527ktcy33t0nhs38jeq2 Simon Johnson I think it’s also, to some extent at least, a function of the last Tory govt having made Child Benefit no longer a simple, universal benefit but introducing the principle of conditionality, by establishing the notion that higher rate taxpayers neither need nor deserve child support, rather than accepting truly progressive taxation as a key fiscal balance npub1u0ws28d25uwpssjmysvt7fccp86zf5fsvdz8j4527ktcy33t0nhs38jeq2 Simon Johnson an excellent article I thought but, as 🇬🇧 & European NATO members more generally have embedded US tech even more deeply into their military infrastructures, it’s hard to see how they could now change course from their pathetic appeasement of Trump without risking their entire defence capability being effectively switched off. All while they continue to appease the US Broligarchy & their flooding of information ecosystems with far right disinformation npub1u0ws28d25uwpssjmysvt7fccp86zf5fsvdz8j4527ktcy33t0nhs38jeq2 Simon Johnson every “wicked problem” I’ve ever come across has had an expert claiming the answer is better education npub1u0ws28d25uwpssjmysvt7fccp86zf5fsvdz8j4527ktcy33t0nhs38jeq2 Simon Johnson given it was evidently a two horse race between Plaid & Reform Ltd, progressives of all hues would have backed Plaid - why split the vote and let the far right in? npub1u0ws28d25uwpssjmysvt7fccp86zf5fsvdz8j4527ktcy33t0nhs38jeq2 Simon Johnson don’t know about the Lib Dems but you’re certainly right about Green Party England & Wales, in which members determine policy at conference npub1u0ws28d25uwpssjmysvt7fccp86zf5fsvdz8j4527ktcy33t0nhs38jeq2 Simon Johnson couldn’t agree more. Until the world’s military powers insert troops to enforce the UN resolutions on Palestinian territorial integrity, expel the IDF from illegally occupied lands and ensures medical & food aid are delivered to the people of Gaza, it is nothing more than trying to wash the bloodstains from their hands npub1u0ws28d25uwpssjmysvt7fccp86zf5fsvdz8j4527ktcy33t0nhs38jeq2 Simon Johnson compared to renewables, nuclear is hugely more expensive &, while other countries invest in meaningful, proven & safe storage solutions, we partner with the govt of an unstable lunatic to fast-track an unproven tech & “streamline” safety regulations npub1u0ws28d25uwpssjmysvt7fccp86zf5fsvdz8j4527ktcy33t0nhs38jeq2 Simon Johnson you don’t think the fact she left school pregnant at 16 without any qualifications, worked for years as a care worker, then became a trade union official through which she became involved in politics, and having a disabled child might give her a few insights into real life? npub1u0ws28d25uwpssjmysvt7fccp86zf5fsvdz8j4527ktcy33t0nhs38jeq2 Simon Johnson “I’m appalled at recent events in Gaza” npub1u0ws28d25uwpssjmysvt7fccp86zf5fsvdz8j4527ktcy33t0nhs38jeq2 Simon Johnson but will nobody think of the accountants and tax consultants currently retained by the Treasury to ensure tax guides are replete with loopholes they can then exploit on behalf of their wealthy & corporate clients? npub1u0ws28d25uwpssjmysvt7fccp86zf5fsvdz8j4527ktcy33t0nhs38jeq2 Simon Johnson I thought you would be but thought the point worth underlining explicitly npub1u0ws28d25uwpssjmysvt7fccp86zf5fsvdz8j4527ktcy33t0nhs38jeq2 Simon Johnson quite agree, though, having worked for several years in debt, welfare benefits & housing advice, I would take issue with the “often” relating to external causes of poverty npub1u0ws28d25uwpssjmysvt7fccp86zf5fsvdz8j4527ktcy33t0nhs38jeq2 Simon Johnson “If the risk of a plane crashing was as high as the risk of the AMOC collapsing, none of us would ever fly because they would not let the plane take off. And the idea that our little spaceship, our planet, is under the risk of essentially crashing and we’re still continuing business as usual is mindblowing.” npub1u0ws28d25uwpssjmysvt7fccp86zf5fsvdz8j4527ktcy33t0nhs38jeq2 Simon Johnson for which act of non-violent resistance, 🇬🇧 govt - led by a “human rights lawyer” is planning to ban #palestine Action as “a terrorist organisation” npub1u0ws28d25uwpssjmysvt7fccp86zf5fsvdz8j4527ktcy33t0nhs38jeq2 Simon Johnson couldn’t agree more but of course, the irony of slashing PIP is it is the one thing that enables many disabled people who are employed to carry on working npub1u0ws28d25uwpssjmysvt7fccp86zf5fsvdz8j4527ktcy33t0nhs38jeq2 Simon Johnson history repeating itself 30 years on from Netanyahu financing Hamas in Gaza in order to undermine the Fatah-led government npub1u0ws28d25uwpssjmysvt7fccp86zf5fsvdz8j4527ktcy33t0nhs38jeq2 Simon Johnson 2/2 npub1u0ws28d25uwpssjmysvt7fccp86zf5fsvdz8j4527ktcy33t0nhs38jeq2 Simon Johnson as a #gpew member, I find this difficult. The electoral strategy to date has self-evidently worked well in its own terms & elected office brings important benefits beyond the obvious npub1u0ws28d25uwpssjmysvt7fccp86zf5fsvdz8j4527ktcy33t0nhs38jeq2 Simon Johnson superb - thanks for sharing 🙏🏾 npub1u0ws28d25uwpssjmysvt7fccp86zf5fsvdz8j4527ktcy33t0nhs38jeq2 Simon Johnson I read this article with growing fury then, on Mastodon, it appeared in my thread just after your more recent post about #farage spending 24 hours a week on other jobs npub1u0ws28d25uwpssjmysvt7fccp86zf5fsvdz8j4527ktcy33t0nhs38jeq2 Simon Johnson what I find especially galling is that the Labour leadership, having learned how to game FPTP so effectively (huge parliamentary majority with small vote share) cling to that system & so lurch ever more rightwards to protect their red wall, rather than releasing the power of that, presumably dispersed, majority through electoral reform as part of wholesale democratic renewal, which would bolster their natural support & have so many wider benefits npub1u0ws28d25uwpssjmysvt7fccp86zf5fsvdz8j4527ktcy33t0nhs38jeq2 Simon Johnson it’s almost always the opposite way round because either politicians are seduced by the shiny new gizmo and love the sense of control it gives them or managers likewise npub1u0ws28d25uwpssjmysvt7fccp86zf5fsvdz8j4527ktcy33t0nhs38jeq2 Simon Johnson Design has multiple purposes to satisfy multiple stakeholders, invariably prioritising the recording of KPIs which always hinder learning & improvement npub1u0ws28d25uwpssjmysvt7fccp86zf5fsvdz8j4527ktcy33t0nhs38jeq2 Simon Johnson in my experience, the problem with IT is invariably more embedded & systemic than a lack of training. Public sector services I’ve seen genuinely commit to learning how to do the right things for people invariably learn that IT is one of the biggest obstacles npub1u0ws28d25uwpssjmysvt7fccp86zf5fsvdz8j4527ktcy33t0nhs38jeq2 Simon Johnson agreed and, of course, health prevention is far wider than health: ensuring people have sufficient income for a healthy diet, housing that doesn’t make them sick, air quality that enables kids’ lungs & brains to grow healthily, access to thriving natural green spaces, etc, etc are all vital. npub1u0ws28d25uwpssjmysvt7fccp86zf5fsvdz8j4527ktcy33t0nhs38jeq2 Simon Johnson indeed - absolutely right npub1u0ws28d25uwpssjmysvt7fccp86zf5fsvdz8j4527ktcy33t0nhs38jeq2 Simon Johnson 2/2 npub1u0ws28d25uwpssjmysvt7fccp86zf5fsvdz8j4527ktcy33t0nhs38jeq2 Simon Johnson I used to hear the systems thinking gurus from John Seddon’s Vanguard, with whom I worked closely, often say, “If you want people to do a good job, give them a good job to do.” npub1u0ws28d25uwpssjmysvt7fccp86zf5fsvdz8j4527ktcy33t0nhs38jeq2 Simon Johnson I think we also have to include the utter systemic shafting of younger generations and the resulting despair of ever securing a decent job or secure home, still less a liveable pension, while the media incessantly attacks their invented “snowflake” mentality (trans: caring) npub1u0ws28d25uwpssjmysvt7fccp86zf5fsvdz8j4527ktcy33t0nhs38jeq2 Simon Johnson absolutely, though it’s only the extreme extension of the ideology of the last 40-odd years that, by definition, the private sector should run everything because, of course, successfully exploiting your workers and customers to maximise shareholder returns uniquely qualifies you to know how to run a hospital / government department / benefits system / adult & child social care, etc, etc 🤷🏽♂️ npub1u0ws28d25uwpssjmysvt7fccp86zf5fsvdz8j4527ktcy33t0nhs38jeq2 Simon Johnson fascinating! npub1u0ws28d25uwpssjmysvt7fccp86zf5fsvdz8j4527ktcy33t0nhs38jeq2 Simon Johnson as we’ve suffered decades of “policy-based evidence” (can’t remember who said this) as opposed to the evidence-based policy governments should deploy, how would anyone know? npub1u0ws28d25uwpssjmysvt7fccp86zf5fsvdz8j4527ktcy33t0nhs38jeq2 Simon Johnson I see your US study and raise you Finland & Canada in recent years and numerous previous studies across the world npub1u0ws28d25uwpssjmysvt7fccp86zf5fsvdz8j4527ktcy33t0nhs38jeq2 Simon Johnson it is truly breathtaking. They had 4 years since Starmer won the leadership, considerably longer that Miliband has held an energy brief, yet they’ve come into govt, seemingly without a clue how, or indeed whether, to deliver their stated green ambitions, instead being swayed this way & that by whichever industry lobbyist they spoke to - or had money from - last npub1u0ws28d25uwpssjmysvt7fccp86zf5fsvdz8j4527ktcy33t0nhs38jeq2 Simon Johnson this is the justification for the inbuilt cruelty of the system, but it’s complete nonsense npub1u0ws28d25uwpssjmysvt7fccp86zf5fsvdz8j4527ktcy33t0nhs38jeq2 Simon Johnson no, on the contrary… npub1u0ws28d25uwpssjmysvt7fccp86zf5fsvdz8j4527ktcy33t0nhs38jeq2 Simon Johnson it is truly terrifying npub1u0ws28d25uwpssjmysvt7fccp86zf5fsvdz8j4527ktcy33t0nhs38jeq2 Simon Johnson Economics are, like all other social sciences, important but classical economics which, as I understand it, makes no account for the input of energy nor the output of waste, is sheer lunacy that will, quite rapidly, in all likelihood, be the death of us all as we drive our societies through climate and nature tipping points to a biosphere we can no longer inhabit npub1u0ws28d25uwpssjmysvt7fccp86zf5fsvdz8j4527ktcy33t0nhs38jeq2 Simon Johnson couldn’t agree more. I’m guessing you’ll be familiar with Pickett & Wilkinson’s work showing conclusively that, internationally, the greater level of inequality an economy generates, the worse the outcomes across every imaginable metric, and worse for everyone, not just the poor npub1u0ws28d25uwpssjmysvt7fccp86zf5fsvdz8j4527ktcy33t0nhs38jeq2 Simon Johnson strikes me that, like all the “wicked” problems we face - employment, housing, public services, climate & nature collapse, etc, the problem is not what it seems so trying to “fix” it is what Argyris calls single-loop thinking and doomed to fail npub1u0ws28d25uwpssjmysvt7fccp86zf5fsvdz8j4527ktcy33t0nhs38jeq2 Simon Johnson that they promised “the highest economic growth in the G7” alongside the “green transition” merely served to prove they didn’t have the slightest idea what transitioning to a sustainable economy actually means npub1u0ws28d25uwpssjmysvt7fccp86zf5fsvdz8j4527ktcy33t0nhs38jeq2 Simon Johnson couldn’t agree more npub1u0ws28d25uwpssjmysvt7fccp86zf5fsvdz8j4527ktcy33t0nhs38jeq2 Simon Johnson but it’s like so many things in the #uk… npub1u0ws28d25uwpssjmysvt7fccp86zf5fsvdz8j4527ktcy33t0nhs38jeq2 Simon Johnson is there a formal definition of what constitutes a political party? If not, it surely isn’t that difficult to come up with one 🤔 npub1u0ws28d25uwpssjmysvt7fccp86zf5fsvdz8j4527ktcy33t0nhs38jeq2 Simon Johnson or decades of underinvestment meaning so many UK businesses and institutions are regarded as a poor investment when rapid return seems to be the priority for UK financial institutions? npub1u0ws28d25uwpssjmysvt7fccp86zf5fsvdz8j4527ktcy33t0nhs38jeq2 Simon Johnson as a member of the GP of England & Wales, this article screams to me what I’ve been thinking for a while: that whilst the Target to Win strategy to get closer to political power is important, our focus must be on community engagement and organising npub1u0ws28d25uwpssjmysvt7fccp86zf5fsvdz8j4527ktcy33t0nhs38jeq2 Simon Johnson indeed. But his statements when Leader of the Opposition made it fairly clear that, other than a bit of potential tinkering at the edges, the human rights lawyer [sic] is entirely comfortable with the removal of the right to peaceful protest npub1u0ws28d25uwpssjmysvt7fccp86zf5fsvdz8j4527ktcy33t0nhs38jeq2 Simon Johnson I think it’s much more than being on the streets expressing our outrage though. We need to be in our neighbourhoods when we can, doing whatever might help build community solidarity and human relationships npub1u0ws28d25uwpssjmysvt7fccp86zf5fsvdz8j4527ktcy33t0nhs38jeq2 Simon Johnson of course, the benefit of CCS to the fossil fuel industry is not just being paid to pretend to clean up the mess they made, it’s that they anticipate using the CO2 under pressure to force oil and gas reserves to the surface that would otherwise be unreachable or uneconomic to recover, enabling them to pollute even more npub1u0ws28d25uwpssjmysvt7fccp86zf5fsvdz8j4527ktcy33t0nhs38jeq2 Simon Johnson elderly person here - I absolutely do not look forward to this. I’m mad as hell and doing whatever I can to nudge the dial in whatever way I can, not only because I have kids and grandkids whose futures are being fucked but, by virtue of being a human being rather than a consumer, I actually care that my brothers and sisters across the world are dying from our excess now npub1u0ws28d25uwpssjmysvt7fccp86zf5fsvdz8j4527ktcy33t0nhs38jeq2 Simon Johnson I’ve said this for some time. As the article says, a Trump packed SCOTUS can be relied upon, as the ultimate arbiter of any legal dispute, to fall into line, not to mention the proven MAGA capacity for armed insurrection - I don’t recall the volume of reports of electoral violence, burning mail-in voting boxes, etc previously npub1u0ws28d25uwpssjmysvt7fccp86zf5fsvdz8j4527ktcy33t0nhs38jeq2 Simon Johnson absolutely both! npub1u0ws28d25uwpssjmysvt7fccp86zf5fsvdz8j4527ktcy33t0nhs38jeq2 Simon Johnson true npub1u0ws28d25uwpssjmysvt7fccp86zf5fsvdz8j4527ktcy33t0nhs38jeq2 Simon Johnson quite agree. And it’s even more pernicious as it aims to stimulate demand by playing on our insecurities and anxieties npub1u0ws28d25uwpssjmysvt7fccp86zf5fsvdz8j4527ktcy33t0nhs38jeq2 Simon Johnson couldn’t agree more. We already have the Nolan Principles, which have been in place for years and which public servants follow instinctively npub1u0ws28d25uwpssjmysvt7fccp86zf5fsvdz8j4527ktcy33t0nhs38jeq2 Simon Johnson it’s like they don’t see rightists as being in any way controversial, whereas lefties? npub1u0ws28d25uwpssjmysvt7fccp86zf5fsvdz8j4527ktcy33t0nhs38jeq2 Simon Johnson and, without appropriate resourcing for enforcement, by local authorities or others, and limited access to advice to enable tenants or prospective tenants to exercise their rights, I fear the power imbalance is likely to render these oh-so-limited changes fairly meaningless in practice npub1u0ws28d25uwpssjmysvt7fccp86zf5fsvdz8j4527ktcy33t0nhs38jeq2 Simon Johnson it’s a truly depressing article though pleasing she has found better ways to contribute to her community since stepping down npub1u0ws28d25uwpssjmysvt7fccp86zf5fsvdz8j4527ktcy33t0nhs38jeq2 Simon Johnson Choosing orgs that can nominate to give somebody’s idea of a representative chamber is exclusionary
