Ed Dowding

Category: Politics

PoW: Philosophy on Second Life

http://pocket.co/sdtCN

The safety of an abusive relationship

“To break a law which conscience tells you is unjust is, in reality, to express the highest respect for the law. Speaking out against injustice is a profoundly political act. The best people in history put themselves on the line.”

Declaration of the 99%

Stupid hippies out there protesting don’t know what they want and I’m not sure how sleeping in a tent does anything anyway I mean that’s basically camping isn’t it? No, you’ve just got to go with the flow and look after number one, that’s what I say. I mean just look at this summary list ...

Networked intelligence

A contract with our children.

99% of what follows is from Fifty Degrees Below by Kim Stanley Robinson. It is a great book, much like all his others. I have only edited it in places to make it easier to read out of context. I think it makes a magnificent start.   If the scientific community were to propose a ...

Permaculture principles

It seems this list can bring wisdom and insight to pretty much everything we do. Apart from the more specific ones (like ‘keep water high on the land’, but maybe just try to metaphor these as taoist haikus to trigger bewildering insights.) Relative Location Components placed in a system are viewed relatively, not in isolation. ...

A 10% strike by the 99%?

This is a work in progress. I first wrote it after Copenhagen failed to agree anything, and am in the process of updating and amending for the Occupy movement. Please get in touch if interested. Problem Sigh. Where to begin? Broadly speaking, however.. Most of our critical anatomy was never designed for the world we ...

How to make legal documents interesting

http://www.legislation.gov.uk Ok.. maybe it’s not interesting, but it’s certainly a big step towards better.

Visualising an economy of plenty

New Dream Mini-Views: Visualizing a Plenitude Economy from Center for a New American Dream on Vimeo. via Visualizing a Plenitude Economy on Vimeo.

American spending, in perspective

The Chart That Should Accompany All Discussions of the Debt Ceiling – James Fallows – The Atlantic.

My MP strives for growth

My MP strives for growth, quite possibly by selling your medical data to the pharmaceutical industry: The Department of Health should examine how to unlock the value of the UK’s goldmine of patient data – the holy grail of modern biomedical research worth billions to the Pharma industry. He’s also keen to invest in road ...

Almost enough to make one optimistic

Egypt demands better governance, and lots of countries follow suit. MPs do a semi-u-turn and decide not to sell of forests Caroline Spelman issued an extraordinary apology yesterday as she scrapped plans to sell off England’s forests, telling MPs: “I’m sorry, we got this one wrong.” The Environment Secretary’s act of public contrition helped to ...

Fish, Forests, and the 21st Century commons

An extract from a letter I’ve just written to my MP, George Freeman, the PPS to Gregory Barker as Minister of State, Department of Energy and Climate Change. In the meantime I wonder if I might press home one or two contemporary issues? Firstly you are no doubt aware of the “Hugh’s Fish Fight” campaign. ...

Neo-Classical elements: Time, money, energy, politics

The world used to be (perceived to be) made up of four elements: Earth, air, fire, and water. A few years back Ollie and I figured all the problems in the world would go away if only we could sort out the energy thing. Not least because if we really nailed it we could just ...

Vision 2050. From here to there.

Zoom.it – Image foTF.

Nature's gift: How much is the ecosystem worth?

A great series of articles from the BBC. 1. The full impact of the degradation of the natural world on the global economy – both on business and consumers. 2. The direct costs to businesses, both large and small. 3. The economic benefits of preserving the natural world.

20 get rich quick schemes

Whilst I love seeing headlines like this Leaders at the G20 summit in Canada agree the richest members will halve their budget deficits within three years.  (BBC News) They beg the questions Where is all that money coming from (or not going to)? Are they going to be creating wealth and making savings (“G20 stop ...

BBC News – New government: Reaction in quotes

Hooray! Listen – you’ve heard my comment, which is one word. It’s the first time you’ve had a one word statement and it is, hooray. And I’ll repeat it. Paddy Ashdown BBC News – New government: Reaction in quotes.

"We are now a 3 party country"

We are now a 3 party country John Humphries, Today, Radio 4 We have been a 3 party country all my life. More than that, in fact. The media has failed to represent this truth fairly and is now acting surprised like it’s not their fault that the LibDems haven’t been taken seriously. When people ...

Temporary Autonomous Zone

A TAZ is the socio-political tactic of creating temporary spaces that elude formal structures of control – the best way to create a non-hierarchical system of social relationships is to concentrate on the present and on releasing one’s own mind from the controlling mechanisms that have been imposed on it. Temporary Autonomous Zone, by Hakim ...