My HP printer won’t work without a full set of four ink cartridges, which costs £61. Some weeks ago, it developed a fault, but I found I could still scan and send my ‘copy’ as an email attachment. Printers are highly sophisticated devices, to sell ink – and because I was using none, it shut down my scanner access – I suspect illegally. I purchased a very simple, inkless scanner from Argos, and a highlight of my week was discarding the printer in a skip at the recycling centre. I’ve escaped the great printing-ink scam.
There is general acceptance that our present capitalism is taking humankind ‘off a cliff’ of inequality – I find myself increasingly absorbed by the possible shape and disposition of our ‘next’ economy. Interestingly, none of the pundits predict the end of the effective ‘market mechanism’; but there is widespread consensus that future businesses will be required to demonstrate that they operate for the common good – a new ‘public philosophy’. Present US Anti-Trust laws are intended to protect consumers from predatory and monopolistic business practices – but if they can’t ever moderate the distribution of ink, what chance with the might of Amazon, Google, Facebook etc.
Those of us who favour citizen direct action, were encouraged last week by the spontaneous, peaceful gathering in Glasgow’s Kenmure Street, where hundreds came out to protest the treatment of their friends and neighbours. Similarly, consumers, acting together, can take control of markets. This short video exposes the printer business, as intentional, systematic extortion – which should be criminalised.
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I’m underwhelmed by the return of Shona Robison to the Scottish Cabinet, to assume responsibility for our Voluntary Sector – in a portfolio crammed with other duties. For several years, it has been clear that the Govt’s Third Sector Division has been rudderless – without leadership on strategy; repeated rhetoric about ‘community empowerment’ or ‘local democracy’, I consider to be ‘deliberate untruths’ to mask top-down national programmes – centralism. Our sector now needs a minister who will be ‘hands on’; honest and clear about Third Sector policy; who will maintain sufficient contact with the front-line to know what’s really happening; close enough to prevent civil servants imposing their own distortions.
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The anger of poverty; many thousands of Scots have suffered multi-generational deprivation, and when ‘agitated’ can revert to the solace of ‘tribal’ identity – but last Saturday’s disgraceful drunken behaviour in Glasgow cannot be tolerated – must be purged. Good article by Andrew Smith about some Rangers tribal distortions; Celtic have their own variants. Any institutions, which intentionally promote sectarian bitterness, should be exposed.
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I’ve never been anti-semitic, but I won’t pretend that I’m not angered by the Israeli State’s behaviour towards Palestine – the disproportionate bombing of densely populated civilian housing – their determination to annexe territory on the West Bank. From dozens of articles, I’ve chosen The Conversation – for their fact-checking rigour.
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There’s a heartening piece in the Guardian about how, across Europe, small worker-led collectives are springing up to challenge the giant food delivery platforms like Just Eat, Deliveroo etc. The amalgamation of digital platforms with worker co-operatives looks like a winning formula – especially with the young, avoiding exploitative corporates.
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This openDemocracy article is about the current debate in England (fan-led review) about reforming the ownership of football clubs. There’s an understanding that not all institutions need to be profit driven, on market principles – that sometimes ‘social ownership’ is more fitting. The article identifies an opportunity for a wider debate about society – let’s use it.
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From a 2012 article in the New Statesman by political commentator David Marquand.
“For Neoliberals, the unhindered pursuit of individual self-interest in free, competitive markets is morally right, as well as economically efficient. Despite the current crisis, this vision is still enormously seductive. It bathes immense disparities of reward in the odour of sanctity. It tells the ultra-rich that they are morally entitled to their riches. Above all, it runs with the grain of a society in awe of the holy trinity of choice, freedom and the individual, in virtually every sphere of life, from the most intimate to the most public. Good capitalism will not replace bad capitalism until that trinity is toppled from its perch. What is needed is a new public philosophy, hammered out in a national conversation transcending old divisions of party and creed.”
