Welcome to the Common Good get-together 1st June 2013

Sharing a Political vision

Our country needs a purpose

We are needed in the world

•UN • Millennium

Development • Goals

• .

UN goal

Halve the number of people living on less than a dollar a day.

UN Goal

Reduce to one third the number of children dying before their fifth

birthday.

Reduce to a quarter the number of women dying in

childbirth.

Halve the number without clean water to

drink and without access to a toilet.

So how are we going to do it?

Are people bothered?

What stops us?

“Charity begins at home!”

Yes but…. No but….

I think that if we got stuck in to such a big

honourable job it would change us as a nation.

Kids would grow up admiring the grownups

around them because of the admirable work they

do to help make the world better.

They’d say to themselves, “I think that’s great! I want to be like that

when I am grown up.”

They’d be happy and loved and interested in life and would do their maths homework (etc)

well.

Soon we’d have a skilled motivated workforce and good science going on which would discover solutions

to the world’s problems.

We’d feel that we are all part of a team – the same team – committed to an important job that we

can all see the point of.

… a bit like the Second World War generation did.

People knew they needed to “do their bit” and they did it

and can look back with a right sense of pride at

having done their duty.

We’d be a team.

There’s room for everybody in such a team. …

as opposed to us all being out for ourselves and our own

personal advancement in which case we are competing and

some win/ some lose.

There’s room in the team for people whose families come

from other lands and who adhere to other religions and for

people of different level of ability. ….. If we are colleagues

and members of the same team and not against each other.

I think everybody can agree that making a world where all have enough to give their

children to eat and all can live free of tyrants.

To get anywhere as a nation we need a purpose if we are to

achieve our purpose….. Otherwise our purpose is just

survival … but that’s not satisfying.

We are made for more than that.

So we need a purpose that makes sense to everybody wherever

they come from, whatever their religion, Whatever their ability.

And the purpose I’d recommend

is to make the world a better

place!

It sounds silly, doesn’t it?

… but of course it matters a lot and it is a

jolly good thing to spend your life doing!

But then it would be very odd to make a

lovely life for people overseas and not to care about people

here.

So we also, rightly, want to make Britain a lovely

place to live and work.

And actually if we do that lots of other countries

will want to model themselves on the way

we do things here.

We’d win a lot of battles by our example. People

would see that the British way of doing things is a

really nice way for a society to organise itself.

Islamic Extremists might acknowledge that ours is really a rather nice way to

live: in a just and compassionate society.

Even the Americans might

learn some lessons from us.

This is the sort of thing everybody

wants and says they are working for.

So why hasn’t it happened???

I didn’t hear this sort of thing (which is a challenge) coming from

Labour, Conservatives or Liberal Democrats. And I don’t hear it

coming from UKIP or other parties…. So, with my friends Roy and Nancy Hughes, I started my

own: The Common Good.

We need a purpose and it’s got to be one that

everybody can understand and respect and

one they be happy to spend their lives working towards.

Viz: Making the world a better place

and making Britain a lovely place to live and work.

The trouble is that we are deep in debt and have a lot

of damaged people and even the less damaged ones use their freedom and gifts

for their own advancement.

So we’ve got to inspire people.

And energise people. And maybe knock a

few heads together to sort things out.

We’ve gone too much towards commerce doing everything.

Jobs to do:

1. BanksStop them creating out money.

It’s a blooming cheek. We aren’t allowed to create money so why should banks be allowed to.

There’s nothing special about banks that they should have the right to CREATE

money – something the rest of us can’t do without getting locked up.

2. NHSIt should be something we do because we care about

each other –rather then it being a

money making wheeze.

3 RailWe need British Rail back.

Ie a single organisation for running all the track and all the trains (passengers and freight) and

ticketing with the fares right down and the power supply eco-friendly.

4. Student feesNot have any. Higher

education is a public good and we should train up

our young people for lives spent serving society.

5. Elected regional government – of the regions of England as Scotland, Wales and N Ireland already have. This body should keep some of the income of the

area and it would help plan a thriving life and economy of

each region.

Currently we are the most centralised country in Europe. It’s all decided at Westminster. The regions need to be trusted. Then they could plan better in areas big enough for a sensible

perspective.

Westminster’s latest idea is Local Economic Partnerships

run by businessmen at meetings subject to commercial secrecy.

Not wise. Businessmen may have different

motivations from those of citizens.

6. Utilities in national ownership and national ownership of

technical know-how and research re power generation etc.

Gas and power prices are high and complicated.

…. And we need to have ownership of power generation research since

we are going to need to use such generation for many years to come

and it is a shame if we lose/have lost the know-how and have to buy

it in.

And we need a national water grid.

7. ChinaBuying Chinese goods (as

we do) indirectly funds the activities of the

Chinese government, including …

Sending North Korean Refugees back to their deaths.

Imprisoning democracy activists eg Liu Xaobo.

Lao Gai: network of 1000 prison factories where workers haven’t had a chance to defend themselves in court, some remaining there for many years.

Domestic policies1. Budgets and Banks2. Economy.3. Crime4. Education5. Health6. PFI7. Transport8. Debt.9. Benefits10.Defence

11. Asylum12. Leadership13. Farms, fish, shops, rural14. EU15. Ethics16. Housing17. Ecology, resources18. Mayors, local govt.19. Judges, constitutional20. Parties, thinkers.

Foreign Policy21 Latin America22 US/Canada23 EU 1524 EU2725 Eastern Europe26 Russia27 Caucasus, Central Asia28 Northern Africa29 Southern Africa30 Israel/Palestine

31 Rest of Middle East32 Iraq33 Iran34 Afghanistan/Pakistan35 India/Sri Lanka/ Nepal36 SE Asia37 China38 Japan, Korea, Taiwan39 Australia40 Antarctica, Arctic Ocean

Global issues41 Development42 World trade43 UN44 Nuclear Non-proliferation45 Organised crime46 Islamism

What to do about it (legally, decently)1 Learn a bit about it.2. Write to your MP or email asking him/her to take it up with the relevant Secretary of State.

House of Commons London SW1A 0AAemail is usually surname initial @parliament.ukHoC information office 0207 219 4272

3. Has the question been answered? If not try again.4. Meet your MP. Details: parliament website or library.5. Take some friends.6. Raise a petition about it. 7. Invite him to talk with you and your friends.8. Stand at the next election. 9. Write to government department, social media, chatter.

Developing the partyGetting a group to “gel”.

Establishing philosophy and brand.Talking politics. Learning topics.

Campaigns here and elsewhere by letters, petitions, meetings, legal demos.

Gathering skills and insightsGaining geographical coverage. Influence experts and key MPs

Dates for Northfield library meetings B31 2LB on SaturdaysJuly 13th 10am to 1pm August 3rd 1pm to 4pm

September 7th 10am to 1pmOctober 5th 10am to 1pmNovember 2nd 10am to 1pmDecember 7th 10am to 1pm

Thank you very much.

Dick Rodgers

The End