Common Decency

The great American statesman, Alexander Hamilton, believed that the House of Lords served a useful function in Britain by providing the wealthy with a specific voice in government, thus removing their motive for for meddling in the politics of the Commons. For this reason he suggested that the Senate to be established under the Constitution of the United States should be, if not hereditary, subject to a large property qualification.

If that was a reasonable description of the role of the Lords in his time, it certainly is not now, when those who sit there are life peers nominated by the Government itself — retired politicians and civil servants, to a great extent — and its active role in the political life of the United Kingdom has been so diminished. (Recall that, in their original form, the Lords constituted a law court, while the Commons represented those who were subject to taxation rather than feudal dues.) Successive reform efforts, proposed on the face of them (and most likely in good faith) to break the power of the vested interests, have instead made their influence ubiquitous. And that is a lesson which suggests a need for great care and forethought.

I fully agree with the dismantling of privilege, in particular I would like to see the end of religious privilege. I do not see why we have unelected 'religious leaders' in the HoL, they don't represent me or my views in any way shape or form. I also dislike that religions seems to give individuals and organisations undue influence in comparison of their actual number of supporters / believers, freedom to discriminate e.g. women, LGBT community etc, an excuse for ignoring animal welfare etc.

This is my first comment on the site so I want to start by wishing the campaign well and declaring my support, in principle, for a more redeeming system of politics. I wish to play an active part in shaping what the campaign aims for, beyond the abstract morality behind this idea of "decency". Obviously the pillars are things which most people would regard as decent and that's a good start for a mass campaign. The reason why I comment on this one in particular is not because I am in any way NOT in favour of dismantling privilege: but if, as the group's argument is held to be true that 'privilege' is so entrenched within the British political system, we must remove it then we ought to have a better alternative to replace it with otherwise this won't be taken seriously. Also, we need to be more specific about what 'privilege' actually means. For example, does this include the abolition of the House of Lords as a whole or just heredity peers? Is it acceptable to lose the expertise which many of the crossbenchers and Life peers in the House of Lords offer if we advocate a fully-elected upper-chamber? Does this include the abolition of the hereditary constitutional monarchy, which ultimately epitomises Britain to so many outwith? Does this then entail we should have a republic? How do we then ensure this hypothetical republic state is also free from corruption and abuse (created not least in the circumstances where a Head of State is elected or appointed, which is one problem a monarchy avoids)?

I hope this critique is taken in the constructive way in which it is intended. Obviously the passage above is restricted only to the election of MPs...but "Dismantling of Privilege" has much greater implications, which MUST be thought-through so that an adequate response can be offered to ensure it doesn't undermine the group's overall very worthy objective which is to have a less-corrupt polity governed by decent people.

So Labour don't do that either, Jack Straw's son, and so on? Isn't the BBC the official voice for this kind of propaganda. Surely you can do better than this. This is a Green Party blog not an independent party. Thank you.

Bring back grammar schools. All private education has to be CAREFULLY absorbed into a MUCH better and fully de-dogmatised state system.

But as a general observation, please don't get distracted and het up about "privilege" - you are going down the slogan route. Privilege is fundamental and it will always factor in life - you might as well say "no more Xfactor" and prevent anyone on TV from being able to leverage their generally "accidental celebrity". How dare anyone on TOWIE charge an appearance fee!

Cameron's Eton cabinet seems no worse than the Labour Party's hierarchy of dynastic privilege. There might even be something to be said for politicians that don't really need the money.

As for bringing in the topic of blood hunting, you really are in danger of letting your emotions spoil a fundamentally good idea. The toffs are always their own worst enemies and will be phased out by natural selection anyway. It's a distraction. Honest countryside management is an inescapable fact of lifde - the weeds and vermin will prevail as in any walk of life if active steps are not taken to manage the ecololgy. Look up "entropy".

Britain does have a shortage of housing and if the Bedroom Tax was fairly implemented, then I'm sure most people wouldn't have a problem with it.
A system where people would only have to pay it if they are offered smaller accommodation in their area and they refuse it without a legitimate reason. What we have instead is an indirect reducing of the "Minimum Living Allowance" whilst forcing many others from Council Housing into private accommodation, costing the taxpayer MORE in Housing Benefits.
The DWP are currently investigating the suicides of 60 people whose benefits were sanctioned to see if there is any correlation between the two. Now this is a department looking into the potential of its own actions. We have seen the heads of the child abuse inquiry replaced twice because of close links to those being investigated. What guarantees do we have that the investigation into the "sanction suicides" will not be a cover up?

The UK (well, mostly England) is rife with the damage that 'privilege' has done & continues to do. It isn't just about social class; since the 1980s, wealth has become another string in the bow of social unfairness. I am a great believer in ethical / enlightened capitalism but, in the UK, we have a sick form of capitalism, where the upper echelons in politics & big business have become a self-protecting & self-perpetuating clique, based not on merit but on influence - who you know &/or who you can afford to pay off. The political class likes to make comparisons between public & private sectors, which always makes me laugh. Those of us actually working in the private sector don't have tax-payer subsidised bars or restaurants, for example; most of us don't even get coffee in meetings anymore!! And expenses....... pardon me, whilst I guffaw into my self-funded tea !! I worked for years close to the board of a major UK company & I saw senior managers circulating through it & onto other businesses, achieving very little but maintaining their position in corporate hierarchies by a kind of 'like protects like' dynamic. Most amused to hear that the highly paid now contribute more tax than ever, despite the reduction in tax rate..... yep, that's because they have loads more money than they did before the economic crisis.... elements of profiteering???? Don't want to sound like an old commie but, seriously, we have got to do something real about social mobility and about breaching the chasm that's developed between the rich & the rest of us. it's been mooted that the middle class is effectively dying out and that will be a social disaster.

I agree wholeheartedly with the above. The country is set up so that those 'born to rule', which is what the rich the powerful and the privileged have drummed into them from an early age, propped up by the public school system, continue to have a disproportionate share of control. Private education should be made illegal, then watch education improve. For the 'r, p and p' would then DEMAND that their kids get a decent education, then everyone would benefit. Yes a few would send their kids to private schools in other countries, but most would have to stick with the UK. We hear the politicians say, 'It's not where you've come from, but where you're going that matters' and 'We're all in it together'. It's just like the greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he doesn't exist. The greatest trick the privileged ever pulled was convincing the country that the class system doesn't exist. Dream on!

Although there are many issues that need to be discussed, please approach your local candidate and post them onto the candidates page on the website https://www.commondecency.org.uk/may-7th-2015/2015-candidates-2. Thank you again.

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