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A Reflection on yet another Tory leadership circus
From hubris to nemesis: the Conservative Party and Britain in crisis
This place, our country, our home, is one of contrasts, uncertainty and flux, because of a relentless drive for money and power by the few.
In response, we, the people, the citizens, must rise up and hold power to account.
They all want to lead us. Where to, you may ask!!
Photo:daily-sun.com
The Lost Souls
‘We are the ones that no one gave a chance
We are the ones that almost lost it all
Ghost in the hallway who never catch a glance
We are the lost
We are the lost souls
Our hearts, our souls are shallow empty holes
We sing this anthem for us all’...ASKING ALEXANDRIA - The Lost Souls
Send in the Clowns:
‘The sight of Tory ministers jostling each other off stage as they stake their claims to be the next Prime Minister is a pretty sickening spectacle. These clowns are making a circus out of governing the country – but nobody is laughing. Despite their failings, they have the born-to-rule sense of entitlement that makes them think they are the only people who can manage Brexit, and the economic aftermath.
Having given Britain its worst decade of growth since World War II, half the Tory party want the hard Brexit that would wreck what is left of our manufacturing industries. Today Boris Johnson, the chief clown, arrives with a prescription that somehow setting Britain adrift in the world will lead to great riches.’...Tory clowns are no laughing matter
Read also what the mayor of Liverpool thinks about the Tory leadership candidates
The Tory leadership battle is making Britain the kind of nation we used to laugh at
UK led towards no-deal Brexit by untruthful elite, says ex-EU envoy
TV debate brought home a terrifying truth: one of these men will be PM
We know that they are all clueless jokers. But, the pertinent question is: Why and How? Thus, please continue to read below.
Britain today and the Bankruptcy of Ideas, Vision and Values-less Education
“The charge sheet is this. The government is led by a clique of toffs who have neither respect for their colleagues, nor empathy with the average voter. Their born-to-rule mentality means they have a greatly over-inflated view of their own capabilities, which deafens their ears to the advice and warnings of others who might actually know better. They are nothing like as good at governing as they think they are. And this, the charge sheet concludes, is now inflicting serious harm on both the country and the Conservatives' future electoral prospects. This view is now becoming more and more prevalent in the media, too, even among the press that the Conservatives would normally count as their friends.”-Andrew Rawnsley, The Observer, 29 April 2012
First, Lest We Forget
Our Narcissistic and Egoistic Elites Undermining the Common Good
Narcissus by Caravaggio depicts Narcissus gazing at his own reflection.Photo:wikipedia.org
Like the ancient Greek myth of a beautiful youth Narcissus, who died through falling in love with his own image, today, our elites too, are in love with themselves, incapable of empathy, unable to relate to and totally unaware of other people’s needs, or even their existence…Selfish and individualistic, they are devoid of any humanity, altruism, kindness, compassion or a sense of justice. They show no remorse for their destructive actions. They destroy the common good and create a society based on fear, anxiety and hatred. ‘The re-modelling of the public organisations as ‘efficient’ (read flexible and dispensable) business units, the widespread privatisation of the Commons and the diminution of the value of the public good are just a few of the means by which this has been achieved.’
The crisis we face today is more serious than we think. It is perhaps the greatest crisis in modern history. It is not just about economics, politics, business, finance.... If it was only about these, then, perhaps, we could have mustered some hope to tackle them.
What we are facing is the bankruptcy of ideas of a governing class, drunk on their pomposity, arrogance, moral and spiritual blindness, and above all, their silly ‘Poshness’. Like a drunk, confused and separated from reality, they can't ask the right questions and therefore, not in a position to give the right answers.
What choice can we have? What would be the alternatives on offer? None, because there is none to begin with. Our nation is facing nothingness, emptiness. Hollowness and shallowness of ideas, vision and insight. Just more of the same, the past recycled to represent the future.
The front runner, Boris, is promising tax cuts for the super rich, as did his idle, Margaret, all those decades ago! Wow! So yesteryear, so unimaginative. Where has Boris been hiding? Thatcherism is now very much discredited; even the IMF- the once main cheerleader for neo-liberalism- has disowned and rubbished it.
Given the love of the posh boys for neoliberalism, tax cuts for the rich and cut backs for the poor, the nation they wish to lead, is facing an epidemic crisis in mental health, affecting all ages. Then, Boris can only come up with tax cuts for the super rich! This is not only shameful, inhumane and unjust, but, totally STUPID. (More on this below)
At the time of significant national crisis of ideas and trust, this bunch of posh boys and girls have given themselves the power and privilege to speak on behalf of the nation, on what is right or what is wrong. How low have we all sank to, when this bunch, crippled by their own uselessness and irrelevance, are fighting each other to be our next leader.
That is, until such a time, when, they too, will be betrayed and humiliated by their own cabinet, and are forced out of the high office again, crying their eyes out, mumbling loving their country!! Recalling Margaret and Teresa's tearful departures!!
So, what has gone wrong? Why are we falling deeper and deeper in despair? Why are we allowing this comedy of errors every couple of years? Why are we not rising to claim our moral and spiritual compass, sending the clowns packing?
My answer is simple: Our education system by and large has failed us all, with hugely tragic consequences. When education is designed, controlled and implemented by narcissistic political and business elites, who have become prisoners of a reckless ideology-neoliberalism- drunk on market values and market forces, all morally and spiritually objectionable and intellectually bankrupt, when education is not for the pursuit of wisdom, virtues and beauty, when students are called customers, and education becomes a commodity, when universities become service providers and centres of business, trading in “commodities” buying them cheap and selling them to the highest bidders, when teaching is not a vocation, when learning is not a sacrament, when education is all about the rankings and targets, when it all becomes about running low quality courses, with no heart, spirit and meaning, just to get ‘bums on seats’, taught by stressed, fatigued, overworked and not-valued faculty, when it is all about delivery at the lowest possible costs, and exam results are hugely inflated, to keep the customers happy and not complaining; then, we have opened the doors to the destruction of all that makes life good and worthwhile.
In due course, the consumerist citizens, now fully materialistic and not able to find the happiness that was promised them via consumption and shopping, they become fearful, insecure, hopeless, helpless, frustrated, angry and in despair. The popular culture, the social media become a pithy substitute for real life. Virtual friends, overtake the real friends and comradeship. Trivia and amusement supplant substance and meaning. The citizen becomes sinister and complacent, easy prey, prone to acts of indifference, voting against their own self interest, allowing caricatures to lead them, making decisions for them, deflecting their attention from a much needed social critique; from questions of substance. Questions, like what it means to be a human? What is the purpose of this journey we call life? How can I lead a meaningful and worthwhile life?
All in all, the citizens then become the spitting image of the narcissistic leaders, and all is lost.
This, in a nutshell, is the tragedy of our time, and nothing, but a sea change, a moral and spiritual revolution in our education system, model and values, can bring the vital changes we need to reverse the bad with goodness, ugliness with beauty, to enable and empower us to build a better world, many of us are hoping and dreaming for. Carpe Diem!
So, what the solution might be: Very easy, I say, should we have the wisdom to see it: Values-Led Education in Pursuit of Wisdom as if People Mattered
I Have a Dream
I have a dream that one day every school, college and university will become a place of Values-led Education to Enable us all to Expand our Circle of Compassion and Wisdom, to Empower us to take Action in the Interest of the Common Good to give rise to Hope, to Build a Better World, Valuing the entire web of life
If you, too, share this dream with me, then, please see the links below. Many gems out there, to discover, to enable and empower us to build a better world. Built by us, we, the people, we, the citizens. No need for the 'poshies'!
But, first, a note on the moral blindness of the Posh Boy and the ruining of Britain
Our Ruling Class
The Question is: Would you buy a second hand car from any one of these guys?
God help you, if you do!
Britain is run by a self-serving clique. That’s why it’s in crisis
I was Boris Johnson’s boss: he is utterly unfit to be prime minister
Sexism, vandalism and bullying: inside the Boris Johnson-era Bullingdon Club
Men of the people? A few Posh Boys in the livery of the Oxford University Bullingdon Club
Dysfunctional & Delusional Governance: Posh Boys & Girls Ruining Britain
Second, a reflection on what the detached posh boys have done to us all. The deeply tragic consequences of Austerity, Austerity and Austerity! What kind of vision is that, you may ask?
Lest We Forget:
Austerity is:
-Voluntary;
-Achieved wholly through spending cuts;
and above all, it is ideologically driven.
This is nothing, but a manifestation of a cruel and inhumane state.
Austerity is nothing but hitting and punishing the innocents, poor, weak and vulnerable for the crimes of the rich and powerful
Capitalism for the Poor and Socialism for the Rich!
Recession, Austerity, Mental, Emotional and Physical Illness
Please also see:
It’s All in The Mind: Focus on Mental Health
Dealing with the consequences of the Posh Boy's Policies
A GCGI Initiative: Examining mental health issues around the world, with a special focus on children, youth, students, their teachers and lecturers.
This new GCGI Initiative is dedicated to the youth of the world, our children and grand- children, who are the unfolding story of the decades ahead. May they rise to the challenge of leading our troubled world, with hope and wisdom in the interest of the common good to a better future.
'A different world cannot be built by indifferent people.'
A country/nation drunk on market values, guided by cruel machinery of exploitation, racism, class division, austerity, cruelty, aggression, that humiliates it’s innocent, weak and vulnerable citizens, with neoliberalism, poverty, inequality and food banks and celebrates extreme individualism, feral competition, worship of mammon, rat-race to a success that it can never deliver and ignores the struggles and plight of its children and youth, ceases to be civilised and sooner or later ceases to exist morally or spiritually.
It’s All in The Mind: Focus on Mental Health
And now, finally, The Festival of Ideas: My Circle of Wisdom
This is how the rest of us, those lucky ordinary, down-to-earth individuals, can create a better country, a better world, a better life: The Key is a Values-led Education as if People Mattered
Towards an Education Worth Believing In
Brexit, Trump and the failure of our universities to pursue wisdom(26 November 2016)
Calling all academic economists: What are you teaching your students?(16 June 2015)
Economics and Economists Engulfed By Crises: What Do We Tell the Students?(22 April 2010)
The Journey to Sophia: Education for Wisdom
Nature the Best Teacher: Re-Connecting the World’s Children with Nature(10 April 2015)
The future that awaits the human venture: A Story from a Wise and Loving Teacher(2 June 2016)
The Value of Values: Why Values Matter(24 March 2014)
Why Happiness Should be Taught at Our Universities(12 January 2011)
Adam Smith and the Pursuit of Happiness(20 August 2014)
The Art of Living a Happier life: Solitude- The Most Important Skill Nobody Taught You(20 June 2018)
Meditation at the Shore(10 October 2014)
The future that awaits the human venture: A Story from a Wise and Loving Teacher(2 June 2016)
Mr Trump, we are not what we earn!(23 June 2017)
What might an Economy for the Common Good look like?(15 October 2014)
My Economics and Business Educators’ Oath: My Promise to My Students(27 June 2015)
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A GCGI Initiative: Examining mental health issues around the world, with a special focus on children, youth, students, their teachers and lecturers.
This new GCGI Initiative is dedicated to the youth of the world, our children and grand- children, who are the unfolding story of the decades ahead. May they rise to the challenge of leading our troubled world, with hope and wisdom in the interest of the common good to a better future.
'A different world cannot be built by indifferent people.'
Photo:flightsafetyaustralia.com
Lest We Forget:
A country/nation drunk on market values, guided by cruel machinery of exploitation, racism, class division, austerity, cruelty, aggression, that humiliates it’s innocent, weak and vulnerable citizens, with neoliberalism, poverty, inequality and food banks and celebrates extreme individualism, feral competition, worship of mammon, rat-race to a success that it can never deliver and ignores the struggles and plight of its children and youth, ceases to be civilised and sooner or later ceases to exist morally or spiritually.
VALUING WHAT MATTERS MOST
It’s Time To Face The Facts On Children’s and Young People's Mental Health and Wellbeing
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“To ignore evil is to become an accomplice to it”- Martin Luther King
“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing”- Edmund Burke
Photo:BROOKINGS: The rise of the right
"First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out - because I was not a communist;
Then they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out - because I was not a socialist;
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out - because I was not a trade unionist;
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out - because I was not a Jew;
Then they came for me - and there was no one left to speak out for me."- Martin Niemoller
Fascism is on the March Again: We Need Values-led and Progressive Education to Fight Back.
It is hard to imagine a more urgent moment for making education central to all we do, all we imagine, to build a better world.
‘In the aftermath of the Second World War, we told ourselves: “Never again.” Standing in the rubble of London and in the ashes of Hiroshima, we swore that we would not allow a conflict of this scale to proliferate again. The generation that had seen the rise of fascism and genocide, of dangerous nationalism and xenophobia, vowed that we would not stand by and do nothing in the face of the Hitlers and Mussolinis of the world…
Because the truth of the matter is that fascist, nationalist, and white supremacist power is growing in the West. Fueled by hatred of social progress…
Our defense against fascism now rests upon the edge of a knife, and it could fall into peace or into extremism. And if we are not careful—if we let down our guard and let ourselves think that this sort of rhetoric is normal—history will repeat itself.’-FORDHAM POLITICAL REVIEW, January 31, 2017
Photo: Will we ever learn?
Could we have had a better world, could we have been able to stop this tragic rise, if we had a values-led and principled education system, a fairer and more equitable economics and economy? These are my pertinent questions. Have I got answers to them? Perhaps. You will be the judge of that.
Education today, at all levels, mimics a business culture run by a managerial army of bureaucrats, non academics, drunk on market values, guided by cruel machinery of exploitation, racism, austerity and disposability, unleashed by neoliberalism, celebrating extreme individualism, feral competition, worshipping mammon, rat-race to a success that never it can deliver, fooling the foolish to vote against their own self interest, in the circus of elections.
Resisting and destroying fascism requires making education values-led and central to our lives. Enough is enough. We need real education!
N.B. I am prompted to write this piece after reading and reflecting carefully on the excellent article by Sadiq Khan in today’s Observer. I believe Khan is speaking for all of us, the humiliation that we all feel when our country is rolling the red carpet out for Trump, a man khan has likened to a 20th- century fascist.
‘History teaches us of the danger of being afraid to speak truth to power and the risk of failing to defend our values from the rise of the far right. At this challenging time in global politics, it’s more important than ever that we remember that lesson...In years to come, I suspect this state visit will be one we look back on with profound regret and acknowledge that we were on the wrong side of history.’- Sadiq Khan, mayor of London
It’s un-British to roll out the red carpet for Donald Trump
Sadiq Khan, The Observer, Sunday 2 June 2019
Photo:theguardian.com
‘Praising the “very fine people on both sides” when torch-wielding white supremacists and antisemites marched through the streets clashing with anti-racist campaigners. Threatening to veto a ban on the use of rape as a weapon of war. Setting an immigration policy that forcefully separates young children from their parents at the border. The deliberate use of xenophobia, racism and “otherness” as an electoral tactic. Introducing a travel ban to a number of predominately Muslim countries. Lying deliberately and repeatedly to the public.
No, these are not the actions of European dictators of the 1930s and 40s. Nor the military juntas of the 1970s and 80s. I’m not talking about Vladimir Putin or Kim Jong-un. These are the actions of the leader of our closest ally, the president of the United States of America. This is a man who tried to exploit Londoners’ fears following a horrific terrorist attack on our city, amplified the tweets of a British far-right racist group, denounced as fake news robust scientific evidence warning of the dangers of climate change, and is now trying to interfere shamelessly in the Conservative party leadership race by backing Boris Johnson because he believes it would enable him to gain an ally in Number 10 for his divisive agenda.
Donald Trump is just one of the most egregious examples of a growing global threat. The far right is on the rise around the world, threatening our hard-won rights and freedoms and the values that have defined our liberal, democratic societies for more than seventy years. Viktor Orbán in Hungary, Matteo Salvini in Italy, Marine Le Pen in France and Nigel Farage here in the UK are using the same divisive tropes of the fascists of the 20th century to garner support, but are using new sinister methods to deliver their message. And they are gaining ground and winning power and influence in places that would have been unthinkable just a few years ago.
They are intentionally pitting their own citizens against one another, regardless of the horrific impact in our communities. They are picking on minority groups and the marginalised to manufacture an enemy – and encouraging others to do the same. And they are constructing lies to stoke up fear and to attack the fundamental pillars of a healthy democracy – equality under the law, the freedom of the press and an independent justice system. Trump is seen as a figurehead of this global far-right movement. Through his words and actions, he has given comfort to far-right political leaders, and it’s no coincidence that his former campaign manager, Steve Bannon, has been touring the world, spreading hateful views and bolstering the far right wherever he goes.
That’s why it’s so un-British to be rolling out the red carpet this week for a formal state visit for a president whose divisive behaviour flies in the face of the ideals America was founded upon – equality, liberty and religious freedom.
There are some who argue that we should hold our noses and stomach the spectacle of honouring Trump in this fashion – including many Conservative politicians. They say we need to be realists and stroke his ego to maintain our economic and military relationship with the US. But at what point should we stop appeasing – and implicitly condoning – his far-right policies and views? Where do we draw the line?
Rather than bestowing Trump with a grand platform of acceptability to the world, we should be speaking out and saying that this behaviour is unacceptable – and that it poses a grave threat to the values and principles we have fought hard to defend – often together – for decades.
I am proud of our historic special relationship, which I’m certain will survive long after President Trump leaves office. The US is a country I love and have visited on many occasions. I still greatly admire the culture, the people and the principles articulated by the founding fathers. But America is like a best friend, and with a best friend you have a responsibility to be direct and honest when you believe they are making a mistake.
In years to come, I suspect this state visit will be one we look back on with profound regret and acknowledge that we were on the wrong side of history.
It’s too late to stop the red-carpet treatment, but it’s not too late for the prime minister to do the right thing. Theresa May should issue a powerful rejection – not of the US as a country or the office of the presidency, but of Trump and the far-right agenda he embodies. She should say that the citizens of the UK and the US agree on many things, but that Trump’s views are incompatible with British values.
History teaches us of the danger of being afraid to speak truth to power and the risk of failing to defend our values from the rise of the far right. At this challenging time in global politics, it’s more important than ever that we remember that lesson.’- Sadiq Khan, The Observer, Sunday 2 June 2019
See also:
'Two and a half years after Theresa May rushed to become the first world leader to meet the newly inaugurated President Trump in Washington, she has chosen to make a state visit that should not be taking place the final act of her premiership. While the prime minister’s poor political judgment and obstinacy have been hallmarks of her three years in office, the spectacle of the next three days will make a particularly awful ending. Mr Trump is only the third US president ever to be honoured with a state visit, the others being George W Bush and Barack Obama. Inviting him in the first place was a crass error. Following through in the midst of the UK’s current political crisis is an act of gross irresponsibility...' The Guardian view on Trump’s state visit: the president is not welcome
Donald Trump, Brexit, and the Rise of New Fascism
And now reverting to my questions noted above:
Could we have had a better world, could we have been able to stop this tragic rise, if we had a values-led and principled education system, a fairer and more equitable economics and economy? These are my pertinent questions. Have I got answers to them? Perhaps. You will be the judge of that.
There are, I suppose, many reasons for this tragedy visiting us again. However, as a long standing academician, concerned with education and economics, I am going to identify two of the main reasons that to my mind have played a crucial role:
1- The values/ moral/ ethical/ spiritual-less education system;
2- The values/ moral/ ethical/ spiritual-less economics and economy.
To stop the rise of fascism and indeed, to destroy it, We Must Make The World Great Again.
HOW?
Photo: maestrobytumlare.com
To reverse the damage already inflicted, stop and destroy the rise of fascism, we need a new story of what it is to be a human in the 21st century and to reclaim our humanity for the good of all creation.
Lest we forget, it is crucial for educators to remember that we live at a time when the language of democracy has been pillaged, stripped of its promises and hopes. If fascism is to be defeated, there is a need to make education the guiding principle of what we are, who we are. In part, this can be done with a language that exposes and unravels falsehoods, systems of oppression and corrupt relations of power while making clear that an alternative future is possible. In short, our language, words and actions are a powerful tool in the search for truth and the condemnation of falsehoods and injustices.
'We live in a world with many complex problems, at all levels, local, regional and global. It is said that education is the key that opens the door to a more harmonious world.
The pertinent question is: What kind of education and learning would help us address these challenges and create a sustainable world and a better life for all?
T.S. Eliot posed the question: "Where is the Life we have lost in living? Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge? Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?"
Reflecting on the questions above, we are going to need an education system that respects planetary boundaries, that recognises the dependence of human well-being on social relations and fairness, and that the ultimate goal is human well-being and ecological sustainability, not merely growth of material consumption.
The new education model recognises that the economy is embedded in a society and culture that are themselves embedded in an ecological life-support system, and that the economy can't grow forever on this finite planet.
In short, we need to listen to our hearts, re-learn what we think we know, and encourage our children to think and behave differently, to live more in synch with Nature.
If we do this successfully we can become wiser as a species, more “eco-logical.” We and the planet that gave birth to us can be happier and healthier, healed and transformed.'...
Brexit, Trump and the failure of our universities to pursue wisdom
The Journey to Sophia: Education for Wisdom
Calling all academic economists: What are you teaching your students?
To build a better world we need to be guided by values, other than money, money and more money.
“Values represent our guiding principles: our broadest motivations, influencing the attitudes we hold and how we act.”
As it has been observed throughout history, in action and thought, people are affected by a wide range of influences. Past experience, cultural and social norms are some of the most important ones. Connected to all of these, to some extent, are our values, which represent a strong guiding force, shaping our attitudes and behaviour over the course of our lives. Our values have been shown to influence our political persuasions; our willingness to participate in political action; our career choices; our ecological footprints; how much money we spend, and on what; and our feelings of personal wellbeing, contentment and happiness; as well as our relationship with others, with nature and Mother Earth, to mention but a few.
The Value of Values: Why Values Matter
Mr Trump, we are not what we earn!
And finally, if we are true to ourselves, if we truly wish to reform this horrible economic system, that has brought us the bitter harvest of fascism, then, there is only one option:
All we do has to be for the common good. Our economy must become just, and all our actions should be taken in the interest of the common good. No ifs or buts, if we are truly serious and honest.
How may we achieve that?
What might an Economy for the Common Good look like?
My Economics and Business Educators’ Oath: My Promise to My Students
So there you have it: fascism, populism now sweeping Europe, the US, and the rest of the world. These are the beasts of our own creation and of our own failures. Only us, the people, can reverse this trend, before our world is engulfed in global wars again.
The time is now for a radical departure from our recent troubled past. Let us seize this opportunity and stand side by side to build a better, kinder, and a more gentle world for the good of all. Let make the world great again. Carpe Diem!