Without the state

Election - health issues

There doesn't seem much to choose from between the parties on health issues. The Tories blame Blair because Mrs Bloggs in Northampton (or wherever) catches an MRSA infection and promise to give matrons the power to close wards. The fact that the power to close wards already exists seems to have escaped them but they succumb to the big government trap of thinking that doing anything centrally is better than letting people get on with their jobs. Meanwhile Labour announces health initiative No 4129 offering detailed guidance on handwashing from the Minister of Health.

Both major parties appear to think that MRSA is about cleanliness, even though 30% of the population carry it on their skin. MRSA is a bacterium which is resistant to most antibiotics. It gained that resistance because we have for the past 50 years used antibiotics for everything from colds and flu (viral infections on which antibiotics have no impact) to fattening cattle. And now we are surprised that resistant strains have emerged? Feh!

Surprisingly one move by Labour may in the end offer a way forward. The creation of Foundation hospitals is the first sign of a possible return to local management and control. Of course in their usual inimitable style they have managed to hugely over complicate the process but even so local control of hospitals - and much else - is no bad thing.

Don't vote - it only encourages them...

There is an anarchist adage with which I have a great deal of sympathy – “don’t vote – it only encourages them”. If I thought that widespread, deliberate abstention from the political process would alter politician’s behaviour towards us, I would be promoting it now. But – and it is a hell of a but – we cannot afford to give them an inch. If we fail to use the vote we have, they will sigh and express regret at public apathy and then seize the opportunity to consolidate their position.

So, much as I would prefer this blog to be an election free zone, it won’t be. I don’t know if I shall ever tell you how I intend to vote, but I intend to comment on what is said and done by politicians as we get closer to the day and they get more frantic in their appeals. For the moment I simply offer another adage – this time from Lazarus Long – “if in doubt, vote against”.

For now, if you are looking for something to vote against, cast your eye over the Tory proposal to make trespass by travellers a criminal act – in other words it won’t be your actions that make you a criminal but which group you belong to. If that isn’t the first step on a slippery slope I don’t know what would be…

Tango #1

Tango #1, originally uploaded by ibanda.

One of my own from Flickr - prepared after watching this couple dance in a marvellous BBC TV programm about Tango last night.

à chacun son déclic

à chacun son déclic, originally uploaded by anideg.

- from Flickr

How did it ever get built...

...but thankfully it is going at last.

From Flickr

Variations autour d'une danse, originally uploaded by akynou.

one of a beautiful series of images

Cars, Trucks Protest Against Placemaking

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- As more communities successfully reclaim their streets for people, cars are taking to the sidewalks in protest, honking loudly in support of automotive autonomy. The protesters, who also include pick-up trucks and tractor-trailers, claim that they are the rightful kings of the road and refuse to share street space with pedestrians, bicycles, and other modes of transportation. Leading experts at Meineke, Aamco, and Bill's Auto Body claim to have treated over 80 million automobiles who have sustained scrapes and internal injuries while occupying public spaces in the past month, but the estimate is widely believed to be inflated.

From the latest newsletter of the Project for Public Spaces