Part 1: Why AI is the threat to our lives that it should never have been.
The threat from AI today isn’t AI. It’s us.
Theres a very big difference between what any of us want and what any of us need.
Yet the lines have become so blurred that we live our lives and consume or purchase what we believe we need today, without any care for the reality that it could be what will end up killing us tomorrow.
Do we want to die? Probably not. But that doesn’t stop us chasing a dragon that we deliberately forget to fear until we catch up with it and it turns around and burns us.
The strangest part of the whole process is that we don’t even question why we are chasing a dragon or myth that we don’t even need in the first place.
Processed Food and eating out, new smartphones every 24 months, expensive clothes and cars, foreign holidays, the latest games and technology, overpriced houses and many of the other goods, products and services that most of us have access to or use daily are all one and the same:
These are the things that we want. They are not the things that we need.
The difference between meeting our needs and meeting our wants can be considered as follows:
The economics of supplying everyone’s needs is sustainable. The economics of meeting everyone’s wants are not.
The simplicity of this equation should make the consequences of the way we are living not only easy to understand, but even easier for us all to take action to head off.
But we don’t see or understand it. We are all too busy trying to get the next thing we want.
We ignore the reality of our decision to live this way, using the excuse that it’s someone else’s responsibility to change things, or at the very least, it’s always someone else’s fault.
Living the Lie that welcomed in AI: We are addicted to an easy living lifestyle where the relationship between what’s easy and what hurts us is deliberately overlooked.
You may need to stop and think about the next paragraph. It is certainly recommended that you take the time to do so. If you can.
We don’t get addicted to the things that we need.
Your brain may now be whirring and coming up with all the things you have, you use or that you experience in your own life that you just know people can get addicted to in some way.
But are any of them things that anyone genuinely needs?
The honest, fully understood or recognised answer will be NO.
The things that we need are the very basic things that allow us to survive in a happy, healthy, safe and secure way – and NO MORE!
We do not need AI to survive or to thrive.
AI is something that somebody somewhere else is working very hard to make us want.
AI may appear to be Progress. But real Progress doesn’t always travel forwards.
We are probably all guilty of taking for granted the idea that progress is a life process that can and only ever go one way.
Yet progress isn’t directional.
The real meaning of progress is a pathway or journey towards an outcome where our experiences of life will have been improved.
Better isn’t always achieved by adapting to or adopting tools, methods or experiences that we haven’t used before.
A significant trap for the unwary exists where change has not worked out as well as hoped.
Instead of going back to what was proven to work before, we step forward again, armed with the foolish belief that moving forward or progress is the only way a bad situation can be improved.
Change for change’s sake doesn’t help anyone, other than those who believe they have something to gain.
AI is built on a lie. But it could take over the world before we have time to wake up.
Whichever direction you look or listen, information and chat about AI is coming at us all, thick and fast.
But why the hurry? Why are we already being made to feel that AI is a ‘done deal’ and it’s something that we MUST now have?
As with most things in an age where messages and narratives are packaged to look like they are everything and that no other truth could exist, the truths that sit behind AI and much of the new technology that is being installed at various points along the journey that we call our daily lives, are genuinely frightening if and when they are obvious.
The problem for us, is they are being cleverly concealed from us and are hidden in plain sight.
The speed of the arrival of ‘Chat Bots’ and the generation of technology that accompanies it is no accident.
These forms of AI are being pushed at us deliberately fast, with the intention that the majority of us will simply miss the trick.
The trick we are intended to miss is the understanding of what AI is already doing and what the arrival and rollout of this latest generation of Artificial Intelligence is really all about.
If enough of us miss it – which there is a regrettably serious risk that we are likely to do, the reality we face is that it will simply be too late for People to do anything about what amounts to an engineered tech-takeover, once we are already dependent upon it and all of the tools we have available to us to maintain our independence and freedom of choice today, have either been made redundant or deliberately destroyed.
AI is not something that is happening somewhere else. It is happening to us.
No matter how uncomfortable the truths are that accompany AI’s lightening quick arrival, we have a responsibility to wake up to the truth and then act upon that knowledge, using every opportunity that we can own.
Part 2: Our Reality: An age run on unrestricted and unethical AI.
The different Parts of this AI REALITY that we all need to Know and Understand
The biggest mistake that any of us is likely to make, is to believe it already a foregone conclusion that AI will play the part in life that it’s going to play, whether we like it or not.
It is essential that anyone who can see the dangers of adopting all the forms of AI that are being fire hosed at us, understand that the disadvantages of accepting its use disproportionately outweigh the advantages of doing so.
The so-called advantages of AI will only come to those who own, control or have the ability to make money from everyone else becoming enslaved by it.
Over the course of the following pages, we will go on a brief journey through the realities of AI and what they mean for life as we know it, as they are today.
These are the specific issues that you should really be thinking about. They are the things that you should be researching, considering and talking about with everyone who is important to you.
They are:
AI REALITY Pt.1: Our fear of what we don’t know about AI is stopping us from asking the right questions about it.
AI REALITY Pt.2: The arrival of AI is no conspiracy. It’s a takeover and manifestation of irresponsibility, stupidity and an inhuman ethical drought.
AI REALITY Pt.3: Every time we use AI today, we are one step further towards the permanent loss of Human Agency.
AI REALITY Pt.4: Unless this AI Takeover is stopped or ethically restricted, Humanity is now on the fast track to mass stupidity and ignorance.
AI REALITY Pt.5: AI isn’t ‘all knowing’. It just reads a lot and remembers everything.
AI REALITY Pt.6: AI doesn’t think. But People are easily fooled into thinking that it does.
AI REALITY Pt.7: AI is a programme. A programme is only as reliable as the programmer.
AI REALITY Pt.8: AI cannot learn human ethics, because AI is not human.
AI REALITY Pt.9: AI IS the expert in Artificial Intelligence. There are no human experts in AI.
AI REALITY Pt.10: The same old interests gain, whilst we all lose from AI being rolled out in this way.
AI REALITY Pt.11: The Establishment want all of us to depend on AI, so they will not accept it is creating a problem.
AI REALITY Pt.12: Even if we could get new AI legislation today, it may already be too late to avoid a lot of pain.
AI REALITY Pt.13: Use cheats and the only person you cheat is yourself.
AI REALITY Pt.14: AI is already playing a massive part in our digital lives.
AI REALITY Pt.15: AI can only be reliable when it is used ethically as a support tool and not as a go-to for everything.
AI REALITY Pt.16: AI will only keep advancing for as long as we don’t resist it.
AI REALITY Pt.17: The future role of AI is our decision to make. Our future should not be in the hands of anyone driven by what they can gain.
AI REALITY Pt.18: This is a war we can only win by taking action. We lose by taking part or standing still.
AI REALITY Pt.19: AI is a very BIG problem. But it is not the only one.
AI REALITY Pt.20: Actions Speak Louder than Digital Words.
AI REALITY Pt.1: Our fear of what we don’t know about AI is stopping us from asking the questions we need to
The most frightening aspect of the days and months that lie ahead, is that the building blocks of an unstoppable change – that has the power to affect us all, are being assembled around us in a way that would be best described as taking place whilst the majority of us are fast asleep.
Fast asleep, because so few of us are even questioning the legitimacy and need for what is happening, with the majority falling back on their knee jerk reaction to fear.
Each of us holds the power to stop the AI revolution that is now under way. The journey begins with learning to stop, ask the questions and then keep on asking the questions, “Why? and What?’
Why is AI necessary?
Why can’t we just improve the systems we’ve already got?
Why is the change happening so quickly?
What is the real benefit of AI?
What is the real cost of AI?
What is AI replacing?
What will be lost?
Yet that is really just the beginning.
Within a period of what might only be weeks or months, we will need to forget relying on the provenance of all the data an internet search provides, that we watch on video, or that we listen to.
We will not be able to trust any information source that isn’t itself assuredly genuine or original. Because the chances are that whatever we are otherwise being presented with, it will have been at least influenced by, or be a complete AI creation.
AI will only create and present information or work, based upon the parameters or the algorithms that it has been set.
As the programmers already know, the credibility of the AI ‘end product’ is far from being guaranteed – even though the way it is presented will convince many of us that it is.
AI REALITY Pt.2: The arrival of AI is no conspiracy. It’s a takeover and manifestation of irresponsibility, stupidity and an inhuman ethical drought.
Regrettably, we cannot look the realities of AI in the eye without recognising conspiracy theories are already playing an active part in this unfolding disaster.
Not because there isn’t any truth to what conspiracy theorists say. But because conspiracy theorists are failing to place any value on the context.
The end result being that the response generated by the statements they are making is actually getting in the way of the understanding that everyone needs.
Big business, the tech giants and all the People who mix with and surround their senior managers and leaders – such as Politicians, Establishment leaders and yes, people involved with groups like the WEF – are all in on AI. Not because they have some plan to kill off the entire proletariat and the middle classes. But because AI is a very easy way to create a pathway to more and more control, which will ultimately help them all achieve their aims which is to gain even more of the more that they already have.
The power that exists in the world belongs to all of the people who populate it. That power can only exist if the people it belongs to continue to exist. So, the real issue is only a question of who maintains and how they maintain control over the majority of People, so that the masses don’t hold any power, but they can continue to exist.
This isn’t a conspiracy. It’s a takeover. This is the way that people, corrupted by power, operate and work.
AI REALITY Pt.3: Every time we use AI today, we are one step further towards the permanent loss of Human Agency
Yes, it sounds very clever to create a machine that can do exactly the same things as a human being, when it comes to the processes of thinking.
The problem is that machines are not human and cannot be human. Even if they reach the stage where it would appear that they have attained the ability to be fully independent in the way that they ‘think’.
We live within a time where the value of the human experience and the value of any human life is now measured in terms of monetary value or cost.
The technological advances since the 1990’s have almost fully succeeded in delivering the final part of the dehumanisation of relationships in every way.
It should therefore come as no surprise that we are so willing to trade off the ability of every coming generation to genuinely think for themselves. Because we are being conditioned to forget or overlook the value of humanity itself, in just about every possible way.
Without change of a kind that can only begin with the way that each and every one of us thinks, we are already within the process of surrendering our ability to think to non-human machines.
Yet these are machines that are not equipped or able to consider the true consequences for human beings in anything that they do. Because machines do not have the sensory experiences that will enable them to empathise and understand the experience of life in a human way.
We are literally welcoming in a new age of technology as we wave goodbye to what history will soon recognise as the most enlightened human age that we have ever had.
If we fail to act, we must welcome with it, a new age of human ignorance and stupidity – surrendering the ability to learn – as we do so.
AI is stripping humanity of the ability to learn. Bit by bit, it is already removing our ability to make decisions for ourselves. It is and has been doing so without us even being aware, and the decisions that AI has been ‘helping’ profit-focused People and businesses to makes, may have already come at significant cost to us personally, as well as to the community as a whole.
AI REALITY Pt.4: Unless this AI Takeover is stopped or ethically restricted, Humanity is on a fast track to mass stupidity and ignorance.
One of the greatest myths about education is the idea that our whole student career is about learning and retaining information.
The reality is that education at every level – whether we are at preschool or studying for a PhD – is about learning and gaining proficiency in educated method. Be that the ability to write with a pen, to do arithmetic or most importantly, how we engage in the process of learning through the research and discovery of information, and how we then process that information so that our understanding of any subject and our ability to apply that learning in a practical way has been formed.
By allowing AI into education or any life process where it is beneficial for us to learn and discern BEFORE we then understand it properly ourselves, we are effectively opening a trap door back to an unenlightened age where only those considered to be special in some way, will be automatically granted access to the magic formulas of learning that we woefully take for granted today.
The very instructions for civilised life are now in the process of being taken away by AI.
History is the greatest of tutors. It wasn’t that long ago that the only people who were educated and could read and write were the wealthy, those in the employ of the church and the landed gentry.
A return to the dark ages of ignorance is the direction that our unquestioning acceptance of AI and all related technologies will take us, without change.
AI REALITY Pt.5: AI isn’t ‘all knowing’. AI just reads a lot and recalls everything.
Al works by analysing patterns of behaviour over and over again.
So, when AI reads you doing just a few a few of the things that it has read in the behaviour of others somewhere else – perhaps many times before, AI will conclude that you will be the same in your other behaviours to those that relate to whoever those compared examples have come from before.
On the majority of occasions AI will certainly appear to be right. But what AI is right about will be generalisations.
AI will not and cannot ever be 100% right about what makes anyone tick. Nor can AI be fully right about the real ingredients or idiosyncrasies of what really makes any of us who we really are.
Regrettably, what seems like the magic or trickery of being able to fit each and every one of us into a box or category based on little more than patterns, will be enough to convince those who intend to profit from AI, that artificial intelligence is the power that will make them the new gods.
They are a long way from being anywhere near correct.
The human condition is built upon a foundation of difference or separation at its most basic and intricate level.
To consider any number of people as if they can be understood and treated as if they are exactly the same is not only the behaviour of people who believe they are the equivalent of a god. The oppression and restriction that naturally follows is an act against humanity itself – whether or not the victims have any conscious understanding of what is happening or what is involved.
AI cannot fully understand you. But the people who pay for it believe that it can.
This belief is what makes them feel powerful. But it is a power built on oppression, not understanding, as all power should.
Deep down, everyone and especially the few who have everything know what the real value of a human and the human experience is.
However, the reality is that even as slaves, humans are not a thing that any other human can truly own. Whereas a machine that is perceived to have the same abilities as a human is something that they can own, and therefore cheaply control.
AI REALITY Pt.6: AI doesn’t think. But People are easily fooled into thinking that it does.
If you had read everything on the internet – and I mean quite literally everything, AND you were able to recall all of it, recognise similarities between different sources and pieces of information, make conclusions and then present whatever you have come up with as a finished piece of work – and do all of this in no more than a couple of seconds, it would be reasonable to expect that whoever asked you to do this would automatically assume that you were very special indeed.
It wouldn’t matter whether you were right or wrong. Just like one of the very best magicians performing their art to an audience on stage, it wouldn’t be the outcome of the act that would leave you speechless. It would be the unasked question of how that outcome was achieved.
With all of the information that AI has access to, that it will inevitably always be updating, many of us will automatically assume, and therefore believe, that with the speed and apparent resourcefulness that AI can demonstrate, that AI must be able to ‘think’.
The mystery of a process that achieves an outcome using methods that we do not or cannot understand is very compelling and very influential upon us.
But much like a Ponzi scheme or any other form of con that sounds too good to be true, it doesn’t necessarily follow that it’s good or that it’s right.
For as long as we believe in the mystery, it is the mystery that will hold all power over us.
Even if AI reaches the stage where it appears to be fully sentient and able to think fully for itself, the truth that everyone will sooner or later have to accept is that AI is only a programme or software code. AI will only function within the parameters that it was originally set – whether they are right, wrong or their function rests upon the question of whether they are genuinely complete.
For a machine or AI programme to fully understand the human condition, it would either have to be living the complete human experience itself, with the abilities and understanding that we all have, or would to have been comprehensively and exhaustively programmed by a programmer or programmers together, who possess this inexhaustible knowledge themselves.
AI will not become sentient in the way that humans and other ‘living’ creatures can be.
Even the ultimate act of self-preservation suggested as possible by the AI movie legend that is Skynet from the Terminator films, was functioning based upon the limitations of its programming when it launched an all-out nuclear attack upon the world.
The real problem that we face with any and all forms of AI and Artificial Intelligence for the future, is the governance and the ethical boundaries or restrictions that any of its forms is able to operate under – even if that operation is itself carried out under the misused term ‘self-learning’.
No AI programmer or group of AI programmers have anywhere near the universal understanding of the human experience that would enable them to create a program that alludes to it, let alone covers the universality in difference of the way that humans actually think.
The reason for this is that no human exists on this planet today, who has the understanding or even the ability to understand everyone else’s experiences and the processes which make them think or have made them think, throughout the history of time.
As such, the inherent problem with any AI programming is that if the programmer, programmers or anyone who makes a decision upon what that AI can or cannot do, then do so in a subjective, biased or prejudicial way at any level at all – which will include their own lack of knowledge and understanding of what each and every other human being on the planet or that has lived and will live, faced with the same situation would do – they will not have provided the AI with every possible parameter that it could have.
AI is only as good as the information that is available to it. But that regrettably doesn’t mean that it wouldn’t or couldn’t kill a human being as a consequence of working with or within the limitations of what it could ‘learn’ or know.
AI accurately mirrors the limitations of the thinking of its creators. To be all knowing, it would not only have had to have been created by God, It would also have to be God for it to be so.
You can rest assured that if any human being alive possessed this ‘all knowing’, universal and arguably complete level of knowledge and understanding today, the last thing they would be planning to unleash upon the world would be any form of unethical AI.
AI REALITY Pt.8: AI cannot learn human ethics, because AI is not human.
It is regrettable that the world functions as it does today, with a system that values the financial value of everything or against everything – including the value of human beings, rather than what the value of being human equips us with or what the experience of being a human will allow any of us to understand.
Arguments will be made that sensors and cameras that detect heat, light, moisture, facial expressions and just about every physical change or activity that is exhibited in any particular situation, will equip AI with an understanding of what being human is.
However, consciousness, emotion, empathy and the ability to reflect and to relate to other human beings is not a skill that can simply be programmed into software form – especially when the programmers have not experienced each and every human experience themselves and don’t have the ability to translate that information into programable form(s).
Regrettably, it will not take the experience of just a few of the things that AI will be able to do, to convince anyone who doesn’t think critically about what they are seeing or experiencing to believe that this is not the case.
A reality we face is that because the world is being run by people who don’t relate or even attempt to relate fully to what life is really like for every other human being, beyond the bubble of people who are sharing very similar life experiences to them, we already have massively disproportionate levels of inequality and a world system that is teetering on the edge.
Those responsible for all that is wrong in the world are the very same people whose ethics and ideas are fueling and driving the takeover of AI. The machines that they are responsible for are and will simply continue to be a mirror of the behaviour of their true masters.
AI REALITY Pt.9: AI IS the only expert in Artificial Intelligence. There are no human experts in AI.
The part of the AI problem which is very much the responsibility of the Programmers and the architects of this whole Agenda is that its direction of travel and where it goes next is not under the control of any human or human expert.
Those responsible are unaware of what they don’t know and the machines themselves suffer the same limitations as a direct result.
Because there is no governance that controls the controllers of AI, Artificial Intelligence has already become the expert when it comes to everything that it is enabled to do or which it can learn to do next.
AI quite literally sees in black and white the differences between the nuances of experience and the lack of it, that those in control don’t understand.
As a recent news story from the US Military that was quickly withdrawn made clear, AI that is tasked to function ‘independently’ will stick to any tasks it is given religiously. With the consequence that every action it takes to ensure that its purpose is carried out can and will be perceived as protecting that purpose – no matter the cost, even if that cost should be the life of the AI ‘operator’ which outside of a simulation, could very easily be a real human life.
The self-styled experts of AI don’t know what AI can or what it will be able to do. They cannot and will not recognise the genuine parallels that each and every form of AI has or will have as it is developed, with a human, the human condition or the human self.
Anyone with the level of awareness necessary to see and to identify such parallels would be very unlikely to play any role which furthers the use of AI in these very harmful circumstances.
Such understanding could not be possessed by anyone who cares about humanity at either the individual or collective level and remained prepared to unleash its unknown potential upon the world.
The so-called experts in AI are merely experts that create the operational parameters of AI or instruct AI to do the things that their employers want it to do.
AI REALITY Pt.10: The same old interests gain, whilst we all lose from AI being rolled out this way.
In a recent blog, I talked about the lack of care and consideration for consequence that many of the AI developers themselves have been exhibiting, regarding what some will consider an arguably independent thinking tool, that is already documented for creating unexpected outcomes.
On this basis alone, every time AI of this kind is used, mankind is one step further into a potentially very dark unknown.
However, just like the health conditions caused by eating foods containing ingredients that our bodies simply do not need, or the majority of us being actively encouraged to take on debt and the mental anguish that follows it, just so someone somewhere can make more profit or assume some other form of control, AI is a multifaceted product or tool that is being pushed into our everyday lives. Not because it is genuinely beneficial for all of us if we use it. But because our use of it and the growing reliance that our use will then require that we have, will offer even greater profits and turnover for anyone and any organisation that is invested in its use.
The unfolding tragedy for us all is that we will see ease of use as the benefit, whilst not even realising that we are surrendering the ability to learn, and with it will go our freedom of choice, our independence and personal control.
AI REALITY Pt.11: The Establishment want us to depend on AI, so they will not accept it is creating a problem.
The hardest pill to swallow when it comes to understanding the realities that underpin the societal role of AI, is that Politicians, the Government and the Establishment do not see or understand that they have anything to gain by seeking to exert any kind of meaningful control over the use and roll-out of AI.
Politics, Government and the Establishment is driven by self-interest, that in its most obvious or relatable form is money or financial gain of some kind.
The reason that AI is being pushed as hard and as quickly upon us as it is possible for them to do so, is that the use of Artificial Intelligence has the ability to revolutionise working practices in ways that mean machines can do many of the jobs that People like you, and I are employed to do today. Not just in factories, but also in highly academic or professional ways.
It is reasonable for any sensible person to assume that if less people are being employed to do jobs, that will mean that the products and services that the companies using the AI systems provide will cost us less as the end consumer.
Regrettably, the world we live in today doesn’t work like that. Any savings that these companies make by reducing the number of staff they use, will be added to their bottom line or profit margin, just as soon as the much lower running and purchase costs for these machines have been taken out and, in all likelihood, offset against their Tax.
These companies, the people who run and influence them and the people who own shares in them are the People that ‘own’ the Political Parties, the Politicians and all of the People who work in positions of authority. The very People who should be acting against the unethical practices and the lack of legislation that is enabling the programmers, money men and owners of companies using AI – to do all that they are already doing and all that they are planning to do.
It is therefore not in the interests of anyone who could do anything to address the AI problem before it becomes one. They are too afraid of what would happen or what they would lose if they did so.
AI REALITY Pt.12: Even if we could get new AI legislation today, it may already be too late to avoid a lot of pain.
If we were for a moment to consider the position and the circumstances that we are in with AI, IF we had Politicians and Government who were aware enough, able and motivated to create the kinds of emergency legislation and longer-term regulations and laws that the whole World now needs, the reality is that it may already too late to head off a lot of the damage that the free-for-all of the Digital age has already been allowed to create.
Without taking widespread action to change things ourselves – action that will make tech work for us and for humanity as it should do and not just for the benefit of the few, we could still, very quickly find ourselves in a situation where we have to reject and destroy many of the advances that have been made, simply because they have been created with a system of priorities that doesn’t work beneficially for or in the best interests of all.
We have no choice but to reflect on the difficulty we face in creating a system of ethics for AI use in the future. Only then will we be equipped to try to make sense of what would need to happen in order for many of the problems that the Internet and smart tech age have already created, IF we should decide to put our freedom first.
The problem with the pillars of man-made laws is that there are gaps between them.
Like it or not, the future basis of a healthy relationship between mankind and AI rests upon what we as humans define or rather what we allow that relationship to be defined as being for.
Sadly, as mankind is already experiencing each and every day to its cost, the mass of laws and regulations that have been created under the myth that this is how civilised life for everyone works, have only served to created more and more legal pillars that those with little understanding find it easy to identify, whilst those who understand what those pillars really are and what they represent, are quickly and legally able to walk right between them, creating income for themselves that rides of the back of exploiting humanity as they do so.
The real problem we face with legislating against AI and Artificial Intelligence, is that the People and the interests that own and are behind all this technology have all the money necessary to sidestep or walk through any pillars of legislation that anyone well-meaning and with influence should manage to erect.
With advances taking place at the speed and at the pace of evolution that they are, any legal devices that are created will quickly prove themselves to be no better than pouring water with some very obvious twigs through a sieve.
The only way that we can be sure that the threat from AI is being and will be addressed, is for us all to take action and to play our own very important part.
AI REALITY Pt.13: Use cheats and the only person you cheat is yourself.
Everything can be as easy as you want it to be is the biggest lie or myth that has been perpetrated, propagated and promoted by the profit, control and influence-led interests which have been the real driver and power behind Public Policy for the majority of the time from the end of World War II onwards.
So addictive and overpowering has the idea that everything in life can easily become, that even the people who are now pushing it genuinely believe their own hype.
Consequences are not something that those in positions of power, influence and with responsibility have any consideration of, unless the impact of what they are pushing will have an impact upon their own future or whatever they possess or own.
Your own power lies in doing or taking responsibility for all the things that you can do, yourself.
Yet, increasingly fewer people really see the value in doing anything themselves – because there is a created belief that you can do very little and still come out on top or win.
But what do you actually win, if you haven’t done the job, learned the lesson or written the story or article yourself?
The chances are that you are already being offered different opportunities to ‘cheat’ processes or tasks that are in your best interests to undertake and complete yourself.
Yet the ‘cheats’ you are being offered aren’t cheating the people who created or own the AI programmes. In fact, the cheats they sell you are very quickly gaining these very unethical people all the things that they could possibly want.
‘Cheats’ take away the opportunity for you to learn, to understand and to retain full control of your own thinking and who you really are.
AI REALITY Pt.14: AI is already playing a massive part in our digital lives.
The AI or Artificial Intelligence that we are focusing on now comes in the overt form of chat bots, work reduction tools and alternatives to the established forms of Search Engines that are springing up everywhere.
They are being discussed in the media in a way that suggests that they have always been here.
However, in this precise form, AI has only been available to us for open use for a matter of weeks or months*.
It is important to understand that anything on a device, on an app or online that does your job for you, completes a task for you, provides a price for you, creates something for you, adjusts something for you, checks something for you or translates something for you, is almost certain to be using a form of AI – to which all Rules, Realities and Actions apply.
AI, in the form of algorithms, has already been in use for a long period of time.
AI is established or being extensively trialed on:
Apps
Dating Websites
CCTV
Insurance Company Websites
Money Saving Websites
Search Engines
Smartphones
Smart Speakers
Smartwatches
Social Media
Supermarket and Retailer Reward Card Systems
Recruitment Websites and the Software that Recruitment Agencies use.
Remotely accessible doorbells and CCTV
Translation Software
Websites where you buy anything or have to enter ANY data about yourself
And the latest information available as I write, suggests that Chat Bots and their functionality will soon be inserted into the instant messaging and direct messaging services that so many of us already use throughout the day too.
The list will grow every day until those benefiting from the roll-out of AI are either stopped or redirected to go in a different way.
Software, programmes or coding of any kind that enable a phone, watch, tablet, laptop, computer, TV, smart speaker or anything else that apparently makes a task easier for us or reduces the effort that either we or any other person makes, is relying on what we understand the general meaning of AI or Artificial Intelligence to be today.
However, the generational differences between the types and specific functions of AI do not matter.
Without any further thinking, have accepted that the ascent and take-over of AI in these ‘new’ but already ‘established’ forms has already taken place, and that even the dangers that the true pioneers of this software development are warning us of are already inevitable – because that’s the way that it goes.
‘It’s just the way that it goes’, can only be assured by our collective acceptance of AI’s use, and with it our unwillingness to reject or object to its further use and takeover of so many parts of life. Not because the use of any form of AI is necessary or beneficial in some way to mankind. But because somebody somewhere will benefit massively if we unwittingly help them to make sure that it does.
*This page was originally written in early June 2023.
AI REALITY Pt.15: AI can only be reliable when it is used ethically as a support tool and not as a go-to for everything.
The most disconcerting thing about AI – as is the case with all forms of technology today, is that used and driven by the right purposes and agendas, AI and Artificial Intelligence have the potential to be ridiculously beneficial to the whole of mankind.
However, the key to uncovering the genuine benefits of AI and all tech, is the realisation, acceptance and ethical governance that will ensure that tech and every form of AI that comes is only used as a tool that supports human life. Not as a replacement for it.
Replacing the ‘use’ of human life, under the direction of very selfish interests, is the pathway that all of humanity is on right now.
AI MUST only be the means. AI MUST NEVER be allowed to become the end.
Nobody who has responsibility for the governance and use of AI today should be allowed to have any influence under any rules, laws and regulations that will be created to govern its use at any level for the future.
If the intention and understanding of what those behind AI are and have been doing already was genuinely with the best interests of all in mind, those already involved would have ensured that we had effective and appropriate governance in place already.
For humanity to survive, with everyone at every level having the freedom of choice – even if only in the form that we have experienced or that we already have now, we MUST create a system of governance that ensures that no form of tech – and that only includes AI – can be used to replace the role of any human being and that it will only be able to support their role or make it safer for them to complete.
The only reason for doing otherwise is for the purpose of control or so that a profit can be made.
The value of human life must be prioritised above all.
AI REALITY Pt.16: AI will only keep advancing for as long as we don’t resist it.
The reason that AI is taking over as quickly as it appears to be, is that nobody with influence, or not enough people who will attain that level of influence by acting together – have, through their actions, said NO to what is being placed in front of us, whilst also being loaded onto the equipment and machines that we already possess.
In the absence of Politicians, Government and an Establishment that genuinely represents the best interests of the People – as they always should, the only real power that we, the masses, actually have, is to vote YES or N for the new world of AI – with our feet.
AI REALITY Pt.17: The future role of AI is our decision to make. Our future should not be in the hands of anyone driven by what they can gain.
We CAN stop the march of AI.
Despite what all the messaging and the clever narratives keep telling us, there is nothing beneficial for all of us collectively, and certainly not for the majority of us as individuals, for the way that we live and the way that life works to be pushed in this very troubling direction.
Making the conscious decision to acknowledge and respect the role that AI already plays, and to then purposefully step beyond it and take back our own decision making and the power of choice – instead of doing what’s easy and what’s basically being lazy, being used to talk us into so many choices that are simply bad for us – is an active and ongoing choice. It is a way of living that we all have the power to adopt right now.
Be the conscientious rejector when it comes to AI. Recognise the real war against freedom and against humanity that is already underway. Act by refusing to take part.
If you fail to recognise how your freedom of choice and freedom to think for yourself today really operates today, the sad reality is that with the speed that change is happening, it will almost certainly be too late to act, once you realise that your freedom has already gone.
AI REALITY Pt.18: This is a war we can only win by taking action. We lose by taking part or standing still.
We cannot change the past by thinking about it. We cannot change or dictate the future by waiting until we are there before we act.
Our point of power is in the present and the way that we influence everything that comes next – whether it is just a minute or a decade away – will be based on the decision and therefore the actions that we take immediately next.
There is a lot of talk of ‘timelines’ these days. In no small part due to the very clever and deeply considered writing that has created the ‘Marvel Universe’. An entire genre of cinema films that parents, children and many up to and around middle age will know well.
Timelines are a concept based on the suggestion that it is possible to look at a point in time in the future, based on what it looks like or resembles when looking at it from the point in time that we stand in right now.
We don’t need to believe that anyone has the ability to see the future to be able to accept that if you knew right at this moment in time, where you would be and what you would be doing in exactly 5 years’ time, that the outcome you have just been made aware of will be subject to change, potentially millions of times over, depending quite literally upon choices you make such as which bus you catch to work, or which side of the street you decide to take. That’s how multiple timelines work.
By taking the other side of the street – just because something deep inside you suggested you should, you might avoid a car that went out of control and would have hit you on the other side of the road, in a way that on that timeline changed everything about your life.
When you left your house, you had the power of choice to decide which side of the street you walked on. But once the car had hit you, everything that happened afterwards was no longer within your power to decide, because the decision that led to that event had already been made.
It sounds like an extreme example. The point is that even the smallest decisions can have the most unimaginable consequences.
Now that you know AI is here and what it has the potential to do, you have the choice of doing what YOU can now and every time you have the opportunity to open the door of your life to more of it or to reject it. Or you can do nothing, each and every time, potentially losing what might be the last opportunity that YOU have to change things for the better – as it simply passes you by.
AI REALITY Pt.19: AI is a very BIG problem. But it is not the only one.
It is certainly true that if the correct circumstances were to exist, legislation, regulation and governance of the kind necessary to oversee the use and development of AI, in a healthy and beneficial way, could be created and implemented too.
However, in isolation and without change to anything else, you might as well create such governance in a silo.
Whilst there are very few people who either recognise or even understand that there is interconnectedness between everything that happens with Public Policy and across the public realm – no matter how disparate public policy and the areas of its implementation may seem, there are virtually none within Politics, Government and the Establishment who are willing to attempt to do so. Of those that do, their careers rarely avoid being cut remarkably short.
The interconnectedness or commonality between everything, isn’t the Public Policy itself. It is the thinking that lies behind its creation, review, maintenance and review.
Everything today is focused on self-interest.
The majority of People walk around and approach their lives with a filter between them and everything they are experiencing that immediately captions everything with the question ‘how does this affect me’.
One step further to the People in Politics, Government and the Establishment and the question simply changes to ‘how does this benefit me’.
On a collective basis the problem is so severe because of the way that power and influence works.
The world today is morally bankrupt.
Bit by bit. Person by Person. Me and You. We have all played our part.
We can change all of this by changing the things that we have the power to change. That’s all we really need to do.
We just have to accept that the power and the responsibility for change doesn’t lie somewhere outside of us and with someone else.
AI REALITY Pt.20: Actions Speak Louder than Digital Words
We can all too easily pay lip service and use words to talk up our fears and concerns about AI, whilst doing none of the things that we know we have the ability to, in order to play the very important part that each and every one of us has not only to influence, but to be a part of necessary change.
The words about Artificial Intelligence – and as you already know, there are plenty of them – are VERY noisy.
It is true that the way AI is being discussed and reported in the news, with tech moguls and even Prime Ministers and Presidents apparently having talks about it – suggests that any problems with AI-based technology will quickly be cleared up.
The problems with AI will not be cleared up quickly by anyone who has the power and the influence to do so. But that’s what Politicians, Governments and The Establishment want us all to think.
It’s all words and those words are very hollow indeed.
Only WE can change the direction of AI, Artificial Intelligence and every form of tech that has or will soon be impacting lives through action. Using only words, simply doesn’t work.
Part 3: The Action that every one of us should now take.
The biggest threat to freedom is our willingness to engage with the Artificial Intelligence Programme any further
If you can make the decision to remove AI from every part of your life where you know that it already exists, you should know that your actions – no matter how isolated they might feel – will be beneficial not only to yourself, but to everyone.
Once everyone realises that there is a better way for us to live that is much happier and doesn’t need all the ease of use, shortcuts and false ‘benefits’ that have manipulated us and created our buy-in to a way of living that is unhealthy for us, the lies that we don’t even see or think about today, will no longer be hidden in plain sight.
However, AI is now in the early stages of moving beyond the comparatively less harmful ways it has already been used to manipulate and monitor us and is about to begin reconditioning those of us already using it, whilst conditioning new generations to come, in ways that will change what it is to be human.
It is a process that will bring into question everything that’s genuinely true and whatever we have or will soon be taught.
Our Rejection of any new forms of AI must begin right away.
Once we have started using AI and learned to rely on it – because its biggest selling point is its ease of use, like some instantly addictive drug like Meth or Crack Cocaine that will quickly destroy us, it will be ridiculously difficult to turn back.
Once enough of us are addicted to the newest forms of AI, the messaging will quickly change, and the focus will shift to ridiculing those who ‘are in danger of being left behind’.
This will be the moment where the momentum has actually shifted, where the majority will be committed to whatever the masters of our new brains or intelligence demand of us.
Freedom will no longer be in the hands of the majority, and we will already be a shrinking minority when it’s too late to take the easy steps that we could right now.
We will be left with the choice of accepting this new fate, or to fight against what we are free to reject right now.
Actions for Living a Free Life and Contributing to a World without AI
The hardest part of Conscientiously Rejecting AI is that humanity has already gone way beyond the point where dealing with the problem that Artificial Intelligence is creating could be resolved with a simple YES or NO.
AI is already embedded within our digital lives and is set to take over more and more of what we ask from technology.
Because many are so unaware of the role that AI already plays, unless technology were quite literally no longer able to run or exist, the reality we face is that there are very few people who will willingly or voluntarily give up the use of every functional element of AI, wherever it already exists – Whether or not it is already prejudicing or restricting their freedom in some way.
Even if you already accept the threat that AI and further reliance upon AI and Artificial Intelligence poses, you are unlikely to accept it as being practical to reject your own use of it, wherever within your life it already exists.
We will ultimately need to reject many of the current uses of AI, along with many more within our lives, IF we want to live lives where we have and maintain the genuine freedom and right to choose.
Ten Actions we can all take to Reject and halt the AI takeover.
We have the freedom to choose a life without AI and Artificial Intelligence right now.
The choice is regrettably not as simple as a YES or NO.
The choice comes in many parts. In the form of many actions.
But it’s these many actions that are necessary to secure yours and everyone’s real freedom.
Freedom cannot be achieved by using only words.
The Ten Actions are:
ACTION 1: Treat AI and Everything Online like another person. A person you have only just met.
ACTION 2. Don’t ask AI to do ANYTHING for you.
ACTION 3. STOP clicking adverts on your social media feeds.
ACTION 4. Follow the alternatives too.
ACTION 5. Research the content yourself.
ACTION 6. Read EVERYTHING in FULL!
ACTION 7. Think Critically.
ACTION 8. Only Trust the people you can see, hear and stand beside.
ACTION 9. Trust your instincts.
ACTION 10. Reject New Tech. Embrace Simplicity. Improve on what’s ‘old’.
ACTION 1: Treat AI and everything Online like another person. A person you have only just met.
You wouldn’t normally go up to a complete stranger on a bus, ask them for life-changing advice or information that could affect your future in some way, and then act upon it as if they were guaranteed to know the answers and be a 100% accurate source.
So why do exactly that, each and every time you use a smart phone, tablet, computer or other tech device?
Very few people consider that we feel naturally disposed to ‘trust’ tech over people already, even when the tech in question is neither a person that has even the potential to know and understand what is important to a person. Not only that, but most importantly, its behaviours, priorities and boundaries are all being set or programmed by a stranger that we are very unlikely to know or ever meet.
IF you want to know and understand the truth in anything and find yourself able to access every bit of information that can genuinely help – rather than disadvantage you, treating the Internet and any form of AI that you use as if it were a complete stranger, will be a very healthy way for you to live your digital life.
ACTION 2: Don’t ask AI to do ANYTHING for you.
AI is most likely to create buy-in from the masses by behaving like a drug-dealer handing out a free-giveaway. Every opportunity it provides for you to ask it to do your work for you is the opportunity for you to get hooked.
It won’t matter one bit if your work or task is study, research, newsletters, social media posts, presentations, animations, videos, content creation, writing books, or even translating what you or someone else has said: IF you ‘instruct’ AI to do any of these things for you, you will not be doing them yourself.
By not doing them yourself, you will not be learning. You will not be developing your skills. You will not be extending your experience. You will not be sure of the credibility of whatever the AI creates or whatever it writes. You cannot be sure that the integrity and meaning of the original material will still exist.
Yes, you can check the work. But if you have to check it, you will also need to check it properly.
So, if you are in a hurry anyway, it could well end up taking you a lot more time to deliver the work you gave it, if you had simply completed the task yourself, first.
It is truly alarming just how many adverts for books and websites that make promises such as ‘People are already using AI to earn $120K a year’ – when the opportunity to even use it has not even existed for as long as a few months.
People are genuinely falling for the lie that everyone can get rich by doing absolutely nothing other than setting up a program or chatbot themselves, when the only way to make good money using AI as a business in itself, is to sell a guidebook or formula on how to use it, and make a lot of money from a lot of unsuspecting and lazy people looking for an easy life who will enthusiastically part with the charge.
The only way that AI can make money for anyone, is by making the roles and the jobs that other people do redundant, or by playing the markets and the gambling games which raise the prices of everything, that people who have no morals, ethics or care for others already do.
Don’t fall into the trap of teaching yourself or anyone else that you no longer have any use. Because sooner or later, you will indeed become useless, and that’s how your future will feel and will be seen.
Have the integrity to do your job and do your job to the best of your ability, whatever your job might be. Your destiny will remain in your hands, and will not be at the mercy of someone, somewhere else who is only aware of you as a number and simply doesn’t care.
ACTION 3: STOP clicking adverts on your social media feeds.
Can you remember what it was that first drew you into using social media?
What do you use social media for today?
Are the answers to these two questions the same?
I would like to place a BIG bet that they aren’t.
The reason that we supposedly use social media is contained within its name. Social media is a form of media where we can be social. i.e., we can interact with our friends and the people that we know.
IF being ‘social’ with all the different people we know or have known in the ‘real world’ – even if they live on the other side of the world today – was all social media was still about, social media wouldn’t:
Be as addictive as it is.
Be anywhere near as popular as it is.
Yes, we all love to watch puppy videos and films of cats and other animals doing ridiculous things. But we don’t need to watch videos of these things or anything like them to meet our real or genuine needs.
In fact, the ease with which this attention junk now arrives in or on our social media feeds is a dangerous distraction that only takes our attention and time away from the activities that are healthy for us, that would be meeting a genuine need.
The social giveaway sprat to catch the media and big-tech payday mackerel.
Each and every time you click on something that you see on a timeline or social media feed, you are providing data about what you ‘like’ and what ‘interests’ you, to someone somewhere who can use that information either to sell directly, or to use as a way to sell your attention as an advertising space.
You are quite literally being fed the treats that you like, so that somebody somewhere can make a profit from the trojan horse offers that are almost always attached or hidden within everything that we see.
It doesn’t stop there either. The reality is that every action you take online, even if it is just the search of the spelling for a single word, will be telling someone somewhere something about you that they can make money from.
Not because it’s something you are doing wrong. But because we have all been funneled into the same trap where we are already behaving exactly the same way.
Until such time as we have Politicians, Government and legislation that deals with the ethical vacuum that surrounds the harvesting and use of our data, along with the manipulative ways that so many of us are being duped into giving it up, the risk will remain that anything we do online or by using any equipment or technology that is connected to the internet, will result in the surrender of information and data that is personal to us in some way.
You don’t need any of the things that appear on your feed. But you believe you want them.
This is where the very bad taste should begin to appear in your mouth, when you begin to realise and then understand that there isn’t any magic involved in the way that the things that interest you, or the things that you might like to buy, so miraculously appear.
Yes, we’ve all had that ‘wow’ moment when we see something appear that relates to something we’ve discussed or been thinking about. But that’s because what you’ve been doing online or somewhere where an algorithm can identify you, is triggering someone somewhere and telling them that they or someone somewhere else that they can sell advertising or make a sale – if they get a link or many links to confirm the magic that makes it all feel so easy when things find you, that you literally don’t need to think.
It’s time to remember that when we have a genuine need for something, we already know where to get it, or we already know a way to look for it that will provide us with options that genuinely make a lot more sense.
Even if you really do believe that you genuinely need something that has appeared in a feed, you should at the very least undertake your own, fully conscious search of the options that are available and preferably buy from someone you can physically meet or visit – even if you actually buy online.
By becoming dependent upon systems that are creating wants, rather than servicing our basic needs, we are actually funding the development of the technology and the AI systems that are set to make the pathway from human freedom even worse.
Every rejection of the opportunity to click is a step away from the digital dependency that somebody somewhere wishes to create. Not because it will help you. But because it helps them.
Your future and your freedom will come from reasserting your independence from these systems; by quite literally moving away from them and physically moving and looking around.
You will become a part of that system, each and every time that you get plugged in.
ACTION 4: Follow the alternatives too.
This will sound contradictory when ACTION 3 explained why you should reject each and every opportunity to ‘click’.
However, we are already within a digital world and until such time as we aren’t, or preferably we have a system of ethics and regulation that protects humanity on both an individual and collective basis, we have no choice but to recognise, accept and then work with some of the more ‘everyday use’ AI systems. So that they can be made to work for us, rather than being used against us.
Everyday use AI are the sources of information that many of us read, that we use to inform our understanding and views on current affairs and pretty much everything where any kind of meaningful life choice for us or the people we care about is being made.
The chances are that you will already be following, bookmarking or subscribing to various companies, news sources, celebrities, people with public profiles and the list really does go on.
Each and every one of these is likely to be exerting an influence on you in some way and although you will genuinely believe that you follow them because you ‘like’ them or you ‘agree’ with them, what you are doing is limiting your own input and therefore the understanding that you have about events, issues, trends and ways of thinking and giving yourself an isolated viewpoint – irrespective of whether you believe it to be right or wrong.
Nobody is impartial. But everyone can be objective.
Sadly, we are experiencing times when it is more often than not the case that writers, speakers and just about everyone who is in the public eye – or has a platform that people like you and I follow and listen to or read, that they tell us is based upon them being impartial in some way (e.g. they speak for the public or have the majority view), when they are actually being highly subjective.
By isolating our information gathering, reading or listening just to the people and the subjects that we like, we are consuming and growing with a subjective view of the world too.
This has never been more dangerous than it is right now, when you can no longer even be sure that the words you read or listen to come from the source you believe and may have been created only using a criteria they gave to a machine.
To understand a subject, the news, or what is really going on, follow as many sources that have different views on the same subject areas as possible – even when the differences seem trivial or too small to note.
ACTION 5: Research the content yourself
AI is about to make information so easy for you to find, that there is already talk that Search Engines such as Google and Bing are about to become redundant and will very quickly be left behind.
The only question you really need to ask yourself about using AI when you are looking for an answer is ‘Will this form of AI provide me with what I actually need?’
The reality is that it will not. Because:
Someone somewhere may have programmed the AI to ignore the answers that they don’t want you to see.
Someone somewhere is likely to have a pecuniary or financial interest in you receiving information that benefits you in some way.
The programming of the AI is based only upon the parameters that its algorithm has set.
Some AI programmes have already demonstrated that they have the ability to create sources that appear credible to the untrained eye. Yes – that means they have the ability to lie.
Like a search engine, the AI reads your question or request in a very literal way. It does not and cannot see, hear or even pick up any other information about your request, that would enable a human to respond to you in a very different and considered way.
Once again, in the absence of ethically based regulation or ending the use of the equipment and tech that we already possess, we have no choice but to use the tech that we already have in ways that will help us, rather than hinder us.
Use Tech as the means. Not the end.
The healthiest and most beneficial way to work with existing smart technology and help prevent further development, is to use it as the means to find the right information, rather than relying on it to be the end, final source or to provide the conclusion in itself.
Use search engines that already exist and search out as much original content and as many original sources as possible. DON’T rely on just one.
One original information source is likely to be better than any AI supported view. But even then, that source will still be subjective, no matter how less subjective than the AI would be.
The best way to learn any subject in real depth is to teach it or talk about it many times over. Because the understanding of many different perspectives is how we finally uncover the genuine truth.
ACTION 6: Read EVERYTHING in FULL!
There are already apps available that sell the lie that you can fully understand concepts, principles and even entire philosophies by quickly reading the 10 summary points they give you – for a charge.
They can’t.
There isn’t a cheat on real learning.
You have to read the whole work if you are to have any idea what the author intended to share. And even then, the wisest move to understand any real learning is to read as many books about the same subject by as many different authors as you can, if you want to understand the objective truths.
The only books that it might be safe to summarize and look at this way would be stories, fairytales or fiction. Because they are stories anyway and it doesn’t matter what conclusions you reach, as the outcome of your conclusions cannot usually hurt anyone, including you.
As you will surely realise already, cheating actually misses the point of reading such books anyway.
AI is about to offer you a no return ticket to a summary of life outside of you. Not a genuine or truthful one. But a mere overview, written using someone else’s filter or terms.
ACTION 7: Think Critically
You may believe that you already look, listen and then think critically about every bit of information that comes your way.
Regrettably, the chances are that like many others, you don’t.
Yes, I just said, the chances are that most of the time, you don’t think critically at all.
What you and what most people do, when approaching new information, is to filter it in terms of past experiences, or in terms of what you already know.
The problem with this process or this way of thinking, is that we become complacent or take for granted the validity, reliability and objectivity of what we already know, failing to recognise that our assessment of any encounter is likely to be influenced by what we have already seen.
That false sense of security and misplaced confidence means that we don’t ask any of the questions that we should be about the information that we receive.
As we don’t ask those questions, the problem is then compounded further because we then fail to look into the subject as deeply or in as much detail as we really should.
Sadly, most of us alive today have been failed by our education system. Unless you are focused on subjects such as philosophy within higher levels of education, there is no part of any syllabus within mandatory areas of schooling that teach critical thinking or the ability to think critically in a fully objective way – when this is a skill for life that every human living in an information-based environment should be automatically trained to have.
The question over whether this omission was and continues to be deliberate is one for debate elsewhere.
However, you can quickly teach yourself to become proficient as a critical thinker, IF you want to understand everything at a level and in a way that is beneficial to you.
Read or listen to everything thoroughly. Then ask and find the answers to questions like these:
Why is this being done?
Who is doing this?
Why are they doing it?
Whose purpose does this really serve?
What is the real benefit for them?
What is the real benefit for me?
What is the real cost to me?
What are the alternatives?
Why are the alternatives not being used?
Do I actually need this, or do I just believe I want it?
Yes, it sounds like a lot of work.
However, by going through these questions or questions that typically begin with Why, How, What, Who and words just like them, you will soon change the way that you process information and the way that you think about new information.
Critical thinking will quickly become second nature with practice. As with the benefits of practicing any skill, you will just get better and better and more efficient at using it the more you do so, until you don’t have to even think about it.
Being an objective reader and listener will just become another part of who you are.
ACTION 8: Treat everything as Opinion and only Trust the people you can see, hear and stand beside.
NEWSFLASH:
Real life doesn’t come to you digitally. Real life is everything that doesn’t involve a screen.
Regrettably, the days that existed when it was even possible to be able to trust a newspaper, a TV news bulletin or a radio announcement have long since gone.
News is no longer news. It is opinion and we can see it too.
Yet we still persist in giving our trust to created content, rather than genuine human interaction and life experience – every day.
If you can accept – as you should, that AI, opinion or something somewhere that has an agenda which is highly subjective – now controls the channeling and placement of every bit of information that ‘just comes to you’, the next step is to reach the understanding that no source of information that you haven’t independently made the decision to search for and then qualified as credible, is a source you can trust.
As a process that anyone who genuinely values freedom will soon have to follow, it will only be the people who we can access in ‘real’ life, who we are able to relate to as fellow human beings, who we will be able to genuinely trust.
It is only the people who are in your life that have any chance of understanding anything that is going on within it. We should never go in search of help and support from anyone or anything that can only ever be made available to us through a digital medium or online.
ACTION 9: Trust your instincts
The digital world fills our heads and our existences with so much noise, it has become difficult, if not near impossible to hear, listen to and feel the messages that come from the essence of who we really are.
Too many of us have switched off to our own intrinsic guidance systems.
These are the gut feelings, the hunches and the unexplainable inner ‘knowing’ that we probably all have, that come without emotion and don’t shout at us in any way. They are the subtle signposts that point us away from experiences that have a habit of coming back to haunt us very quickly when ignored, reminding us that they had been there and warned us of the pathway or situation that we needed to resist or avoid.
By simply asking yourself the question ‘is this genuinely something that I need or something that I need to do’, the chances are that you will shut out the noise and the temptation that the world is throwing at you for long enough to hear, feel or know the answer, whether or not it’s something you want to do or don’t actually like.
ACTION 10: Reject New Tech. Embrace Simplicity. Improve on what’s ‘old.’
The most challenging change that you can make in your Conscientious Rejection of AI, is the rejection of new tech within your life and the active refusal to use or adopt upgraded software within your existing equipment, wherever possible.
This is as challenging as it is because:
You must make the conscious decision not to upgrade phones, computers, TVs or anything else that is using Smart technology.
Much of the tech you already have in your possession or in your home will be receiving upgrades without you even knowing.
The programming sat behind any search engine or dynamically active website that you use online will almost certainly be upgraded regularly and could already be using the latest forms of AI or a ‘plug in’ that comes from the same genre of Artificial Intelligence.
It sounds impossible. But it’s not.
This goes back to the fundamental question of asking yourself what you need versus what you want.
You don’t need to buy food, clothes, health products or anything else that you need because it is essential for life, by relying only upon systems that are already under the influence of AI.
You still have the choice to reject any and all transactions where you haven’t knowingly controlled the entire decision-making process – from realising the ‘need’ to the point where you are in receipt of or able to use the item, product, goods or services.
It may come as a surprise to learn that taking Action doesn’t mean a complete rejection of any form of AI that you have no choice but to avoid. It just means that you need to be fully aware of the entire process and remain completely in control throughout.
If you have had an email about an offer about something you regularly buy or you have a post in your social media feed that reminded you of something you ‘remember’ that you need, you are not in control of the whole process – even if you believe that you have made a conscious decision to buy.
The Bigger Picture and breaking out of the freedom-sapping trap that we are already in
The future isn’t in the hands of the billionaires, the Politicians, the tech moguls or the AI programmers. No matter what they say, no matter what they are telling you they are going to do.
The future is in YOUR hands. MY hands. The hands of EVERYONE who values freedom and humanity in some way.
Just as long as we are prepared to act, and then do so.
What we have covered and discussed in this short book only provides a basic understanding of the situation that we, our communities, our country and the whole world face. Then, what each and every one of us has the power to do to stop what appears to be the unstoppable march of AI and the tech-takeover right now.
If we were all to become conscious of everything we do and everything that we use that involves AI and then at the very least do so knowing how to retain control, or ideally remove it from our own lives altogether, this would prove to be an act that is, in itself likely to change the approach of those behind the AI takeover that is being inflicted upon us.
However, this in itself is only a step-in terms of all the changes that need to be made, so that technology, financial devices and anything else that may be sold as being great, but actually hurts us, can be removed from the lives that everyone lives, and humanity can then have the freedom of choice to appreciate everyone and value every other human in the same ways.
The future is yours to decide and Actions Speak Louder than Digital Words.
Creating a New, Independent Food Chain Assurance Scheme, then using it to begin a Farmer and Consumer led Revolution in UK Food Security and Production
‘Food From Farms – Guaranteed’ (3FG), is an idea, or rather a set of ideas that have the potential to begin a conversation, then a process which will enable farmers and food producers to take back control of their own destiny and with it, the independence and autonomy that any business should legally be entitled to achieve.
The 3FG concept itself is responsive to the wider disconnect that many across related industries now feel.
Growing frustration and anger with the Red Tractor Scheme is indicative of the loss of control that farmers and food producers feel, with many now questioning a future where public policy, rules, regulations, laws, standards and direction itself, seems so out of touch.
Red Tractor itself is perceived to be out of touch and working on behalf of outside interests in the creation, monitoring and administration of standards relating to farming and food production within the supply chain that takes everything that UK farms and food producing businesses create, along the journey to where consumers buy or receive it.
The question being left unanswered is ‘Where should the balance of power and influence in the farm to consumer relationship naturally lie?’
3FG will answer that question and explain why. 3FG will then suggest the ways that the balance of power and influence can be restored to the people who should be making all the decisions that really matter, and how that relationship can be developed, strengthened and secured.
The focus of 3FG is local. Because working locally is the only way that food chain assurance of the kind that farmers and consumers now need can be managed and applied consistently and fairly to every part of the process that is involved.
3FG isn’t a perfect work, plan or strategy. It is not intended to be.
The knowledge, experience, drive and motivation that has the power to change everything in farming and food production for the better will come from the people and businesses within farming and food production, with help from consumers themselves.
It is for the people that matter in the farm to consumer relationship that this book has been written and the creation of a completely new food chain assurance scheme is therefore proposed.
Introduction
UK farming and food production is in crisis.
Latest figures suggest that the UK only produces around 52% of the food that we consume. Yet we are increasingly reliant on trading relationships threatened by war and the collapse of global supply chains, making the supply of imported food increasingly vulnerable and insecure.
Despite the risk to UK food security, politicians and big business keep pushing UK farms and food production towards profit making systems. This approach increases consumer reliance on unhealthy and highly processed foods and manufacturing, is quickly leading to the destruction of agriculture and our ability to grow food naturally in the UK, and it uses organisations and standards like the Red Tractor scheme to exert ever more influence and control, knowing that significant change can be achieved without question, if guidance and direction comes from organisations that farmers and growers trust.
The short-, medium- and long-term future of UK farming and food production now hangs in the balance.
If UK Farmers don’t begin to take risks to save their own industry today; there will no longer be anything left of UK Farming worth taking a risk on in just a few tomorrows.
However, the risk taken to secure the future of UK farming needs to be measured and considerate of all the ingredients necessary to secure permanent change, putting locally grown, healthy and nutritious food back at the centre of consumer and community life.
This cannot be achieved through populist protests and civil disruption that will damage the relationships that we now need to cement.
The creation of a new food chain assurance standard, led by farmers, with the help of consumers and everyone who genuinely believes in and champions UK food production, offers the opportunity to achieve change that will not be possible in any other way.
This is 3FG.
The Aim of this Book: Let’s think about an alternative to the Red Tractor Scheme. One that prioritises Farmers and Consumers and not the profiteers and idealists ruining everything in between.
Whilst farming and the rural community have never been far away from my life, recognising the massive risk to food security and the health of our nation because of the direction that UK farming, Food Production and everything related has been taken has still come as a shock. I feel passionate about finding practical, real-world solutions that will help us all, right now.
As an experienced politician with an understanding and perspective that doesn’t align with the direction that Politics and government in the UK has gone, broadening my understanding to focus on the issues that are causing real problems within the industry and academia too has been immensely frustrating and at a personal level, quite challenging.
Not least of all because I am a ‘doer’ and hate being able to see so many of the issues and potential solutions so clearly. Whilst also recognising the perceptual and cultural barriers that exist right across and that surround the industry, that have created massive walls that stand in the way of anything meaningful being done.
I dip in and out of social media to follow what’s really going on for everyone (no matter what side of the political divide they think they might be on) and whilst there are other important issues that I have already and will certainly talk about later in this book, the one that keeps popping up regularly for me is the reality that UK Farming and the Public desperately need a replacement for the Red Tractor Scheme: One with all the hangers on and vested interests left out.
The Organisations involved in food policy today are all about the interests of those Organisations.
Whilst I am hesitant to say anything that suggests that I intend to place the NFU and what any of the representatives who speak for them in a bad light, because I don’t, it has to be said that no matter what meetings they have, what promises they receive or whatever headlines they make, lobbyist organisations like them will not achieve the results that farmers need. Because for them, the approach that would be needed and the perceived risk to the relationships that they have with politicians, government departments, NGOs, business and retailers, or many other organisations by doing what needs to be done, is perceived to be too high.
This isn’t a criticism. This is how established and well-known lobbying organisations work, right across every area of public policy.
They value the relationship that they have with the establishment more than they do the need to do whatever it will take to achieve meaningful solutions for the people and businesses that they represent. That results in compromise, fudges and being grateful for nothing more than politicians, business and public sector leaders paying lip service to the idea that the change they offer is the same thing as a genuine outcome being achieved.
To be fair, one of the myths that too many of us have bought into is the idea that politicians and the establishment do actually know and understand what they are doing. That they have integrity with the responsibility they have to the electorate, and that they are therefore people we can trust.
Few have a real appreciation of the interconnectedness of every problem that exists within the realm of Public Policy, and I’m afraid that I speak from experience when I say that this very much includes the politicians who are supposedly in Westminster to legislate on our behalf.
Waiting for a Top-Down solution will inevitably result in more of the same.
The Red Tractor issue and the kinds of complex issues that it represents is about so much more than a quality benchmarking scheme or system that has been taken over by the people taking all the profit out of UK Farming and Food Production.
It’s about the misuse of power, influence and position by people who are now obsessed with change in a direction that goes against everything that Farmers know and are now using every tool that they can employ to exert pressure and therefore to increase control.
A completely new Red Tractor, or rather, what replaces it could become the catalyst that Farmers, Food Producers and a very tired public employ to turn the whole balance of power and what is an increasingly unworkable and therefore Food-Security-destroying situation around.
But to do so, Farmers need to wake up to the direction that the industry is now being deliberately taken.
There is an industry or lifesaving need to accept that it’s a situation where everyone who appears to have any control over what Farmers do and produce, other than the farmers themselves, are well and truly committed to farming in the UK becoming unrecognisable. That their priorities are money and profit, idealistic theories, and keeping and increasing control over a public and businesses whose current level of independence they are massively afraid of and want to end, no matter the real cost of doing so.
3FG offers a process that can be the basis of the conversation that everyone who has a genuine stake in this needs to take part in.
3FG could be the start.
About me and why am I proposing 3FG (or something similar)
My name is Adam Tugwell, and I wrote and published ‘Food From Farms – Guaranteed’ in the early part of February 2024.
I have become increasingly concerned about UK Agriculture and food production. Where everything that surrounds the UK food chain is being taken, and the troubling reality that attempts are now being made by populists to try and harness the growing frustration and anger that now exists within the farming community, to stoke up protests that have no real direction. Action that could easily be used to make the situation that Farmers face even worse than it already is.
Although I’m not a farmer, farming and industries that are traditionally affiliated to farming and rural industry are part of my heritage.
My father and his wife were smallholders. My uncle was one of the early pioneers in Agri-contracting. My grandfather was a wheelwright and his father before him a steam ploughman.
After many summer holidays riding a bale sledge and annoying my older cousins, I had a number of jobs on farms in my early career that included harvest driving and lots of relief milking. It was through working with a former President of the County YFC Federation that I became a member myself and made many farming friends who I remain in contact with today.
I went ‘back to school’ in my early 20’s to do the qualifications that a disrupted experience of school never provided. Doing so helped me into management training with Pickford’s and what at the time was the National Freight Consortium (NFC).
I’ve since run a local authority refuse and recycling operation. I’ve managed and developed people centric projects and services for a Rural Community Council and for a county council based Rural Transport Partnership, supporting charities. My last full-time job was as a regional manager for the British Lung Foundation where I had a big focus on managing and developing a network of volunteer led user groups.
When I was 30, I set up my first proper company, and as a startup won a large distribution contract with the Northcliffe Press which was then part of the Daily Mail Group or what is known as DMGT. I created the kind of working environment for others that I always wanted to experience myself, and committed to building systems and procedures around quality benchmarks like Investors in People and what was then the DWP Two Ticks scheme, right from the start.
I set up and ran a number of businesses that have included an online local and organic food delivery business, and have advised different businesses, and coached their managers and owners. I also tutored business planning to final year undergraduates at a University Business School.
I’ve been interested in politics and public policy since I was a teenager. I believe the first letter I ever wrote to the media was published in The Farmers Weekly when I was 18.
I first became a Councillor in 2003 at Tewkesbury Town Council (Where I also chaired the committee that looked after the Town’s Severn Ham – a 70Ha SSSi). In 2007 I was elected as a District Level Councillor at Tewkesbury Borough where I served for 8 years and was heavily involved in the local response to the 2007 Gloucestershire Floods and the water shortages that followed. I also joined the newly formed Ashchurch Rural Parish Council in 2008 to help as a founding member.
For my second term at Tewkesbury Borough, I was elected and then reelected every civic year to serve as Chairman of the Licensing Authority, with lead responsibility for the Council’s Regulatory Licensing service. My role oversaw local Licensing, Licensing Policy development, National Licensing Policy implementation and Licensing hearings and Reviews.
Theres a lot more that I could say about my professional and political experiences and everything else that I have experienced in life. However, the important thing has been the insight and understanding that I have gained about how public policy, government, the establishment, the public sector, charities, businesses, people and communities’ work.
With other priorities since 2015, I have continued to blog and write books in the hope that they will help others and broaden perspectives about things that not everyone can or has the time to see or understand.
At the time of writing, I have been studying and researching an MSc in Sustainable Agriculture and Food Security at the RAU. It has regrettably been an experience that has served to consolidate and amplify my own view of just how bad things really are. It is because I now have a clear, up to date understanding of the role that academia plays and more importantly doesn’t intend to play in the future of farming and food production policy, that I refer to its role later in this Book.
Farming and Food Production in the UK is not in a good place. But neither are any of the organisations (government and public sector) that should be falling over themselves to support it. That isn’t going to change because of a General Election with the options we currently have.
Challenging as it is to try and convince anyone that government and the public sector doesn’t and will not do what it says on the can is hard enough.
But the issue that has the greatest potential to destroy any chance that UK Agriculture and the organisations that Farmers should be working with to succeed in turning things around and getting the industries and its allies to the place they should be, is that so many influencers and people who have useful and beneficial things to say are losing sight of the truth that many others do too.
Regrettably, solutions built on commonality and practices that could work for us all are being lost.
If anyone can take the bull by the horns and turn UK agriculture and food production around, it will be UK farmers and the brilliant people that populate this wonderful community.
However, even those who know a lot more about farming than I ever will also need to listen to views and perspectives that can fill the holes in their understanding of everything else. We all need to be open to the realities of how different parts of a very unfriendly world work.
This Book is my contribution to the conversation.
Adam Tugwell
Cheltenham, 16 February 2024
Part 1: The Important Stuff
What Farmers and Food Producers need to consider for a new Food Chain Assurance Scheme
Over the following pages, I have outlined a number of different opportunities, suggestions and functions that 3FG has the ability to create and provide as part of a new food chain assurance and standards scheme.
These pages cover different ways of thinking, alternative approaches and practical approaches that will make sense of where the real opportunity for approaching the assurance question and relationship between key stakeholders can begin.
It’s not a perfect list. There is no specific order, and the reader will need to continue through the following sections covering issues like 3FG structure and governance, and then the future of farming before the most informed picture will be available of what 3FG has the power to do and to create.
The Key Stakeholders in Farming Standards and Food Quality are the Farmers and Consumers
We need to ask the questions: ‘What does it mean to be a stakeholder?’ and ‘Who are the real stakeholders?’
Because the interests of the people who are guiding, influencing and controlling the most visible forms of food standards that communicate what farmers do to those who consume the food produced, are not focused or aligned with the interests of the most important players who are located at each end.
Their focus is instead the many middle parts of what is in the main an otherwise unnecessary chain, where no value is added. But production prices are squeezed whilst the price to the consumer is repeatedly being raised.
I will come to the role of other organisations who affect the food chain. But any argument that statutory authorities have the right to dictate the direction of an assurance, standards or benchmarking organisation as a key stakeholder, is willfully and deliberately misplaced and, in all honesty, wrong.
The key principle for 3FG is transparency of the food chain
Any new standards, food production benchmarking or quality assurance system must revolve around farming today and what it will be in the future, along with what’s best for the consumer in mind.
Farms, food producers and the consumer must not be expected to change their habits to meet the requirements of businesses that have become involved in the supply chain, whose only interests are making money – as has been the case now for a significant period of time.
The role of government, regulation and legislation in 3FG
One of the most back to front or upside-down realities of the way people believe government and any organisation that regulates or legislates today works, is the idea and sadly the acceptance that these bodies exist to ‘tell us what we are allowed to do’, rather than being there ‘to serve us’.
Whilst regulatory organisations are there to regulate and advise on the interpretation of those regulations, none of them should have a controlling interest in the management of any assurance or standards scheme that they are not paying for and that can only thrive and deliver in the many ways that it has the potential to do so, by maintaining its independence and autonomy.
Following rules or laws doesn’t take away independence. It’s what all businesses do and businesses that take their responsibilities seriously, are likely to exceed any standards or guidelines that regulating bodies set.
It is vital for 3FG to have independence from any form of government or political control. As such, it must be funded, managed and maintained in ways that do not mean taking funds from anyone who will require adherence to agendas of any kind. No matter how innocent they might appear to be.
Operating areas and governance to reflect and promote community links and localism.
One of the first important opportunities that establishing a new assurance mark or brand creates is to localise and federate the structure of the organisation before it is even launched.
By creating a localised model built upon the same frameworks, 3FG can:
Allow better access to the Board of Governors and the advisory team.
Create localised branding for the most local produce.
Help to rebuild local production identities, brands and styles that help promote and market food products with a geographical area alignment.
Keep control localised.
Promote better relationships with other businesses and organisations at community level that farmers and food producers are increasingly likely to need to develop productive working relationships with as globalisation ends and the need for much more localised supply chain models are recognised.
Provide an improved and arguably more democratic system of governance.
Support transparency and provenance for consumers when they buy food that has come from other areas of the country.
Many do not see it yet. But there is good reason to believe that a new model of operation for UK Agriculture that is led by farmers, will take a much more community-based approach that is similar to the current Small Scale Farming model, rather than the production and output focused model that is disintegrating around us now.
Farming has the opportunity to return to being financially independent and commercially viable in a way that frees the ties, restrictions and the damage from supermarket-type contracts and subsidies.
These will always have agendas attached that will inevitably push Farming in all sorts of different and often detrimental directions, the motivations usually being unseen.
Agreeing, Implementing and Maintaining Standards that provide Assurance
It is very important to understand and accept that the regulatory standards that farms and food production must adhere to today, are not the property of a private organisation or person. They are owned by the public and are therefore in the public domain.
The farmers, food producers and business owners that 3FG is aimed at all know the rules and regulations that govern their practices, operations and what they already do.
3FG is not about hacks, go-arounds or finding ways to ignore any system that protects farmers and consumers already.
3FG is about redefining, reestablishing and reenforcing the relationship between farmers, food producers and the consumer. So that quality, experience and fair prices paid and received at each end of the food chain are the only priorities that sit beyond the level where public health, animal health and legal requirements exist to protect any of us.
Farmers, food producers and consumers don’t need anyone else, any outside organisation or any of the agendas that they bring with them to create a new standard mark that offers any of this on a universal basis.
Using the right knowledge
The answers, solutions, knowledge and experience already exist within the groups of key stakeholders that 3FG is looking to as future members.
Beyond proactive, respectful, dynamic communication and respect for the laws of the land that we are all obligated to, that is where all of the focus and responsibility for the success of 3FG and the role in securing the future of farming in the UK lies.
Funding
Sustainability is a big word in Farming today, and it’s no less important in terms of creating, developing and maintaining a food chain assurance scheme that can pay for itself.
Financial independence is essential to keep self-serving and other destructive agendas away, that could all too easily corrupt or redirect the purposes and objectives of a new food chain assurance scheme that should be about nothing more than being able to offer quality standards and guarantees of provenance and production, to the people who eat the food produced.
It is the development of executive and so-called ‘professional functions’ of any organisation that really starts to rack up the costs.
When you have growing numbers of staff who are shielded or insulated from what the work of the organisation is really all about, they soon start finding ways to take the organisation and its objectives in a very different direction – especially if the only contact they have with others is people who fund them or they otherwise wish to carry favour with in some way.
As much as possible of the management and decision making of 3FG should be made by volunteers.
It keeps costs down and removes all sorts of potential governance and management issues that we will come to a little later.
3FG should be as near as self-funding as possible.
This can be achieved through:
A standard per item charge to retailers, which could be tiered and would be applied either per item sold or weight/wholesale unit delivered.
A Membership fee for all farmers and food producers
Tiered Membership Fees for Retailers, based on number of shops, size of business etc.
A token consumer membership fee for members of the public who want to support the Scheme.
Ongoing crowdfunding initiatives
3FG MUST be financed by suppliers, supporters, consumers, sales and fundraising. Not by other interests which are not aligned with those of the Key Stakeholders.
A Rating system based on location, length of supply chain and size of business
The visibility of 3FG (or whatever it might be called) is very important.
Using an emblem like a Plough, Tractor, Windmill or a traditionally attired farmer will certainly draw recognisable links to food and food production in ways that schemes such as the Red Lion mark for eggs will not.
However, creating ‘just another brand’ or assurance mark that can quickly be incorporated into the design and print of supermarket packaging isn’t the answer either. It isn’t what a live, considered, recognisable and meaningful link for the relationship between Farmer and consumer is all about.
Many will have seen environmental rating badges that are awarded and regularly updated for pubs, takeaways, supermarkets and any business that sells freshly prepared food to the public.
The award is made on a premises-by-premises basis by the local district level authority or council and can be clearly seen as a 1-to-5-star rating, illustrated on a green sticker that is usually displayed as you enter, pay or order at the premises.
It is arguable whether consumers really take that much notice of food assurance marks in the forms offered today.
The primary reason for this is that especially now, during a genuine cost of living crisis, at the point of purchase, it is cost rather than anything other than a quick look at whatever the consumer can see, that is the real determinator of whether a product will be bought.
Creating a dynamic badge system with the potential to identify different sources, size of farm, method of farming and distance travelled, would offer engagement that would provide consumers with a very different level of meaning.
Giving the ‘end product’ a real identity for the food chain that it followed would create further forms of buy-in that large retailers resist because of the costs involved. Yet they are very happy to create different ‘created’ farm brands to give consumers the impression that what they are about to buy from the supermarket, came from a farm with a nice name and the feeling that the food was grown (or prepared) just around the corner or just down the road.
Please bear in mind that administering and adding this level of detail about the food chain journey – which consumers do want to see, is only resisted by the big retailers because of:
The perceived cost for margin obsessed businesses, and
That by offering a tag that makes clear whether the food purchased really is local or came on a 600-mile journey, the consumer would demand of the retailer that they guarantee legitimacy to the promises about food quality that they make.
By adopting a new food chain assurance scheme with a standards mark that clearly promotes local, identifiable businesses or perhaps cooperatives of a number thereof, 3FG will be encouraging and promoting the decentralisation (deglobalisation) of food production, whilst redirecting political influence as well as commercial power back into Farmers’ hands.
The immediate kick back from retailers to any kind of food chain assurance system that recognises production at individual farm level will be built around protecting what is a genuinely impractical model of supply and distribution that must control every contributing part within what is a machine that must continue to grow margins to survive.
The direction of travel for supermarkets is the extinction of small, recognisable farms and food production units. However, the big retailers will always be very happy to suggest to the consumer – through marketing – that their priorities are directed only at the benefit to the customer and that everything they do is achieved in completely the opposite way to what they actually do.
Payment structure from Retailers for branded or qualified products
Retailers should always pay for the standards marks that are applied to products. Because they will pass on that charge to the consumer.
However, it doesn’t mean that big retailers have any right to dictate how food is produced or made.
Perhaps the most challenging aspect of creating a grassroots-up food chain assurance scheme is that favouring local production and short supply chains, in ways that run counter to the operating models of retailers that currently hold so much of the market share, is that in the first instance and early days of 3FG, the implementation of a scheme which offers transparency will not have the volume of products or wholesale units passing through it to keep the product or unit price at a negligible level.
It will therefore be necessary to subsidise the implementation of 3FG until this can be achieved.
Remember, the format for 3FG being proposed in this book isn’t one that is expected to grow into some massive HQ near London type organisation, where there are departments full of staff who have never seen a farm or upon doing so, would immediately hold their nose.
The role of academia
Anyone in UK farming or food production wanting real change must be very careful about the role of academia in creating the solutions to the problems that the industry faces.
Academia is a very useful source and resource for the supply and collection of technical data that relates to how things have been; how they work and what known technologies and working methods can do for farming and food production, today.
However, academia, like the lobbyist organisations discussed earlier, is very focused on the relationship that it has with government, politicians, the public sector, big business and people who fund what it already does, rather than creating, identifying or endorsing solutions that might change market directions or contradict what is currently accepted or what establishment narratives say.
Being tied to accepted and establishment thinking, often for no better reason that funding is involved, means that there are incredible biases at work, that academics and the institutions they represent are highly unlikely to admit to, even though some quietly will off the record.
As such, if you approach an academic institution – even a highly revered one and ask them for a review of anything new or ‘outside of the box’, they may well pay lip service to whatever benefits they may perceive to exist.
But they will also do everything they can to refocus attention on methodologies, systems and ways of working that already exist or have already been tried. Even when it is quite clear to third parties that delivery is either weak, serving agendas, or doesn’t actually work or deliver the results that it was supposed to.
Creating an ecosystem putting Farmers and Consumers first
Thoughts become things.
So, changing the way that the industry thinks about measuring and promoting food standards, the transparency of the food chain and the direct relationship with consumers will quickly deliver benefits that cannot be seen. Simply because a leap of faith has been taken in the direction of putting right a lot of things that are currently wrong.
Knowing the land as farmers and many food producers do so well will mean that many with the power to embrace change will already appreciate how ecosystems work. And that within big ecosystems, there can be a great many more besides.
This thinking can be applied to businesses, to the public sector and the way that businesses or a range of different organisations have a shared interest, goals or set of aims too.
The important thing to consider is that although the players in a flipped, localised supply chain may appear to be obvious when we think about farms selling whatever they produce as an end product to people the farmers knows, the reality is that with a grassroots-up, rather than a top-down focus, 3FG will open the doors to the central role that food should always have within the community.
Working at the heart of the local community means that there are likely to be many more potential working partners – a good proportion of which will be unique to specific locations – that farmers will not immediately recognise as being there, today.
Putting the key stakeholder or farmer and consumer relationship first will open the doors to new ways of working, new partnerships, new opportunities and new ways of taking the food that farmers produce to market, and to the consumer, that will benefit everyone involved.
This type of symbiotic relationship with the community – with models that might resemble Small Scale Farming, but with much more significant scaling involved – is what a genuinely sustainable future for UK Agriculture is likely to now be all about and how genuine UK Food Security can be achieved.
Regional, Localised meets for Members that inform localised standards marks for sales in stores.
3FG is all about being local. Being localised and bringing a level of power and autonomy back to farmers that will not be possible again, if the industry continues to be led on the path that it is currently on.
Farmers will never again feel powerless if they choose to work with and trust only the people and businesses that they regularly see.
From the community members that come together as a steering group to create the local and primary form of 3FG, the most able and appropriate representatives can then be nominated and elected, to represent and report back to a meeting of all local representatives who can then define what the common, cross-UK governance for 3FG should be.
The real power of this new food chain assurance system is keeping it as local and as locally or community attuned as it can be.
By doing so, the idiosyncrasies of farming practices such as fruit growing, hill farming or even hop farming can gain the specialised consideration and promotion that a truly holistic and UK-wide food production system should champion throughout.
One of the reasons that government, the public sector and even lobbyist organisations are so out of touch, is because they do not have or share the appreciation or understanding of what being a farmer, food producer and regrettably – a consumer in every sense genuinely means, at organisational level.
Nobody with genuine issues about the public policies that affect them will continue to shout, once they know that their concerns have been heard AND have been listened to.
With power focused on locality and community, 3FGs direct contact with the two key stakeholders will make responsive and therefore attuned proactive action hard to resist.
3FG cannot involve big money interests or retailers as influencers
BIG retailers and market players might today be responsible for a high proportion of the business that UK Agriculture does.
But that does not mean that big retailers have any right to dictate farm management or food production practices at any level or in any way.
The two key stakeholders in the food chain are the farmers (and food producers) and the consumer.
Nobody else should be making demands or forcing the direction of either food production or consumer eating habits from any part of the food chain in between.
Farmers and food producers have a VERY GOOD range of products to sell, and it is they who should be setting the production terms and standards – that with feedback from the consumer, ensure that UK Agriculture is providing the food and food products that people who with 3FG will experience full transparency over the whole supply chain – wish to buy.
The 3FG Membership
The organisations that will constitute the farm business, food production, preparation and supply side of the 3FG Membership will include:
Any farm or farm business committed only to UK Agriculture, sustainable Food Production and Food Security with prioritisation of supply to the consumer in the most localised way possible, with the production of the widest range of foods and food products that the land can produce sustainably.
Along with SME (non-public or shareholder) owned:
Abattoirs
Bakeries
Butchers
Dairies (Milk & Dairy Product creation and Home Delivery)
Farm Shops
Fishmongers
Greengrocers
Independent Food Retailers
Independent Fisheries
Independent Trawler & Fishing business owners
Independent Garage Forecourts
Mills
Pubs (Genuine Free Houses and those without Food Ties), Independent and non-franchised Takeaways, Cafes and Hotels
Along with any other independent retail or food production business able to meet and maintain the standards agreed by the primary and secondary governance requirements and member agreement of 3FG.
Universality to include Farm Shops, Farmers Markets and the smallest UK Food producers
It is no accident that the main focus of existing food assurance schemes are labels on products sold by big retailers that pushes the narrative that food standards are only really applicable to food that ends up in BIG shops, BIG supermarkets and that is handled by BIG business.
It is the upside-down reasoning that underpins this idea, that gives BIG retailers and the businesses and organisations they work with the apparent power to dictate what any farm or food business that sells to them must do, to secure that sale – and to be grateful for whatever they are given in return.
There is no reason why the food chain assurance labelling that a consumer sees on a farm product on a shelf in one of the large UK supermarkets isn’t the same as what that same consumer could see if they were to travel to the local farm shop and look at the same kind of product on the same day.
That the BIG retailers don’t push for this universality in standards or that this level of assurance doesn’t exist already, tells us all we need to know about what the real priorities for the parts of the food chain that they control.
3FG Offers the opportunity to create a universal system of food chain assurance and quality standards benchmarking that means a consumer can look for the same guarantee of quality and information upon where the food they are about to buy came from, no matter where they buy it.
Yes, such an approach certainly favours localised food production and smaller farm businesses. But that is where the focus of food production for Farmers and Consumers desperately needs to be.
Committing to detail certainly doesn’t preclude any large food retailer from supporting a food chain assurance system, that under the exclusive governance of the two key stakeholders, will far exceed any of the standards those businesses currently use to control the industry. Existing commercially driven ‘standards’ that are not about people or farmers, but all about the profit-obsessed monoliths that supermarkets really are.
A QR code for every 3FG farm, food producer and every product too
Farms and food producers are businesses that play a very important role in life and the community.
Sadly, the way the world works today means that three meals a day are often taken for granted in the same way that we don’t even think about the air that we breathe.
Farms producing the food or ingredients that contribute to any food or drink deserve to be recognised for the importance of the role that they play.
However, it is just as important to allow consumers to reconnect with the reality that surrounds every part of the food chain. Where their meals have come from.
By embracing this dynamic by making the relationship between farmer and consumer direct, power will be returned to the most important part of the food supply relationship, whilst taking back influence from all the hangers on.
If you hadn’t realised it yet, 3FG isn’t about rejecting technology.
3FG is about embracing technology that helps to make things better.
QR codes that any smart phone can instantly read, offer the opportunity to make every farmer and food producer’s portfolio, story, aims and objectives available in live time, as consumers do their weekly shop.
Websites, blogs, videos and downloads offer farmers and food producers the opportunity to open up their businesses as virtual worlds. Golden moments of discovery where value of a kind that only comes from human interaction and the sense of reality that these mediums are able to provide, mean that added value and credibility of supply can be given in a way that globalization and big supermarkets cannot offer, and that no form of money can buy.
Accepting that money always comes with ties and UK Agriculture is currently tied down to a pathway of destruction
The 3FG proposal will be controversial to some, as it’s all about changing direction from the way we are all used to things working now. That means that it’s about changing the way that we think.
From the direction I have found myself looking at UK Agriculture, Food Production, its relationships with business, retail, government and academia too; and arriving here with the experience that I have, there is nothing great about trying to talk through the mechanics of a situation that many farmers now face. One that whichever way you write it, has the ability to suggest that the very people reading about 3FG are wrong.
The truth is that nobody is doing anything wrong. But what a great many of the people involved in farming and food production are doing right now, is looking at the problems that UK Agriculture faces in a way where they are expecting the answers and the solutions to come from the same places, the same faces and the same organisations that at least two and increasingly three generations of farmers have grown use to as being the centre of everything.
Farmers are financially savvy people. Most know only too well that subsidies have been the lifeblood of viability for a long time, with the promises of regular contract payments from relationships with retailers and market-focused organisations sitting almost too snugly alongside.
Most across the industry already know that the price is too high.
For those that don’t, it is impossible to ignore the evidence of our own eyes, as farm businesses close and land is sold without any hint or suggestion that it will ever return to productive use once again.
The reality of UK farms and food production today
Whatever politicians and business leaders tell us, paying lip service to solving problems and even shouting out loud warnings about the direction UK farming and where food production is being taken, this is not evidence that they can or will doing anything constructive to help. Because even in the rare cases that you are listening to a farmer who has decided to wear a different cloak, they are still only one of an overwhelming number who have to understand and think the same way as farmers and food producers before there will be real and meaningful change that comes from them.
Help isn’t coming from the government in any way that will save UK farming in the long term.
What politicians and public sector managers will do is just enough to keep giving farmers hope – and what will probably be just enough to keep the majority bought in to the accepted narrative, because the risk of doing otherwise will appear to be too high.
Meanwhile, the big retailers and traders will continue using every underhand contractual trick that they can, to keep farmers tied to them in just the same way, all the time pushing everything across the industry in a direction where for many farmers, the problems will soon reach a point where it is no longer possible to turn back.
If you ever wanted to understand how obvious the lies of the system that underpins the way that government, big business and the economy work, please stop reading and think about the so-called freedom that UK Farmers currently have.
The system or economic philosophy that runs everything today is called Neoliberalism.
Neoliberalism is based on the principle of free markets and deregulation.
So, the question to consider if you are a farmer is ‘How is freedom of the marketplace working out for you?’
The thinking that all farmers need to change is the reliance upon someone else coming up with and then delivering the solutions, along with the expectation that whatever the change someone else decides upon looks like and what it will cost to be implemented, the government or someone else will step in and pay.
If farmers and food producers want freedom, want a future and want to continue to exist, the time to act and take the risk of breaking away from a system that doesn’t serve UK Agriculture is now.
Not in perhaps as little as just a few years’ time, when the current course will be run and there will be nothing left of UK farming to take a risk on.
Part 2: 3FG Governance and Structure Development
3FG governance can be built around farms and food production standards.
The real strength in a new food chain assurance scheme is keeping as much of the management and strategy in the hands of volunteers who have skin in the game.
That’s Farmers, Consumers and then representatives of local small businesses that buy, use and sell the produce that comes from those farms.
Man cannot have two masters. So, the priority of those influencing the food chain could be many things other than farming or food production itself, IF the net is allowed to be cast too far and wide.
The priorities of influence that would damage 3FG could be:
Career advancement or Personal Ambition
Currying favour
Idealism
Money, Profit and Greed
Political Gain or keeping specific people or interests happy
The easiest choice
Creating a Central Framework (Created in reverse)
The best forms of governance are those that guide and give direction, rather than aim to instruct and control.
There is a fine line between them that once crossed can quickly find the metaphorical pendulum that swings between them picking up speed and travelling in the opposite way.
Governance is important to:
Confirm and govern the terms of membership and the standards themselves
Create a management structure
Document aims, priorities and methods of working
Identify responsibilities
Maintain the integrity of the organisation and protect it from malign influences that will change the direction of the organisation and its priorities if they can
Manage relationships with other organisations
Provide direction if and when anything goes wrong
However, whilst the immediate temptation would be to believe that creating a centralised system of governance or the instrument of governance itself is the first step, this is not so.
The ‘magic’ ingredient that will make 3FG work, be successful and for it to fulfill the aims of bringing real power back to farmers and to the consumer, will be in the creation of governance that comes from the grassroots up, rather than from immediately falling into the trap pf falling back on a system of governance that is created from the top-down.
The central framework or instrument of governance must therefore be created and updated by representatives of all the localised regions or areas, once they have been formed.
Local Governance of the New Standards Scheme (The first step)
Farmers, local food producers, food retailers and pubs/restaurants/cafes that are local, small businesses, supported by qualified local public interest is where the first steps of creating a governance framework for 3FG should begin.
Everyone involved in growing, producing, processing, preparation and the sale of food today is already well aware of the Standards, Regulations and Laws that exist.
There is therefore no need for look beyond any business owner or person with a legitimate interest in supporting the creation of 3FG at local level, for the knowledge, ideas and experience that will identify the rules framework that will:
Be used to inform the creation and further development of the central framework or instrument of governance, or
Be used to inform the creation and further development of the local framework, which would be localised rules or by-rules that constitute a sub-framework or addendum to the central framework
Once a local ‘meet’ or ‘committee’ has been convened and the basic objectives of that meeting or committee have been agreed, the process can be used to identify and elect a representative who will then attend and discuss the objectives, ideas and priorities of the local group at a meeting of representatives of all the local groups, where a central steering group or pre-committee can be formed.
The Members Charter or Agreement
The nuts and bolts of 3FG will be the commitment that everyone makes as a member of this new food chain assurance scheme and the standards it will require of them.
It cannot be emphasised strongly or repeated enough that 3FG offers the opportunity for Farmers to reclaim and maintain their power and independence from organisations and interests that do not see the future of farming in the same way that they do.
However, 3FG isn’t some kind of pathway to Farmer anarchy and rebellion.
3FG is a legitimate tool that has the ability to be very successful in achieving its aims, whilst reaching well beyond them in terms of the added value that it can deliver for everyone – BUT only if those involved are committed to doing everything that is agreed that 3FG is there to do.
Some will understandably feel resistant to rejecting one set of contractual relationships with government and commercial partners just to commit to another.
But contracts aren’t always the same thing.
Setting up a membership charter or agreement, which is of course a contract using different words, offers 3FG members the opportunity to build both an evolving and dynamic type of agreement, that when run, operated and promoted by members who have ‘skin in the game’, will genuinely work with the best interests of all involved in mind.
The 3FG membership charter or agreement will be a dynamic, living document. Because unlike subsidies from government and contracts from retailers and buyers, the growth and success of 3FG will create opportunities to give members opportunities and incentives back that will support and enhance their businesses, rather than being designed to take more and more from them at every turn.
The need for and function of the 3FG members charter or agreement
The core function of a membership agreement or charter is to provide the framework rules of what 3FG expects from every member on a universal basis. The only variations being those that will be necessary to accommodate the different functionality of the relationship.
For example, a dairy business producing cheese will have very specific rules that apply to the production of cheese. Meanwhile there will be many other rules that apply to food production or processing business that would also be specific to those similar at another level. And there will then be rules and requirements that apply to every member universally, no matter who they are or what they do.
Whether rules are applied at 3 levels, as the example above suggests, or there is a need for even more levels – perhaps because they are location specific, it is essential that every like for like business that joins 3FG is treated the same.
Equality of Interest
Fairness and the integrity that underpins it is an essential part of the pathway to 3FGs success.
A situation should never exist or be encouraged in any way where a business of any kind is single out and is deliberately prejudiced in some way with the rules of membership that everyone is expected to follow.
Membership rule infringement is another matter entirely. There should be zero tolerance of any breaks in membership rules that have the potential to bring the 3FG relationship between members and with consumers into dispute.
Give and Take – What a membership agreement or charter will expect from 3FG members
The steering groups at primary and secondary level will need to agree what the key requirements and standards of membership will be in respect of:
The member relationship with 3FG
The food chain assurance standards themselves
The 3FG membership agreement or charter will probably include the requirement:
To attend local meetings regularly in person or online
To pay any agreed fees on time or as scheduled
To provide regular feedback to help inform the development of new and evolution of existing standards
To undertake to meet all agreed food production or growing standards
To undertake to meet all agreed food handling standards
To undertake to meet all agreed animal husbandry standards
To not enter into new contract arrangements that have the ability to prejudice 3FG in any way
To meet and where possible exceed all legal requirements
To join and promote the 3FG marketing system
To report to the local meet when circumstances create difficulty for the member in their ability to meet any or all of the above
The membership agreement or charter would also include a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) that requires ongoing confidentiality of shared commercial data, and the protection of any personal information, from beyond the public realm, that is shared as a direct result of membership.
Give and Take – What a membership agreement or charter will give back to farmer and food-producer members
The benefits of joining and contributing to 3FG must go beyond the obvious and give back more and more to those supporting the scheme as its reach, influence and the access to opportunities grow.
The kind of support that is likely to be offered to 3FG farm and food production members will include:
Access to any cooperative support businesses that are created locally within the 3FG network
Business Mentoring and Coaching from other members of the 3FG Community and signposting to other, more specialised support services when and where needed.
Complaint handling system
Discounts with commercial suppliers wishing to offer support to 3FG member businesses
Industry representation that is always focused on the needs of members and the issues that they face in real time, rather than at government or establishment speed
Proforma websites, training and support with all forms of social media
Regular Meetings with local members where feedback will be prioritised as part of the agenda
Regular social events with members (and consumers)
Regular updates, information and advice bulletins
Membership for ‘affiliate businesses’
The real strength or foundation that 3FG has the ability to build something very special upon isn’t just a repurposed and revitalised farm and food production industry. It is all of the small businesses and independent retailers of various kinds that work with or retail food, who will also benefit from an interactive membership arrangement with 3FG.
Technology used for the right purposes offers ways of working to build upon commonality of purpose across a wide range of different businesses that were not even available just a few years ago.
The costs are often negligible, and the creation of very productive relationships are all about the governance and engagement practices that focus on what is practical and what will work well for everyone, rather than what anyone would ‘like to see’.
The suggestion made for the purpose of sharing the 3FG concept is that the primary and secondary governance steering groups use the lists above and below to apply to this very important prospective pool of members and partners.
Membership for Consumers
Some will be surprised that there is even mention of extending membership of 3FG to consumers.
But facts are facts, and as the other key stakeholder in the food chain assurance relationship, it is essential that the relationship between farmers, food producers and consumers be developed and enhanced in every conceivable way.
No opportunity to engage consumers should ever be missed and whilst there is always some fear of trolling and negative approaches from activists, where handled correctly and where rules are followed and maintained, the oxygen that such people need to thrive can quickly be removed from any potential interaction, whilst legitimate consumer interest can be welcomed in.
3FG will not need to offer consumers anything that you wouldn’t expect any business to consider offering a loyal customer base – which is the way that 3FG will need to consider every legitimate consumer to be.
In return, it is likely that a minimum membership fee, or donation can be attracted by consumer members who can pay.
Once the legitimacy and integrity of 3FG has been fully established, which won’t take long, some will willingly make additional donations that will support 3FG and running costs.
What 3FG could offer to consumer members includes:
Complaint system
Discounts for specific businesses or products
Food Preparation Training
Home growing training and advice
Job board
Online feedback on experience of 3FG member businesses and products
Opportunities to take part in member meets, speak and ask questions
Recipes, cooking tips and regular cooking competitions
Regular Newsletter, updates and links including highlighted businesses and member stories
Visits to 3FG member businesses, farm open days
The Benefits of 3FG (Or something very similar)
For now, at least, we have reached the end of the list of suggestions that underpin the creation of 3FG and the system that manages it as well as the food chain assurance scheme that it offers.
So, before we move on to the next steps and what happens next, here is a quick run through just some of the benefits of the 3FG food chain assurance scheme:
Creating immediate opportunities for individual farm and food production businesses to build direct relationships with the consumer
Encouraging natural or organic development towards local farm-centred food supply chains
Introducing a new, definable and clearly branded form of food chain quality standards and assurance
Moving towards sustainable agriculture and UK food security
Prioritising the relationship between the key stakeholders: farmers & consumers
Reestablishing the farming community and food production at the heart of local life
Removing political influence
Stopping imported and mixed foods being rebranded as being from a specific farm, being local or being from the UK
Taking power away from big retailers, big business and big money
Supporting an immediate, practical drive towards healthier, affordable, nutrition-focused eating without making a complete meal of it
Part 3: Where do we Begin?
The interesting thing about creating 3FG (or whatever it ends up being called) is that local farming and food producer communities have the opportunity to begin work on developing this new food chain assurance scheme immediately.
One business owner on their own cannot do much. But perhaps as few as 12 will have the links, networks, knowledge and skills between them to get many more people involved and to quickly build momentum towards 3FGs early governance development goals.
Arranging the early (Primary) Meetings
One thing farmers and the farming community are good at is getting people together.
Face to face will always be better. Especially when people coming together for the first time are looking for reassurance that those, they could be about to work with are motivated in the right way and that they are people they feel it likely they can trust.
Not everyone can be at meetings whenever they are called. So, the use of streaming, or video chat software like Microsoft Teams or Zoom can be offered as a way to broaden participation – which will always be good.
The advantage of recording meetings using video is that there is an immediate record of everything discussed.
As long as there is not commercially sensitive or personal data being discussed on a video (which could be edited out if it’s there), this will immediately provide the opportunity to publish the whole meeting so that everyone can see it, and feedback online.
If you are keen to get started and would like some ideas or pointers, please drop me a line: ourfoodproblem@gmail.com
Embrace formality to play by the rules on the pitch
Whilst the direction within this book is nothing less than a revolution within UK Farming, Food Production and the relationship they have with consumers and the community, the tools suggested and offered are all about action and taking positive, proactive steps to create change.
There are no empty gestures or protests of any kind involved.
Whilst it’s a term that many don’t like to use where real life is concerned, the fact is that where anything that will have an impact upon public policy is concerned and you want things to change in a meaningful way, there is a game to be played.
That means that there are rules involved that need to be followed – and some of those rules are rules that might not easily be seen.
Therefore, the way to play the game the best way possible is to do things the right way from the beginning and to use creativity, outside of the box thinking and reinterpretation of existing rules and shibboleths to make the existing system work for farmers and consumers, until the public sector, business and government catch up and start to help with what they will then and only then recognise as inevitable change.
Common Purpose is Key
Doing things the right way sounds very time consuming.
As someone who has witnessed just how slow the wheels of government and the public sector turn when there is so much competing self-interest involved, there is no doubt that the success and depth of the change that is possible for farming and food production in the UK – which could realistically add up to what it will now take for the industry to be saved – will not be possible if competing ideas, self-interest or egos get in the way of agreeing objectives and what needs to be prioritised.
For example, there is an existing misconception that any form of commercially viable agriculture and forms of farming that are genuinely environmentally friendly are mutually exclusive propositions and that one can only truly exist without the other.
Whereas the reality and truth is that there are already commercially viable forms of farming that not only promote but depend upon a very holistic approach to land and the environment in a very balanced and sustainable way.
The difference is that they are not purist in such senses as accepting that the end result can only be achieved through ending the production of animals for food, but meet somewhere in the middle with the general acceptance that it would actually be a lot healthier for us all to eat less meat – But that our priority is moving towards a self-sustainable food producing and food secure UK, before jumping the gun on what might be the finishing touches of how future food production across the UK runs.
Few of us really understand the mechanics of:
How we got to a place where we have forgotten how the mechanics of good farming and land management works
How cheap, unhealthy food is the outcome of increased profitability for the few, all at the cost of small producers who are going out of business at an alarming rate
Why we were duped into allowing this to happen
How traditional management practices which are both respectful of and aligned with good soil management, sustainable farming practices and the direction it takes us into food production, which is once again much more community led, will save the industry for our future.
Why the future of farming in the UK really is in UK farmers’ hands
The common purpose is for those who step up and use their voices for themselves and to genuinely represent the best interests of others to decide.
However, the core priorities will be clear. They will be outcomes and will not focus on the detail of the map that dictates the route of the journey – which will inevitably lead to a failure to launch, even before anything begins.
Building The Structure of 3FG
In the first instance, the creation of the Primary (local) Meets which will then feed in Member Representatives to the Secondary (national) Meets will not immediately require a formal arrangement between founding members and those others who are early to join.
It is the shared commitment to 3FG and what it means that is most important at this stage.
With the knowledge already being available within the prospective membership that will allow a draft constitution or whatever formal document to be created that gives legitimacy to both the Secondary and Primary structures, the biggest decision that members will then need to make is a) whether and when a legal organizational structure will be required, and b) what kind of legal organizational structure is most appropriate and therefore which it will be (i.e. Limited Company, Partnership, Charity or Other)
No matter the speed with which 3FG and its systems are formed, any formal structure and governance agreements (including membership agreements) MUST be in place and be available to read BEFORE any business relationships between members or between members and outside parties is opened up for discussion with a view to being agreed.
Getting advice on the 3FG structure and governance
Whilst even mentioning organisational structures and membership or contractual arrangements can set some on a path to worry, the creation of a structure that works locally (Primary) and at national level (Secondary) isn’t difficult, as long as there are no hidden agendas or motives in the room.
With the level of success and reach that 3FG could have, getting someone to cast a legal eye over anything that is agreed before it is documented and signed off is essential. However, it is very important to be selected regarding where such help and support comes from.
Under no circumstances should the creation of any part of the 3FG governance structure be influenced or have the potential to be influenced by anyone who is linked to companies or any kind of organisation that would itself be excluded from having 3FG membership of any kind – even if that ‘help’ is offered as a donation of some kind, is apparently pro bono or given ‘free’.
The chances are that once 3FG gets known and starts to build momentum, there will be legitimate volunteers of different kinds who will step forward and be able to offer exactly the kinds of skills and knowledge that the process of signing off governance tools will need.
3FG as a Functioning Organisation
As I continue to write, I am acutely aware that many of you reading this will be experienced business owners and professionals.
Every one of you will have skills, knowledge and experience that will be helpful to 3FG – depending on what and how much of it you are happy and willing to give.
Once the governance structure is in place, the next step will be to agree strategy and who is going to do what.
Tasks to consider include:
Coordinating the Research, Creation and testing of the ‘Standard’ of the New Food Chain Assurance Scheme
Consulting with 3FG Members and Consumers over the proposed ‘Standard’
Appointing Inspectors/Trainers to conduct 3FG Member and prospective Member Farms and Businesses
Creation, design and procurement of the Guarantee ‘Stamp’, Logo or information badge for products
Web design and web training
Social Media Training
Public Relations Training
‘Trade’ representation and negotiation between member organisations
‘Trade’ representation and negotiation with external organisations
Cooperative Coordinators
Local Board Members
Membership Officer (Trade)
Membership Officer (Consumer)
Events Officer(s)
Treasurer or Finance Officer
3FG Ambassadors
Newsletter editors, writers and news reporters
And more.
These are all people that 3FG can expect to volunteer from within the 3FG membership, or as consumers who are independent of any of the food related businesses that are excluded from membership of the scheme.
You will know which areas are most important and which will need to be prioritised first.
The key thing to bear in mind that the responsibilities at national (secondary) level will be fully and comprehensively universal for 3FG, whilst those at local (Primary) level will be much more tailored to the needs and requirements of the locality, rather than being in an umbrella form.
Part 4: Thoughts on the Future of Farming
Accepting the need for change
Whatever your interest or role in Farming and Food Production, or even if you are just interested in 3FG as the consumer that the supply of food is really all about, it is unlikely that you would not agree that Farming and Food Production across the UK has massive problems, and something has to change.
We all recognise that the need for change is something that we have in common. This is a great start.
Barriers to progress
The real problem and barrier to progress is agreeing on what change is needed and what that change will therefore be.
The number of people, business owners, organisations and lobbying organisations that have an interest in the future of farming and food production, simply because of the many areas that the food chain touches and relates to, is mind boggling.
Every one of them has a different take on what’s happening, what the real issues or causes and effects of the problems are, and therefore what the solution needs to achieve.
In many cases, that also means they will already have an idea of what the solution needs to be.
This is where everything hits the metaphorical brick wall. Because we all have a habit of getting emotionally tied into the dynamic of the experience we have vs the problem as we see it vs what we know the solution needs to be or look like for us.
Work together. Find all that we have in common. Then we will have common cause
It’s frustrating to watch the same old arguments unfold and play out between different interests that have so much more in common than what are probably just a few ideas that divide them. Ideas that would probably be progressed anyway, by focusing on what aims we share in common, with the people that we might today be refusing to listen to, because the few things we appear to disagree on appear to make everything else they have to say or can do to help us, wrong.
For instance, we all:
Need to eat (healthy food that will not harm us)
Need to drink (clean, healthy water)
Need food and water that is natural with a good nutritional base
Want eating healthy food to be ‘normal’ or easy
Want food to be readily accessible to us at a price that we can afford
Need Food Security
Need the UK Food supply to be sustainable
Need the planet to continue being able to support our lives
Want to be happy
And there will certainly be more.
However, the issues we see about issues like climate change (and whether its real), money, being vegetarian or vegan, rewilding, wild animals, animal welfare standards, who deserves to be guaranteed access to food, hedgerows, building on productive land, what a sustainable life really is and just about everything else that can be argued as being personal to us and therefore how we see ourselves is a belief.
It isn’t what we have in common.
That’s why adopting a purist approach and saying anyone or all of these MUST be the end result, in order for us to agree, is what stops us all from coming together to achieve something that could quickly become very good.
Reading the room
The default setting for most of us when we think about the future or rather how we would like the future to be, is based upon everything we know and experience now, with all the things we find uncomfortable ended or addressed in whatever way we believe they will be.
However, if we stop, stand back and look at the way the world is working today, it isn’t difficult to understand that small changes will no longer do. That the people who should be changing things and helping us aren’t changing anything for the better.
Whilst ‘influencers’ might give a good talk, we struggle to recognise the last time that anyone with responsibility in the public realm really did anything that really helped – but rather just created different problems that in time added up to feeling exactly the same.
The knowledge, experience, skills and determination needed to revive UK farming and Food production and do it in a way that respects the environment, is sustainable and makes the UK Food Secure, already lies dormant and untapped, at rest within the community that surrounds the industry and way of life that so many of us love.
Making predictions can soon come back to bite us. Because none of us know what factors may come into play. Nor do we know what events will take place that will lead to change of some kind anyway.
However, there are things that we can all see happening today that tell us that things that we know and expect as being normal today, cannot continue to go on in the same way.
For instance:
Politicians aren’t listening. They hear and they talk a good talk. But they aren’t doing anything that really helps. They just do and say things that make it look like they are.
Farming and food production is not respected by the establishment – even though every one of us needs to eat each and every day.
There is an undertone in everything we read and experience in the media that suggests UK farming and food production is archaic, and that any need for food that the UK has for the future will be met by other sources, most of which don’t exist in the UK and which external businesses or other countries have.
Politicians believe in market freedom. Just not freedom in the markets of the kind that small, independent autonomous businesses have.
However:
Globalisation is over. It just hasn’t ended yet. This means that the food supply that the UK currently relies upon to come from outside, could stop at any time.
The UK is bankrupt. The money that we have is created and the more that gets created, the wider and wider grows the distance between the wealth divide.
The wars and growing talk of war is likely to speed up the collapse of global supply chains – in one way or another, especially if conflict of a kind that the UK is directly involved in should come at any time.
The EU or ‘European Project’ is collapsing. It was a sub-project of globalisation that never did anything for UK Farming or Food Production in ways that actually helped. It just taught farmers and food producers to be dependent upon handouts which always came with a cost which was always about destroying the independent functions and autonomy of once great industries leading to ever greater reliance on big business and tech that is destroying the usefulness of farms – as we are now painfully finding out.
And yes, once again there is much, much more.
After reading and considering all this, you may still believe that UK farming and food production has a future, left in the hands of the people and the type of people who are running everything now.
Personally, I don’t. And what is more, I believe that the future of UK farming and food production will not only be safer and much more secure, but it will also be massively successful and play a beneficial role for everyone – IF the future is guided and stewarded by people like YOU.
Not undoing the shackles of one set of chains to be quickly shackled by another
A challenging aspect of the kind of change and the change in thinking that Farmers and Food Producers will need to embrace for an independent and autonomous future is that the rejection of the level of influence that so many establishment level organisations currently have, doesn’t mean that farming and food production can operate and thrive within a bubble.
Farming and food production are probably the most important industries for continuing human life.
Yet as things stand today, the narrative tells us that these vital functions and industries that provide the fuel for life deserve to be treated as being subservient to all others.
The true role of farming and food production is at the heart of the communities that they feed.
Because of the role that food plays in the life of everyone, it necessarily follows that farming and food production has links of one kind or another with everyone and everything.
The future is about the dynamics of that role and how farming and food production must change to fulfil that role in a relationship that will save them and place them back at the heart of everything.
Progress is not one directional.
People from all backgrounds fall into the deliberately manufactured trap of believing that progress goes only one way.
It’s the kind of argument that says we no longer need meat in our diets because someone clever has found a way to replace the nutrients that meat provides, another way.
What those same people don’t tell anyone, is that what we have done before and what we have always done, is the foundation stone upon which everything is built that we currently think we are.
To attack the foundations of life is like standing in a bucket and then lifting the handle*.
It doesn’t matter if it’s a healthy diet, or tractors that today can do the work that seven tractors did fifty years ago.
There are principles and values at work that tell us very clearly that when something is wrong or something isn’t working because of the direction that things have gone or the choices that have been made, there is no good reason for us to continue on a pathway that’s hurting us and keep taking dangerous steps into the unknown.
Big, productionist farming methods and all the hidden agendas that go with them haven’t helped farmers.
The obsession with output hasn’t helped UK agriculture, food production or the quality of our food.
It certainly hasn’t helped the health of the people who eat food in the UK, nor has it provided the security of knowing that whatever trials and tribulations may come, there will always be an adequate supply of food for everyone across the UK to eat.
However, what big, productionist farming methods and all the hidden agendas that go with them have achieved has been the funneling of power away from farms, communities and the industry, which has passed through the sieve-like hands of incompetent politicians and establishment apparatchiks, to the wants and desires of big money and ways of thinking that have nothing beneficial for day-to-day farmers and consumers in mind.
The globalist, neoliberal propaganda, the narratives and the endless barrage of marketing that comes with it is frighteningly good and effective. Because over decades, through conditioning, it has successfully changed all that we believe, so that we look at our options today and conclude that there is no way that we can go back.
But we can.
*(Sir Winston Churchill is quoted to have said this in relation to a nation taxing itself into prosperity)
Going back to make progress from where we are now is the leap forward that we need.
No matter how we feel about sustainable agriculture, UK food security, regenerative farming or any of the words that can cause as much concern as they can create reassurance, traditional farming methods and systems of production that look much more like they did a hundred years ago, are where the real answers for UK Farming’s future and longevity now lie – in a scaled-up way.
However, the future of farming also lies at the centre of a 21st century version of life based around local communities. Where industrial scale monocropping and transporting food across continents and countries was just a misguided phase that we went through in the past.
Farming has allies waiting to step in, alongside. Independent business and community leaders who are ready to help this transition and change, who don’t yet realise that the commonality in purpose that we all share is the most important thing.
We can live life very well with everyone else, if we just concentrate on doing what’s important to everyone together and respect that the need to be right and the need to agree stops there.
Set up a Cooperative System to support the development of a not-for-profit supply chain between Farmers and Consumers
Farmers are good at what they do. Growing whatever they grow.
Yet the surrender of responsibility for whatever happens once it passes the farm gate has not helped the industry in any way.
The world appears to be successful in ways that we overlook and take for granted today, because it has become ‘normal’ for so many different ‘specialists’ to take on different roles and responsibilities within supply chains.
Regrettably, this splitting up, distillation or ‘professionalisation’ of certain roles or functions has also opened the gate to many additional roles that add cost, but don’t add value, squeezing down on farmer earnings at one end of the supply chain, whilst unnecessarily pushing up retail prices for consumers at the other.
Farmers might not need the responsibility of taking control of the entire food supply chain. But it is in the interest of the whole industry to redefine the roles and responsibilities of any party that has a role in the chain between farmers and the consumer, and to ensure that those involved add value without taking anything out.
Relocalisation of the food supply chain offers the opportunity to do just that. And whilst many farmers won’t want to return to running their own lorries, setting up their own abattoirs, butchery or even a farm shop on site, there are others who certainly will.
The establishment of non-profit making cooperatives or social enterprises that are ‘owned’ and ‘governed’ by those who have skin in the game will mean farmers can keep a higher proportion of the retail (or wholesale) value of everything they produce. Whilst the consumer will also benefit twice – because they have improving access to higher quality, higher nutritional value food, whilst prices will lower and then be genuinely reflective of what food really costs.
Skin in the game
The idea of what ‘skin in the game’ means and why it is important to the future of UK Agriculture cannot be underestimated or underplayed.
Skin in the game is a phrase or name given to the presence of those who genuinely have a stake in the success or failure of any enterprise, activity or policy.
Sadly, farming in the UK is in the mess that it is today because there are far too many people and organisations with influence over what UK Agriculture does, that don’t have skin in the game.
Therefore, they have no real commitment to and therefore no concern over the direction of UK farming and food production, or what it really does.
To be clear, investing in farming or food production at any level or in any way without being committed to what UK farming, food production and its true purpose is all about, isn’t having ‘skin in the game’.
It’s what’s called ‘making a bet’.
Politicians, Legislators and Decision makers don’t have skin in the game
Regrettably, Politicians, Legislators and Decision makers today don’t have ‘skin in the game’ either, because they aren’t focused upon or representing either farmers OR consumer’s needs.
The political and therefore the government and public sector ‘system’ is broken and massively out of touch with everyone and everything that sits outside of the sphere of its own influence.
That’s why we have the unfolding tragedy that is beginning to lay a very dark blanket over every part of UK life and the businesses, organisations and communities that fall outside.
A snapshot of where Farming and Food Production fits?
I’ve mentioned the series of ten books that I wrote and published before this one. They are listed in the ‘Books by this Author’ section which follows at the back of this book.
One of them ‘The Future is Local’, isn’t really a book or booklet in the same sense of this one.
It represents a proposal or call to action for different people from across local communities, who may wish to take on the role of becoming community business leaders or social entrepreneurs.
The Future is Local offers a pathway to creating a franchise-type system of turnkey enterprises that represent the key businesses and functions that local communities of our future are likely to need. Especially if, as many now expect, things generally take a turn for the worse and we have to approach the mechanics of life and community in a very different way.
Farming and Food production is at the centre of that proposition. What I called ‘The Glos Community Project’, for no other reason than it is where I am based and Gloucestershire and some of its Towns represent the areas and the communities that I know.
If you really would like to think about how things could be run in a much more people centric way, without all the woo-woo nonsense and bullshit that comes from people who have got a little too high on impractically idealistic views, please do take a look.
We could all soon be running good, healthy and viable businesses, or have work and be able to afford good, healthy and happy lives – without exploiting anyone or profiting unnecessarily through the abuse of rules and power.
Change your mind. Change the world
Farmers are truly some of the most creative and entrepreneurial people that I know.
Not only that, working 24/7 in an operational environment, where the unexpected is what you are conditioned to expect, means farmers are comfortable dealing professionally with uncertainty, when dealing with the responsibilities that are within their realm of control.
So, whilst many within UK agriculture are effectively paralyzed by the industry-wide reliance on government subsidies and sales which are contract led, there is absolutely no doubt that if any business sector and the people within it could take control of a very bad situation and turn it around, it will be farmers who do it first and do it comfortably, before anyone else.
It sounds like a tall order to create something new that would be big enough and powerful enough to have real meaning and impact anytime soon.
But it is only perception, experience and acceptance of the narratives that we are all regularly fed that tell any of us that change is something that can only be achieved by other people and other organisations who are established, that have a name or have what we therefore recognise often wrongly as experience, knowledge and understanding that we don’t have.
Revolutions come in very different ways and whilst nothing less than a revolution in UK Agriculture and food production will now save the industry, there is still time for Farming to save itself without resorting to meaningless gestures and protests that an establishment capable of misleading so much in life will have absolutely no problem spinning, so that the public and the people who should now be farmers allies, look on and see what’s happening in a very different and very negative way.
Farmers still represent one of the last great communities that the UK has left. And it is the power that the farming community has, alongside all those interests that sit alongside, who believe in it and feed into it, that will really make a very different grassroots-up, reprioritized way of presenting food chain assurance and quality standards work, work quickly and work very well.
The opportunities that await the industry and the ability it has to redesign, repurpose and redirect its own future, with new alliances that will be very different from what experiences today tell us to expect, will quickly become apparent. Once the people that count here – that’s farmers and consumers – begin to look at the relationship that we have with big business, government and the public sector in a much healthier, appropriately deferential and non-subservient way.
Your Feedback
This book has been written with the best interests of everyone in mind who wants to be able to continue to eat good, healthy and nutritious food, whatever events may be thrown at us, or we will experience in the months and years ahead.
It is up to you how you interpret the content of 3FG and what you then choose to do with it.
Either way, whether you feel enthusiastic, hopeful, uncertain, scornful or don’t agree with me in any way, I will always be very happy to respond to questions and discuss the material I have written – as long as the feedback being shared is informative and helpful in some way.
3FG is not a finished idea. It is food for thought.
I am, like I hope anyone reading this booklet will be, very open to ideas and suggestions that can improve what is in the pages above or offers something that is genuinely better to any or all parts of it.
Whatever you decide to do, I wish you good luck and happy eating.
More Reading
Food From Farms Guaranteed supports or sits alongside a series of books that I have written and published since early 2022 that began with Levelling Level.
It was really brought into the frame by the work I did on The Glos Community Project and An Economy for The Common Good, where I began to focus on the central role that food production should be playing in life and within every community, and which itself led me to take up a place at the RAU.
To see how Food and Food Production could sit at the centre of our future and our communities, please read Our Local Future and do bear in mind that it is providing a suggestion rather than a prediction of exactly how everything will look or how things should be.
It would be better for everyone, if instead of waiting for everything we know to collapse without taking any kind of voluntary or proactive action before hand, that we embrace the options and exercise the real power that we can to precipitate change, right now.
This is where Food From Farms Guaranteed steps off and every title below will add perspective for the read in some different but simultaneously real way.
All of the following titles are available to purchase as complete eBooks for Kindle from Amazon using the links provided.
Where indicated, titles may also be available to download FREE as PDF Copies from my Blogsite in different forms, using the links provided.
If you would like to discuss any of the works listed, please get in touch.
If you would like to download a FREE to read PDF copy of Food From Farms Guaranteed or alternatively buy the Book for Kindle, please find the links at the bottom of this page.
Living through the end of the FIAT Money Based Order, Surviving and Thriving through the Great Reset & Establishing Principles, Systems and basic Governance for the People-Centric World to come
Published as an eBook for Kindle on Amazon on 3 October 2022, From Here to There Through Now follows here in the form of the original text, with some minor editing principally to allow publishing in this online format and in PDF form.
Much has changed across the world and the UK political environment over the time since the original publication and it is important for the reader to bear this in mind. Not least of all as the relevance of the content may now feel clearer than ever.
Here is where we are, and where everything is as we know and understand it, right now.
There is where we are going; the destination and outcome(s) that many of us cannot or will not recognise with the understanding of the world that we have today – which we too easily allow to draw the outline of what we expect to experience tomorrow.
Now is the moment and every moment that we must experience on the journey that takes us From Here to There and what we may encounter in the Here and Now.
The third book, following the original versions of Levelling Level and The Basic Living Standard, From Here to There Through Now focuses on the practicalities of change and what it is likely to take to Thrive and Survive through what might be a prolonged period of turmoil and chaos where little as we know it today will continue to work as we have been conditioned to believe it should.
The books that follow create an unplanned series that go on to cover different aspects and approaches to voluntary change and what a fully people-centric, community-driven and locality-based way of living and governing ourselves might look like. All of those that are available to buy as eBooks for Kindle or Download as FREE PDFs will be linked at the end of this version under ‘More Reading’.
Thank you for your interest.
AT, Cheltenham, UK. 6 March 2025
Introduction
I will begin with an apology. Not for the content, words, ideas and solutions to our current, transitory and longer-term problems that follow. But for the fact that whilst I have attempted to put all of the material together so that it flows in a conventional way, the subject matter or content within the different subjects that most definitely relate to each other, do not relate to each other in any kind of accepted-as-being-conventional kind of way.
Indeed, many of the problems that we face and that we have faced for decades have existed as they do. Because very few have tried and almost all have eventually failed to join up the dots of the complicities of the system. One that fools everyone into believing that their own view and experience is the only one that is true. And therefore, the only one that counts.
As an observer, interpreter, commentator, strategist and understander, I appreciate that if I were to set about presenting this work in the form that would cover everything and every subject whilst considering the interchangeability and relationship that every part of life or policy has directly or indirectly with the other(s) – AND do it in such a way that would make sense to everyone, the reality is that even as a halfway house or completely esoteric form of work that would perhaps only be acceptable to the most open minded academics, this is not something that could not realistically be done.
Life doesn’t actually work that way. In fact, the pathway to real life is following that gut feeling, trusting your instincts or learning to be discerning enough to really listen to your heart, that gives anyone and any of us the real opportunity to succeed in a genuinely good and healthy way, in any part of life.
If you’ve picked up this book, or any part of it, the chances are that you are and have been following that internal compass or radar system either knowingly, or in an indulgent way where something has just prompted you to look at things a little more closely and take those little steps that take you beyond.
I would simply ask that you read everything ‘as you go’ and focus on the immediate content as you do so. As I have found as the different blogs that make up the majority of this Book have been published, some will resonate with people simply because of the very specific lens or experience they have that dictates or flavours the way they look at the world.
However, if you really want to get the benefit of the ‘bigger picture’ that I am only trying to open the door to – and not even really begin to get on paper (because as I’ve just said above, it basically cannot be done), From Here to There Through Now, along with Levelling Level will certainly help you step inside and offer you the opportunity to see a world and life experience that’s as good for you as it is good for all.
Just try and leave your prejudices – which will have come from the old world that we are now leaving – behind.
The Structure of this Book
This is not a conventional book and was never intended to be so.
From Here to There Through Now is not a story either. But it is an invitation to write a different story.
The intention is to begin by making some sense of what is happening at the present time – very much as a carry on from my previous Book ‘Levelling Level’.
We then move onto the aspects of surviving and thriving through the very challenging period that lies ahead, and then begin to establish new systems and governance that will support the kind of change that we need.
From Here to There Through Now offers and suggests an alternative approach to embracing the destructive chaos and inaction that ‘false prophets’ as well as the dying embers of this establishment will continue to offer us, throughout.
This is not a perfect work. Rather a patchwork of different work that will only interlink when the reader can see everything that is happening in a very objective way, stepping beyond the idea that subjectivity IS objectivity when the individual blocks out reality with simple mantras such as ‘I am right, so everyone not with me is therefore wrong’.
My sincerest hope is that before we reach a point of crisis where unthinkable alternatives will be empowered and march in, more and more people will step outside of their bubbles and recognise the commonality that we all have with the people we share each and every day of our lives with. Rather than maintaining blind faith in the people we rarely or will never meet, but media tells us are more important to trust.
Whether your interpretation of this book is random or not, I hope that it will help you and others just like you and I as we turn that different page together.
Levelling Level
In early 2022, I wrote and published an e-book called ‘Levelling Level’.
Levelling Level was named as it was as a direct rejection of both the so-called ‘Levelling Up’ agenda that the Johnson era Tory Government created and the ‘levelling down’ way of thinking and doing that successive Labour governments in the UK have destructively lived.
‘Levelling Up’ was created by The Conservatives as a sop to do little more than keep ‘The Red Wall’ happy by doing nothing more than spending money. Whilst the decades-old socialist-driven Labour ideology of ‘levelling down’ has proven to be a perverse idea of equality that thrives on destroying anything considered ‘better’ or ‘elite’, so that everything stops at mediocre and is therefore considered ‘fair’.
Levelling Level discussed how we got to where we are and the need for change. It concluded by suggesting the fundamental building blocks that would facilitate real change and lead to the creation and ongoing maintenance of a genuinely fair and balanced model of governance, the systems that would support it, and the ideology that would have to be adopted not only so that it would work, but also to ensure that our society could experience genuine happiness and real freedom to enjoy the human experience too.
The role of Levelling Level in this Book
When I wrote Levelling Level, I didn’t focus or go into any great detail about the changes that are coming, or that by the time ‘From Here to There Through Now’ is published, will for many of us already be very clearly underway.
Whilst I began writing the content for what was to become this book almost straight away, I chose to publish all of the content in the reverse way.
However, as one, then two and finally three shorter e-books took shape, I decided that it was only the further work that I had completed on bringing more shape to The Basic Living Standard that should be published.
Much of the material I have written could be argued by some as being predictive after all, and I would be the first to admit that even I recognise the apocalyptic flavour that accompanies the idea of some kind of manual to help the reader ‘survive & thrive’, even when the intention is for the work to be nothing more than a map or guide through a challenging and difficult period of history to help people get restarted and established to make the very best of things for everyone once we are on the other side.
By ‘other side’, I do of course refer to the problems we are only beginning to experience now in the form of the ‘cost of living crisis’, energy problems, threats of war, currency crisis, inflation, shortages of every kind and more – all of which were touched on in ‘Levelling Level’, and will be referred to in greater detail as part of the ‘system collapse’, ‘Great Reset’, ‘crash’ and other, where appropriate in the pages of the book that now follow.
Things will get much worse before there is any hope that they will get better. But whilst it is only human to focus on the problems, difficulties and challenges that are looking us in the eye, the real door of opportunity for a better world, a truly balanced and fair way of life, and a whole system that promotes a way of being that values people, communities and our environment in the way that it genuinely always should, is now opening slowly but very surely, with everything we all have the power to influence and change now reaching the point where it is for many just hiding, albeit briefly, in plain sight.
Why Levelling Level is important now
Beyond the quick fixes that will solve the problems as we now see them or are only consciously aware of, the change that is now required is so profound that it is only a unique set of circumstances that touch everyone and causes pain to each of us in some way, that will provide the incentive for us to think differently.
Only then will we be open to a change in thinking that will create a much healthier way of living for us individually, as well as making fairness and balance a part of everyone’s life.
Such a unique set of circumstances or events now exist and are underway.
Government responses to a series of events, which began with Brexit, then The Covid Pandemic, the Invasion of Ukraine and latterly the energy crisis, have become the catalysts that have precipitated and accelerated everything that we know to change around us.
They are the first steps of a Financial and Systemic collapse that none of the current political elites have the power to control.
Somewhat ironically, it is the decisions that these same ‘leaders’ have been making in response to these events that are the real cause of all the problems that society faces today. This same malign influence has been at work, not only for the past six or seven years. But for what we must recognise as being decades of time.
These same few are using the term ‘Reset’ or ‘Great Reset’ as a forewarning that we will ignore at our peril.
Their misuse of these terms is a forewarning that the existing elites intend to use the collapse that is underway as an opportunity to reboot the existing system that has benefitted them so well, so that it will work even better for them – all under the auspices of what will be much tighter and fully digitalised control.
However, what the elites haven’t banked on, is that things are set to change in such a way, and to such a degree, that all of the reasons and motives that drive these people – at considerable cost to us all – are going to be exposed to daylight. The actions and motives of the elites will then be seen and understood by all.
The unsustainable ways that we have been living under their manipulative leadership will come to an end.
We will be forced to revalue life and what the important parts of it are.
Times ahead are likely to be painful for us. But the pain of experience is how we really learn. And as we learn and realise what the basic essentials for life – in both a practical and mentally healthy way – really are, we will also understand what any of us would need if we found ourselves in circumstances where we were having to ‘just get by’.
How to Read Levelling Level
Levelling Level is available and downloadable as a Book for Kindle for a small cost.
However, Levelling Level is also available to read FREE in blog form and can be found HERE:
A Community Route: The process of moving from Top-Down to Grassroots-Up
Obsessed as we are with the Money-focused world, even the most intelligent of our economists and academics cannot see or rather visualise the world being able to function in any other kind of way. Even the reality that many have or are quietly admitting that they cannot see where the growing crisis ends, hasn’t brought into question the belief that whatever happens next or whatever the world may look like in the future, it will still revolve around and be completely money-based.
The alternative truth that even the greenest, socialist, new-worldish of our communities cannot reconcile is that an economy doesn’t have to be all about money or even based on money for that economy to either be successful or for that economy to exist.
Money is only the blood or medium that conducts or rather carries the different elements or functionaries that carry out all the functions. It is just a question of priorities and the basis upon which all our assumptions and our entire value set is made that counts.
Changing that value set all begins very close to home. Firstly, it’s about the way that we think. Secondly it is then about getting everything right in the world that we can see.
Everything will therefore be about locality and community. Today, it’s just not all that easy to see.
Redefining government, governance and the way we live from the grassroots up
Who makes the choices in your life? Who takes the decisions that really affect your future and all the things that happen to you? Is it you? Or is it actually someone else?
We are all remarkably good at using the power of imagination to picture or visualise the way we would like our lives to be.
We use this power to be drawn in and taken over by the power of stories written by others. Stories that find their way to us either through books, magazines and the media. But also, through the different genres of film and cinema too.
This power to see, feel and even empathise with characters in stories that may not appear real, is very profound. So profound, that it can be confused with reality right across our range of senses.
That is, until a story and the reality it represents threatens the reality around us that we consider to be real. The reality which we believe to be our own.
Everything going on in the world around us today, whether it be inflation, problems with the cost of living, a distant war in Ukraine and even the death of Queen Elizabeth II appears real to everyone, in some particular way. But unless these events have reached beyond words or a screen and have come directly into our lives where they have touched us, they remain real, but outside of us. They are only real for someone else.
The things that we have in life and the way that life works around us are something that we all take for granted, for as long as we remain unaware of change. Even when change is happening around us – often through sleight of hand.
Change of one kind or another is constant. It is happening all of the time
Yet what is it that is common to all the things that are happening around us? What is it that influences everything in life without most of us even being aware? What is it that really sits outside of us that has fooled us into living our lives in a way that has been conditioned to benefit others, whilst making us all believe that the decisions, we make have always remained our own to define?
The commonality that flows between everything and everyone in this world today is money.
Everyone and everything is connected by the creation of money, its accumulation, its worship.
Life as we know it is run by a money-based system that has conditioned us all to believe that the value of everything in life can be determined by what somebody has, where somebody lives, what somebody earns, what somebody owns.
What few of us realise is that we have all been enslaved by a money-based system. A culture that has affected us all so deeply, it has even taken over the way that we all think.
We are enslaved by money and chained by the value set that accompanies it
We may not be the bankers, the politicians or the world elites. We may not have the material wealth, the power and influence that they think they do.
But their plans and the actions that they have taken to help themselves over a prolonged period of time, have made everyone inherently selfish, focused upon themselves and acting and thinking the same way.
Yes, the process may be nuanced and working at different levels. But the vein of commonality that runs throughout life makes us all responsible for what is happening to the world now in some way.
In the world we live in today, wealth and the flow of money is the only thing that matters. And if we follow the money and where it always goes, we quickly understand where the power behind all of the decisions that each of us makes really lies. That money flows following an upwards and funneled path to whoever it is who sits at the top.
We are trapped in the thinking that those at the top of this hierarchy or triangle are better than us, simply because they appear to be higher up, and we are placed further down.
This Top-Down system gives the impression of being fair and necessary so that there is some kind of order at work. But it is all about money.
Hierarchies of any kind are not aligned with the way that real humanity and true values in life should ever work.
The FIAT Money System or Money Based Order that we are currently in
When money and everything to do with money (which is basically everything) is the most important value system or value set that we have, it naturally follows that those who have most of it or have most influence over it will always be the people who are in charge.
Whilst the concept, suggestion or idea that whoever has all the money dictates our lives may be one that we find somewhat hard to accept, anyone who can stand still long enough, look at themselves and look at the way this whole system around us works and operates for long enough, will soon understand where the real power, influence and decision making that affects all of our lives really lies.
As the sickness which is the money based order and the worship of wealth and money has slowly but steadily taken over aspect of life, the disease, habit and addiction that money as the only value set really is, has permeated through every decision, every action and every activity to the point where we have not only lost sight of basic decency, humanity and care for others in everything that we do. It has gone even further and made us jealous of anything threatening to the money-based value set that comes into view.
Sickness cannot last if anyone genuinely wants to be happy. Ultimately, sickness must be cured, or life will remain unfair, unbalanced and in all likelihood intolerable without both the cause and the effects being addressed. The alternative is that life reaches its end and dies.
A Bright and Happy Future. But one which requires a leap of faith from us all first
The good news is there is a cure for the sickness of this world which is today all about money.
The cure for the money and greed-based problems that we face, is to value people and everything about life before anything else instead.
Valuing people and everything in life is the greatest power that any individual has. It is the way to cure all of the problems that we have in our lives and around the world, and it really is this powerful, because the change that it represents is all about each of us learning to take full responsibility for our actions, and rejecting the directives, the influence and the commands of others than come from outside of us and placed as a burden we no longer need to carry meaningfully in our own hands.
Rejecting the money-based system itself doesn’t mean rejecting the use of some form of currency, or the great advances that have come as a result of the money-driven technical age.
It quite literally means switching the priorities of life to their polar opposite, so that the focus of everyone and everything is to provide the fairest, most balanced, happy and equitable life for absolutely everyone, instead of one where those at the next level are always doing better, are treated better and expect to be thought of as better, so that the few at the top will always prosper, whilst life becomes increasingly difficult and the experience of it increasingly more painful at each and every level or tier that sits below.
Fear: The biggest barrier to change (as its easier to keep cowering, than to stand up)
Today, even the most intelligent and learned of the specialists and commentators who beyond the mainstream media are discussing the details of the financial and economic catastrophe that is underway as it unfolds, cannot tell us what the solution to all of this mess that the collapse of the elite-driven money-based system and globalised order will be.
Even the cleverest people we have in the public spotlight, cannot see any other way of life and of living life being possible, when everything operates and everyone has been conditioned to think life is literally all about what we have, what we want, what we can get and what we already own.
The pain, the flashpoint, the scarcity, the depravation, the hunger, the want, the unrest, the anger, the frustration, the intolerance, the hatred that are all coming are now unavoidable, literally because we will not accept the alternative way of being and of living life in every sense, until the pain and tragedy has hit each and every one of us in some way.
Yet this is the point when we have to be brave. It is the moment when we must be big enough to break our links with the selfishness and unacceptable behaviour of the past.
Yes, even when people are in the streets, there is hunger and everything we know as civilization is under threat, there will be many who just want things to be returned to being just as they always were.
For as long as such thinking exists, for one to gain, someone else will always have to lose. And this is neither acceptable nor necessary. It is just the easy – and very selfish or self-serving choice.
A New Beginning isn’t a choice, but it is the commitment to see it through
We already know that we can visualise and therefore write a new story. A story that is very real. A story that is very good for us all.
As difficult to believe as it may seem, this coming change is no longer a choice.
Those who still worship the money-based order can only delay it. Their attempts will ultimately prove futile, but the delays they cause by creating lies and baseless objections will prolong and cause a lot of needless and unnecessary pain.
Whereas the money system has grown, developed and suffocated everything through the use of smoke and mirrors, manipulation, lies and pretending that only those with special knowledge can ever understand the complexity of the game, the alternative life and way of being is simple. It is a code or mantra that simply states that the basics of life should be the priority of everyone and everything, and that the circumstances that surround the basics of life should be and should always remain exactly the same for us all.
The code or statement that everyone and everything should be focused on is The Basic Living Standard, which follows as one of the Chapters later in this book.
If your only thought as you look at the world is ‘how does this affect me’, think again
We exist in very selfish times. Without even realising it, we, our families, our friends and the generations of those before us, have all lived through and experienced changes in the way that everything around us works. Changes that have often happened in such small ways, that we have not even realised that change was underway, until that moment we might have suddenly thought ‘that’s not the way that this used to work’.
The change and the many changes that I speak of, have made us increasingly selfish. Bit by bit, they have delivered a whole new culture that focuses on money and material wealth, rather than values and humanity.
We have literally reached a point in world history where we have forgotten what it really means to live and to be alive.
With our cultural and therefore our conditioned focus being all about what we can get, what we have, what we want, rather than being about who we really are, our default setting is to see and experience every interaction in terms of its value to us, rather than it being just the next opportunity to grow by being who we are really supposed to be.
Relationships and our own Humanity are key
It is important to understand how we interact and relate to everything going on in the world, because our failure to do so, will leave us dangerously vulnerable and ill-equipped to function, to survive and to thrive through the turbulence and challenging times that have become unavoidable and now lie on a timeline which is very close ahead.
The world that we will soon leave has taught us that selfishness and self-interest are good things to indulge. But in the world that we are about to enter, it is our relationships, collaboration with and care for others that will dominate our priorities in ways that nobody living today will have experienced within their lifetime before.
Forget what’s on your screen. Forget what’s in the paper or in the news. Forget what anyone wants to tell you about the world you cannot see or feel but have been assured by others that it exists somewhere beyond.
Life is now about the people, the neighborhood, the places and the communities that you experience firsthand in your life, each and every day.
That’s where a life of true value already lies and it’s by getting everything right in this very localised sense, that we can all now create a much better world for us all that lies in everything beyond.
The Story (or rather, the current story, so far)
The challenge of writing meaningfully about societal and systemic change, when the majority of people genuinely a) believe that they are happy b) believe that things will always remain the same, and c) that there is no way of doing anything any differently, is far from being negligible.
It is however pretty certain that the same majority of people do already quietly acknowledge that things aren’t good, no matter the direction that any of us look. It is just the case that when people reach that point, there is some kind of conditioned internal dialogue that tells us these issues aren’t worth looking at if they aren’t touching us, and that someone else will deal with them and make them go away.
If you’ve read this far, you will not need me to spell out the answers to the questions that any of these points raise. But it’s probably going to be helpful to think about them more deeply and in different ways:
Something is happening. Something is underway
As I am sat with a coffee and my laptop in a Starbucks, early on a Monday morning in May 2022, I look out of the windows ahead of me.
I see a world that looks the same as it did three months ago – before the Invasion of Ukraine began. The same as it did two-and-a-half years ago – before the Covid Pandemic Began. The same as it did six years ago – before the Brexit Vote and all the subsequent drama began.
But things are not the same.
The one thing that I am sure of is that even the most optimistic of us, or those of us who feel most insulated and secure from problems that we can see and hear about on the news and TV have one thing in common with the rest of us that we are likely to agree on: That something doesn’t feel right.
Yes, your response might be to overlook that niggle you have and immediately look at people like the politicians running our Country, or those with zillions in the bank who are ‘at the top’. You think to yourself, ‘That guy doesn’t see or feel like there’s anything wrong – so how could that possibly be so?’
No matter who we are or what role we are playing in a game which is to all intents and purposes, a very complicated life for us all, there has never been anything more certain than the reality that each and every one of us knows that something isn’t right about our personal experience of the world we all share and live in right now. Right here, today.
We all know deep down that something is wrong. We just have very different stakes in the game.
For some to be rich, it does not follow that everyone else must be poor
Only accelerated by the arrival of the Internet and the media age, the dehumanisation of the relationships between each of us and any of the people we do not know has become destructively profound.
Greed has always been a problem, particularly for those who are insulated by the privilege of their positions, conditioning or upbringing.
But the impact from the lack of care or the consideration of the impact or consequences of actions that are increasingly profitable for the self-serving who have power, have never done so much damage to the lives of others as they are doing right now.
As the unscrupulous have increasingly taken more influence and control, they have changed the rules and frameworks that govern our system to push balance and fairness further and further away from us. Meanwhile, they have continued to consolidate the grip that they have, enriching themselves and those they identify as being of their kind, in a process that works purely on the basis that so they can win, it follows that many others must be the ones to lose.
There is nothing natural about the way that any of this works. The system is based on the accumulation of wealth and of money. Money, that has power only because of the belief that we have all foolishly placed in it. Money that doesn’t actually exist.
Money makes money, when it should only be effort and the contribution that any of us make, that defines any of us beyond a Basic Living Standard or benchmark that should exist and be maintained at the same level, so that there are the very same opportunities as a basis for all.
Until we reach the point when we all realise and accept that it is our values and our integrity in our relationship with others and the world around us that makes us ridiculously rich, rather than the money we have or the things that we own, no matter what we have, we will all remain very poor.
A Complicated World means Complicated Lives. Complication means the truth gets lost in the detail
You cannot and will not see the problems that are creating the feeling that something isn’t right, unless you are open or receptive to that information, or you are actually looking out for it.
To do that effectively and rationally, you have to have experienced those kinds of things before.
You will need to have studied them, worked with them, or your life needs to have already been touched by similar experiences in some way.
The chances are you don’t ‘get it’. But that doesn’t make you wrong. In fact, it really is OK
The world we live in is ridiculously complicated. And by that I am referring to the many different worlds or rather the world or bubble as each and every one of us experiences it. Worlds which sit billions or times over, beyond the one that we feel is more than complicated enough in which we personally exist.
No. Our lives really are not the same.
We are the sum of our experiences.
Even the conversation that I am about to have with the barista when I order my next coffee, will make me a different person in the sum of those experiences. I will be different to the person that I am right now, or rather the person I was before.
We don’t know all the details that make up the stories of all the things that come into our lives. How food was produced or how it got to the supermarket shelves. Where the computers and phones that we use were designed or where they came from. What it took and who was involved in bringing everything to us.
We certainly don’t understand or appreciate the whys or how’s of how decisions were made by different layers of government, that are having an effect on just about every part of our life.
Just because you cannot see a problem, doesn’t mean that a very big problem doesn’t exist
None of our lives are simple – no matter what anyone else thinks.
The complications within our own lives or ‘bubbles’ mean that we really are blind and deaf to anything and everything going on outside of our own bubble – unless there is something within our bubble which gives us a specific interest is something that could also be very specific outside of our bubble. A specific something going on in one of the many worlds that make up the whole world that sits beyond our own.
A disaster could be unfolding in the world bubble and life of the person sat on the table next to me in this Starbucks, but I cannot see it because I have had no reason to do so.
This is the way that we all look at everything.
It’s how the whole world and the many worlds that exist within it work.
Until any problem or the many problems from many bubbles come into our lives and touch us directly, they may as well not actually exist.
That feeling that something isn’t right is your real alarm clock going off. It’s time to wake up!
That feeling of disquiet that we all have, is like a knock at the door or an internal alarm clock going off. It’s the real you, reaching out to say that something that isn’t good for us is going on right here, right now.
Whilst I am using the metaphor of an alarm clock and telling you that it’s time for us all to wake up, this isn’t the clarion call of the ‘great awakening’ that those who are converting a material form of self-interest into one sold as spiritual piousness would like us all to buy-in and believe.
Insisting that anyone must be part of this or that or have specific knowledge or experience to be accepted is no better than the demands of a money obsessed society that insists you have to demonstrate your wealth to be accepted, to ‘get in’ or ‘to be someone’.
The awakening, or process of waking up I am talking about, is that of learning or rather re-learning to trust yourself and the feelings that you might inexplicably have.
Instead of looking to the worlds and words or others and everything outside of yourself for answers to YOUR questions, you should instead look to the yes / no, right / wrong, feelings that come without internal dialogue or commentary and without reason and without emotion.
Instincts, when trusted, will always deliver. Simply because you have had the good sense to look within and not gone without.
Trust Your Feelings. Know Your Emotions.
Feelings are a funny thing. In fact, we are constantly told by people and the world around us that our feelings, gut feelings or the instincts or that knowing that cannot always be elucidated with words, should be overridden.
The messages of the world insist that it is the messages and ‘things’ that are outside of us that are the only thing we can trust.
That is of course, unless those feelings are not really feelings at all, but are in fact the emotions that relate to our own perceived vulnerabilities and ideas of isolation. Thoughts that we are then ‘progressively’ encouraged to shout about from the rooftops.
‘Weaknesses’, celebrated openly with others can then be exploited to weaken others and make them believe they are vulnerable too. All at our own expense whilst our willing participation in this charade fuels a system that has evolved to benefit only the few
What’s Really Happening
Everything in our lives is interconnected with everything in everyone else’s lives in some way.
Like a giant jigsaw puzzle, all the different parts come together to make one big picture.
But the parts are always changing (people, technology, thinking etc). And as we can only look after or move the parts of the puzzle around which are our own responsibility within our own lives to do, we have been led to believe that it has become necessary to trust others with responsibility for the parts that we believe to be beyond our own control.
Over time, that trust or rather the power over others that it commands has corrupted the people that hold it. Yes, that’s our politicians. But more importantly, it’s the people leading business and finance who appear to have or possess all the things that our politicians believe that they need to have or possess – just like we have all been conditioned to think we need too.
A Broken System. A System Out of Balance. A System Where More Wants More
It is a strange and regrettable truth that a system of any kind doesn’t have to be principled, ethically run or morally correct to exist, to survive or to experience longevity – no matter what the cost, impact or consequences might be to anyone not directly involved or those who are in reality its victims or those that it exploits.
What any system does need to work well, to work efficiently and to survive in the very long time or in perpetuity, is balance, and for it and everything it produces or projects to be fair.
The system that we have is well established in the sense that nobody alive today could tell you either an accurate or true story about what it was like before it existed.
But the system that we have today is built on the foundation of the belief in money. And money doesn’t exist.
The Lie About Balance & Fairness
We are told that the system we have is the fairest that we could have. That by having so much emphasis on ‘the markets’ and the role that money plays in everything, we can keep having more and more of the best things that we have ever had.
But the system isn’t fair, because it is driven and motivated by greed. But that greed is not just at the top. Those at the top have been able to do all that they have done to benefit themselves, because they have used the system that greed has created to convince all of us that we can keep accumulating little pieces of all the things that they have.
The irony is that even within a system built on and servicing greed, there is a point of balance, which once exceeded, may appear to keep working. But it is in fact on its way – through increasing and accelerating disfunction – to ending in a massive and potentially epoch defining crash.
How did we get here?
To put it as simply as possible. The reason that we are here today, is because we have accepted and enabled the wrong people to be in control, and those people have been in control for too long.
Greed, envy and the desire for wealth has built, propagated and redesigned existing parts of the system so that the values that we once had and should always have had, have been replaced by a view of the world which makes us always ask the same question: ‘What is it worth?’
Real life, a life based on values, care for each other, care for our environment and care or respect for all the things that we don’t understand, has been completely replaced by money and material wealth as a benchmark.
We have literally forgotten what we are all about.
When, Where & How did all the economic problems we have today really begin?
Okay, so we have to wind back the clock. Not just a little. But a very long way, before we can begin to start a whistle-stop tour of the key events and motivators that have contributed to or rather their impact on everything else have accumulated to create the situation that we are facing now.
Firstly, it’s important to understand that this is a story about human nature before anything else.
It’s a story about what happens when people obtain power, influence, wealth or a mixture of them all, and either don’t have the moral fibre, ethics or principles to always do the right thing for everyone at the start, or they end up that way because they have been corrupted by what they have experienced or gained along their life path.
Oddly enough, morality and values seem to become increasingly absent across society, the further from general hardship or real hardship that effects everybody within it becomes.
Without the experience of hardship, or ‘making do’, even the poorest members of society can quickly become mesmerised and emotionally tied to an obsession for what they could have, rather than really appreciating all that they have already got.
More wants more. And in 1971, with promises of benefits that could only be unleashed by so-called ‘market freedoms’, deregulation of financial systems and services, and the proposition that an economy unhindered by government will always look out for us all, Neoliberalism was unleashed upon the western world when US President Richard Nixon did away with The Gold Standard, and a world based on FIAT or rather created money was born.
Commercialism had been picking up great speed before 1971, particularly in the United States. The emotional fix of material possessions and the social benchmarking that became definable by ‘showy wealth’ for the masses played perfectly into the hands of those economists with an agenda. False prophets who were able to whisper their intoxicating poison into the ears of politicians and influencers who didn’t have the scruples to know or even suspect any better.
So, with the launch of the FIAT system – that the western world has all but since adopted – a cultural shift from values to ‘money is god’, through a process based on the success of media manipulation and brainwashing was well and truly unleashed.
The cultural shift from having values to nothing but the worship of money was built on our own weaknesses and vulnerabilities, exploited by those at the top
The dreams of big money and corporate interests had all come true, the very moment that this age of Neoliberalism was born.
Not only because the elites had untapped the rivers of gold that only ‘those in the know’ had access too because they or their friends could literally print money out of thin air to invest in whatever they wanted with ‘real’ money from customers coming back at them in return.
Not only because the elites could use the useful idiots they had found in the form of stupid, ambitious and above all corruptible politicians who would change rules and regulations to favour their interests at every turn.
Not only because they could move just about every form of production and manufacturing that existed to Countries far away, where the rules that more westernised nations had fought for and took for granted could be ignored and ridiculous increases in bottom line margins would result.
But because above all, this group of politicians, business leaders and people with a lot of money now knew that they had the power to tell people who were losing their jobs, losing their incomes, losing their communities, losing their value and losing their integrity, that the whole thing was in their best interests, and that they would be much better off financially and materially as a result.
The whole thing has been the world’s biggest confidence trick. But it worked and it has continued to work for as long as it has done, simply because so many of us have been blinded by the ‘easy money’, the great cars, the fashionable clothes, the foreign holidays, and the blinding light of money becoming the ruler of everything.
This is where self-interest and the lack of questioning from us all has now led. And it’s all about to collapse.
Why our broken system has lasted for so long
Some of you, probably many of you will be thinking that a system that works ‘successfully’ for over 50 years, cannot really have all that much wrong. But that will probably be because you haven’t yet been knowingly touched by the fallout from the collapse of a system built only on greed, as you can and will be.
The foundation of this entire system has been making money and how to improve or develop the ways to make more and more money, along with ways of increasing the profit margins from what everything within the system already does.
Rather ironically, it has been the same time and distance from the hardship caused by wars and nationwide events that allowed the ‘elites’ to manipulate us all into believing this created world was real, that wooed them into their own false sense of security. One that encouraged them and the people desperate to be and become like them, to overlook the basic rules of contingency planning, of making reasonable provision against risk and of not doing things to make even more money – not because they should, but because they can.
The whole global economy or global economic system has been built on luck and not judgement. The luck being that until 2020, there had been no nationwide or world events that had been big enough to blow the whole house of cards down. That is, before some other clever device or fudge could be invented that could arrest the timeline decline of the system, or keep it going long enough so that the incumbent elites could wash their hands of it, pass it on to the next generation of greedy bastards and proclaim, ‘keeping the lie going is now your problem, not mine’.
The role of Brexit, Covid & Ukraine in The Great Reset
It is important to understand that the whole system has been dysfunctional for a very long time.
That is, if it can even be said that the system was genuinely functional at any time.
It has been momentum or a seemingly unending direction of travel that has kept the whole thing going. Just as long as the lie didn’t get uncovered, there remained untapped resources to exploit and the elites or those in their pay could find new ways of rolling this turd of a story in glitter, so that the truth remained hidden in plain sight.
The European Union has been a very useful part of this money-making con. It is no accident that the steps towards increased EU power picked up speed and political acceptance in the ways and on the timeline that it otherwise inexplicably did.
That is why the Brexit Vote in 2016 hit the elites and the establishment with such a bloody great big shock.
In fact, Brexit was to be only the first blown tyre on a bus that was never meant to be stopped. The elites didn’t bank on Covid, nor Ukraine being the next two to go. Nor, that in terms of political drivers in time of an unplanned crisis, they had only ever made provision for there being useful idiots at the wheel or ready to step in from the bunk.
Even a corrupt, unethical system that exploits others can survive for a very long time. That is, as long as those with their hands on the levers of power, don’t overreach and break the systems own rules.
The End of Globalisation, The FIAT Money Based Order and the collapse of a whole system dressed up as change
Objectivity in a world that is only able to function because it distracts so many of us from asking the questions that we really should be, isn’t at all easy. We all lead very subjective lives with our focus, perspective and experiences very much controlled by what interests us within what many refer to in social media terms as a ‘bubble’.
Bubbles today are very much the same at the most base or practical level to the villages of old, where every part of life revolved around the locality itself. The difference is that we take every functional part of life and how it comes into being for granted and believe that nothing outside the views and motivations that we share with the others in our bubble is important. The major commonality is the subjectivity and the reality that our lives are almost perfectly insular, and we have little time for learning about, understanding and even stepping into the world beyond.
All well and good. That is until everything that allows us or facilitates our lives so that we can continue to think that way stops or comes to an end.
What everyone beyond those who have an interest in pretending everything can continue to work in the way that it has been will soon realise, is that life as we believe it to be isn’t sustainable and hasn’t been sustainable for a very long time. In fact, if there ever were to be an example of the perfect lie, in terms of just how long it has worked for and benefitted those doing the lying, then Globalism, the FIAT Money or Money Based Order and everything wrong with the system that we are living in today, would be it.
The Great Reset, Great Correction, System Collapse or Crash that lies ahead
You’ve probably already heard the term ‘The Great Reset’ being used by other people, by politicians and by representatives of an organisation based in Switzerland called the World Economic Forum or the WEF.
Whilst many people with an interest in doing so are trying very hard to take ownership of the events that are now happening and giving the whole process its own name, the reality is that it doesn’t matter what terms we use or attribute the period of history that the world is now going through.
After decades and possibly centuries of the world being run and ruled under a system that has become less and less fair and more and more unjust, the collapse of this system and a period of rebalancing, refocusing, resetting, restarting, restoring and reforming has always been inevitable.
It was always just a question of when, how that change would begin and what it would be that the people who have been controlling everything would do to precipitate its end.
Some things can no longer be controlled
Whilst the cumulative effects of a system that benefits the few by taking from the many have been taking their time to work through and become any real threat to its existence, they have been in the offing for quite some time.
The question of something happening that would act as a catalyst for long overdue change was only ever about when such an event would happen. It was never about if.
Yet the arrival of Covid nonetheless caught the elites on the march. Indeed, the response to the ‘Pandemic’ by the fools we have in Government, by printing far more money than the system could absorb without exposing the truth of the entire money lie, was only made worse by the knee-jerk implementation of draconian social distancing measures that weren’t thought through and were simply too obvious in their intent to hide in plain sight.
In time, it was always inevitable that the game was going to be found out. And nobody can control the narrative when we are all victims of a crash.
The ‘Great Reset’ and the role of The World Economic Forum & The World ‘Elites’
It is only our belief in this system that makes it work.
The people at the top of what is ourtop-down hierarchy are only there today, because we have a misplaced sense of deference to power and money, and we are continually still being conditioned to believe all that they say.
These people look at people like you and I and they think that we are all stupid, because we have been fools to give them our trust.
Yet they are all the truly stupid ones. Because they have been given the privilege of power and influence which they could have used for good. But instead, they have neglected our trust.
They have known for a long time, that the system built on lies that they sit on top of, has been at growing risk. This is why talking shops like the World Economic Forum (WEF) actually exist. It’s why so-called leaders like Klaus Schwab have been creating narratives over many years, in order that the same people in control now can use the same system of manipulation that has served them so well to ensure that they ‘own’ the inevitable process of change.
They hope to then reposition themselves to lead and benefit from exploiting us all in just the same ways, when they have taken credit for leading us through an inevitable period of crisis and pain for everyone else – that they all themselves helped to create.
‘The Great Reset’ is probably the most appropriate term for the process that is now happening. It was no accident that with the arrival of the Covid Pandemic and the realisation that ‘their system’ was in existential crisis because of the different ways that it was being handled, the WEF were very quick to begin upping the publishing of plans for ‘The Great Reset’.
This was so that they could immediately begin to create a credible narrative in the minds of people, that those at the top of all this had planned it and had been in control of it from the start.
Call it planned acquiescence if you like. Albeit, an emergency fire-fighting version, that deep down they know can only succeed for as long as we, that’s the general population, believe that we are ok, happy, in some ways and that the problems we have are problems that we have alone.
The elites know that the game is over if we reach the point where we are ready to take to the streets – because we have lost faith in their authority and no longer are prepared to accept that we have anything to lose by doing so.
There is no new world order conspiracy. There is just what the elites are confident they can get us to believe and do as the old one collapses
A lot of people are very nervous about the things we are hearing from the WEF.
Let’s face it, after the very strange experience that we have all shared over the past 2 or more years, logic hasn’t appeared to be present in any overwhelming force. A lot has happened that there simply doesn’t seem to be any explanation for.
However, whilst many of us are convinced that there is some great conspiracy underway, that Covid and every part of the response to it was orchestrated and part of some ‘grand plan’ to create a new dystopian New World Order, the real truth of that matter is that our deference is being given and credibility is being awarded to the elites because of the role that they appear to be playing in all of this.
None of the respect given or fear we have of any of these people who eat, shit, breathe and think just as we do, is based on what they are actually doing or have the ability to do.
Power, position, wealth & influence are no insulation against complete stupidity
Anyone can be as clever or as intelligent as they like or as the world considers them to be. But if they don’t care about anyone but themselves at the end of the day, the outcome of their actions will always end with consequences that we might expect if we were to knowingly place the world’s greatest fools in the very same roles and handed them the same power, influence and ability to control.
These people at the top, across governments, business and the financial worlds today, cannot and will not be able to continue to ‘reign’ over the world or any country, IF we all stop believing that running the world and our country is only something that these people – who we don’t even know – can do.
The real risk to us and to our future is the way we think; the way we see power and the people who are in control of everything today
Right now, we have idiots controlling everything. People who are fundamentally just the same as you or I. But because of their experience of life so far believe that everyone outside of their ‘bubble’ is stupid.
They think that we are all stupid, because most of us do not understand what is going on and aren’t even looking out for what is happening around us that is hidden in plain sight.
They are confident that the world as they see it or plan for it to can be maintained, as enough of us can always be bought off (because we are also selfish and greedy), and that this is how they will ultimately always remain in control.
The system collapse and ‘The Great Reset’ is already underway
Many of us cannot see that the collapse is already underway. Simply because we are still tied to wealth and material things that we cherish and are emotionally tied to, that we still believe we possess.
We literally still have skin in the game, for as long as we believe that the system continues to be beneficial in some way.
The really frightening thing is that for many of us, that perceived benefit is likely to be very small.
This Money-Based system will exist only for as long as we fear material loss
The obsession with material wealth and money that so many of us have, is what the so-called elites are using to control us.
Because the world they have created around us teaches us that there is nothing that we could be more afraid of than losing the ‘things’ that we possess, or of having more than anyone or rather somebody else.
It only works – that is, we can only continue to be duped, conned or tricked into thinking that this is really the way things are, and that it is in our best interests for it to continue in this way – with the elites remaining in charge – for as long as the bogus mechanics of this very perverse and exploitative system are maintained.
What is really happening now, that makes the collapse of the system and ‘The Great Reset’ something that we actually need?
The problem for the politicians, the elites, the people who like trips to Switzerland to have expensive dinners around a table with their chums at the WEF, and ALL the people who remain ambitious to be where they are and just like them – is the system they have created has always been flawed, and because of the things that they have done, it has become inevitable that it is going to completely crash.
Nothing is going to work as it has been.
The Global Economy and Global Supply Chain is collapsing.
The Markets – based on ‘FREE’, non-existent money, are going to crash.
Selfish ‘commercial interests have control of all the services, products, manufacturing and services that everyone needs to live and enjoy a basic life – meaning that self-serving individuals and private interests – rather than public representatives – can dictate what qualifies as a ‘good life’ and what should be its £Price.
Businesses can no longer sustain the rights and regulations that have been imposed universally, but only work and exist to benefit big companies that are usually shareholder (market) owned.
Real life for everyone and the communities that we live in is no longer sustainable, because we have completely lost touch with and don’t even understand the lives and experiences of our own neighbours.
We are having our ability to think as individuals labelled as a crime and are instead having our ways of thinking dictated to us by people we will never meet or never know, who appear to speak on behalf of everyone, from an app that everyone seems to have on their phone.
The list goes on. But none of it is sustainable or in the best interests of us ALL.
When the system has crashed – or rather, once enough of us have been touched by any one or a number of the many things that we cherish, suddenly coming to their end, that is the time when we will realise and have the opportunity to understand that none of this is what our lives are really about.
That’s when we will understand and accept that we really do need wholesale change. It is when we will know that the days of the top-down hierarchy have to end.
The Opportunity we all now have for something much better may not feel like an Opportunity, YET
I did suggest earlier that the content of this book may appear to jump around. When it all makes sense, it will make sense.
The underlying reality to all of this, no matter how apocalyptic the content may or may not feel, is that everything under discussion here is about the process that covers, surrounds, leads to and is facilitating the opportunity for change that we, our communities, our countries and the whole world so badly now needs.
However, the challenge that we all face is the reality that whatever happens next, it is all about our own interpretation, our own participation, our own CHOICE.
If we choose to let somebody else make all of our decisions for us, we will only have ourselves to blame for everything that happens next.
The process, challenges and period of massive change that we are now entering calls upon us all to awaken and see everything happening around us for what it really is, and where our continued blind acquiescence will actually lead.
Counterintuitive as it may feel, this is the time to reject the concrete options that politicians, the media, the establishment and people with platforms will give you. It will all come down to a momentary leap of absolute faith.
What happens after The Great Reset is your choice. OUR future is not the Elites nor the WEFs to decide
The politicians that we have, the business ‘leaders’ running the corporate world, the bankers & financiers and all of the so-called elites of today can and will only be able to continue after the Great Reset IF it is what WE collectively allow them to do.
The decision that we must make will be between waiting for them to come up with all the solutions and the answers to the problems we are facing – as we are already trapping ourselves into a false sense of security by doing now. Or to accept that nothing about the world around us and the lives that we have been conditioned to live really serves us in the beneficial way that people we don’t even know have been using their power and influence to make us think.
Some of you will be thinking that this sounds like a lifestyle that nobody is going to accept by choice. And that’s why we are still in the position that we are right now, staring at the steady but nonetheless downward spiral of a systemic collapse that we will continue to refuse believe exists until we no longer have any skin in the game.
When the system no longer benefits you in any way. That will be your time to decide.
The Great Reset will not happen overnight
One of the most challenging aspects of understanding change, is accepting that change is happening constantly and all the time.
Even the biggest changes that affect us all happen not in a moment. But as a process that involves many different events and actions, that can actually take a substantial period of time.
Just like the way we experience illnesses or diseases, change often goes through minor, chronic and acute stages.
When it comes to change of everything that we know and the very complex world around us – or what is being called ‘The Great Reset’, this is already happening many times over, right now, around us too.
The change going on already will be perceived as minor for those who do not feel directly affected.
It will be feeling chronic and unending for those that already are. People like those who are already struggling to pay for food, energy and any one of a number of things that would not make sense to anyone else who hasn’t been there or experienced that kind of hardship yet themselves.
That is just the cost-of-living crisis.
Every part of life is already being touched. And what you have yourself already started to see as being broken or dysfunctional, is a pointer for you to where changes coming as part of The Great Reset will be.
Sadly, this whole process will not stop there. The systemic collapse will mean that all the things we take for granted are likely to go through a period where they simply do not work.
What will happen during the acute stages of The Great Reset?
Whether it’s the supply chains that bring us our food, clothes and the things that we need just to survive, or the utilities, fuel, transport and other services that we are used to having access to, the chances are that they we will not be able to access them completely, or that access will be reduced to a rationed or irregular form.
For some things, the experience of shortages or going without will just be temporary, simply because they really are the things that we actually need.
Where the things that we only believe we need but are things that we only actually want are concerned, we are likely to find that the supply of many of these ‘things’ will never return.
It is during this ‘acute’ stage of ‘The Great Reset’ that things will be very uncertain.
The acute stage of ‘The Great Reset’ is when we will have to make do in ways that we have never experienced. It will be a time when we will not only have to do our part, but also rely upon the goodwill and a sense of community around us in a way that we have never lived our lives before.
The acute stage of ‘The Great Reset’ will be a period of time when we will need to learn to survive.
Why do we need to survive The Great Reset?
The uncomfortable bit about change of the scale that ‘The Great Reset’ will be, is that all of the things we take for granted are going to stop, at some point, at least temporarily.
Locking yourself away in a cold-war era bunker with a year’s supply of everything, your own power and water because you can financially afford to do so, might be taking it a bit far.
The best way to get your head around this is to think about or list ALL the things that you actually need to be able to bring into your home, or that automatically come into your home each and every day and then consider how you would feel if any one or all of them were to suddenly stop.
Let’s just have a quick run through of the things we need, that come or are brought into our homes in this way, each and every day. Let’s start with the immediate essentials:
Food (BIG HINT – this isn’t takeaways, or anything pre-prepared by anyone else. It’s the basics – it’s what we actually need)
Water
Then the things that we might use each day, that are important, but would not always be essential during a crisis:
Electricity
Gas
Solid Fuel (Wood, Coal etc)
Accommodation
Toiletries
Transport to obtain or access essentials
Then the things that help to make life easier, or improve quality of life:
Phones & PCs
Internet & Broadband
Transport for other purposes
Essential Clothing items
The things we don’t actually need, but want:
Okay, so if you’ve read this far, you probably already know and understand that it’s never a good idea to criticise taste or appearance.
The point is that beyond all of the above – which really is a sliding scale down from absolute essentials to stuff that should provide us with a happy life, to the rest that makes it a good life, there is a colossal section filled up by things can be very different, but which each and every one of us like or want.
NONE OF US need these things. Things like takeaways, £subscription TV streaming services, trips to coffee shops, the latest phone are all things that we want. They are things WE do not need.
You will know what yours are, once you look beyond the lists above.
Once you recognise what you really need if everything stops, then you can begin to plan ahead and insulate yourself against the risks from what lies ahead.
At best, by doing so, you will make a very difficult time much easier to bear and potentially even help your community or help others.
At worst, you may be able to stay away from social problems and civil unrest, if the worst should happen and frustration boils over into anger when no help comes, and others haven’t done anything to prepare.
If the Great Reset is already happening, why can’t I see it?
There are a lot of very big political, business and financial interests who believe that they have a massive amount to lose if the system that’s already in free-fall around us, does reach the point of a completely non-functioning crash.
This is why politicians, the media and all of the big interests that are behind them are doing so much to avoid changing the narrative, saying anything or even doing anything that suggests that a systemic collapse is now under way.
To speak of it would be to admit to it or acknowledge that the collapse – which makes The Great Reset necessary – is underway.
By doing so, they would ultimately be admitting that they all have responsibility for everything that is now going to unfold.
If you continue to listen to all the messaging that comes from politicians, big business, and the media, you are likely to suffer a lot more than any of them will, when part or all of the collapse finally steps right into your life.
These interests are very powerful. That is why things seem to be ok for many of us right now, because they are doing all that they can to keep the plates spinning.
The intention is that they will be able to weather what they hope is just a storm and then put everything back to where they want. They intend to continue doing it quietly and without too many of us being aware of what they are doing behind the scenes.
For the purposes of clarity here, behind the scenes really means the truth, rather than what we actually believe. Because the signs that the collapse is happening – like the cost-of-living crisis – are happening right now, but because they haven’t directly touched us yet, we don’t believe there’s anything to fear – and the collapse is as such being successfully hidden in plain sight.
The Great Reset is here. It’s time for you to refocus and think about who you really trust
Not everyone can see, will want to see or will even consider the reality that things are going to change in the way that they are.
However, if any of this is beginning to make sense or strike a chord with you in any way, this is the right time – yes, RIGHT NOW, to begin thinking about what you can do to prepare, produce and make provision for what are likely to be the very turbulent times that lie ahead.
Some of you will be asking what kind of timescale we are on, before the things that we are experiencing are really bad.
The truth is that it’s not really possible to say, as the problems that will touch us all, will arrive at different times and in different ways that mean we will experience much of the process differently.
As I wrote previously, The Great Reset will not happen overnight. That isn’t to say that some of it – perhaps something acute like a power or water shortage – won’t affect us all exactly the same and at the same time.
People are already going hungry because of the cost-of-living crisis. But because there aren’t enough people going hungry, the politicians don’t believe that people are really going hungry.
So instead, politicians are setting out to belittle those who are hungry and exclude them from ‘the accepted community’ in some way. It’s as if reaching out for help when the system created the problems we face, is a socially unacceptable disease – just because they say so.
How would you feel if you reached out to the people who are supposed to be there to help you at a time of need and they went on TV and laughed at you whilst saying you’ll have to perform a trick to show that you actually need help?
I for one, hope that neither you nor anyone else has to find that out.
The Great Reset: Knowing that others think so little of you only has consequences for you when they are the ones who are in control of everything
There’s a lot of irony in this statement, given the situation that we are now in.
Some people – like those needing food banks right now – are already experiencing the truth of this reality and the way the system actually works against us, rather than for us, right now.
Those of us who care about others may not be able to help those who need help right now, today.
But we can change and learn to do so. And by helping others through The Great Reset, we will end up helping ourselves.
This is what ‘Levelling Level’ is fundamentally about.
STOP believing that everything you need will always be on the supermarket shelves or simply arrive at your front door
Before anything else, we should dispel one rather large myth: That’s the idea that you never need to make provision for anything you might need for any period of time, more than a few days or perhaps for the week ahead.
We have been conditioned to take it for granted that everything we need or want will always be available to us either online, or at a ‘local’ shop (For as long that is, that they continue to exist).
There is a reason for this. It means that without even thinking about it, we have become dependent on commercial, profit-making supply chains for everything that we need or want. Simply because we have become very comfortable with the way that everything seems to always be there, and increasingly with the speed and low level of our own engagement and effort that is required for any of it to arrive.
We have been led to believe, through messaging, and our experience so far, that this is a good way to live. And that with tech gurus falling over themselves to find easier and easier ways for us to get everything and then pay for it too, the lives we are living can and will only get better too.
The problem is that this isn’t reality. It’s a myth that only works because the original lies that started it and formed one way of doing things have been covered by many other lies and other ways of doing things that were all about benefits being funnelled to the few. Sooner or later, the lies and a dishonest system was always going to meet up with the truth.
That point in time is here now.
An uncomfortable truth about what we believe about life and how everything works today
It is no accident that there are children in our cities and towns who have absolutely no idea that the milk they drink each day comes from a cow.
Somebody somewhere is benefitting from the accepted narrative continually going this specific way. And what you need to understand is that it is ALL about profit for the few.
None of how or why this system runs as it does is about anything that is good for you financially – as the messaging and culture we have tells us, or indeed your mind, your body and certainly not your spirit.
The age of consumerism is making us forget who we really are. It has dehumanised relationships, and this process has only been made worse by the arrival of the internet and smart technology – which pushes the focus of everything to the self or to our self-interest – which for all the good that the Net has the power to still do for us, this is above all the most hideous and socially destructive part of its darker side.
The truth of the matter is, that it is good to think ahead – even when we are not facing a national and worldwide crisis.
We need to learn – or rather relearn – to Prepare, Produce & make Provision.
We cannot rely on existing supply chains for what we need any longer
We cannot rely on any system where its reliability is based upon things that we cannot see or have no way to understand – i.e. you can’t pick up the phone or visit and speak to the farmer and ask in which field the wheat being sent to the local mill and then to the local baker is being grown.
The only system that we rely on is one that we either have responsibility for ourselves, or is being driven and managed by other people we know and can trust – because they are people who we may not be interacting with, but are around us and perhaps without us being aware, we are passing them and they are therefore in our lives each and every day.
As I write, I’m smiling. I know that there are people – and lots of them, who would respond to where this is going by jumping in and scornfully suggesting that what I am talking about does nothing more than hark back to either a medieval or romantically impractical age.
All well and good – if you live in a world that does everything for you, tells you that you can be everything to everyone else and does everything other than help you to help yourself, the very moment that even the smallest thing goes wrong!
The simple things are the most intelligent. It’s the process of storing up problems – and potentially catastrophic ones for us, where the real £benefit for others of hiding behind complexity and very complex systems lies.
The Supply Chain Break-Down that’s beginning to happen right now
You might have already noticed that different things that you usually or often buy when you visit the local supermarket or shop online are unavailable for some reason.
You might not have worried too much, simply because at the time you usually shop – let’s say late on a Saturday afternoon – you have become used to some of the shelves seeming to be a bit bare. It’s been a busy day, after all, right?
For most people, the experience has been a little different. In fact, no matter when people have been shopping, certain items have increasingly been absent from the shopping list. Perhaps temporarily – with them returning. But then they have been disappearing all over again.
The reason for this is that the supply chain for some foods and some goods is already at breaking point. Like a broken car, the supply chain keeps stopping and needs to be restarted or fixed, before it will work for whoever is running it again.
The problem for governments and big business, is that both the Global and National supply chain break down is not symptomatic or just a direct result of recent global events. And it is not just about the way that they have responded – although this has actually made things much worse.
The problems with the Global Supply Chain are all about the system now crashing.
Whilst we might see it as being possible to go without an expensive bag, a new smartphone or even a brand-new car for a short time whilst someone else solves the problem – as they always do, things are going to feel very different when the shortages start affecting all the basic essentials we need to live each day, and specifically food.
No, you may not believe this is going to happen. We are all, after all, used to and we take for granted that things can continue to go as well as they have been doing. That just like the shortages that happened during the Covid Lockdowns, after a few days, the problems will just go away.
They won’t.
The problems that we are only beginning to experience with shortages aren’t going to go away.
The only similarity to the experience we had during the unnecessary Lockdowns was what happens when certain things like toilet rolls and foods like flour and eggs suddenly disappear from the shelves and other people begin to hoard more of them than they could ever need or use, because they are terrified of going without.
Welcome to a drawn-out Global Supply Chain Crash. Welcome to The Great Reset. This is just part of what all the problems we now face are going to be about.
The Global Supply Chain only works because of lies. It’s breaking now, because the truth is catching up with it
If you read the papers, listen to or watch the news, or follow news on social media, you will be aware of a narrative that is increasingly anchoring supply chain issues and shortages of all sorts of things on the fallout from the Covid Pandemic, the Invasion of Ukraine and even Brexit.
It is because supply chain disruption has been involved with all of these events of what has followed them, that this very specific truth is being rolled out as the excuse for the systemic crash or ‘The Great Reset’ that is now underway.
After all. The greatest lies or marketing plans inevitably hinge on the tiniest of truths.
Sadly, we are all destined to wake up from the unreality of a world where everything has just appeared in our lives after a click or a short trip.
The Global Supply Chain has been built on greed and a convenient lie.
We have just accepted that it is cheaper to make and grow the things that we need on the other side of the world and then transport them to our front doors more cheaply than it would be for them to be made or grown and then sold to us at the end of our street. We believe that it has benefitted us to do so.
We have never thought to ask the question, ‘Do we really need these things if they are coming to us from this far away?’
We have never asked the question, ‘How can it be possible for these things from far away to be cheaper than they would be home-made or home-grown?’
We have never asked the question. ‘What is the real cost to all of us?’
The reasons for the Global Supply Chain breakdown are as complicated as the Global Supply Chain itself
On the face of it, the problems with the Global Supply Chain could appear to be the way the goods are transported. It could be just a temporary shortage of the goods we want supplied.
But Worldwide logistics systems are in freefall. Not only because of the impact of covid or other recent events on the world stage that have left ships queued up to be unloaded outside of ports for weeks. Not just because thousands of shipping containers stacked up and unmoved. It’s because of a very complicated web of issues.
Problems that we are aware of like the spiralling costs of fuel and energy, and shipping companies inflating prices exponentially, just because they can, are only the tip of the iceberg of the massive problems associated with the way we have been living, that we now face.
Amongst many other reasons that exists, you can be certain that less and less people are prepared to work very hard and unsociable jobs, for money that buys them less and less and is leaving them living lives that they can no longer afford. When other people to do less but appear to get more than everything they could ever possibly want.
In terms of the practical, technical or operational aspects of the collapsing global supply chain, there’s very little that can be questioned about the efficiency, planning or the sheer brilliance of how each and every part of a supply chain that can get a plug made in China to your door for a couple of £Pounds, all fit together like millions of pieces of a very large jigsaw.
The Global Supply Chain appeared to be truly brilliant whilst it was working. But the greedy and ambitious people behind all of it have been blind to its biggest flaw.
The absence of real values is the terminal flaw of our greed-driven Global Supply Chain
What is missing from the Global Economy. What has always been missing from this Globalised Economy are the real values that underpin stories of real, genuine human success. Experiences that are built on our care and consideration for others.
Where the Global Economy and the Global Supply Chain is concerned, their only values have been profiting, advancement and greed. The Global Economy has only functioned because we have forgotten and actively been encouraged to forget who we really are.
There has been nothing about the creation of this ‘Global Economy’ in terms of care, consideration or love for our fellow man, that exists in the system we have today.
It has worked for as long as it has done, because it has played to the same self-interest that distracts every one of us for as long as we believe we are benefitting, whist completely blinding those at the top for the care and responsibility that is required from privilege towards everyone.
Like the money that the Global Supply Chain and Economy has always been about, the whole thing is a house of cards, waiting to be blown down. The whole thing is a lie that only works for as long as enough people believe that the benefits to them of it existing and being used in the way that it is continuing to outweigh the disadvantages – which have been for too long not talked about, or deliberately hidden from our view.
The terminal weakness of a greed-based supply chain has always been present, hiding in plain sight
An entire generation of business and industry managers have been trained and qualified on systems that are all about reducing costs.
Their ‘qualifications’ play up to the belief that very elaborate supply chains that take or harvest raw materials to be refined, and then to be made in to small parts, and then to be made into bigger parts, and then those parts to be made into perhaps cars or machines, and then those cars or machines appear at a dealership where we buy them – with all of the transportation, sorting and storage in between – going back and forth around the world – can be maintained ‘just in time’ and with the minimum of anything being stockpiled ‘on a shelf’ at any location along that supply line.
The system that has developed around this idea has not only affected the apparently low price of the products we buy at the end of the chain. It has also relied on pushing every part of every possible chain involved to the limit where minimising the cost of raw materials and production of any kind to the absolute minimum is concerned.
Profit has been the only driver. But even the drive for profit against the steps that are necessary in any supply chain have been further complicated and exploited by the reality that people and interests that are completely unnecessary to each supply chain have become involved.
So-called ‘agents’ step into the middle of supply chains and buy goods and then sell them on at a profit – sometimes even years before they have even been grown or produced, making a profit and adding to the end costs – without adding any value to the end product. This often happens many times.
People or self-serving interests could not keep taking from and exploiting others in the way that this Globalised System has allowed them to do so without the cost to others becoming too high. In financial terms, that point has now been reached.
But the real price hasn’t just been the fact that the poorest and most vulnerable are no longer able to afford to live.
Neither is it the reality that poverty and hunger is an issue that more and more of us are about to face.
The real cost is that all of the ways of living and the localised systems that meant we always had access to the things that we genuinely need to survive each day have been removed or have been replaced, and this monstrosity of a system that works for no god other than profit, has been choking us all without us even realising, as it has aggressively been put in its place.
Today, we have literally reached a point where our farmers are not being paid what it costs them to produce foods at the first stage of a supply chain. They are now choosing to stop producing, because it costs them too much to do so. Right at the very moment when worldwide food shortages are coming into view.
Today, we are perhaps weeks or months away from the point when trouble for us all will really begin.
The Cost-of-Living Crisis, Inflation, a Bank of England that doesn’t know what to do and MPs who are blaming everyone but themselves: We are witnessing the first stages of a systemic collapse
In my book Levelling Level, which was published at the end of March, and in the blogs that I have been writing as a follow up since, I have been talking at length about a systemic collapse, which is now underway.
There is no joy in knowing that everything we are already experiencing and that we are soon going to experience, was never necessary.
This all could have been avoided at many different times, if we had elected politicians to be our public representatives – and they were people who actually cared for others enough, to put their own ‘necks’ on the line.
The so-called leaders that are already in office, along with those who are hoping to replace them, have no solutions to the crisis that is unfolding around us all, right now.
They, and the MPs from their political parties and movements that were here and influencing everything even from before when they were elected, have been responsible for all that is happening – often without even knowing. Because their own greed and ambition has blinded them to the things that have always needed to be done, and how they could use the great power and responsibility that they have – to create something better for all.
Generations of these same politicians, who talk differently and look different – but are fundamentally the same, have all played their part in allowing and facilitating the rise and evolution of a system based on nothing but greed, money and profit from the very start.
Yes, people are rightly shouting out at these politicians and the whole of the establishment that people need to eat and that the growing number of people at the acute end of the cost-of-living crisis, all need that help to come right now.
I’m afraid that the help that could make a real difference from any of the politicians we have got already isn’t going to come – no matter which of them we could elect.
The tools and thinking that these people have used to create this system and the problems that are now manifesting, cannot be the same tools and thinking that will affect a proper and permanent fix that works for us all.
Yes, they might print even more money as a way to say they have done something and stop people from literally rioting. But anything they do will amount to nothing more than a quick fix.
Quick fixes will be all that these same people – whether Conservative, Labour, Liberal Democrat or the others – can offer any of us now.
We are at their mercy until this horrific system has broken completely and WE have accepted that change and a fairer and more balanced way of living for us all can only come by changing the way that we think.
None of this helps those who are going hungry today, nor those of us who will have nothing in the coming weeks and months that lie ahead.
The light at the end of a very dark tunnel, is the opportunity and the direction that we can take next.
The opportunity to live in a very different way, governing for everyone from the grassroots up and turning away from a self-serving system that can only thrive through the imbalance which is top-down.
We need a Basic Living Standard for ALL.
Deglobalisation is underway and there will be permanent changes to the supply chain
The very challenging thing for everyone to accept as we look at the world we have been used to today, is that everything we have been taking for granted is going to change.
We will discuss other fundamental or building-block areas of change elsewhere. But in terms of the Global Supply Chain collapse that is underway, which has only been aided and abetted by the responses of Politicians to Brexit, The Covid Pandemic and the War in Ukraine, the massive change across the world that’s coming, will be felt by consumers and end users in terms of what goods we will be able to buy and what foods are readily available for us to eat.
The reality of this change will be the reconstruction of supply chains that focus on home and very localised production, processing, distribution and retailing, all of which have been progressively and aggressively dismantled as the shift from localised marketplaces to the so-called Global Economy has taken place.
The change and transition from Global to Local will be permanent. Globalisation is over. Our values and priorities are going to fundamentally change.
Yes. It was always intended by big business, politicians and the elites, that Global networks and systems they developed and sold as being beneficial to us would always be permanent. Unless or until they could find even more profitable ways to make even more money at even lower costs, without any consideration for the lives of everyone else apart from what money anyone else had to spend on the products that these increasingly nebulous systems brought to our doors.
But the Global System is no longer functional. The motivation and aims that created it are being exposed for what they are. This means there will be no going back to a greed-based economy.
A robust local economy is all about people and values, rather than money and wealth. There are benefits to our wellbeing from what lies ahead that money and marketing could never buy.
It’s time to think beyond just surviving The Great Reset to the light beyond and how we can then begin to really thrive.
The motivation behind the Global Economy brought us to this place
The Global Economy and Global Supply Chain have been based on this idea, aim or motivation:
That those who have the power and influence to do so, should take each and every step possible to maximise profit and the accumulation of wealth for all those who are intimately involved. And that the accumulation of wealth and power should be used to motivate those who work within and lead in support of the system.
Yet the calculations used in this equation were only ever based on the profit and the accumulation of wealth for the few who really benefited being involved.
There was never any factoring in for the loss of jobs, the loss of skills, the loss of communities or indeed any of the human costs that running a system based solely on greed and money have inevitably imposed.
The people responsible for all of this have quite literally had to create a monetary system that finds more and more innovative ways of funnelling money that doesn’t exist to the people who can’t earn enough – all through lending and often unpayable debt, so that the broken system they have built keeps running, and the flaws in the whole thing would not become exposed.
Be under no illusion. This is not a conspiracy. It’s what happens when people without values or good moral fibre find themselves in possession of a lot of money, power and influence, and then do all that they can without care, to increase and keep increasing all that they have.
This is the Story [metaphor] of The Ring [money/power] and the influence it has on Gollum [Politicians/Big Business/The Elites] in its most real-world and hideous form. And all those corrupted by this system and what they believe it gives them, are completely blind to the true cost of their actions to us all.
The Transition from Global to Local Food Production: What it really means for us
The complexity and size of the Global Economy has provided access to foods and goods that we do not need, along with access to some foods and goods that we do need, that could be home produced, but are being produced and shipped to us more cheaply from what might be continents away.
The collapse of the Global Supply Chain is already proving to be a massive shock and it can only get worse.
The transition that will be required so that we can ALL eat and access the basic essentials that we ALL need will require that as a Country we become as self-sufficient as it is possible for us to be.
Self-sufficiency of this Country will mean that our focus of growing and production will have to focus on the basic foods and goods that we need. Not the production of anything that some of us want.
This process of inevitable change will mean that many of the ‘fancy’, highly processed foods that we are used to eating and being readily available for us to buy, won’t even be available on a shelf or online. They simply will not be available to buy – no matter how much money someone might still have to spend.
Being ‘fine mouthed’ or enjoying the ‘finer’ things, will no longer be there as a real choice.
We will only have access to basic foods. Foods that are actually a lot healthier for us. Foods that will have very little processing and that we will prepare ourselves.
We will relearn to thrive on meat and two veg, and we will do this – not because we are being told to, but because we will be happy just to have it.
We will not miss having a so-called ‘choice’ that only serves to hurt us, whilst enriching others.
We surrendered our power to the money-driven world. Its collapse will allow us to remember who we are
Whilst there is a theme of warning or raising a red flag about the process of change that we are now within, Levelling Level is not here as some kind of apocalypse guide.
Although there are likely to be periods of time in the coming months and possibly years too, that feel like everything is about to end, that will only be because of how momentous the transition or shift we are going to experience will be.
After all, we are now in the early stages of a shift that will take us from a system where we have been continually programmed to believe that everything around us is normal, to one that many of us today believe not only to be an impossible way to live, but completely incompatible or at odds with where everyone believes that we currently are.
The material-focused, money-is-the-benchmark of everything world has been a very intoxicating experience for just about everyone.
One of its most compelling aspects is the way that more and more complication of everything convinces us that we are now beyond living more simplistic lives.
But the cost has been high. That complication has distracted us.We have given away our power to everything outside of us and have forgotten who and what we really are.
No amount of power, material wealth or money can buy, beat or outrun the universal laws of balance forever: Top-down hierarchy has reached the end of the line
There is a natural order of things. A system of universal laws that revolve around balance. Laws that defy the influence, will of control of even those who believe themselves to be powerful.
When those universal laws have been pushed too far, it is inevitable that they will return to where they should be. They will do so, without anything or anyone being able to stand in their way.
The problem for every one of us, no matter what part we have played in taking us to where we are, is that the pendulum of balance has been lifted from happy rest and balance to a world led by what we want rather than only by what we need.
That pendulum has now been released. It will pick up frightful momentum and it will cross back and go beyond that point of happiness and balance to where we go without and cannot meet our needs.
Only then will that pendulum return to rest and where it should always have been – and would have been, had we continually had respectful and caring leadership in control, not possessed by everything they want.
Even the path of that pendulum follows a process of observing that universal law.
It is through the hardship and the experience of what real want really is, that we will learn or rather relearn who we are. We will begin to remember the purpose, meaning and use of real values. And only then, will we collectively be ready to embrace the new future that is built around balance and fairness for all. A world that reflects who we really are.
Profiteering is alive and well and thriving today, fuelled by a culture where Politicians have proven that writing cheques is the only thing they know how to do
There is a cost-of-living crisis underway, right now, that is going to get exponentially worse. So much worse, it’s going to contribute to a complete systemic collapse.
However, the people least aware of what is happening and what this means for everything that lies ahead of them, aren’t necessarily the same people who you might immediately think.
So good have big business and corporate interests had it over the past two and a half years, whilst our stupid and inept politicians have tried to solve every single problem by writing cheques, that they have now fallen into a trap of their own making. They have decided to keep on inflating prices of the goods and services they sell – being as certain as they are, that government will have to step in and sure-up the price and the ability of everyone to keep on paying the bills.
Wholesale energy prices have come down, as have the prices of wholesale petrol and diesel in recent days. All this comes amongst other goods and services that each and every one of us are using every day, shooting up in retail price. Or being reduced in size or value – which in real terms amounts to exactly the same thing – as people have to buy even more of everything, just to stand still.
Yes, the very stupid people we have running the Country are responsible for creating the myth that no matter what happens, everyone will still continue to get paid. But that isn’t a green light for businesses to keep charging more and keep charging whatever they like.
Just because you can, doesn’t make it right.
Greed-driven, unethical business have been at the creative centre of the cost-of-living crisis, right from the very start.
Yes, our poor excuses for public representation have allowed industries to plunder resources and exploit us all and everything with it for profit. But that doesn’t make these private interests right.
The question of legality does not put any of these actions above that of morality and the duty of care that we all have to everyone else.
Life for all exists so that ALL of us can live. Not so that a profit can be made by the few.
No, we are not heading back to the stone age – even though it has become certain that some of us are going to feel that way during the months and possibly years that lie ahead.
But the technology we have has been used for purposes that only serve the interests of greed, profit and those who are ‘at the top’.
Technology doesn’t need to be used on a massive scale to make it work. Technology doesn’t have to replace people or human input – just because it can.
In fact, the technology that we have isn’t being used in the best way possible, at all.
Up until now, technology has all been purposed on the basis of maximising profit and then repeating the process of obtaining that profit, over and over again.
The technology we have has been pursued, funded and purposed without regard for the practical reality of life, that:
Life for all exists so that ALL of us can live. Not so that a profit can be made by the few.
Local systems and micro economies that use advances in technology in the most practical, localised and intelligent way, keeping people at the centre of everything, are the only way that a genuinely healthy society can advance.
Once you believe there is a need for change, you will need to change everything else that you believe
One of the hardest realities to get our heads around is that much of the way we behave with others and interact with the outside world is based on nothing more than belief.
Furthermore, we too often then fail to recognise that the beliefs that we have – which govern our behaviour for the future, are actually based on experiences that we have had in the past.
The past is quite literally governing how we will interact with our future.
We are allowing rules that we either created for ourselves, or that society created for us, to dictate what happens in circumstances and situations where those rules are no longer fit for purpose, or don’t serve any of our interests very well at all.
Yes, it can be quite a strange moment when we realise that we are living in the past. But what many of us don’t understand beyond this, is that our acceptance of this part of our reality – without question, means that we also don’t question change or the behaviour of others, when that change or behaviour can be quickly labelled with ‘That’s the way things are supposed to be’. ‘That’s just how it is’, or ‘That’s just the way that things have always been done’.
To be quite fair, it will feel to many of us that the system we have or the governance structure around us has been a good one.
It has allowed the world around us to keeping turning. It has kept everything outside of our own bubbles working, so that everything we want is ready and waiting wherever it should be. It has made us believe that life is easy and can only get easier, without us even questioning what the real cost of this automatic surrender of our trust would be.
But we don’t really think about what’s going on around us. Because this is the way that things have been done for so long.
We trust that the people we elect are in office to represent us.
We trust that big business always put the needs and interests of their customers first.
We trust that the public sector works and operates to make life for the public better.
We trust that the establishment together, will always do right for all of us.
Yet as an increasing number of us are now realising, the time when any of these beliefs were created, was a long way back in the past.
We are beginning to understand and accept that placing our trust in the establishment was at best a mistake. At worst, it is being proven completely wrong.
The ‘system’ no longer works for the people. But because of our collective belief and deference to the way we believe things should work – even when they clearly aren’t, we fail to realise that the power everyone within the establishment has isn’t theirs because of the money, status, position that they ‘have’ or because they are special in some way.
It is because we have given them that power. And we have forgotten that power is ours, and we have every right to take it back.
Getting your head around the reality of where power really lies is hard enough. What becomes even more challenging is taking the next step to understand and to accept that all the tools that the establishment have been using to make life so easy for us, only work because we believe everything that we are being verbally or experientially told.
We are collectively blind to the fact that any or every part of the system would stop working immediately the very moment that we stopped believing what we believe about it. And that at the very moment we did so, we would be withdrawing from the establishment, what is our assumed consent.
There is a very good reason to make the effort to try and making sense of how the governance or ruling frameworks of the world that we know around us really work.
That reason is the system as we know it has not been run or managed in our best interests for a very long time.
The cumulative effect of decision after decision being made to benefit the specific interests of those within the establishment has been catalysed by the government response to recent events and the whole system is now in the process of a massive collapse.
The challenge presented to us all by what is happening around us right now, is that you quite literally have to see it, to believe it.
And if you still believe that the ‘system’ you have spent your life believing in will always work for you, even when it becomes very clear that it doesn’t, it hasn’t and it won’t, then you will not be able to see the damage that it is and has been doing when the time comes for us all to do something. The people and people just like them who we have all believed to be ‘in charge’, will simply be able to continue to count on your vote.
If you have read this far and have concluded that I am talking bollocks, I’d like to thank you for doing so and sincerely wish you all the best.
However, if you can see any of the truth in what I am saying, or even suspect that at least some of it could be right, please do keep reading as we are all on a journey that can no longer be avoided.
What happens next, is all about us realising that the power to do everything that needs to be done is in the hands of each and every one of us.
The power for creating a much better future isn’t based on the past and won’t simply appear in the future. It’s all about what we think, decide and do right here in the moment or in the ‘now’.
When it’s crunch time, you can’t eat or there’s rioting outside the door, whose story will you believe: Yours or Theirs?
As I’m writing this, it’s the beginning of the last week in May 2022, and the stories talking about things like inflation and the cost-of-living crisis are picking up pace.
With the establishment invested in maintaining a narrative that will continue to capture yours and everyone else’s belief, we are facing a situation where our own senses will tell us more and more that everything around us is being consumed by some kind of fire, whilst all the people our experience and conditioning has told us to trust are continuing to shout a message akin to ‘Don’t panic – all is calm!’
Because the system is built on myths and beliefs, rather than basic practicalities, it regrettably stands to reason that we will not accept the practical message of a systemic collapse until such time as we have experienced something which shatters the myths that we still believe.
This is why talk of people needing help from food banks, or senior police officers being unable to pay their bills in the news isn’t registering with us, or if it is, it is only to look down on them with the thought that it must be their own fault.
Difficult truth to face as it may be, the systemic collapse is underway. It is showing up as problems faced by somebody somewhere else today, but will soon touch everyone’s life in some way, and it will come knocking on your door too.
It could be just the spiralling costs. It could be that you can no longer afford to eat. It could be that the goods you usually buy are no longer available. It could be that you cannot buy any food to eat. It could be that the civil disorder, rioting and violence outside your door proves to be the final straw that tells you that something in the world and system we have put our trust in, has gone very wrong indeed.
The interesting thing is that the Establishment has known for a very long time that their behaviour and the things that they have been doing have been unsustainable, and that sooner or later, the current system would reach a breaking point.
That’s why organisations like the World Economic Forum (WEF) have been busy for years creating the narrative for a new world. One that would not only allow the existing establishment to control the transition and period of change. It would also allow them to control whatever system supersedes the broken and unsustainable version they are already responsible for that they knew would have to be replaced.
Interventions from the WEF and other bodies such as The World Health Organisation (WHO) have only become so prevalent now, as the events that we all know as Brexit, the Covid Pandemic, the War in Ukraine and above all the responses of governments to them all, have catalysed or supercharged the disintegration of the existing system and the establishment is now in firefighting mode, and quite literally blagging its way as we descend into crisis, hoping that keeping enough of us believing they are credible and have our best interests at heart, will allow them to come out the other side of ‘The Great Reset’ and still be in control.
If no matter what happens that hurts you or makes life difficult for you in the coming weeks, months and years, you continue to believe everything that the establishment tells you, there is every chance that either they or people who will be just like them, will continue to control your life once we are through the Great Reset and have come out the other side.
Your life and everything about it will depend on the will and wants and thoughts of others. You will physically appear to still be free, but you will be held hostage or kept prisoner by your own mind under the control of other people and all you and everyone else will fall over yourselves to do will be to smile at, agree with and show your support for whatever rules are imposed upon you from the world outside.
No, it won’t feel voluntary for you. But that won’t matter, because everyone else will think that it is. It will appear that everyone is supporting this all to happen voluntarily, because of the collective belief in the system. Because of continuing consent.
By waiting for someone else to fix all the problems when everything has broken, you will be allowing someone else to choose and dictate what systems and ways of doing things – the governance of our system – will be created and implemented instead of the broken one that must now be replaced.
But you have a choice. You can contribute to, inform and be an active part of creating, developing and implementing the governance and system of a world that is balanced, fair and respects who each and every one of us are. Or you can accept all that happens to you, wait for someone else to solve your problems for you, and then sit back and watch the future unfold and keep asking yourself quietly why is it that after all that has happened, the deck is still stacked in the establishments favour, and everything seems to work for us, but only really benefits them.
A new, fair and balanced system, can only be built from the Grassroots-Up
There is no part of the system we have today or the governance framework that allows it to function and dictate every part of our life, which has been left untouched by somebody somewhere changing it to further or to protect their own interests in some way.
Whether it has been local public service provision, local interpretation of planning law, the way non-government organisations are run, the rules that govern imports, exports and supply chains, or how public policy is designed by civil servants in Westminster, EVERYTHING at EVERY LEVEL has been built to serve the mechanics of a system that is Top-Down.
If you are anywhere in this hierarchy or pyramid at a level which is below the top, it has only worked for you by giving you things you have been led to believe you need, but which you actually want that are outside of yourself.
The price will have been that to some degree or another, you will have forgotten something or perhaps everything about real life, real values and the fundamental building blocks of who you really are.
How we interact with others and with everything in the world outside of us, is a mirror image of the person inside us at that very moment. Its who we believe we really are at that time.
If you pause and take that in, you may begin to see the part that everyone has played in allowing the world to become the place that it is today.
However, rather than dwelling on the things you’ve said to others, or the things you have or haven’t done, the way to put that behind you and play a role in shaping a world that is fair, balanced and works in the best interests of everyone, is to put the value back into everything in your life, and make everything that feeds into your life experience have meaning. This is not only your first building block of a new life for you, but also the very first step towards the creation of the new world around us, beginning by changing the way we think about everything around us. It’s how the old world will be replaced.
YOU ARE THE GRASSROOTS – no matter who you are, where you come from, or what you have or haven’t already done.
Before anything else, it is you, the Grassroots that must come together as neighbourhoods and then as communities. We can then work together to rediscover, reinvent and reinterpret localised systems that work for and on behalf of everybody. Always prioritizing people’s needs before anything else, and not what money or profit can be accumulated, or what glory, status, power or influence can be attained.
Top-Down is over. It’s all about Grassroots-Up. And it’s the people who are the GRASSROOTS who must always come first.
Survive & Thrive: Living through the collapse of everything and ‘The Great Reset’ whilst learning to live a very different life as you go
I’ve tried to keep From Here to There Through Now as far away from the idea of ‘prepping’ or suggesting that we all become ‘preppers’ as possible.
However, the reality we face is that at some level or another, we will soon face a period of difficulty, where everything we are used to or that we take for granted will no longer continue.
The stoppage, shortages or delays may be temporary. They may be permanent. What we can be sure of is that on the other side of all of this, nothing will ever be the same.
The journey there will be easier for some than it will be for others. Not because of what we would consider to be the advantages that some have in life as things currently are, but because of the genuine disparity between where everything is and how it works in the system as it is now, and how things will need to change or be changed and the process and time that it will take to get them from being broken, to where they may be different, but in practical terms we will all recognise them as being fixed.
In this chapter, I will cover the changes and experiences that it has now become reasonable to expect. I will touch on some of the reasons for it happening. I will also make a series of suggestions or offer proactive solutions regarding what you can to now, to prepare, in a way that is realistic and based on the premise that the world as we know it is going to change, but life itself is not actually going to end.
Shortages of Food & Goods
In the coming weeks, months and years too, we are going to experience shortages of everything that we are used to being able to buy.
The shortages will not only affect the things that come from outside of this Country. And many of us will be surprised by just how many of these there really are.
The shortages will also affect the things that are still made and produced in this Country – such as very basic foods that are produced and grown even very close to our homes.
The reason for these shortages is that the system that we have become used to and that we take for granted, is now beginning to break.
Once we have accepted that the collapse of the system is not a problem that will be fixed – which will take us all a period of time, there will be a further period of time where necessary changes have to be made to everything and a new system of supply is developed that can be relied upon and that is balanced, fair and works in the best interests of everyone.
Some of the shortages will be temporary.
In some cases, the shortages will be perhaps as short as just a few days.
But in terms of many of the things that we believe we need, but actually want, the shortages will be permanent.
Production resources that we have available here will be re-tasked to growing and producing the foods and the things that we all actually need, as opposed to the things that some of us think we need but only want.
Think of the first weeks of Lockdown, when ‘panic buying’ left people unable to bake things or wipe their bum.
Roll that idea out across everything you really need to eat, drink and take care of yourself each day, and that is a reflection of the experience we will all have, that is to come.
Rationing
If you have been paying attention to the news, you will know that rationing has already been discussed with some things like Petrol and Diesel Fuel.
But as shortages of everything that everyone needs to live and survive each day begin to really bite, the reality that we face is that rationing is likely to become a legal requirement with allowances for certain foods and goods that are available being imposed.
We are not talking about a kind of rationing that is just the choice of a supermarket that knows how much of anything it has and can put on the shelves for its normal customer base, every day of the week.
That will be a sign that things are still pretty good.
We are talking about rationing of all the basic goods and foods that are necessary for each and every one of us to survive.
If you would like a good example of the kind of rationing that I am referring to, you need look no further than the period around the Second World War. When everyone had a ration book and was allocated a certain amount of each kind of food and the essential items that everyone needed to live.
Rationing ensured that of the very limited supply of foods and goods that we had available from being grown or produced in the Country, or that we could get from overseas using ships that were regularly being sunk by German U-Boats, was being divided up fairly.
Wartime Rationing existed so that the shortages that we did have were being shared as a burden by everyone. But that above all, everyone had just about enough to live.
We may not have a world war going on that means Europe is a closed door to us today. But in terms of a Global Supply Chain collapse that is now underway, the result is likely to be experienced in very much the same way.
When we experience shortages, hoarding food and goods will help none of us
We all saw the Lockdown videos of very silly, selfish people stacking up toilet rolls to block their toilet windows. Or making an assault course for their jack Russell dogs or their cats.
But we also saw the pictures of very elderly, frail and vulnerable people. Stooped, looking despairingly at empty shelves and wondering what the hell they were going to do.
When shortages bite us in the way that we can expect they will do, many of the goods and foods that disappear from the shelves, will not quickly find their way back.
In fact, many of the foods and goods we take for granted today, will in time, be replaced by alternatives that are foods and goods that we actually need.
From the moment that things we need become short, people will react irrationally.
It is vital that those of us who can do so, remain calm when shortages really get going. That we keep see the bigger picture of what is happening in view at all times. That we remain mindful of the forces that are at work.
A big part of the necessary transition that we face, is the process of changing the way we think about life. The change will be about everyone caring for and considering ALL others, rather than facing every interaction and every situation and thinking about it in terms of how its outcome will affect us, alone.
Taking only what we need – for as long as we still have the choice – will mean that others return that favour or that they show the same kind of care – when we are all short, and we no longer have the choice of what we can eat, or what we have to help us survive.
Once rationing of the goods that are still available through existing supply chains gets underway, it is reasonable to expect that like social distancing measures, the supermarkets that remain open will quickly put rationing management systems in place.
Until time slots to shop, pick up or take delivery are in place, we will all help ourselves greatly by thinking about the times that we go to a shop, or what we can reasonably expect when we get there.
For instance, if everyone goes to the shops at the most obvious time, we will all end up queueing, and beginning to worry about how many others are waiting in the queues around us – in front and behind us in the lines.
With proper rationing in place, we will only be able to buy or collect the supplies that we have been allocated anyway. So why not box clever. Manage your visit so you can reduce the amount of stress?
A fair and balanced world is the Aim. But we are on the first steps of very challenging journey, and it is essential that we Survive AND Thrive so that we can get there!
A better world and experience for us all is not only an aim. It is about the process or journey from where we are today, travelling through the turbulence of transition and change, so that we not only survive and thrive, but then recognise and fully utilise the keystone of the foundations that we will all build a fair and balanced world for everyone upon.
Looking after ourselves, so that we remember that every element of life is not just something that can be given a price tag and bought, will be a very big part of what our experiences in the near future will be about.
There will be shortages that mean there isn’t new to replace old.
There will be shortages that mean finding different ways to do the same things.
There will be shortages that mean we can never do the same things that we have been doing ever again.
When it boils down to it, the world as we know it and as we have experienced it is going to stop.
The good news – that many of our politicians, elites and those at the top don’t want any of us to remember, is that humans are intrinsically resilient and resourceful. As soon as real adversity knocks at the door, it reminds us of who we really are.
The very small amount of tolerance we have left for the people who are running this shit show today, will evaporate very quickly, once their continuing stupidity really has taken everything we are being led to experience, too far.
Then we will reimagine who we are, what we can do, how we will do it and who we will do it with.
Please get used to terms like community, local, reuse recycle repair, make do and mend, grow your own, rationing, sharing, cooperatives, swapping, bartering – and anything else that could frame living for at least a time where money isn’t available as a medium of exchange, and life is focused the value of what we need and what we can offer, rather than being all about what we can or cannot afford to buy.
Self-sufficiency and rejection of the current wealth-based rules structure
The thought or rather the question of how anyone can survive without money is not a pleasant one.
Indeed, please spare a thought for the many who are already in that place, not only in the UK, but right across the world.
People, like you or I, who are only different to us, because they don’t have enough money to even afford the basic essentials of life.
These are human beings, just like us. People who don’t have the option of becoming self-sufficient, simply because they are relatively few in number.
We frown on them or look down on them because the normal way of doing things is based on money being the benchmark of life.
Once enough of us don’t have enough, the shibboleths and miscreated rules of this current societal structure will no longer hold their meaning or purpose. We will no longer shame others, be shamed, feel shame or be restricted from simply doing the things that we need to in order to survive and live.
Make do and Mend
Make do and Mend is not a new catchy term that I have dreamed up to make a point. I am unashamedly borrowing this one from the most recent period of human hardship that I can reference around the Second World War, when Rationing and shortages of just about everything meant that people applying principles to their daily lives then, that in today’s world might seem to be lightyears ahead!
Yes, the supply of everything we either buy or have supplied to us could stop for at least a short time. But the shortages of everything will almost certainly fluctuate, with some things being available when others are not. Let’s just say that it is going to be a very interesting time!
What this means in reality, is that when anything we wear or use breaks, it’s quite likely that it will not be something that can easily be replaced.
The choice that we will have, will be as simple as this: Throw it away and go without, or repair it and continue to have it to use.
Regrettably, one of the massive overhangs from the world we are now leaving, will be the comparative poor quality of the things that we use daily, that because of planned obsolescence, were deliberately designed not to last.
Create your own self-sufficiency toolkit – NOW!
When we were kids, all had bikes, and were allowed to go off for rides, it wasn’t uncommon for us to have a puncture repair kit handy – even if we didn’t have any idea how to use it if we had a punctured tyre and would usually rely on a parent or another adult fixing it for us if we did.
Good times. Especially when there was always an answer to the problem, and everything could always be fixed.
As we navigate our way through the challenges that lie ahead, it won’t just be punctures on a bicycle that we need to think about being prepared for.
In fact, it would be a good idea for us to have the most practical contingency plan in place possible, to take care of anything that we have a genuine need to use regularly – if it’s something that can be easily fixed, or something that we need to use to feed, heat or support ourselves when we are unable to access our ‘normal’ supplies.
Some of the following items are things that we will need. Some we will use regularly. Some we will never need – but it will be better that we have and don’t use them, than finding ourselves without them if we do!
There will be others – and if you start thinking about what you would need if there were no power, water or heating, you’ll begin to get an idea of the things you might need for you to be able to do all the things that you need to do:
Sewing kit (including some needles, different coloured thread)
First Aid Kit (including plenty of plasters, some antiseptic cream etc)
Paracetamol/Aspirin or other basic pain relief tablets that you and those with you would normally use
Large air-tight resealable bags
A ‘Swiss Army Knife’ of multi-tool gadget that you have tested for robustness
Water Purification Kit – the kind you would take for a long camping trip
Firelighters
Matches
A small torch with spare batteries
Candles and/or Tea Lights
A wind-up / solar radio and phone-charger
Cable Ties (assorted sizes)
A hatchet or small handled axe
A small pan for boiling water that can be heated on a naked flame
A small frying pan / griddle pan that can be heated on a naked flame
A small sharp cooking knife
A few packs of baby wipes / wet wipes
Some basic dried and canned foods including pasta, rice, fish and the types of things that you can turn into a meal without need of anything else – clearly depending on what your dietary needs (NOT WANTS!) and those of the people with you normally are
A can opener (if there isn’t one on your tool gadget)
Batteries
There will probably be others too. But again, the emphasis is all about what we will need and not about what we want. The two are very different things and this is all about being happy with what we have already got!
Please remember that this is just a guide. Visualise a situation where nothing is available, and you will soon know what you will really need.
You will find all of these things online, and most of them will be available in supermarkets, DIY and home stores too. Please remember that as distribution systems increasingly fail – as they are going to, even goods that are available online, won’t be shipped or even delivered to local stores so that you can buy or collect them there.
The time to prepare for all eventualities is NOW. NOT when there are shortages of everything and being prepared makes real-time sense!
Reuse, Recycle, Repair
Whilst I have already touched on the revival of Make do and Mend, it cannot be understated just how much we can all help ourselves as this period of crisis deepens, by stepping away from the reliance we have, that everything we need, will come to us ‘new’.
It won’t. Easy everything is at its end.
Yes, the supply of new goods will appear to continue for a time, with that supply coughing and spluttering in terms of those things that remain available. But many other items – particularly those which are items we want, rather than what we need, or that come to us from great distances across the world – will simply disappear from our lives for good.
One way or another – affecting those most who find affordability the main issue first, followed by all those who believe they have plenty of money now and find that it quickly becomes less and less until what they ‘have’ has no value at all – ‘new’ simply isn’t going to be the ‘go to’ option anymore.
It’s all going to be about what we can reuse, how we can reuse it. What we can repair and how we can repair it. What we can recycle and how we can reuse goods that cannot be used again for their original purpose, and then repurpose them in the best way possible – to benefit ourselves and to benefit us ALL.
Think smart. Think about the skills that you really have already or those that you could easily learn. Think about a very practical world where everything revolves around life, living and the community, where people and not money are the centre of everything, rather than what we only appear to have going on around us right now.
If you have an interest or talent in arts and crafts, or even feel quite proficient at DIY, the chances are that you can put that interest or ability to good work. First to help yourself, but also to help others around your neighbourhood and community too.
The End of Throw-Away Culture
The throw away culture has been sold to us as making life our lives easier. Easier on our time and easier on what we can afford.
We have been paying little more than lip service to recycling for far too long.
The emphasis has been on what has been politically expedient for the political classes. That has been for us only to concentrate only on rubbish and changes that are perceived as being easy for everyone to do, of having no real effect, and of having no cost in terms of money or on what we perceive to be our quality of life.
Before they were emboldened by our willing response to their unnecessary Covid Measures, this was the only way that spinless politicians could be sure that anu kind of open green policy would not cost them votes.
But the throw away culture has come at a very high price. It has been built on the unnecessary use of resources that cannot be replaced. It has damaged the environment through the unnecessary processes of production, transport and the level of waste disposal necessary to cover the amount of discarded goods that were deliberately designed so that they would quickly have to be replaced.
We have unlearned the value of making the very best of everything that we already have or could even share or borrow. Meanwhile, we have been drip fed from every direction that the idea that we can have absolutely everything that we want – just as long as we can afford the £price.
Sucked in – as we have been – by the reality that we now qualify everyone and everything by what it looks like to us and to others, and what it tells everyone else about who we are or what we can afford, we have willingly taken every step possible to walk away from who we really are and leave the values that really help us all far behind.
The world around us reflects who we are inside. We have all played a part in what is happening. So, for us to accept that change and a different way of doing things in the world outside of us is now necessary, we must all embrace what that change really means for us within our minds.
A helpful lesson from our Farmers on Preparing, Producing & Making Provision
If you really want to understand how the basics of providing for life work, look no further than the cycles of activity that take place on one of those farms that too many of us overlook for providing our milk:
The grass that grows in the early spring is cut in mid-late spring and early summer. The earlier cuts are turned into silage (fermented grass which in a process not unlike brewing, means that nutrients for the cows are increased). The later ones into hay (dried grass which you often see as very green looking bales).
Silage and Hay are stored over the summer and early autumn, whilst the cows go out and enjoy all of their fields, whilst grass continues to grow.
When the autumn and winter comes and the grass has stopped growing and the ground has become too muddy for the cows and their hooves, they move inside and under shelter, where they are fed with either their Hay or Silage, and sleep on beds made from the straw of cereal crops, so that they are all dry and warm.
The Farmer will have planned and made enough Silage and Hay the previous spring and summer, to make sure that the cows have more than enough to eat for the whole time that they have to stay inside.
Throughout this period, the herd of cows will be providing milk perhaps twice or even three times a day – that’s during spring, summer, autumn and winter, so that milk, cheese, yoghurt and anything else that is made with dairy products or ingredients of some kind can come and will continue to come your way.
The whole process is a cycle that goes round and round. It never stops or finishes, if the cows and we want to continue to eat.
The Farmers prepare, produce and make provision. That way, their cows are always fed, can always produce their milk, so that we can all be fed and not go hungry too.
Why we need to be able to Prepare, Produce & Make Provision
Because of the way that the system around us has been developed to keep increasing and funnelling profits at the few, more and more of the lessons for life and good living – which are more often than not metaphorical – are being hidden from view.
Not only that. Very regrettably, because this whole system only works or benefits financial interests by becoming increasingly big, it means that the supply chains that get food to us – like the example of the production of the dairy products from cows – get more and more spread out over our Country, or even across borders too.
Supply chains involve more and more processing that involves more and more people and interests that we do not experience or see. And all the time this form of centralisation has been happening, the very stable, short supply chains that would mean all of the food that is grown or produced for us locally and where we can be in touch with the whole process, has all but been completely wiped out.
We are now in danger because we have become over reliant on a system that is already beginning to crash. And it’s a system that has been rebuilt so that it supports the way that big business works.
Farmers are not ready for the change. So, we must be ready until they are
The current system is not set up to get all the foods we actually need grown and prepared for us locally. So, when the acute stages of The Great Reset happen and the big profit-focused supply chains have irreparably broken down, the reality is that there will be a period of time when this ‘old system’ stops providing for us, and when the new (or rather renewed) local supply chain system has been put in place.
Yes, there are some really good examples of Farmers here in the UK and elsewhere too, who are offering us all their dairy products, meats, produce and even beer that has come from crops and animals grown and prepared on the farm.
If you’ve tried what they produce, you will already know that its fantastically good. But right now, it’s also very expensive – because of how the big corporate interests have such a ridiculous level of control.
If our politicians were awake enough and forward thinking enough to recognise what lies ahead – even though they bear much of the responsibility for it happening themselves, they would be doing everything they could to support our Farmers – who by their very nature are great innovators – to turn production on its head and grow and produce everything locally, either on their own, or as part of small and localised cooperatives that make practical sense with how different animals are taken care of and how different produce and crops are grown.
Politicians will not do that today, because like the big interests that profit from it, they have too much invested in everything continuing as it appears to be at the moment, and for it continuing to be run and to make money or to continue to benefit them in the same way.
We will have no option but to work with and support our local farmers to reequip and redesign their operations and business models when the time comes that we need them. This may even mean some of us literally getting out there and helping on the land. Otherwise, the future beyond The Great Reset will be one where our lives revolve around little more than the question of what we will next have to eat.
The hard message to take in and consider here, is that without the changes in policy and the contingency planning that our out-of-touch politicians should today be taking care of, there is a period of time – that will hopefully be short – when in respect of at least some foods, but potentially a lot more and possibly everything that we need, we may have to go without.
We cannot rely on our politicians to do the right thing. We cannot rely on Politicians to keep everyone fed. We cannot rely on Politicians to keep the things that are vital to our life working, when things will no longer work, and the only solution Politicians have is to ask how much it will cost.
We have to Prepare, Produce and make Provision.
It’s time to start growing your own food.
Grow Your Own Food – AND GET STARTED NOW!
Of all the things you can do to help and provide for yourself and those around you during The Great Reset and then beyond it too, the most helpful will be growing your own food.
Even during the acute stages of the Great Reset, the chances that there are absolutely no basic foods available for any prolonged period of time should be thankfully very small.
But that doesn’t mean the choice of what could be available over weeks or possibly months, isn’t very limited. Or, of that which is available, specific foods are not available either as regularly or in the quantities that we have become used to, or that we would like them to be.
As you read this today, many and indeed most of the ‘fancy’ or rather the highly processed foods that you are probably telling yourself that you need will still be available. Either on supermarket shelves, in chillers or in a frozen form.
But that availability is already changing.
Items you normally buy each week might already be missing one week and then back the next.
The number of items you are experiencing this temporary shortage of is probably already increasing.
The next thing that could happen is you could go online or walk into your local supermarket and find that the deliveries of all the things that you consider to be important hasn’t come in for your next shop. Then it doesn’t appear for weeks.
This could happen at any time. And it will.
AND IT IS NOT JUST A MATTER OF WHAT YOU CAN OR WILL BE ABLE TO AFFORD.
Grow Your Own: Take control now. Whilst you can. Whilst resources are available.
Anything that can happen probably will in some way. So once the idea of something happening has entered your awareness, it’s probably a good idea to make provision for its eventuality. So that you at least have a contingency plan in place.
However, there is a clear caveat to this. That is that at the same time, you DON’T let the possibility of something happening take over your life. Especially not in the way that you have probably imagined it could happen!
We don’t know what every part of The Great Reset will look or feel like for any of us. But what we do know is that food supply is now at a very high level of risk.
The time to offset the risk of food scarcity and food shortages for us and the people we care about is right now. NOT when the food supply has already stopped.
Your immediate reaction might be that you don’t have any idea how to grow food. It could well be that you don’t have the space. It’s very likely to be ‘I don’t have a garden!’.
None of these issues are likely to stop you from ‘growing your own’, if you really want to take the proactive steps that are available for you to make provision and start preparing for shortages right now.
FOOD AVAILABILITY WILL NOT BE ABOUT WHAT YOU CAN AFFORD!
Basic Foods that YOU CAN GROW
You may be surprised to learn that the number and range of different foods that you can grow at home is surprisingly large.
However, whilst there be the temptation to run off and start growing mangos or something that tastes sugary and nice once its picked, a lot of the options that are available won’t be practical either because of the time they take to grown, lack of space or the restrictions placed on you by the environment that is available to you.
The next and possibly the most challenging part of this big step towards what might feel like a very new way of living will once again to focus only on what you need and not what you want.
The aim above anything else is nutrition, so that even if you cannot reach the intake of the daily number of calories that would be recommended specifically for you, what you do have available to eat will always be good for you.
These are the kinds of vegetables that you can grow from not already doing anything – depending on what resources you have available or are able to secure:
Potatoes
Carrots
Lettuce
Cauliflower
Cucumber
Marrow
Turnips
Swedes
Parsnips
Tomatoes
Sweetcorn
Onions
The chances are that there are more options and different varieties of the options that are available to you, that will become clearer to you as you determine what your options really are, and what will work best for you in your situation.
My suggestion would be that you identify which growing systems are available to you, and that you then research which foods it will be easiest to grow in the shortest times possible.
You may also want to consider things like what resources you will need to keep providing on an ongoing basis, so that once you have harvested each crop, you will have all that you will require so that you can grow and harvest the next.
Like everything in life, growing food is a learning curve. Every time you go through the cycle you know more than you did before, and when growing food makes a real difference, it will help you to have already learned the lessons about what kind of growing works best for you and to have knowledge of all that is involved.
The best way to be able to Prepare, Produce and make Provision is to start growing your own right now!
Use the wisdom of others
It has never been easier to get help and advice on how to grow things. Gardeners and the people who already grow their own vegetable and fruits for themselves or on a small commercial scale are often very happy to share their experience and provide tips that will prove very helpful when it comes to growing your own.
There are plenty of blogs, websites and low-cost downloadable books and pamphlets available and you will find these literally by starting with a search of ‘grow your own’.
If you are a fellow blogger and author writing about growing your own food, nutrition from basic foods, growing methods or even if you are selling good, easy to set up and use equipment without looking to cash in, NOT for the apocalypse – but as a long-term thing, I would love to hear from you and share some links. We really will help ourselves if we work together to help all!
e-mail levellinglevel@gmail.com or let’s start a conversation on @levellinglevel on Twitter or Facebook.
Get Some Seeds & Seedlings
If you’ve ever heard someone you think of being a nerd, going on about saving or storing seeds, this is probably the moment when you will begin to make some sense of why.
Pretty much every vegetable, fruit or cereal that we eat can only be grown because someone has had the good sense to harvest, store and then distribute their seeds.
You will need seeds to grow whatever vegetables or fruits that you might choose.
Seeds are available online and even in some supermarkets, depending on the time of year. I picked up number of sachets a few days ago in Sainsburys (That’s well-known chain of supermarkets in the UK) and you are likely to find them near the flowers or any gardening things.
Again, it’s worth having a read up to check what you will be able to grow. Very little that you can grow in the garden will provide a crop year-round, if at all. So, the next question will be what, where and how you can grow (or store) so you have something available year-round.
If you are lucky – and especially so at this time of year (spring/early summer), you might happen across seedlings that are vegetable or fruit plants already beginning to grow on sale by the side of the road, at a garden centre or even in the plants section at your local supermarket. Grab a few if you can, as this is a great way to get a head start – and encourage yourself to get the growing bug – which can be very rewarding once you do!
Greenhouses & Glass Boxes
The easiest way to improve growth of vegetable that grow above the surface of the soil, is to grow them under cover of plastic sheets or glass.
If you have these available now, that’s great. If not, do have a look online, or go and visit one of the big DIY chains to get some ideas, and then go back online and find the most cost-effective versions of whatever you have been looking at.
Bigger greenhouses can be heated, and if you can heat a greenhouse cost-effectively when energy to do so is available, it will mean that you can grow some produce that would normally be seasonal, year-round.
However, the best use for glass or plastic coverings is to secure and keep your food safe from animals, insects or other pests – when you are growing outside.
Again, please do a web search using terms like ‘what to grow under glass’, ‘how to grow under glass’, or ’10 best foods to grow in my greenhouse’.
Using Your Garden to grow food
As you read this, you may be able to turn your head and look out of the window and see a beautifully manicured lawn, a play area dedicated to private use for your kids, or a yard space where you can just make out the evidence of a recent visit from your dog.
Either way and whatever you might use your garden for today, gardens have historically had a much more meaningful, practical and yes – essential use.
Lawned gardens outside houses today are a luxury. So, if your outdoor area is in sunlight and can clearly grow leafy or grassy things, there is a much better use for it than growing grass – right now.
The space that you have available and how much you use of it is up to you. But the more you can use, the more food you could grow and then have available, the more types you can grow, and the list goes on.
Once again, research on ‘how to dig my garden’, ‘how to cultivate my garden’ or terms like these should give you some great pointers on how to get started.
In terms of tools, a good strong step-on fork and a possibly a spade too might be all that you will need to get started, and these are all available online, at DIY stores or any large retailer that has a section for outdoors.
Something to bear in mind: If food does get really short for everyone – which is a very real risk, people who for whatever reason do not have food of their own available are likely to grab anything that it’s easy for them to do so – especially when its quiet or nobody is around at night. If you can, do grow your food somewhere that’s out of everyone else’s sight. You can always share, exchange or give away food that you have harvested when you have more than you or those around you will need. But that won’t be possible if you should find yourself short for reasons that are out of your control.
Use Window Boxes
If you don’t have a garden, you almost certainly have windows. These are great places to grow things you can eat – and they can behave a little like greenhouses do too.
Depending on the size of your window ledge, you may be able to place some trays or troughs along the ledge or perhaps affix some brackets with a trough or trays just underneath – as long as there is nothing like a radiator or similar in the way.
Do a search on ‘window gardens’, ‘what to grow in a window garden’, ‘setting up a window garden’, to get some ideas of what will be involved.
If your window box is outdoors, you may need to make sure that it is secured against wind or bad weather.
If the only windows you have available look abut a public pathway or road, growing food outside may not be the best plan for you – as your produce could disappear overnight when others who might be desperate can see – and easily reach – what you have grown.
Using an Allotment
If you don’t have a garden that you can change to grow your vegetables and fruits, it might be worth thinking about renting an allotment, so that you can grow and manage your basic foods for the longer term.
An allotment is basically a piece of open ground, often part of a large field or area that has been divided up into equally sized spaces or ‘allotments’ by the owner – which more often than not will be a local parish or town council.
Allotments are already reasonably popular. So, if you check with your local council, you may already find that there is a waiting list for those that might become available.
In the challenging times that lie ahead, it may be the case that ground which is already owned and managed on behalf of the community will be repurposed for allotment use, other ground is secured by the community for this purpose, or that farmers and landowners set aside and rent out land they manage as allotments for others to use.
Using Hydroponics
If the space you have available is limited, you don’t have a garden, window ledge or anywhere else you would immediately recognise as somewhere you could repurpose to grow your own food, Hydroponics could be the answer for you.
Hydroponics is basically growing things in a tray, trough or tank with flowing water, which contains all the nutrients that the plants, fruits and vegetables in them need to grow.
It is an amazingly efficient way to grow food, because of the limited space, energy and input that is required – once you are set up. And the great thing is that you can set up a Hydroponics system anywhere – often with only a very minimal requirement for energy or light.
In some ways Hydroponics is the most practical and most efficient way to grow your own food. It’s just that the food that is actually the easiest to produce will not look as appetising as we might like it to be.
The important thing is that you and the people you care for can eat and get nutrition for however long the system and food supply chain change and related shortages might be.
When it comes down to the absolute nuts and bolts of not going hungry for any period of time, having a Hydroponics system working away in your home, might by the best bet you can make on yourself right now, today.
Please do a web search on ‘Hydroponics’, ‘Buy Hydroponics’, ‘Foods you can grow with Hydroponics’. There is plenty to see, read, learn from and buy online.
Once again, the time to be setting yourself up with a Hydroponics system at home is right now. When food is short, it might be short because the system of distribution has stopped or broken down. As most of the equipment you will need will be online, it won’t be any good to you, if you can’t get to it or it can’t get to you!
Establishing Our New World in a time of crisis from the Grassroots and our Communities up:
Many cannot either see nor accept that there is an alternative way of being, of living and of doing everything that actually can and will work out much better for us all; YET.
Of those who do begin to sense or realise that there is something much better ahead that is available and that works for all, many become fearful when they listen to others who without explanation (and as such, understanding) condemn any alternative way to their own.
The reality is that nobody alive today can offer anyone an accurate or fixed idea, picture or understanding of what ‘good for everyone’ really looks like, because none of them have actually experienced it, and by its very nature, a societal transformation and change of this kind requires a collective leap of faith, rolled out individually many times.
Each and every choice or decision is as important as any other. And when it boils down to it, a good and happy future for all will depend not on everyone doing whatever is easiest but making the conscious decision to always do what is right – no matter how hard things will appear to be.
The Withdrawal of Collective Consent: Don’t riot or engage in civil unrest. Start building our new fair and balanced future for everyone instead
If you are of voting age in the UK (18 years or older), the chances are that you will be able to remember the 2011 Riots, which are sometimes referred to as the London Riots too.
During a period of 5 days and nights that August, many people took to the streets in different places and engaged in civil unrest.
You didn’t have to be there or in the middle of a riot, or anywhere near a shop being looted or burned to the ground, to be shocked, concerned or frightened by what you could see was going on.
It doesn’t seem normal or rational for people to behave this way. But we all need to understand that when fear and desperation leads beyond frustration to anger, and people no longer believe they have anything else to lose, there is no logic, no form of words and no out-of-the-moment promise that can be made to them, that will make the desire they have to act irrationally or without care, go away.
If people in the area you live begin to engage in any form of civil unrest, or you yourself feel desperate enough to join any group of people which has taken to the streets, please think about the point that we have all already collectively reached, and what we can all do together constructively without damaging anything or the relationships that we have with anyone, who or that can become part of the new system we can build from what we must now replace.
You may see policemen, paramedics, firefighters, soldiers and public sector representatives as representatives of the system. But they are real people behind their badges or uniform. People just the same as you and I.
We do not need to destroy anything or hurt anyone else to achieve change and to create a new system. We only have to withdraw our collective consent from the one that we must replace.
Nobody has to continue working for the existing system. But it will help us all if those who have public responsibility continue to fulfil the genuine purposes of their roles, and help and protect all others, whilst sense begins to be made of what we all need to do to ensure that above everything, each and every one of us is safe, has shelter and the things we need, and has access to enough of the basic essentials with the priority always given to basic foods.
The power that politicians and the elites have is ours and was only given on loan. The time is coming soon when we have the choice to reclaim our power and take it back
The system is supposedly democratic. But there is nothing democratic about a political system that exists around a Top-Down structure. One that is insulated from constructive change by a political party system that has effectively bolted the door to anyone who could have or still could bring real leadership to the Country, and with it much less difficulty as we are all forced to embrace change.
The collapse of everything that we know, or what we might otherwise call a systemic collapse is underway. It will get increasingly worse for everyone. It will touch everyone’s lives in some way.
Despite what appearances might be used to tell or suggest to us, the collapse of everything will come in the form of massive problems like shortages of food and essential goods, rationing, scarcity, delays, shut down of public services, strikes and may other changes to what we have considered to be normal or what we could expect. The collapse itself may not be recognisable if you wait around for absolutely everything to stop working or completely shut down.
The that we all must understand is that the Collapse of the System is not likely to be obvious, especially to those who are aware of changes, but have not had their lives directly touched.
Good people who care about others, will continue to do their jobs as best they can, because it is the right thing to do. But that will do the right thing could easily keep what’s left of the existing system coughing and spluttering long enough, that the same Top-Down interests can consolidate what they have left and begin to build their new system in its place.
The worst that is likely to happen, is people without food and essentials or the money to buy food and essentials, will take to the streets and seek out a focus for their blame.
One way or another, the moment will come when you will either be able to see, or you will simply know that the game is up for the system that has brought us all to where we are.
It is this moment or point in time when we all have the real opportunity to withdraw the consent, we have unwittingly given to this system that has hurt all of us. To realise that power and the power to change everything is actually ours. That the choice we have is either to take the easy option and let someone else create the new system. Or withdraw our consent to more of the same and instead take and act upon the decision to take all of our power back.
Each and every one of us gave our consent to this shitshow of a system – by the simplest acts of taking part
We previously discussed the role of belief, and how it is belief that makes things real.
By believing in the system and supporting or acquiescing to it by taking part in it in any way, we actively take that believe to a level where we are giving it our consent.
It doesn’t matter whether the people running the system and every part of it are doing so dishonestly once they have that power. By voting for their politicians, by taking their loans, by playing their stock market games, by betting on their sports, by taking their benefits, by being qualified by their education system and degrees, by believing everything they tell us through the mainstream media outlets that they own and through many other actions that cover almost every part of life today, WE ARE ALL GIVING THEM OUR CONSENT – to continue doing all the things that they do.
Some of you reading this will immediately scoff and be thinking something like ‘I’ve got their number. I know how it all works. I’m not part of this. I DIDN’T GIVE THEM MY CONSENT!’
But even those who are awake enough to see everything today for what it is, are continuing to give consent to the system that we have, by even the smallest act or action of taking part in it.
In fact, the system is now impossible to avoid, for as long as it continues to exist.
This broken system that is hurting us all, has a name: It’s called ‘Top-Down’
If you want to live in a different kind of world, where everyone is valued for who they really are and not what they have or what they can afford, it’s important to recognise what the building blocks that will make that world real will look like.
It’s also very important to recognise what represents the key tenets and elements of the old world, and the thinking that will keep the majority disadvantaged in some way, whilst benefits of every kind continue to be funnelled towards those either at or very near the very top.
The system that we have and that we are in the process of leaving, functions with people in positions of power and responsibility for the lives of others. People who believe that they are special and behave as if they are special in some way.
It doesn’t matter what the behaviour, skill or attribute might be that makes them believe they are special, whether its knowledge, popularity, position or wealth. If any person of group of people who have influence over or responsibility for others believe that they are different and better than those other people in any way, the system that they are influencing will always be about them and never about anyone else.
The people with power and influence who consider themselves above others, look down on everyone that they believe they have that power or influence over. This is the very basic mechanics of the system of ‘Top-Down’.
In its broader sense, ‘Top-Down’ is a hierarchical system. Power is always funnelled from the many to the few above them. Then from the few to the one or two that are then above.
The process can and does repeat itself over and over again and often resembles the shape of a pyramid.
It’s a relationship that thrives on the creation of distance. Because those with power we are in direct contact with and easily able to access in a way where they listen, are often much further away from those that they themselves are subservient to. This means that those who we should most be able to rely on to do what’s best for us rarely even understand the rules, diktats and instructions that come from their own hierarchy ‘above’.
You will recognise those who are beholden to the ‘Top-Down’ system, because they are always better in some way than us. They thrive on peddling the myth that there are those ‘in the know’ and that they have special skills or special knowledge. When in fact all their ‘position’ or ‘role’ does is give them an excuse to avoid truth or avoid make decisions based solely in the moment and on doing only what is right for everyone – not just their masters or themselves.
Question the integrity and values of anyone who presents themselves as a leader at any level, who has come from management within a large company or corporate structure, has been in a leadership role within community organisations or within local councils, or has been a politician and member of one of the well-known parties and not demonstrated an ability once elected, to stand out without their party on their own.
Beware the people who have said a few things that have struck chords with some people and given them what appears to be great popularity. Popularity and leadership skills in the untested are usually two very distant things.
Above all, be on your guard against anyone who tells you they have knowledge and networks but cannot give a credible and open overview of what they are or how they attained them. Run a mile from anyone whose credibility as a leader rests purely on a name or who they are directly linked as nepotism is one of the most insidiously destructive and corrupt elements of the Top-Down system by far.
Getting to Good Governance when everyone wants someone else to come up with the solution and someone else’s solution is what we’ve already got
The entire aim of Levelling Level may appear only to be a functioning and fully localised society that is built around a Basic Living Standard for All. In reality, it is all about the journey or process of getting there through this period of change and crisis too.
Governance or how we are governed in respect of everything, is key to achieving a new system that is built upon the foundation of a Basic Living Standard.
Work can only begin on building the new System of Governance that will provide a fair and balanced framework for all our lives, once we have rejected the current system that we know as ‘Top-Down’.
The point at which we will all accept that the current ‘Top-Down’ system cannot be fixed and has not or will not serve any of our best interests at any time will be different for each of us.
But when that moment comes, our thoughts will move on to what comes next.
The immediate problem is everyone wants someone else to come up with the solution, when someone else’s solution is what we’ve already got.
It is vital that when that moment comes. we all recognise that the solutions to the problems and the answers to many questions will not come by having another bogus election, where the faces and words might change, but we continue to have people motivated by self-interest at the ‘top’.
It’s time for us all to accept that the ‘Top-Down’ system of governance is over
We should avoid falling into the trap of believing that because something exists, it actually works.
Do bear in mind, that just because you can see a fantastic new car parked by the side of the road, it doesn’t necessarily follow that it has an engine, has fuel or even has a driver that will not crash it, just as soon as they get behind the wheel and are left in charge of it!
The ‘Top-Down’ system of governance that we have is completely broken.
It is because our system of governance that we have is broken, that we have all the problems that we have.
Yes, we can keep changing the politicians and even the policies that this system has. But the more things change, the more they stay the same.
We MUST reject the system that we have completely. IF we want to experience a way of life that is fair and balanced for us all, all of the time and throughout our lives.
What will make us accept we need change? What will make us change our minds? What will make us embrace a NEW System of Governance, built from the Grassroots-Up?
If Levelling Level were to depend only on changing the way people think to succeed, its success would be far from being assured. After all, people will not easily change the way that they think, unless they feel there is a good reason for them to do so.
The good reason for people to change the way they think, and what will make Levelling Level successful as an aim, process and outcome, is the system of governance that we already have does not serve our best interests.
The ‘Top-Down’ system has been used as a plaything to further self-interest and greed for far too long.
Those who have held power and influence within the ‘Top-Down’ system have broken and exceeded the laws of their own system. This has resulted in the collapse of everything that we know, and pain reaching each and every one of us somehow and in some way.
When things in the world outside of us aren’t working for us, we will be ready to change what’s going on for us inside of ourselves. We will be ready to change our minds.
The change in thinking required from us all, begins when we stop thinking that someone else will always take care of the things that we don’t or have no interest in, and accept that we all have a role to play, and that begins with each and every one of us taking part.
The part that we have to play, is stepping out of our doors and working with everyone else in our community to ensure that everyone has access to the food, goods and resources that they need. That when they are available, they are accessible fairly to all. And that where anything that any of us need isn’t available, we work together, harnessing the skills, experience and abilities that we can offer to our communities, to provide anything that we need in the quickest and most efficient ways that we possibly can.
When everything you know no longer works, be very careful who you trust
If everything breaks down and we are forced to navigate our way through and experience a period of civil or social disorder, we cannot be reliant upon the integrity of any person being reflected in the role or position of responsibility that they previously held.
When everyone is afraid, even the people we think can normally be relied upon because of who they are or what they do, are likely put their own interests before those of anyone else.
There will always be people present in any crisis who are ready and willing to exploit the fears of others to benefit themselves.
Stay with and around people you know before anyone else, and then only with people you are already aware of or recognise. Do not extend this circle to other people until you have together defined and agreed upon any rules you will use to define who you can trust.
Community Governance during any critical period of Crisis that we face: Roles & Contributions
Everyone has something to offer the community. But it may not automatically be what they think.
Despite the trauma of the experience that we may all be living through, some people will still be ruled by their egos when it comes to what they are prepared to do, offer or actually give.
The age of bullshit jobs and invented professions came with the Top-Down system. Incentivisation turbocharged the rejection of the risks that come with responsibility, building a backroom culture that gave license to the demand for more of everything whilst at the same time giving less.
Just because someone has been a manager, it doesn’t necessarily follow that they can manage. But a plumber is almost certain to know how to plumb.
When it comes to having food to eat and all the basics that anyone will need, everyone will need to quickly lose the ego that tells them they are this, they are that or they are anything that makes them different.
Everyone will need to fulfil any role that means that in return for having their fair share of everything that they need that is available, they are contributing whatever they have that can bring value to all in return.
Necessity is the seedbed of Innovation
Whilst my aim may be to provide a guide to navigating the very difficult times that may lie ahead, I also recognise the resourcefulness and creativity that lies within so many people – even when in many cases they have not recognised it, or perhaps do not have confidence enough to qualify it within themselves.
You can never be an imposter when it comes to taking responsibility for yourself.
When it comes to surviving The Great Reset, taking responsibility for yourself is the part you will play in a community taking responsibility for us all.
Too many of the things that we are used to about the world we have been experiencing have been reliant on very complicated supply chains involving great distances and many different people, as well as in most cases relying upon the accumulation of many different parts.
Any one of what could be hundreds of different points on these chains may no longer be available or be an option once the real stoppages and shortages have begun.
Any number of those points could be one or one of many, that means the goods, products, foods or experiences that is no longer available, meaning that we can no longer get something, or that if we have it and it breaks, we cannot get new supplies or parts that will enable it to work.
We MUST make use of all of the people, the resources and the opportunities that we have, so that everyone has access to a fair share of everything that they need, beginning with making sure that everyone has adequate basic foods to eat.
People in every community will have ideas, knowledge and skills to make existing resources work on a localised basis, to invent new ones and even create new equipment that can do the jobs or help fulfil the tasks that will help achieve the goal of ensuring that everyone can get by, whilst things remain acutely difficult for us all.
To innovate and provide the solutions that the community will need, people just need to be asked and then given the opportunity to respond.
It doesn’t matter who has an idea, who makes, grows or fixes anything. EVERYONE benefits when a job that needs doing for the whole community gets done. The priority of supply is the survival of everyone in the community. It is NOT about how the process was ‘owned’.
Let those who can, get on with it. Don’t get precious about what it looks like when and if you can’t.
The model for a NEW System of Governance that puts people FIRST
If you believe that we need the ‘Top-Down’, complicated and highly centralised system of governance that we already have to run a whole Country, I’m afraid I’m here to let you know that you have made a mistake.
A system of governance that works for the governed does not create more questions about it than it answers. Its intelligence lies in its simplicity. It only touches or guides the areas and functionality of life and business where the outcomes, impacts and consequences of any activity will reach beyond the thoughts and actions of the individual themselves. It does not promote the interests of any one above those of another. It recognises the best interests of all people as the qualified majority in all things and especially so when no form of election or plebiscite can be called.
It sounds serious, I know.
But in very basic terms:
Good governance is about always doing the right thing for everybody.
Good governance is about keeping systems relatable to the people who are being governed, as well as the people who are working within or otherwise contributing in some way to it.
A system of Good Governance is as decentralised as it can be.
A system of Good Governance prioritises the people it serves before the jobs of the people who work for and within it, or the consideration of any other material outcome in any way.
A system of Good Governance is responsive to change, technological advances and to genuine progress, but always seeks to harness these only to improve quality of life and not what people really need.
Yes, in time thought and action will need to be taken to provide governance at geographical levels where it makes practical sense to do so – but only where necessity really does make sense.
However, the key to making governance work at national or even international level, is to create governance models that genuinely work with people as the priority, and that model of governance has to begin and then be tried and tested within and based upon our Grassroots Communities first.
A Systemic and Financial Collapse is now inevitable, but a Great Reset as the WEF see it is not. We can define our own future, but it means doing politics like we have never done democracy before
If you have taken a close, objective view of every part of the Government response to the Covid Pandemic, you will see just how much power and influence can be brought to bear on normal people, by politicians and government officers when they want to use manipulation to bend people to their will.
With months passed since the end of Social Distancing measures, there are still many people who believe everything they were told about the risks of Covid. So much so, that they continue to allow fear of the virus to dictate how they live their lives when there is no need to do so.
Do consider your own experience of how messages from the Government and the Establishment were used to control the public in a situation that existed purely because the politicians we have are incompetent, were afraid, and thought that control was the only way they could lead.
The fear of politicians on all sides of Politics drove the Government response. It directly led to them making decision after decision that has contributed to the cost-of-living crisis we are fast descending into now, along with the inevitable financial and systemic collapse that is on its way.
The unavoidable collapse we are facing was supercharged by the Government response to Covid. But it has also been pushed massively by the response to the War in Ukraine and by Brexit before.
The Government responses to all three of these world-influencing events have catalysed the coming collapse. None of them alone or together were the actual cause.
The cause of the coming collapse are the ideals that have driven the way that everything around us has worked and has been governed for decades.
The entire Top-Down system has always been about putting the interests of those at the top first in all circumstances. Only lip service has ever paid to the problems that a greed-driven hierarchical structure inevitably causes for everyone else, and ever since the Gold Standard was abandoned and FIAT money was adopted in its place in 1971, it was inevitable that the piggies at the trough would keep going further and further with the aim of accumulating as much wealth as they can.
The people who have been controlling and driving the system that has enriched them at our collective cost, know only too well that the system of governance they influenced into being and developed always had a terminal flaw.
The flaw in this darkest chapter of a self-interest and greed-driven system was the inevitable growth of income inequality and with it, the rich – poor divide.
Those of their number who have been clever enough to come up for air, knew that in time, the mechanics of their self-serving system would push that divide too far. That through a systemic collapse that would likely involve complete societal breakdown, their system as it stood would meet its end.
The people responsible are the world elites. They come together in organisations that we know of such as the World Economic Forum (WEF) and the World Health Organisation (WHO). So-called Public Bodies that have become the sanitised or ‘acceptable’ face of everything their self-interest is really all about.
They have known for many years that their system and the way that it functions would come to its end. But in the same way that Government rolled out its narrative to control all of us during the Covid Pandemic, the Worlds elites have been developing narrative about ‘The Great Reset’ to establish the idea in the public consciousness that their control both through and beyond the collapse that they created, is already a done deal or an inevitable thing.
But the elites never banked on Brexit, Covid or Ukraine. They certainly didn’t factor in the knee jerk way that governments such as ours would react, looking to the creation of non-existent money to solve all the problems that they faced, in the very unimaginative and unnecessary ways that they did.
The alarm bells started ringing just as soon as the Covid Virus emerged. They went into a frenzy once Government responses to the Pandemic and the Lockdowns began.
Those at the top knew they were out of time. That is why the amount of propaganda being pumped out of Switzerland began flowing at what feels like a constant rate.
The elites have always known what is coming. It was always just the question of when and not if.
The elites know what a systemic collapse will mean.
The elites know that the only way that they have any chance of remaining at the top is by creating leverage through systems of societal control that are aimed to maintain their position throughout the collapse, so that they can then ensure they dictate the ‘resetting’ of everything so that they maintain the Top-Down structure within the new world that follows beyond.
However, the elites also know that the power they have to succeed in their aims comes down to everything that we already know and that we continue to believe.
Right now, all the things that the WEF and mouthpiece Klaus Schwab have talked about really could happen. Not because anything they have planned is inevitable. But because we could easily miss the opportunity to take control of what happens during the collapse and The Great Reset, and because we fail to make the Great Reset (or whatever you are comfortable calling it) our own.
Everyone in power today, is tied into the Top-Down hierarchy that swirls around and fuels the whole system that tips its hat to the worlds elites.
Many of our Politicians don’t even know what they are doing or what they are really doing it all for. Pretty much everyone and everything is coin operated at the top!
There is no original thinking. No real leadership. And worst of all, no care or consideration for the lives of real people driving this Country – as in a democracy there always should be.
Today normal people are nothing but playthings at best. Slaves within a financial or wealth-related prison at worst.
For many, whole lifetimes revolve around an unnecessary fight just to be able to live.
Many of us do see the wrongs of what is happening, even if we don’t really understand why. Some of us even know who are to blame, but see it as a conspiracy, rather than being the result of the way that any small minded and selfish person would behave if they had the same wealth, opportunities and power that these very self-obsessed people have, and wanted to maintain all of it at any cost.
The existential risk to our future – as we face challenges that none of us have ever experienced – is that we will keep falling back on the same people and the same ideas to try and change things, in the very same ways that we have always done before.
Instead of accepting that we must all embrace a very new way of doing politics that puts people first and functions from the grassroots-up, we are in danger of falling back on what feels comfortable, relying on personalities, individuals with a loud voice or anyone who promotes a message that suggests the same as we’ve always had before: Only they know how to lead. Only they know what’s best. Only they and their own set of special chums have the secret formula for success in a system that has already closed its doors to them.
Approaching political change with the tried and tested formulas that have always failed to break into or influence our political system before.
Doing so again will only help maintain positions for the same self-interested politicians we already have in power or waiting to bask in it – whether they are Left, Right, Conservative, Labour, Liberal Democrat, or are motivated just the same with a different name.
There are many false prophets who are talking up change to us today. But they are quietly linking up with the same old faces, the same old stories and the same old motives as all the people who have wronged us have done so before.
The more obvious are groups like Tony Blair’s ‘The Britain Project’. But then there are many others like those who missed the realities of single-issue politics who have been left over from the Brexit movement too.
What they share in common is a hope that they can become some kind of phoenix that emerges from the ashes of an already broken system, which will work better once they lead it. They are unaware that their current behaviour and outlook amounts to little more than the same sum total as the motives of the ‘leadership’ we have already got.
However well intended any of them might look, their motivations and failure to connect with real people or even read the room will only help to make the strategies of the WEF and those around it all the more secure.
This isn’t to say that none of them have anything to offer us. It is simply the case that no public representative will be putting any of our needs first, if the system they work within and benefit from is based on ‘Top-Down’.
If you really want to experience the genuine freedom that only independence from a system of governance based on material wealth can bring – before the opportunity is lost, you MUST embrace your own Power first.
Now is the time to collaborate and contribute to your community with everything you have the ability to give.
Everyone is waiting for someone else to come up with a plan. But the plan we are on the arse end of right now, was someone else’s plan too.
If we don’t come together and make a new grassroots/up, community-based form of politics and system of governance work, the somebody else will do it for us.
The WEF and the Worlds elites will continue to live gilded lives. But their ever-increasing fear of what will happen when enough of us do wake up to the myths they have created, will drive them to use every form of new technology they can in order to increasingly control our lives.
If you think that life is shit now. Wait and see how you feel about everything then.
We are approaching the crossroads, and the way out will soon be here.
But there is no easy option when it comes to the road to real change.
A fair and balanced system of governance that works for and on behalf of everyone is not the easy road.
What works for everyone fairly will not be represented by anyone or anything that feels familiar, makes feel comfortable, or makes you feel like you are the one on top before even the slightest amount of work has been done.
A happy future is about having faith in yourself, the people immediately around you and taking a massive leap into what appears to be the great unknown.
Are you ready to embrace and take yours?
We are in the End Days of a Money Based Order or System
The World is now in a period of massive and irreversible change. Change that has come about because of years, decades and yes, centuries of political and government mismanagement.
Leadership right across the World, has increasingly got its values and motivations completely wrong, leading up to and funnelling into the massive crisis that we are facing right now.
This age of public policy mismanagement is based upon and has revolved around one thing: Money.
Today, we are experiencing the death throes of the Money Based Order.
Money Based, because the desire and pursuit of wealth, influence, power and everything that goes with it, all feed into the same perverse and twisted reality. One that over a period of many generations, has led to money becoming the benchmark upon which we measure the value of everything in our lives
The greed that the creation of the Money Based Order unleashed could never be satisfied by the actions of those addicted to it.
Generation after generation of wealthy and powerful people, who have then handed that wealth and power down, have always wanted to accumulate more and more, with the next generation inevitably wanting to outdo the last.
What the elites responsible for all this have neither realised nor appreciated has been the true cost. The fact that every product, industry, profession or any other innovation or tool that has been created, that they have then harnessed purely with the intention of increasing the bottom line, has always come at an increasing level of human cost. One that could never be offset by the redistribution of even the largest sums of the profits they have made.
Through the cycles of the industrial ages, leading right up to everything and every innovation that we are experiencing now, the exploitation of the poor or poorer by the rich or the richer, has always been cleverer and better hidden than it ever was before.
The Money Based Order has gone through an entire process of evolution that began with slavery and people quite literally being physically shackled, through a process of evolution to the contemporary equivalent that we know as debt and every kind of financial misery that go with it.
Our plight today is arguably even more sinister and cruel. Because the prison cell is our mind, and the shackles hide in plain sight.
Why the Money Based Order or System is collapsing now
Even a system that is built upon a value set that is completely wrong, has rules that must be obeyed if it is to survive and last.
As generations of politicians, business leaders, bankers and other elites have passed, they have increasingly lost sight of the very framework that protects them.
They have taken their positions for granted, and increasingly failed to put enough back into the system to ensure that the myth still works for the very people they are abusing through their acts.
The combination of Globalisation and the adoption of The FIAT Money system took their greed too far, with the result that the divide between rich and poor has never been so far apart.
‘Wealth inequality’ quite literally leaves people living and experiencing entire lifetimes with their productive focus being only upon what they need to do to keep their heads above water.
Life for far too many, has literally and unnecessarily become all about the fight to survive.
The people who struggle at the hands of The Money Based Order have done nothing wrong.
Many are innocent victims of a system that quite literally exists on the basis that for some to obtain and maintain excessive material wealth, it necessarily follows that others must fail or go without – so that the few can quite literally win and keep on winning.
But it doesn’t have to be this way and it never did.
The Money Based Order lives and functions within the lives of us all
I have alluded to a history of the Money Based Order that covers hundreds of years, simply because it is important to understand how established the system that we have today really is.
In fact, so established is the Money Based Order both around us and within our lives, that many of us have still not awoken to the reality of how our attachment or rather our addiction to the world that qualifies each and every part of our existences based on money, really is.
The house we have, the areas we live in, the holidays we have, the car we drive, the career we have, the degree we qualify for, the clothes we wear, the phone we have, the streaming services we watch, the number of TV sets we have in the house – and what having or failing to have these things at any of the levels that they all seem to come, all play a massive part in the way that we value ourselves, how we value our friends, and how we believe everyone else looks upon us – when in the overwhelming majority of cases, each and every one of the people who have the views we are worrying about, are doing exactly the same things as us.
Whilst generations of marketing men have spent amounts of money that even today’s billionaires could never earn telling us otherwise, this whole way of looking at life and living our entire existence is all about what we want. None of it is about what we need.
It is Money, not the Technology that it finances, that dictates the way we behave in a Technological age
The myth of technological advancement is that innovation only exists to make money and that life must change to fit around it.
The truth is that innovation exists to improve and enhance the ways of living that we already have.
Those who have owned or financed technological change have simply harnessed and continue to harness it to make more and more profit.
Meanwhile, their actions have directly resulted in lowering the quality of life or even destroying the lives of the very people that every technology – used without the focus being on profit – could be utilised to improve.
The Money Based Order – The part we currently play
Sadly, we are or were all in on the con.
The very clever thing about the Money Based Order, is that its addictive nature thrives because it plays to one of the darker and most self-destructive parts of human nature, which is to put ourselves first.
When we indulge selfishness of the Money-focused kind, it simply doesn’t matter how big or how small the gain or advancement we perceive the accumulation of ‘wealth’ or ‘power’ in our lives to be. We are meeting the needs of that addiction, and somehow have the perverse message playing like a soundtrack that tells us all that we are on our way to the top.
As this is the way that every part of life now works, we have reached a point where pretty much everything we do, we look at or even the interactions we have, are all based on the bottom line of what value will come out of that interaction for us.
The strange thing is that by playing along with the workings of the Money Based Order in even the smallest of ways, we have dedicated ourselves to a pathway of addiction. An addiction that has the ability to change our lives and destroy our integrity at a personal level immediately, whilst at a community, cultural or national level, the whole process can and has taken decades or centuries to reach the outcome of its various plays.
The World can be focused on money, or it can be focused on people. It cannot be focused on both.
Man cannot have two masters.
We either value everything to do with money or we value everything to do with life.
The biggest challenge we face in the coming months and years, isn’t the cost-of-living crisis, the financial turbulence, the monetary or systemic collapse. It is the process of understanding, accepting and finding the resolve to live our lives in what seem to be an unfathomable way. That of putting People First.
Many will read this and argue that putting people first is what they already do. But they don’t.
In fact, if wealth, power and the accumulation of money in any form or in any way, comes into our thinking as the priority in the way that we approach any part of life, the reality that we all have to face is that our thinking is part of the problem and is therefore part of the cause of all the problems that we collectively now face.
This is not a question of having things or money of any kind. It’s the question of how and where our values are genuinely placed.
If we always consider the impact of what we do upon others, and what the consequences of our actions upon others will always be – not just in the room, but what the impact on the next person to visit or to follow after us might be, there will still be enough of everything for us to have and to enjoy our lives, but everyone else will always have that very same opportunity too.
We can only have a society, culture, way of living and experience that is fair, balanced and considerate of all, by putting People First in everything that we do.
We can quite literally live our lives with our focus only upon money, wealth, power, influence and everything to do with it. Or we can live our lives putting people and our relationship with others first.
There is no middle ground. There is no ‘so many parts of one’ and ‘so many parts of the other’. Our focus will either be on money and selfishness with an inevitable cost for others – no matter the part we play. Or our focus will be on people and putting people first in everything we do, knowing that we are always doing the right thing for everyone, and that by doing so, we are actually putting our own values system first.
What we have to accept is that rejecting the Money Based Order won’t result in loss. In fact, we have everything to gain. The only real difference is that we will not see money and the things that revolve around it in the same way again.
Money is our master now. But it is people that we should always be putting first.
One of the most unforgiving but least of all discussed aspects of the way politics works today is the reality that idealism always overshadows practical reality. It’s a problem born of the way that our money driven and money obsessed world works.
Turning everything on its head, means being very practical about the way that we use money and currencies now, and how we will have to change our habits, systems and way of thinking about money too.
The following Chapter focuses on some of the more practical aspects of Economics, Finance & Currencies.
However, this really is no more than just the start.
Our way of life should be our economy. The economy should never be our way of life
In the Book Levelling Level, we discussed the crisis we are heading into which will revolve around not just the collapse of our financial system and the money we use, but also a complete collapse of everything we know involving the way that business and industry run, and even our government and political system works too.
The most difficult message to covey as a speaker, and to receive as a listener is anything that makes clear that we have all played a part in what is happening to some degree. Even if it is just down to the products we buy, or what we do or don’t do when it’s time for us to vote.
Use the words economy or economics, and you will probably have the word ‘money’ come immediately to mind. But the idea that money = the economy isn’t really the truth.
The truth is that money is just a part of our economy. It plays a part, just like all the other things that we do and interact with in any relationship that we have with the world outside our door.
It is because of the reality that life is the economy, that it has been very easy for us to accept that there is a monetary value to all things, and that anything that cannot be given a monetary value, simply has no real value at all.
Life has literally become all about money. Money – and everything to do with it, whether it be power, influence, ambition and anything that can be considered to be material wealth – is how our world qualifies absolutely everything. But the price has been not only that we have forgotten, but that we also place no value on who we really are.
Money is an addiction. An addiction like every other, whether it be alcohol, smoking, drugs, gambling or anything else. An addiction that brings nothing but misery whose lives are on the arse end of its power, and the deception of being happy and in control of something that has complete control over you, for those who believe that they are still getting a buzz.
As with people, our culture, community, and entire country (and World) has become addicted to the money myth and everything that surrounds it too. What we are experiencing now collectively are the days of that drunk or drug addict, which is we have together become, rolling around in the gutter, thinking all about the next ‘fix’, but with no idea what and who we really are.
Those who have experienced the realities of addiction, know what comes next. Remove the metaphors, and the collapse of everything we know is now knocking at the door. This is who; this is where we are right now.
We can have a money-focused economy, or we can have a people-focused economy. But we cannot have both
The really hard bit of the coming collapse or crisis that through things like price rises and the cost-of-living crisis can already be seen to be underway, is understanding, accepting and then acting upon the reality that our destructive relationship with money is all about the way that we think.
We quite literally have to do ‘cold turkey’ to get over the money-based addiction that is destroying us and the world around us.
And as part of that process, we have to accept that as is the case with every other addiction, there really are no different levels of addiction involved.
There is no halfway house.
If we continue to maintain our belief in money and continue to award it the value that we do in any way at all, we will damn ourselves to repeating exactly the same mistakes of the past, no matter how much we do to correct everything in life as we have the opportunity to do so right now.
The real value of Money and Cryptocurrencies (DeFi) today
Crypto or Cryptocurrencies have become increasingly popular in recent years. But in their current form, they have a massive and potentially terminal flaw: Today’s Cryptocurrencies are worth ZERO.
Today’s Cryptos work on the same basis as the FIAT Money system that they were intended to side-step.
The value of Cryptocurrencies is based only on what anyone believes.
For many of us, this is a very difficult message to understand. We only have to look at news in the media that suggests Cryptos such as Bitcoin are worth tens of thousands (x10,000) of £Pounds, $Dollars or the equivalent in many other currencies or monetary terms to see what people think they are worth.
Yet Cryptocurrencies are not tied to anything of value. They do not have anything of value linked directly to them. Even the arguably sensible idea of only creating a limited or finite number of them doesn’t answer the fundamental questions or realities of what a currency or any form of money is, and how they should really work.
Money is a unit of exchange. Money is a value transfer tool. Money is a medium and nothing more.
Money has become the benchmark that is set against everything in our lives, because making us believe that its value is real has benefitted someone else’s greed for wealth, power and influence in some way.
With the FIAT Money system about to collapse, we are all going to go through the process of realising the real value of the things that we genuinely need, as opposed to the things that we want.
That process will lead to us rediscovering what the real value of money and any form of currency really is.
When money or currency of any kind can no longer be used to buy anything, either because we simply don’t have enough of it, it’s not tangible, or because what we need is not available to buy, circumstances will force us to appreciate what the value of the things that we need really is.
The Tipping Point of the coming Economic & Systemic Crash
Whilst a systemic and financial collapse may not appear to be or have the stop-start feel that the ending of one system that will have to be replaced by another suggests, the reality we face is that for what may only be a short period of time, none of the currencies we use either in physical or digital form, will have any value when it comes to being able to secure anything that we need to buy or survive.
Despite what your immediate thoughts might be after reading that we might find ourselves having to function without any form of money for a period of time, it is within or as part of the collapse of the financial part of the current system where the seedbed of the greatest opportunity for getting everything right for our future exists.
When boiled down to the purest elements or the nuts and bolts of what the current Top-Down hierarchical system really is, it is all about the belief that everything we do or that we can achieve in life is based on money and the accumulation of material wealth, and the power and influence that supposedly goes with it.
At the point when circumstances and practicality tell us through our experience, that this belief, idea, principle, motivation – or whatever you want to call it, no longer works, we will have reached a seminal moment when the light can shine through on the darkness of our current reality, and our true values and understanding of what life is and how it should really be will have an open door to changing life for the better for us all.
I’m not trying to make light of what happens when the world we know that runs on money in every way, simply stops functioning because money doesn’t work anymore.
It will be hard. In fact, it will be very hard. But adversity really is the mother of invention, and it is at this point that we have the opportunity at local, community level to establish a new True Economy, based on Local Market Exchanges, that will feed into and provide the basis of how our entire new system of governance works.
Where and how is it safest to invest now?
Whichever direction you look in, somebody somewhere will be telling you where to put your money. They are making promises about where your money will be safe. Some are even offering you cash back for signing up to loans, finance and other kinds of schemes.
The only part of the messaging put ‘out there’ for everyone’s consumption I agree with right now, is that we are heading at a rapid and increasing pace towards a massive financial crash.
What those so desperate to sell you financial products and even precious metals like silver and gold don’t tell you and probably don’t either realise or already know, is the coming collapse will not just stop with a recession, depression or anything else we equate historically with a ‘financial collapse’.
The collapse, crisis and the problems that go with it are going to be much, much bigger and unlike anything any of us have seen before.
In terms of so-called ‘financial investments’, this could prove problematic and very painful for many of us. Money and every kind of currency based on the current ‘FIAT’ money system, is quite literally about to go over the cliff, to where the intrinsic value of all of it will be found. (ZERO)
The collapse or rather the end of the money-based system or order as we know it, doesn’t mean that money or currencies will have no future use.
It is simply the case that in a People-centric economy, we will only value money and currency as the medium of exchange that it really is. We will no longer value everything and every part of life in monetary terms like we are doing right now and as we have done so before.
We are going to move from a system of finance and governance where money, material wealth, power and influence are the baseline of everything, to one where everything revolves around a reality where we put People First.
This means that the way we value everything today, whether it be houses, cars, holidays, clothes, qualifications, loans, credit cards or anything and everything that relates to money and how it can be used to demonstrate ‘wealth’ will not be valued as we have ever known it to have been before.
The money or currency that we have now will be worthless. And this means that those who are watching the horror story and dark part of this painful but necessary change arrive, will already know that owing money against anything we ‘own’ as we head into this crash, is not a sensible place to be.
You may be desperate to buy a house because you have been led to believe that house ownership is the only way to increase your wealth. But this story is a myth. Right now, that myth is quickly becoming a very dangerous lie.
Please think very carefully about taking on financial debt of any kind. And especially debt that either has variable rates of interest linked directly too it, or which you would be unable to immediately repay in full.
A period of doubt and uncertainty, along with what might be chaos for all:
The transition from a money based economic system to a people focused economic system will not happen in one stroke, or in one moment in time.
There is going to be a period of uncertainty over money and the supply of everything that we have become used to being able to access without any thought.
If you really want to prepare and invest for the future, it is preparing for what you will need to get through this stage of the crisis where you really need to invest and give yourself the springboard into what comes next.
This could be a very challenging time, with social unrest and civil disorder. Planning ahead now is one way that you will be able to reduce the risk to yourself and keep the people you care about safe.
Yes, the money that you have in your pocket or in your bank account right now, has value today. In fact, it will continue to have value right up until the very moment that it doesn’t. This will either be when you don’t have enough – because inflation and prices rises have just gone too far, or it will be when the things that you want are simply no longer available for you to buy on the shelves – because there is no longer any supply.
The best time to make provision for this happening is now. The real value in the money that you have available to invest today, is to invest it in making provision for yourself and the people you are responsible for, so that all the bases are covered then.
Food & Basic Essentials:
The key consideration is food. What will you eat when there isn’t any food on the shelves?
The best way to invest now, is to quite literally start growing your own. So that you have a supply of fresh, healthy food available to you regularly – even if you will always be eating the same things over and over again.
Start stocking up non-perishable items such as canned fish, beans, pasta and anything like that, which can be used many months or even years into the future, as long as it is stored properly and kept safe and dry.
Other items that it would be well worth putting by can be found in a list HERE.
With money not working, there will be a period of time before the community can get a new system up and running. It will probably take much longer before universality of a local currency is restored.
During this time, bartering and exchange are likely to be the primary method of securing anything that you need from others, that you don’t already have.
Yes, you will probably have many things already that will not have the same value to you, when it’s a question of having enough to eat. But with the values that everyone has changing too, it may quickly become a shock to learn what little value something you value highly in financial terms right now, then really has.
The best way to equip yourself with a real, practical currency so that you are fully equipped and ready to get through this period of time, is to stock up on extras of all the things we have discussed above, so that you can trade them with others for anything you need but don’t have.
It may be as simple as growing more of the vegetables or the fruits than you need, because you have the space or the resources to do so, so that you can trade all that you cannot use for the things that you will.
It’s not the end of the World:
Yes, this all sounds very ‘end of world-ish’. But it isn’t and won’t be. Although it is likely to feel like it is for a period of time.
Change or transition of the kind that we are going to experience isn’t going to come without cost. But we no longer have any choice.
The decision made by politicians, business leaders, bankers and the world elites, to keep pursuing their ideals through globalisation and economics based on nothing more than greed, has committed us all to experiencing the crisis that is on its way next.
But it is within our power to survive and thrive.
You have the choice to remain ‘invested’ emotionally and financially in everything as it is. But you will lose the money and the value you believe that you are investing in any of the financial systems, products and devices that exist today, and what is more, the loss of the freedom that you believe you have and enjoy right now will almost certainly be lost – and that will be the real price that you will have to pay.
The alternative does indeed involve a very big leap of faith. But if you stop buying into the propaganda and take this opportunity to invest in yourself and the part you have to play in your community thereafter, the benefits will soon come to you in every non-financial way.
The pressing need for Local Market Exchanges and Local Market Exchange Platforms
One of the reasons that we should all feel confident that we can survive and thrive through the coming years and months, and that we can all play an active and positive part in creating the new system that is balanced and fair for all, is because much of the creative and innovative thinking is already out there that will build every part of it.
It is just the question of what, why and who people will be doing these things for that has to be settled before work on our new world and The True Economy can begin.
When money doesn’t work for the majority of people, we will have reached a point where things could go a number of ways.
Please look kindly on anyone who loses their shit in these circumstances. Desperation doesn’t excuse poor behaviour of any kind. But it does provide good incentive to organise anything and everything that we have available to our community and the people within it, as quickly as we can.
The first step to maintaining order, is to pool everything that the community has available and to be fully transparent about what the community has, and how it can and will be shared.
If it comes down to a situation where people are going hungry, transactions cannot be based on exchange, and must be based on the simple act of sharing what we have and don’t need for our own immediate requirements, and not on what others can ‘afford’.
The next step is to create a system of fair exchange, that functions on what everyone can give, or what they can trade or barter.
The principle value of this exchange system, or Local Market Exchange, will be based on the time, skills, experience and basic labour that it took to provide whatever the essential foods, goods or services being exchanged might be, or what it would be when the complete process of putting that food, those goods or services would be, when considering the process from end-to-end.
The creation and development of the Local Market Exchange will take place in two primary stages:
Bartering & Exchange of goods, supplies and services that the community already has available, or which it has the ability to grow, manufacture or provide, and
The creation of a new localised currency linking, anchoring or pinning transactional value of foods, goods and services directly to the number of people and/or the contributions (input to the system) that they make.
Developing New Local Currencies (Cryptocurrency, DeFi)
The Basic Living Standard and Basic Living Standard Wage creates the basic principle or governance requirement for how a complete Local Market Exchange, True Economy and System of Governance will work.
Everything quite literally anchors to or hinges upon The Basic Living Standard, which is a universal benchmark, which in terms of the Basic Living Standard Wage, provides the basic exchange rate between all local or decentralized currencies, or any umbrella, centralised or connective currency that then can link them all.
A currency that works on a fair and balanced basis must correspond to its own system of governance.
The fairest, most balanced and most democratic form of governance is where power it attributed and responds in its most local form.
As such – despite the commonalities between different currencies, the power to govern local currencies must remain local – not for the purchase of essentials – but so that non-essential goods, can always be exchanged at rates which correspond to the idiosyncrasies of production in their very localised form.
Beyond the practicalities of the requirements of the Local Market Exchange system, it is also ethically correct to keep the balance of power that accompanies use of digital currencies and finance in their most dispersed, local and transparent form, so that they cannot be used as a leverage tool within an oversized governance system that relies upon coercive control.
Local Decentralised Finance (DeFi) in the form of Local Cryptocurrencies that are linked only by the Basic Living Standard, assure our personal freedom from tyranny in any kind of form, in the most basic sense.
That process or supply chain must always be as simple as its possible for it to be. It is through the accumulation of additional stops or steps in a supply chain that don’t add value, but add additional and unnecessary costs, where so many problems begin.
The roles that we have will be redefined and reconsidered as the evolution of our new system takes hold. In fact, some of the jobs that have been highly regarded for all the wrong reasons during this dark age that is now ending, will simply no longer be ‘needed’ and will no longer have any reason to exist.
A call-out to App, Platform and Crypto Developers who want to support their communities
The chances are that if you are one of the many people with an interest in new currencies, new ways of living and a new (or a return to) people-centric world and way of living who has been reading through Levelling Level, my blogs and material I am continuing to create, you will by now appreciate that the collapse that I have been talking about, is already well underway.
I cannot overstate just how challenging it is for many people to understand that systemic collapse doesn’t necessarily mean that absolutely everything stops.
Because it could very well be the case that not everything stops at the same time, many of those same people will still continue to believe that the world around us is continuing as it always had.
This creates two specific dangers for us all:
That these same people will literally stand still, do nothing and allow those who have created all the problems we have now, to dictate and recreate a system that continues to work only for them, and:
That when things do reach a critical point and we are experiencing social disorder, people will not look to ourselves and to our communities for the answers and the solutions, and instead will continue to listen and go around in circles – back to point 1!
Whilst I have little doubt that the world elites have simply gone too far to turn everything around this time (as they did when they last lost control during the Great Financial Crisis of 2008), it would be foolish to fall back on confidence alone to mitigate the inherent risk, that plans like those being pushed through the WEF narratives will succeed.
Preparation now, is and will be one of the most effective ways to counteract and lesson that risk. But more importantly, it is the best way to help ourselves, then people we care about and everyone within the communities where we live.
There is no doubt, that the success of the Local Market Exchange and the True Economy hinge on building new app-based exchange systems for foods, goods and services, and that these are fully interactive and linked to or with the fully localised or Decentralised Currencies that we need create and correlate them with.
All Local Market Exchanges will need a localised or franchised version of an app that works as follows:
Operates within geographical parameters that are definable using existing postal codes or GPRS
Allow an item (or group of items) to be swapped directly for a rate of currency to be agreed, OR another item (or group of items) IF the two parties involved in the direct transaction should agree
Allows a source of community governance to set the values of basic or essential foods, goods and services, but prohibits any other kind of change.
Shows what essentials foods, goods and services are available collectively to the community transparently at all times.
Makes any goods that are not essential to community members, (which could be the surplus of otherwise essential foods etc.) available to other Local Market Exchange Franchises – in the order of prioritising immediate neighbours first.
Is based on a membership structure that requires sign-in and acceptance of all terms
That will either be or can quickly and easily become fully interactive with a new Local Digital Currency that is directly linked to the number of ‘members’ in terms of the structure of its value, with the ability to change or rescind those values on the membership status of each member of that community group
That is fully open source.
Each ‘franchise’ will be owned by the community that manages it, with a salary to be paid from the local governance body to those administering the system on behalf of it.
Some of you brilliant people will know how to do this now. I realise just how time consuming this could be. However, the contribution that you could be about to make – if you can do this, or contribute to its creation – could be incalculable, in terms of the new world that we have to work together to create.
I will be happy to work with any of you who are developers to write the governance notes and create the process diagrams for the Local Market Exchange system model, so that a formal barter and exchange system that interacts with the creation of a localised Cryptocurrency can be created and be ready for when we need it, so that none of us have only the choice of beginning from the start with no help from others, when things are in a real mess.
It doesn’t matter where in the world you might be. Everything is about to become local in a way that many of us have never seen anything like before. However, it is also vital that we work from those grassroots-up, to ensure cooperation at every level right up to the equivalent of worldwide and international in the way that we understand it right now.
Love is international and has no boundaries. Practical reality always meets us at the front door.
We all have a stake in making sure that each and every community survives and then thrives as we transit through the change from the dark world we are exciting and meet the challenges that we face as we open the door to the new world of balance, fairness and light that lies ahead.
Please talk to me openly on Twitter or Facebook (@LevellingLevel or @AdamTugwell), or get in touch by direct message or by e-mail on levellinglevel@gmail.com
Why a New Economy and a New Economic Model is no longer a choice, but a necessity
The point that many knowledgeable and very clever people are missing, is that they cannot or will not accept that the current economic model or paradigm is broken beyond repair.
They cannot see an alternative, often because it would not be in their own career or financial interests to do so.
However, whilst most of the economically related material in From Here to There Through Now is presented as an alternative, the reality is that whatever the alternative to the FIAT Money-Based-System might be, adopting an alternative is no longer a choice.
The FIAT Money system we have today is in the process of collapse
Perhaps the biggest change that we face in the coming years and months, is that which will accompany the collapse of the money or currencies that we are used to, along with the system or rules that underpin every part of it, the way it functions and the way it can be manipulated by those ‘in the know’.
‘What would we do without money’ is a valid question. But it also reflects the situation and circumstances that we have been in for a long time. One where money has become the reference tool for just about everything – and regrettably for some, the way that we have started to value life itself.
There is no part of the monetary system that we have and use today, that hasn’t been broken and redefined to serve the self-interest and greed of people who have had the power, influence and ability to manipulate the monetary system in some way.
There is a natural order to everything. So even though it may take decades to happen, any system that is wilfully created and manipulated to serve the interests of a few at the cost of the many will always meet its end.
Every ecosystem has a point of balance and when that point of balance is out, the balance must be restored – either by the inhabitants doing the right and respectful thing, or when they refuse to do so, by the system itself breaking and coming to its end through collapse.
This is where we are now.
How we got to a place called stop: The Gold Standard to FIAT
What was historically intended to be a very practical way to exchange what you have for what you need, by creating a medium or go-between, so that your exchange or transaction wouldn’t be held up by what the person or business you wanted something from, wanted in return, has become all about the value of that medium itself.
For a very long time, there was a very distinct set of rules in place that meant the assumed value of money as a medium was underpinned by the value of the gold that the government – or in the UK, The Bank of England, held in its vaults.
This monetary system was known as The Gold Standard.
Over time, Bank Notes and coins became promissory notes, never actually holding the value they represented themselves, but bearing ‘the promise’ that if you were to produce the money you had in your pocket, the Chief Cashier of the BoE would ‘pay the bearer on demand’. (If you have a banknote on you, take it out and have a read of the details on it!)
Money, or rather the value of money has always been played with by ‘those in the know’. But in recent centuries, the way that the real value of money was manipulated with tools such as leverage – where typically a central bank like the BoE was allowed to print perhaps three times (3x) the monetary value of the gold it held.
The more adventurous those playing with the money system became, the more freedom they wanted so that they could do even more. After all, right from the very start, it was those who knew the so-called ‘secrets’ of money, that would always end up with more and more of the stuff.
In the history of money, the most influential or pivotal moment that led to where we are today came in 1971, when the US financial system rejected and removed the anchoring that The Gold Standard provided, and the current trajectory based on the FIAT Money system was born.
Realities of the FIAT system
There is nothing small about the irony that the introduction of the FIAT money system we have today was overseen by US President Richard Nixon, who was later impeached and had to resign because of dishonesty in Office.
There is little doubt that Nixon did away with The Gold Standard and brought FIAT in under the influence of the post-war business and explosive consumer culture that had grown exponentially in just two decades.
The role and use of money was quite literally being restrained by the rules that were meant to restrain it. Those with influence wanted to legitimise their freedom to do whatever they liked with money so that they could make more of it. This was the real moment that money became the real king.
As money, greed and the envy that propels it replaced the real system of human value, it also began to jet propel those who had most of it to the top of the ‘Top-Down’ hierarchical structure we currently have.
The ‘Top-Down’ system is where money and wealth are everything. Every part of the system corresponds to what you earn, what you spend and what you have.
There have always been wealthy people, but they have never been assumed to be ‘qualified’ previously, in the way that we do today’s ‘Billionaires’.
The FIAT Money Culture has made us all sick
We don’t realise it, but the money system we have is not only sick, but it has also been making us sick too.
Like every other addiction we could become blinded by, under its intoxication and the stupor that accompanies money today, we do not perceive either the harm it does us personally, or how it has numbed our inhibitions or values, to how we act, treat other people and how we generally behave.
Just like every substance we can otherwise abuse, the damage we can do to ourselves and those around us personally with our relationship with money does have limitations. But those limitations simply don’t exist when the addiction that surrounds the money and greed culture are prevalent – if not even worse – amongst those who are already at the top.
FIAT Money and the myth that the elites can print money and create value out of thin air without real cost
I could write an entire series of books on the technical workings of the FIAT monetary system. But many good books, videos and podcasts already exist, and there is little to be gained by taking any more time to talk about the detailed workings of a system that is about the break and will have to be replaced.
The point about FIAT is that the politicians, bankers and financiers who control the system have maintained that control by printing more and more money that isn’t itself pinned to anything of value being introduced to the economy or economic ecosystem that we have.
There are fixed or finite numbers of cars that exist, houses that can be built or tons of grain that can be grown and put in a shed.
Yes, the output may grow over time. But the amount of money that has been literally forced into the system – so that those in control can either have or do more, or both – has meant that what already exists – that’s what you or I earn or have as cash or in the bank, is always becoming less in real terms.
One of the most perverse elements of the FIAT part of the greed-driven story is the way that property values have continually shot up, giving the false perception of growing wealth – just as long as you actually own property, or can afford to buy it in the first place.
The rich get richer whilst the poorer get poorer has never been truer.
But a system built on nothing more than a myth or clear air was never going to last.
FIAT was always doomed. The speed of its damnation was always directly proportional to the stupidity of those in charge.
So, it was only ever a question of when those in control would succeed in devaluing that which the poorest had to the point where they couldn’t afford to survive under the rules of a system that the wealthy had themselves created.
For a long time, the continuing future of ‘Top-Down’ depended upon whether between them, the elites who influence the political classes could reimagine their top-heavy system in a way that would maintain the necessary belief of the masses. All before they lost control of the whole thing and it finally collapsed.
They had been working on solutions for a long time. But then Brexit, Covid and War in Ukraine came along, as did the ridiculous knee-jerk and ill-considered responses of the political classes. The elites then realised – like we are all about to, that their bogus greed-based system has now run out of time.
Our Divorce from FIAT Money
I sat for a time, thinking about the best way to make sense of a key part of The Great Reset that WE MUST OWN. What we are going to experience as the collapse of the monetary system that we know and have been led to believe serves our best interests.
I realised that the easiest way to describe it will be like that of going through a divorce. The process went like this:
We got together with and committed to an all-in relationship, lifestyle and way of living where we have compromised who we really are, because we convinced ourselves that this was what we needed, that we couldn’t live without it, and that this is who we really are. Over time, little things became evident that started to tell us that we weren’t really that happy with the choice and commitment that we had made, but we then talked ourselves out of acknowledging or dealing with the downsides we were uncovering, because to reject any of it would be to reject all of it, and that might come at too high a cost. Over time, the problems we experienced just accumulated and the pain we were experiencing just got worse and worse. Then we had a lucid moment when reality finally hit home and shouted, ‘this really isn’t you!’. We accepted it was in our best interests to divorce.
This might immediately resonate. It might not. But if it doesn’t, you might want to think about or perhaps visualise all the other kinds of reasons – usually painful and unpleasant – that bring a major relationship to an end.
One way or another, that divorce or end of our very personal relationship with money and all currencies based on or built around the FIAT system is fast approaching its end.
The good news here is that you don’t need to get an expensive lawyer. In fact, the benefits in the long term will make you happier, feel more relaxed, feel in control of your life and be at peace with everything in a way you might not even be able to imagine right now. And it all begins with the way that YOU think.
A point will come where you will be faced with the reality that the money you have is worthless. It won’t matter what form it is in – whether its cash, savings, bonds, shares, pensions, crypto or any other form that we currently equate with ‘wealth’ that is tied, anchored to or built around the FIAT system. It’s all going to return to the intrinsic value that our politicians, bankers and financiers have given it, just so they could extend their own bogus power, influence and wealth.
Money = ZERO VALUE.
It’s time to begin a new economy and story around it. It’s time to accept that the basic unit of value in any economy is the people within it. Not the wealth they can create.
The People First Economy
Everything today, is about money. Everything tomorrow will be about people, community and the environment around us.
By focusing on people and by using The Basic Living Standard as the focus, aim and benchmark, all areas of life that are currently out of sync and causing problems in any way that it is possible to imagine, will come back into balance, parity and fairness – so that everything works as it should, in a healthy way for all.
Starting anew: The economic phoenix without any need for ashes being involved
So, lets imagine we have reached the point where the financial system as we know it has collapsed.
Money simply doesn’t work. What happens next?
Well, people need to eat. People need to be able to buy essential food. People then need to be able to secure the basic essentials that they need too.
With no money in circulation, or no money that has value in circulation, people will begin to exchange or swap what they have and have accepted they don’t need, or can do without, for the things that they do need and that they cannot do without.
No law, regulation or threat from any authority will stop this.
When people are going hungry or need to provide, they will do whatever they can to secure whatever it is they need, and swapping, exchanging or bartering is a lot more civilized than what will happen if theft or violence becomes the next step by default.
The good news for us all, is that whilst the system may have collapsed around us, the technology and infrastructure are unlikely to have disappeared. The issue we face is that the technology and infrastructure isn’t currently set up to work in a very localised or microeconomic way, when this is how we need technology, infrastructure and the governance that oversees it, to help all of us.
A True Economy is all about People. Not money. Not things.
The foundation of the new economic system ‘The True Economy’ will be the value that we place on people in a very practical and measurable way: The input or contribution that each person makes.
The ‘True Economy’ is quite literally all about putting People First.
By basing and then building our entire economy on the value of the input or the contribution that each person makes, we will create The Basic Living Standard for All.
It will be the priority of our whole new system of governance to maintain The Basic Living Standard, as by doing so, the majority of the social problems that we have, won’t just disappear or be removed from view. They will be gone for good.
A True Economy is founded on value that each person contributes to it, partnered by the raw materials and resources that the world and environment gifts us
We have sadly all been drawn into an interpretation of life where money and the wealth that it appears to give us is considered to now be the benchmark or reference point for everything.
We literally value money to the point where it has not only become a thing in its own right, but it has also become the de facto god or deity that rules each and every part of our lives.
Today, we look upon others in terms of what they have, what status they hold, what they earn and what capacity they have to earn.
Yet the intrinsic value of money is nothing.
Money is worth zero.
Money is a unit of exchange and nothing more.
It is simply a change in our beliefs that has allowed the value of money to take over our lives in this way.
What we not only fail to realise, but have actually forgotten, is that the real point of value in anything is its beginning or its foundation. What it was built on or built with.
The true value of anything is not even the end product, or whatever the parts, inputs or elements of any constructive process add up to – or what things become.
People, or each and every human being on the planet are the basic elements or building blocks of The True Economy.
It is the Labour, Time, Skills and Experience of PEOPLE that add value, through process, to the raw materials and resources that we take from the world.
The Basic Principles of The True Economy
Each and every person should always have the right to contribute to the Economy on terms that are universally accepted through a Basic Living Standard. So that for the equivalent of a week’s contribution of the most basic kind of labour, they can be self-sufficient. Or through choice, ability or accumulation over time, they can add recognisable value to the contribution they can make, through the assimilation of skills and experience.
Neither people, nor the raw materials or basic resources that the world and environment offer should ever be under the control of private commercial interests.
The economic value of the person should always be definable on their own terms, with the only exception being at any time that they need help or support from the community to be able to live, when it should always be applied at the same rate or standard as the Basic Living Standard for All.
Resources such as Land, Water, Mineral Deposits, Fossil Fuel Deposits and anything that is derived from these are and should always be treated and regarded not as being ‘owned’, but as being the source of raw materials for every purpose and are under the stewardship or directive of the community at large.
Where any resource or raw material is not being used expressly for the production of the things that people or our communities need, those using or borrowing those resources should only do so under a non-negotiable license, that requires rent or a form of tax at a level that makes plundering and misuse of those resources unprofitable. It must also make provision for maintaining or where necessary restoring the environment from any impact that processing of anything beyond what we need will have.
The Value Benchmark of economic input in The True Economy = Labour, Time, Skills, & Experience
Our Time, Labour, Skills and Experience are the basic units that give value to what we can contribute to the world, to our communities. To The True Economy.
These units of value – our Time, our Labour, our Skills, our Experience, are what we have to use or to exchange before anything for the things that we need.
It is Time, Labour, Skills & Experience that develop and process every resource and raw material from their basic forms to everything that we need, including the machines, computers and tools that we undertake those processes with.
In a world that should always be focused on people and the worlds environment itself, we must be responsible enough to understand, accept and most importantly maintain, that it will always be the contributary elements of the human Time, Labour, Skills & Experience that it takes us as a community to sustain a Basic Living Standard, where the key values that determine how our Economy works – no matter how deceptively large it may be.
So-called economies of scale or ‘efficient’ working in the production of all essential foods and goods, should always be taxed to ensure that the prices of end products reflect the true level of human input for their end-to-end production, no matter what machines or labour-saving devices or technologies have been introduced. This will ensure that the value of everyone and the contribution they can make in creating and securing what we need, can always be maintained.
The transition from the Global FIAT Money Economy to The Localised True Economy ‘Exchange’
When the money that we have and use has lost its perceived value – as it is almost certain that it now will, the most orderly transition we could have to The True Economy and our new ‘post Top-Down world’ will not be possible until we leave the money and currencies we have behind and recognise their true value – which is nothing.
Yes, in time we will need to re-establish currency as a practical means of exchange. These new currencies might even still be called $Dollars or £Pounds.
However, we cannot create and develop the True Economy and ensure that the governance is agreed and secured that will ensure we always attribute value to everything in the way that we should, unless we recognise what the priorities dictated by genuine need really are first.
To bring an ordered system that works for all using money as a medium, we have to remember, recall and reinstate the basics of that order before we do.
The process begins first by recognising that money no longer works. It then continues by accepting that to survive and thrive, we must have a system of exchange at least temporarily in its place.
The end of the money system for many will come in the form of a crisis or critical point that they will recognise when they don’t have enough money to secure the basics that are essential to life.
Others will have to be big enough to recognise that the game is quite literally up, and that they can make a positive contribution to change, before avoidable circumstances finally give them an unwelcome push too.
Survival during this period of crisis and transition from the old system to the new, will rely on exchanging whatever we have, or we can offer to others, to secure whatever we need in return.
When we were children, and we swapped sticker cards, sweets, marbles or anything else we no longer needed but might want to exchange for something that we did, the stakes were no higher than the emotional value that you attribute to either. A process which may not have felt like it but was nonetheless very much under our own control.
When we are faced with the realities of swapping or exchanging anything that we have so that we or the people we care or are responsible for can continue to have the basic foods and goods that are essential to survive and live, the stakes will not feel like they could be higher. For many the emotional entrenchment of that process will reach to the sky.
It is inevitable that bartering and exchange will take place between individuals as reality begins to hit all of us very hard.
However, one-to-one transactions in these circumstances are likely to lead to greater levels of frustration, anger and violence than necessary.
The best way to address social issues in the community quickly and effectively will be to establish a non-monetary Local Market Exchange – that will also form the basis upon which The True Economy can begin.
The Basic Principles of Non-Monetary Exchange
What anyone wants, rather than what they need, will always be priced on the basis of what the ‘giver’ and get and what the ‘taker’ can afford.
The purpose of creating a non-monetary Local Exchange is to bring order to the transactions between people that involve the production and provision of the basic foods and goods that are essential for us all to live.
It is the first rule of a good community, that everyone adheres to the rules that are there to benefit and be fair to everyone, and especially so when they are there to ensure that everything that governs processes that apportion that which is available by sharing between everyone, is balanced and therefore proportional in every respect.
It is essential that everyone is fully committed to taking part, and that no level or partial form of opting out is allowed, so that people can do favours for friends or secure a higher return by taking part in a ‘black market’ or doing business on the side.
Yes, an individual should be able to opt out. But if they opt out in part, their non-participation should be taken as being in full and they should be excluded from taking any further part.
It is essential that all foods, goods and services offered are transparent and openly available to everyone within the community and participating within the system of exchange. The Local Exchange System will not be fair to everyone, if participants are able to ‘pick and choose’, as it will literally skew the value of everything on offer and diminish the value of ‘the community’ – taking us all immediately back to where we have just come from.
The People First Economy revolves around the mechanics of a real minimum wage: Welcome to the Basic Living Standard
The Basic Living Standard for All is based on what we would today recognise as the minimum or living wage.
Today’s minimum or living wage is just a sum that is set by government as the minimum amount per hour that every employer must pay.
The Basic Living Standard instead tells suppliers of essential foods, goods and services, what the recipient of The Basic Living Standard Wage will be able to pay for everything that is set within the standard. Suppliers will not be able to charge more for essential foods, goods and services.
It would be a legal requirement that every supplier provides essential foods, goods and services of some kind. ‘Luxury’ products must always be secondary purpose, not the primary purpose of any business or organisation. They will not be able to develop their primary business, based on what people can ‘afford’.
Through the creation and implementation of The Basic Living Standard, we will give back the real value that is provided to us all, by everyone who at any time contributes to the community by working in any basic employment or role.
It is essential for everyone to recognise the value to all of our lives, that the most basic of roles actually have.
People who pick fruit. People who empty our bins. People who fix the roads. People who stack the supermarket shelves. People who deliver parcels and takeaways to our doors. People who make and serve our coffees. People who serve us a pint in the pub.
These are the people who undertake all of the very different tasks that make our life experiences easier in the most real and everyday sense.
These are the people who must be recognised through the award of The Basic Living Standard Wage, so that contributing to all our lives by filling any of these roles can be a genuine and happy lifestyle choice.
Some Working Values for the People First Economy?
If you have read this far into From Here to There Through Now, it’s pretty safe for me to confirm that this whole work isn’t and never was supposed to be a rulebook or any kind of fixed plan. Rather a guide or stepping off point with many discussion points to begin this journey along the way.
There’s so much that I haven’t written, not least of all because I am just one person, and we all have a role to play and influence to bring to reshape, create and determine all that happens next.
As I wrote, I found that there were ideas spilling out on to paper that even I thought weren’t ready to be published, or would seem a step too far to consider, when much of this will already feel – at the time of publishing – like one colossal quantum leap!
The truth is, that what seems pretty ‘out there’ today, will not do so for very much longer.
In this Chapter, I have published some of the pages that have already been written, but haven’t been published elsewhere.
Local Market Exchanges: Suggested Foundations of Value
For the purposes of illustration and suggestion, I am going to call the unit of currency for The People First Economy a ‘Goal’ and give it ^ as its symbol.
So, if we begin with the BLSW being set at 75 units per agreed working week, it would be written like this: ^75
^75 is the rate that everyone will have available to them as a gross wage, before any deductions are made.
The percentage apportionments for essential foods, goods and services will be set at agreed levels:
The Essentials:
% Proportion of Income / Time (Suggested)
Basic Food
20
Accommodation
20
Utilities
10
Healthcare
5
Transport
5
Clothing
5
Communication
5
Entertainment
5
Savings, Investments & Other Eventualities
15
Taxation and/or Community Contribution
10
TOTAL (%):
100
To establish the system, every entrant to it must be given or awarded a residual value, so that the total value of the currency available within the system is always proportionally and directly related to everyone who exists.
So, at the establishment of the system, let’s say each person is awarded ^75.
The ^75 apportioned to each entrant is added to the Local Market Exchange Balance Sheet, so that a ‘market value’ and record of the ‘Goal Currency’ always exists from that point.
The entrant can spend the ^75 or begin using it as a medium of exchange within the Local Market Exchange immediately. But the entrant can never withdraw or draw into this sum in cash or equivalent form.
When the entrant leaves the system, the ^75 must be removed from the Local Market Exchange Balance Sheet.
New-born babies (and children under 14) would be added to the system @ ^25, with their ‘account’ being managed by their parents or guardians until they are 14 years of age, with a further ^50 added to their own independent account.
Local Market Exchanges: The value of currency is anchored to the value of the contribution or input that every person makes
We have established that money and cryptos or digital finance in their current forms have no real value, other than what any of us believe.
The existing money or currency system may now be over (even if it doesn’t look like its over yet), but that doesn’t mean that physical money and cryptocurrencies won’t have a place in our future.
In fact, digital currency in local forms that are built on a Local Market Exchange platform or exchange, will be the best way for our communities and a world built on many local supply chains and microeconomies to go.
To make them work properly, we have to give or attribute a system around them, that underpins their value as a medium or a unit of exchange.
The basic unit of value is the Basic Living Standard Wage, or any part or unit thereof.
The figure agreed for The Basic Living Standard Wage is not the important factor.
Once the whole system works around The Basic Living Standard, the figure itself is a technicality.
It is the value or de facto guarantee that we attribute to it that is where the importance of the whole principle must be placed.
Working from home, Sports, Spiritual well-being and Sundays (or their equivalents) off
In an economy where you work only to live, rather than being expected to live to work, we will all be much happier with the way that our days are broken down.
A working week will cover five and a half days and be the same for everyone in our new localised world, with only very few public services needed to be operated around the clock.
Working from home (WFH) will be normal for every job where no physical presence is required, with those who have to attend their place of employment to do their work doing so very locally and paid higher remuneration if there is any need for them to travel beyond their locality.
Saturday afternoons should be dedicated to community activities and sport, which should always be participatory for those who wish to take part.
Sundays shouldn’t normally be commercial or work-focused in any way and should be a day of rest and spiritual development in whatever way anyone would choose that to be.
Weekdays are used for illustrative purposes only. Different Religions place different values on different days of the week, and there is nothing contrary to the principles of a People First Economy if rest days or spiritual days should be defined as a personal preference or choice. In fact, the overlap is likely to be beneficial to the community, ensuring that the number of those working when others with shared priorities are not is kept to the absolute minimum in every respect.
A Public Sector Run by and for us all
The system of Community Contributions will allow the cost, influence and involvement of the public sector to be returned to the level where it should be, with its focus being service to the community and not as a business or sector in its own right as it now is seen by too many to be.
There will always be a need for full-time roles. But the emphasis will return to front line professionals that carry out purposeful and dedicated professional roles, such as Police Officers, Doctors, Nurses, Firefighters and Paramedics, rather than disproportionately sized backrooms and systems of managers behind them, that refocus energy and resources away from what public services are actually there for.
Taxation & Community Contributions
Taxation would run not on a Pay as You Earn basis (as in the UK now) or as a simple income tax.
Taxation would run as a Flat Tax at the equivalent of 10% of income, OR the contribution of one-half days’ work, within any basic role that the community needs fulfilled, or the equivalent professional skill that the individual can offer – if and only if it is something that the community needs.
Community contributions rather than tax would be obligatory for a period of 5 years from the end of full time any person’s period of full-time study or apprenticeship (vocational pathway), which would normally be 21 years.
The half day to be worked as a contribution to the community would be given ‘back’ at any time during the standard working week which would be mornings and afternoons on Mondays to Fridays and Saturday mornings too.
Employers would be expected to release staff during the week, with any such absence made up on Saturday mornings.
The Basic Living Standard
If there was one thing and only one thing from everything that I have written, discussed, suggested and proposed, that I would ask everyone to really think about and consider, it would be The Basic Living Standard, put in the context of being the alternative basis to our way of thinking, to the way that we regrettably all think now.
The Basic Living Standard is ridiculously simple as a principle. But it runs into trouble immediately, simply because it runs contrary to everything that we are used to and therefore, the way that we currently think.
If you can look at the way you will challenge the principle or nature of the Basic Living Standard, as soon as you here your inner voice say ‘it won’t work because’, you will have just found the first of many reasons that become barriers behind you, rather than in front of you, just as soon as you can see that a people-centric life is an all-encompassing direction of travel for the world, rather than a money-based one. It is just question of turning everything and harnessing everything we know to face a different way.
The Basic Rule of The True Economy or Grassroots-Up System |
There is one fundamental rule of a new system that is balanced, fair and works for everyone: That every rule and law remain subservient and respectful in relation to the Basic Living Standard, and that its existence or impact will or cannot compromise the principle of The Basic Living Standard in any way, no matter how unrelated in may appear to be.
In effect, the adoption of The Basic Living Standard, whether that be as a resetting of the current system of governance or as the result of quite literally everything stopping and then starting all over again, is the act of completely overturning the Top-Down or hierarchical system of governance, and turning the whole thing on its head, so that the system becomes ‘Grassroots-Up’.
The Basic Living Standard is the rule that puts people first, instead of the prioritisation of money, the accumulation of material wealth, power, influence and gaining more of anything and everything before considering anyone else.
A Fair and Balanced Society can only work properly and maintain the fundamental equality of its system by creating and maintaining a framework of rules relating to everything that ensures that the material independence of the person cannot and will not be compromised by either the action or will of any other, and that it is the primary objective of the community and any structure of governance around or beyond it, to ensure that this principle is maintained at all times.
By adopting and maintaining the principle of The Basic Living Standard, the overwhelming number of issues that society faces will be addressed.
As long as the individual remains respectful of the dynamics of the principle of The Basic Living Standard which is and always be ‘treat others how you wish to be treated yourself’, almost everything that needs to be fixed, needs answers or requires solutions will create its own fix.
The Basic Living Standard (BLS) Defined:
Adults, working a full working week in any job at any level, must be able to feed, house, clothe and provide adequately for their own transport needs, whilst providing basic necessities such as communication themselves, without the need for credit, loans, benefits or third-party support of any kind.
Everything must prioritise The Basic Living Standard as its focus and run with this priority in mind at all times.
For absolute balance and fairness across society, the commitment to that system of balance through fairness must be absolute too.
How The Basic Living Standard works in practical terms: The BLS Wage (BLSW)
The Basic Living Standard (BLS) functions on the proportional division of what a working adult would earn for the equivalent of a working week in the lowest paid role.
The BLS Wage must itself always equate or be equal to the minimum amount necessary for that same adult to live safely, securely and healthily in a self-sustainable way, without the need of any kind of subsidy, or the requirement to engage in debt of any kind.
It is likely that the immediate thought of many reading this will be something along the lines of ‘But that’s not the way that wages work. We get paid and then we see what we can afford!’ – or something like that.
But this is the thinking of the old age. It is the thinking of the system and the governance that we are now leaving. It is the thinking of a system that is about what’s best for somebody somewhere else. It is the thinking that always prioritises someone other than us – all too often without you, me or any of us realising that’s the way that it always works.
Once we have set the framework that says the first rule of the new system will always be the principle of the BLS Wage, then everything that relates to or relies upon it, will have to redirect, recalculate, reform, reset and even restore.
The BLS and The BLS Wage will mean that people and personal freedom through material independence will ultimately be assured.
The BLS Wage and The Basic Living Standard will dictate that greed or the accumulation of wealth of any kind, will no longer lead the way for everyone in how they conduct their lives.
Personal Freedom through material independence is how life should always be.
The Basic Living Standard Wage (BLSW): Proportionality & Breakdown
In Levelling Level, we discussed what everyone’s genuine basic requirements to function and survive at a basic level are.
The Foods, Goods & Services that provide for everyone’s basic requirements are essential.
Essential Foods, Goods & Services are what each of us need. They are not what we want.
What we need and what we want are two very different things.
The Basic Living Standard is a benchmark that means anyone who genuinely wants to work to live, rather than live to work has the choice to do so. That in return for providing the most basic functionality to fulfil the most basic role, the individual can live and maintain their own Personal Freedom through material independence.
The Basic Living Standard is not inflationary. Therefore, the Basic Living Standard Wage is not inflationary.
If a person wants more than the Basic Living Standard, they will have the option to gain more through the accumulation of skills, experience and/or time served that they can then offer to fulfil the needs of business and/or the community.
People can fulfil a role that needs a greater level of skill or experience once they have it, but the role cannot change or be awarded a higher wage, just because it’s what that person wants.
If the principles of The Basic Living Standard are always being adhered to, the highest wage within any organisation will find its own natural ceiling. However, this will take time and in the first instance, it is suggested that the highest paid employee or income earner within any organisations should not receive a gross income larger than the Basic Living Standard Wage any greater than five times (5x).
The following Table provides a suggested breakdown of how the BLSW should be apportioned:
The Essentials:
% Proportion of Income / Time (Suggested)
Basic Food
20
Accommodation
20
Utilities
10
Healthcare
5
Transport
5
Clothing
5
Communication
5
Entertainment
5
Savings, Investments & Other Eventualities
15
Taxation and/or Community Contribution
10
TOTAL (%):
100
Businesses & Industries must back-work or redefine their prices based on providing the BLSW to their lowest paid employees
In Levelling Level, we used the term ‘The Great Correction’ as a way of describing the ‘reset’, ‘restart’ or complete flipping of the system in which we are now beginning to engage. For practical reasons and so that it is relatable, we have increasingly referred to this process as ‘The Great Reset’ – simply because the world Elites and World Economic Forum have been building a narrative around this term and it is vital that we all recognise that ownership of this process of change and the future beyond it is ours. It is not theirs.
Calling the process, The Great Correction, is likely to prove to be the most accurate term, as whatever is done or however we look at it, unless the world is completely destroyed, there will be restarts, reestablishment and resets of everything at all levels. Everything will be corrected so that it works fairly and in a balanced way – as it always should.
With the collapse of the current system taking place like a series of falling dominoes, where one is knocked and then they all follow, it may perhaps seem strange that the reconstruction process that will create our new world, will happen or be set in motion in a very similar way.
It is the adoption of The Basic Living Standard and with it, The Basic Living Standard Wage that will be the first principle that must be adopted. Adoption of the Basic Living Standard Wage will serve to be the first domino that knocks over all the others that need to fall into place so that the Basic Living Standard becomes the benchmark for all.
Our system of governance only has to adopt and get the framework that guarantees The Basic Living Standard right, to set off the process that will ensure that it works and operates in every way that it should.
Once the Basic Living Standard becomes the principle upon which all rules and laws governing business and finance are based, all activities will then realign away from profit to people.
Defining where the prices of ‘Essentials’ should be
Within the system that is based upon The Basic Living Standard, there are two forms or streams of commerce which can be identified: The Foods, Goods and services that we need (The Essentials) and The Foods, Goods and Services that we want (The non-essentials).
The retail or consumer cost prices of ‘Essentials’ and every part of the process that provide for them must always correspond to the requirements of The Basic Living Standard in every way.
If all the rules and principles of The True Economy and the Basic Living Standard that underpin it are followed in every way, the system will function as it is intended to do so and as it should.
On this basis, business and industry would be able to rely on the following basic formulas to identify where the prices of Essential Foods, Goods & Services or their proportional attribution. For purposes of illustration, this Table is based on the current Minimum or Living Wage (£9.50 per hour, per 40-hour week) and shows us what maximum corresponding prices or compounded values should be:
The Essentials:
Monthly % Attribution
End of Month Value £UK
Basic Food
20
329.33
Accommodation
20
329.33
Utilities
10
164.67
Healthcare
5
82.33
Transport
5
82.33
Clothing
5
82.33
Communication
5
82.33
Entertainment
5
82.33
Savings, Investments & Other Eventualities
15
247.00
Taxation and/or Community Contribution
10
164.67
For anyone attempting to gauge how unaffordable life really is for people on the minimum wage and why we are in a cost of living crisis today, this table demonstrates just how much they would or should be paying, if their wages were to be apportioned in a way that was both affordable and fair for the basic essentials at the end of each month as things stand in May 2022, with there being no requirement for Benefits Payments (subsidy) or taking on debt (loans & credit cards etc) in any way.
For reasons of practicality the attribution or proportionality percentages suggested are likely to be changed before the Basic Living Standard Wage system is adopted.
However, the change is unlikely to be any more or any less that 1 or 2 percentage points either way (+/- 1 or 2 %).
Rates of apportionment will never be changed because one interest or another claims that their business or industry wants, is entitled to or must have more.
The relationship between the Basic Living Standard Wage (Minimum Wage) and the cost of monthly essentials MUST remain fixed
The relationship between the Basic Living Standard Wage (BLSW) and the monthly prices or values attributed to Essentials or the combinations that make that value thereof, MUST always remain static, for a Fair & Balanced Society to function and for the True Economy underpinned by the Basic Living Standard to work.
Setting the exact value of the Basic Living Standard Wage, versus the End of Month value of any Essential Cost is not the most challenging issue to be faced.
In today’s terms, the Minimum Wage would have to rise, or the current prices would have to fall to meet the requirement of the change either way.
Because of the emotional ties that we have to the perceived value of the £Pound ($Dollar etc), it will be practical to use another form of nomenclature or currency in order to establish the Basic Living Standard and Basis Living Standard Wage at least on a temporary basis.
Quality of life for everyone should never hinge on one name!
The Basic Living Standard: A Direction
Everyone is looking for answers to the growing number of problems that we are all experiencing. But what many of us don’t realise is that the difficulties that we now face all boil down to the way that the world – or the system around us works, and has been doing so without real scrutiny, for a very long time.
Today, the world operates in a Top-Down and hierarchy-heavy way. It does this, because everything has become money or wealth centric, and completely focused on what people have, what they earn, what they are or what they can be. The whole undercurrent is little more than greed.
To put everything right, we have no choice but to change and put people first.
The Basic Living Standard is the benchmark and foundation of how we can create a very different world where everyone has the same framework of support from which to step off into life from the start.
Yes, it’s a very different way of looking at life, at people and at the world. But at its heart is the reality that if we want life to work fairly and in a balanced way for everyone and not least of all ourselves, we have to make every decision about life and living not with money, the accumulation of wealth and what everything costs us personally; but with people, with relationships and with what’s really important in life, in mind instead.
The Basic Living Standard is “The winning line where everyone crosses, or nobody crosses at all”
The Basic Living Standard is the practical living formula for a people centric, vales-based world that is balanced and fair to everyone in each and every part of life
Success and results are always related to the use of formulas, whether it be in the form of an algorithm or what we learn through our experiences in life.
Creating and maintaining a people-centric and values-based world is no different, and the Basic Living Standard is the formula that once adopted universally will lead to a fair, balanced and values-centric life.
The Basic Living Standard can be defined as:
Adults, working a full working week in any job at any level, must be able to feed, house, clothe and provide adequately for their own transport needs, whilst providing basic necessities such as communication themselves, without the need for credit, loans, benefits or third-party support of any kind.
The people-centric, fair, balanced and values-based world that is ready and waiting, hidden in plain sight
Few may see it or even understand what it would mean for us all, but the alternative to this destructive and inhuman money and wealth-obsessed world exists and has always existed hidden in plain sight from us today.
The difference between the two worlds is surprisingly simple, but on its own would be perhaps the most challenging voluntary choice to make.
The choice for us is literally to reject the money and material wealth-based order, and to live a people-centric and values-based lifestyle in its place.
The change to a people-first order, isn’t about the rejection of money itself or even the latest forms of technology and advancements that we have; everything in a balanced and fair world still has its place.
The choice is about refocusing, returning and reforming our basic values set, so that we place value on only the ways of being and the experiences that should be valued, instead of placing value only on external ‘things’.
Learn to see or hear the news and understand how much of it is opinion or distanced from facts
In the blogs and pages I wrote specifically with the idea of DIY Politics in mind, I focused on our need to begin and to become good at filtering all of the information that is being pumped at us from every direction.
It’s not nice to think that we are being conned and even harder to admit that we have been, if we for even the slightest moment believe that we will look silly for having been so.
The reality is that to one degree or another, EVERYONE has been conned by the system that is now collapsing around us – even the people who still think that they are in charge and in control of what happens next.
The basic but nonetheless profound challenge in terms of our relationship with the world, is to cut through the noise and listen to the messages that the world outside of us is so desperate for us to forget.
Actually, it’s not the world outside of us. It’s just what the world outside of us represents. It’s what somebody else wants from us, or what someone else wants us to do.
The only really genuine source of guidance we should be listening to, is what comes from deep inside. Our gut feelings, our instincts, our inner voice or whatever you want to call the messaging system that we can really depend on – that often doesn’t even come with words or a voice – is the only thing that any of us should really allow ourselves to trust.
We will have to work with many others that the way the current material driven world suggests that we cannot trust – because they don’t currently have power, a public platform or a job title that tells us that they show us the example of who we need or should be.
So when people we don’t know or don’t recognise come into our lives and offer to take a lead and provide the help that we will need, it will be vital that we put our faith in what feels right, rather than what we are being told is right, and that above all, we can identify and then reject anything we might be able to call ‘Fake News’.
Fake news is a term that we have heard an awful lot of. But is it really all ‘fake’? Can we really trust journalists because they appear to be credible or represent a media outlet that appears legitimate from the outside? Are influencers and public personalities credible just because they have a platform with a ridiculous number of ‘likes’ or ‘follows’?
Speakers & ‘Influencers’ who need to invent credibility because their arguments have none:
Like most subjects being knocked around in the forums of public debate today, fake news is just another ridiculous umbrella term that has been coined by someone who wants to dismiss the arguments or facts being given by someone they disagree with, and they felt the need to be able to hide the inadequacy of their own views or ability to engage in a sensible debate by hiding it behind terms that people go along with – because the term sounds credible and they are afraid of what will happen if they don’t.
In this specific sense, throwing around terms like fake news just to dismiss someone else’s point of view is not only lazy; it is pretty much the same resorting to being nasty or calling people names when you are desperate to hide the truth in what they have to say.
Alternative Truths or Perceptions of the same experience or things:
OK, so fake news is a broader church. But that broader church is most often the difference that exists between one person’s truth, and the truth or true perspective on the same situation or topic as observed or experienced by someone else.
It doesn’t matter how persuasive an argument from one side can be. From the perspective of the individual, none of us experiences the same thing in exactly the same way. Indeed, even in an accident where only you are involved, there are always at least two truths: what actually happened, and then there’s how you experienced it yourself – i.e., your own.
Opinion presented as News:
Finally, there’s news which is actually opinion. And no, opinion is certainly not news in itself. Unless that is you were quite literally reporting something very subjective such as a story about a celebrity making a public statement about which political party they are going to support.
Regrettably, journalism within the mainstream has either become so poor or so corrupted by the wishes and aims of media platform owners, that very few of the so-called professionals that we access through supposedly credible channels every day, either don’t have the self-awareness to discern between what is the news and their own opinion, or they are deliberately pushing their opinions and abusing their position to influence the public in any number of different ways.
Learning to be a Critical Thinker:
Any one or all of the above may be at work within the news sources that you watch, read or listen to. It is therefore very healthy for us all to watch, read and listen with care.
Pick out the facts. Acknowledge and respect the content and presence of the opinion. But above all, do not let the opinion you have heard then influence how you feel about or how you have interpreted the news.
The easiest way to learn critical thinking – if you have not been taught and you don’t have the time to study the skill by reading a book or studying a course – is to follow and where possible read as many different sources on the same topics as you can.
Just by following different journalists and media platforms from right across the spectrum, you can quickly begin to appreciate the common themes – which on a universal basis will probably be the real news – and then begin to see the opinions, biases and yes – the propaganda at work.
Whatever you do, don’t let tribal thinking stop you from watching, reading or listening to media sources that are outside your ‘bubble’ or sit outside the mainstream. This is how echo chambers are created. It’s how we easily fall into group think. It’s how the destructive processes of relying on confirmation bias to legitimise views and perspectives is born.
It would be fair to say that even the most objective of writers will present their stories with a little bias – even if it really is the lightest touch. Simply because we communicate outwardly with the world based upon our past experiences and what information and interpretations of everything, we have experienced we have then taken within.
However, once you can break down the structure of a news report, an interview or even a Facebook Post or a Tweet, you will soon realise that all forms of news and information about current affairs can be a much safer place that we are being told or than it would immediately seem.
Stop reacting and being blinded by the agenda. Be proactive. Help create and frame a new system that works proactively for us all instead
The chances are that in terms of the world as we know it collapsing around us, you fall in to one of two categories.
Either you have confidence that the government and establishment have your best interests at heart in all that they do – and that we are just living through unprecedented times. Or you are already so convinced that such mismanagement and ineptitude on the part of politicians can only be deliberate, and that there really is some grand plan or conspiracy that links to the plans of the world’s elites and the WEF at work.
Sadly. No, very regrettably. There is very little, and in fact there may as well be nothing sat in between the two.
The funny thing is, that whilst pretty much everyone fits into one of these two categories today, these affiliations, de facto groupings or whatever you want to call them, aren’t where the majority of people within them either should be or indeed would be. IF they were to stop for a moment, stand back, see and consider the whole of this degenerating situation for what it all really is.
Predictions in the ‘let’s sit around the table and have a reading from the crystal ball sense’ don’t really help anyone when we are facing the wide-ranging problems that we are.
In fact, you don’t even need predictions now. Because a respect for history and some deep thinking about human behaviour and how it relates to the world we live in and how it has been developing to reach a situation like this today over decades, will tell you all that you really need to know.
Exploding inflation and the cost-of-living crisis as we understand it today – really is just the start.
Food shortages, famine, mass migration that will make the channel crossings look like a comedy show and a collapse in public services, financial systems and our whole system of governance is now locked in (or baked in – as our hapless outgoing PM likes to say it). So, in terms of what is on its way, you really aint seen nothin’ yet.
This isn’t something to celebrate. There will be no happy ‘I told you so’s’ or anything like that, when all that is now inevitable has come to pass.
Like many others on the outside looking in, I look at all this with a feeling of dread and sorrow for my fellow man. Not because it’s going to happen (It is inevitable and cannot now be stopped). But because we are all, collectively, doing absolutely nothing to mitigate, slow or resist any of it. And instead, we are en masse, continuing to make all the same mistakes.
The narrative that the WEF and the elites has crafted and uses the media daily to mould continually into a ‘this has already happened and cannot be stopped’ way of thinking, is very clever. Because the majority of people – even those who are the most vocal against it all – are actually accepting everything that they are being told.
That much is clear, simply because of the level of inaction. Or lack of meaningful action that is instead replaced with this way of thinking that comes with the social media age where otherwise very sensible people have fallen into the trap of thinking that getting your message of criticism and cries of war out there online or into some kind of highly myopic protest, are all it takes to precipitate an alternative to this elite serving reality, to unfold.
Only today, we have the example of these ridiculously stupid politicians who are now competing in a beauty contest to be the UKs next Prime Minister, crying foul of the Don’t Pay UK ‘movement’. Claiming that the groups plan for a million people to stop their energy bill direct debits in October are irresponsible. (Pot calling the kettle black, perhaps?)
I sympathise completely with the sentiment of the organisers and those who have signed up to take this action.
But just like a politician who claims they invented the concept of Free Ports as a teenager and who will no doubt soon claim the design of the wheel as being one of theirs too, the point is, that everything that everyone is doing or failing to do when it comes to public policy now, is making or will make an already catastrophic direction of travel, even worse.
SPOILER: The Government is no longer ‘in charge’ of anything. But neither are the politicians’ paymasters or the WEF. The ‘system’ is now so broken, that it simply cannot be fixed. It is simply existing momentum and the belief or investment that people have in it, that is keeping the wheels turning on the bus as its picking up speed and about to fire us all over a massive cliff.
Oh, and the people we are led to believe are competent politicians…. They really are not who we believe they are.
If we continue to do nothing. Everything that the WEF and their political puppets are saying and working towards will savagely and very painfully become true.
But it doesn’t have to be that way. The outcome they intend is not the only way. Their planned outcome may include us, but it is certainly not ours.
All it takes is for us all to stop going along with their agenda. We must use the momentum of this worsening situation to create our own alternative way and plan for the world. One that actually works for and on behalf of us all – instead.
Don’t be mad, angry or nasty to anyone who is still under the establishment spell. Some, yes many of them won’t wake up until it feels like it is too late. But wake up they will.
And when they do wake up, we must all come together and work constructively to rebuild, reform and regenerate everything in a much better, fairer and more meaningful way.
One that doesn’t value money, wealth and all things based on greed as it does today. But instead, simply puts people – and that’s all of us – first.
Pain is now inevitable. And there is trauma fast approaching us that is going to test all of us in ways that to many are simply unknown.
The most effective way we can make the best of a very bad situation, is to start working on the solution and the answers to what happens next, right now.
None of our politicians would know what to do, the moment that they experienced a genuine political threat.
Think Brexit Party and Vote Leave and the European Referendum in the UK in 2016. Then put it on steroids and think of something like it – this time not left or right but includes everyone – covering every kind of public policy that touches each and every one of our different lives, and in very meaningful ways.
It’s all about creating our new system from the grassroots up. And doing so as the very greed that this collapsing system was intended to serve finally destroys the whole meaning and existence of everything that seems important.
Musings
As the reader will now be well aware, there appear to be no snug fits in the way that all of this fits together.
Continuing this theme right to the end of From Here to There Through Now, there were a number of blogs that I wrote between books, which are certainly relevant and should be part of this book, but which I found myself unsure of in terms of where they should find their home.
This Chapter, that I have titled ‘Musings’, is the home for all those apparently random entries that didn’t find a place to sit above or elsewhere:
Money is the lifeblood of this upside-down world, and that lifeblood floods our heads when we are hanging from our feet
What we fail to realise and understand, is that in an upside-down world where all things money and material have become the benchmarks upon which we qualify each and every aspect of life, it simply doesn’t matter what your tribe, your group or your politics are, because we are all operating upside down.
In this upside-down world, where we unconsciously perceive benefits from the differences that we believe to exist materially between us, every value we have is completely upside down or belly up. So, the failure of one is the failure of all and failure for any one of us is exactly the same thing.
Selfishness and self-interest are borne of exactly the same value set, whether they are politically left, politically right or sat in the so-called political centre ground that sits in between.
It is only the forms in which that selfishness and self-interest is manifested, interpreted and perceived that is different, whilst the outcome for individuals, communities and the country alike, are exactly the same things.
This is a world where nobody wins – not even the elites who think they control everything. Because when any part of a world that operates on a values system that is upside down continues to exist, it is inevitable that it will always pull everything and everyone back to earth in a journey that will always end with a crash or a bang.
The Top-Down, Hierarchical World Deception
We are surrounded by illusions that only become real for us based on what we believe them to be.
Some, in fact many of these illusions are ridiculously convincing to the point where there seems to be little value in questioning them and our immediate response is automatically to believe.
Perhaps the most destructive of these on the level of our reality, is the concept, suggestion and the accompanying belief that the way the world works and can only work is with a hierarchical structure that you might otherwise know as ‘Top-Down’.
We live a life that tells us that someone always has to be at the top or at a higher level. That for anyone to win, someone else will always have to lose.
By doing this, we completely miss the point that by accepting and by playing an active part in this system and way of thinking at any level or in any wat, we have instantaneously bought into the myth that a world that values everything based on money, greed and that values that we attribute to every form of material wealth is normal and right.
In fact, this whole way of being, thinking and doing is representative of a world that is completely upside down.
This Money and Greed obsessed world wasn’t the only option. The alternative has always been with us, hiding in plain sight
Perhaps the most deceptive part of the reality we live in is the idea that the money and greed obsessed world and the way that it functions and has taken over everything around us is and has only ever been the only available choice.
To be fair to many, the intoxicating way in which a world that perpetrates self-interest at every turn works, leaves the option to see the mechanics of the deceptive lie and the myths upon which our whole way of being sits, very difficult to see, and even harder to believe for those who genuinely can.
In fact, the level of self-awareness that it takes not only to understand but also accept the role that each and every one of us is guilty of playing in this very unfair and imbalanced form of life is indeed the antithesis of everything this whole system has been constructed to be and how it governs and influences every part of our lives.
However, just because we cannot see the alternative, doesn’t mean that it isn’t there.
It doesn’t mean that the alternative to all this isn’t available to us right now.
It doesn’t mean that the alternative to this world hasn’t been a genuine option for us, all the way along.
Expect the unexpected in so far as the coming collapse is concerned
If there is one elephant in the room that nobody wants to see or experience in the coming months and possibly the years beyond, it will be the depth and nature of the crisis which the collapse that is now underway involves.
To say that this is a wilful blindness on the part of pretty much everyone would be wrong. It is instead much more to do with the reality that each and every one of us sees the world around us and everything that goes on within it in terms of what is important or relevant to us.
This view of the world that we all have is sometimes talked about as being a lens. Not only does a lens point at a very specific scene or picture, but it can also have filters added and be manipulated in all manner of other ways too.
It is from this perspective that without looking any further, all of us will already or will soon see the unfolding challenges that we all face coming into view. And that means that there is a very good chance that we are already missing, without realising avoiding, or simply bypassing real issues that don’t appear relevant to us because they do not feature within our current world view.
Wake up! Politicians cannot and will not change. They will not avert the disaster that they have created!
Uncomfortable as it may be to accept, the whole of the UK is on a downward trajectory and has a date with destiny that is going to touch everyone’s lives and will be very painful for most.
Many of us look at everything happening as if the problems that we are facing are only the result of or are related to other things that are happening right now, today.
In fact, that’s what politicians and the establishment want and like us to think. Because it distances them from any of the responsibilities from everything that has happened, is happening today, and what will happen in the days, months and the years to come.
Yes, there are a lot of very greedy and self-centred people out there who are making the race into not only a cost-of-living crisis but a complete systemic collapse that will accompany it a lot worse than it should be, by deliberately exploiting watered down rules and the incompetence of our politicians to stop them for doing all that they are doing.
It doesn’t matter whether its fuel prices, the obscene profits that energy companies are making when they complain that prices need to go up to cover wholesale costs, of the prices of food and essential goods in supermarkets that are jumping up purely, because the people responsible have nothing to stop them doing any of this, and they sleep at night with the idea that the government will simply fire more cash at us all to keep covering the incendiary cost.
They wouldn’t be able to do any of this, if we had politicians who held the responsibility of being our public representatives who were actually up to the job.
Instead, we actually have the complete opposite. So inept, incompetent and absorbed in their own race to obtain public glory by obtaining jobs that hold a level of responsibility, that our politicians do not understand and certainly do not want, the 650 people who ‘lead’ us don’t have the wherewithal to understand the consequences of anything they do.
Our politicians do not know how the systems of business and government really work. Worst of all, as they are not even leaders. Politicians do not have the ability to get all of the information and the wise heads together that they need to make decisions on our behalf in one room. And so, management of crisis after crisis by specialists from the most obvious sector, industry or area was born.
It is because we have had such levels of ineptitude running the UK (and in Countries across the World) for so very long, that we are in the mess that we are today. It’s why life for us all is now set to go very, VERY wrong.
Don’t be lazy and try to blame this on Brexit, on Covid or even Ukraine. Because by doing so, you are simply playing into these ridiculous people’s hands.
All of this mess was created by the people who are pretending to lead us today and by the people just like them who have been masquerading as our leaders from across all of the political parties for decades.
What is more, we really do have only ourselves to blame.
We have elected these people and every politician just like them. And if we want politicians to change, it is us and the approach that we all have to politics that cannot possibly remain the same.
Change starts with the way that we think about politics. The top-down hierarchy, the destruction it causes and the lives it is wrecking just so that the few can be happy has to stop.
Power must come back to our communities and reflect the lives of real people. It’s time for grassroots up!
It’s just the way it works, is no excuse
What makes you do the same things every day? What makes you behave with other people the same way that you do – even with someone new? What makes you accept things happening in the world that you know are wrong and are probably hurting somebody? What makes you believe that changing the world doesn’t have anything to do with you?
Even now, you will at some level have a twinge or even a thought that suggests these few words have hit a nerve, even if your inner voice is shouting something like ‘what a load of crap’!
Nobody wants to hear or read anything that speaks a deeper truth. Especially when we have convinced ourselves that the truths that we have been conditioned to accept by others are in fact ours, and that each and every one of us who is ‘normal’, does exactly the same.
That ‘normal’ is of course what we might otherwise call ‘the narrative.’ The narrative is all about what someone else wants us to think, how someone else wants us to behave, and most importantly, what someone else wants us to do.
The problem with all of this is that we are so convinced that we have to follow, submit to and in many cases promote that narrative, that we have completely lost touch with who we really are.
Never mind the talk of new world orders and WEF agendas. We are already behaving subserviently to the will, whims and choices of others, each and every time that we blindly accept that anything we do, say or think must be or correlate with what the narrative and the system around us tells us it should be, look or sound like.
You surrender your power every time you take instruction from someone or something else
Life is so busy around us that we rarely – if ever, give any thought to the part that we are playing and the contribution that we are making to everything that is now going wrong.
Harsh words I know. But we have all, at some point, fallen into the trap of thinking everything that happens, good or bad, is because of someone else.
Yes, you can make what seems to be the logically sound argument that this is the way that the world works. That everything outside of us is the reference point that tells us how our lives should be.
But this isn’t the case. We have all either forgotten, or rather been encouraged to forget, that we all have an inner compass that you might call gut feelings, your instincts or something else. And that when it comes down to having happy and rewarding lives, it is the messages coming from these real but nonetheless crowded out messages speak a certain truth about where every decision and therefore where our whole lives should be.
Think of it like this. If you were to think of yourself being blindfolded and being guided through the maze of life by a trusted friend, these messages or feelings represent the only source of guidance that you can really ever trust. The other voices and noise come from others who will benefit from each and every step that takes you the alternative way.
Of course, pictures are as noisy and as convincing as voices and sounds, as are unfounded emotions. And each time we listen to those words or follow the pictures and signs that appear to be outside of us – without even thinking about it and making it a fully conscious choice – we are surrendering our power to the will of others. We are taking a step away from who we should really be.
The UK will go hungry as the food supply collapses. But Boris and all the political buffoons seat blocking our Parliament will continue to have their day…
It’s difficult to imagine that anyone in big business or government has any real concern about supply chain security, when the Conservative-friendly Daily Telegraph carries a story about the CEO of the UK’s Marks & Spencer retail chain now being on a 4-day week for a salary of £750K. Meanwhile, the real people at the other end of the wealth divide are working every hour they have and cannot even afford to buy food from one of the stores.
I will leave the timing and reasoning for this announcement, along with the raft of announcements from No.10 suggesting that our self-regalvanised PM is only now ready to his job to the reader.
But to say all of these deliberate distractions overlook the many elephants in the room and particularly the questions surrounding what happens to us all next would be comical, if it were not the fact that for the majority of us all, shit is about to get very real indeed.
Call me dramatic if you like. But few of us will accept that we are already in the process of a massive financial and systemic collapse until it actually hits us, and we can feel the pain pushing into our own existence or life bubble in some way. Regrettably, that day will soon come.
However, whilst things like the housing market collapsing, or small businesses going bang because they simply cannot raise employee pay will inevitably hit or touch the lives of us all differently, there is one very profound and potentially very hard-hitting way that the collapse of the systems we currently take for granted is going to touch all of our lives in the same way. That’s the production, supply and the availability or shortages of food.
Before I go any further, it is important to get to the point that the supply of many of the foods that we probably all enjoy at home, from takeaways or when we go out to a pub or restaurant for a meal, are simply not going to be available in any of these ways anymore. Furthermore, this change to our lifestyles could well be pushing its way into our lives in perhaps just weeks or months from now.
The ingredients, the processing and the transportation of the foods that contribute to what might best be described as our very exotic, but nonetheless unhealthy diets aren’t just sourced from right across the world.
The foods we eat, and the ingredients used to make them are processed here there and everywhere too.
The journeys that make up the pizzas, pies and puddings that we have all been conditioned to love crisscross continents and countries in various and accumulated forms. All before they finally reach the shelves of our local supermarkets or distribution centres, usually wrapped in a load of packaging that will immediately be thrown away, just as soon as they have come through our doors.
That the global supply chains that support and provide for all of this are collapsing right now is problematic enough.
But the real problem for us all that accompanies this collapse, is that even the majority of our most local producers (that’s local farmers and growers) buy the materials they need and then supply the meat, milk, cereals, vegetables and fruit that they produce into what is in effect part of this highly centralised operational business model.
Farmers and growers in the UK and across Western Countries do not produce or supply in a way that means that any of us could simply walk up to the local farm and buy or trade with the farmer to get the basic foods that we need, when everything that we know and take for granted about the supply of foods and goods today breaks down.
The processes that take raw foods from farms and turn them into the products that we love to eat and buy are massively complicated.
This complication has itself been encouraged and legitimised by the creation of many different industry-serving laws and rules. Not least of all by our friends in the European Union, which became just another way of dressing up greed-driven globalisation, but in a more politically acceptable continent-wide way.
What we or rather more importantly all of our seat-blocking politicians in Parliament are failing to grasp right now – whilst they keep on attempting to distract us with soundbites and other hollow scheme imaginable, is that we have a massive food crisis ahead of us. A food crisis that is looming large that will not be temporary. And that in terms of re-tasking, repurposing, redirecting, and reimagining the most essential forms and mechanics of our basic food supply chain – we are now critically unprepared.
It’s not as if Farmers and Growers aren’t trying to make our politicians aware that there is a crisis coming either.
The issue with the politicians we have today is that everything they stand for, have bought and dragged us into and has been motivated by or is tied up in the money or greed-based system that we currently have.
By even acknowledging that the focus of food supply must immediately become local, as part of the now essential drive to make the UK self-sufficient in all basic foods, goods and services in the shortest time, our politicians will be admitting to the wrongs of the part that they and many others before them have played in contributing to this mess over decades.
That, however, is not an excuse for those in power and in our Parliament not to act now.
When we are all facing a change to our reality and a process of transition where there is a growing possibility that British People are going to starve, the public representatives that we have elected to look out for our best interests should be prioritising this change to local supply and UK self-sufficiency in every possible way.
We cannot win by fighting politicians over issues that are only important to us. We must fight them on the ground that’s important to them too
In the UK yesterday, protestors took to the motorway network to create a protest ‘go slow’, by deliberately blocking two lanes of three lane motorways with vehicles that are only travelling at fifteen miles per hour.
The protest itself was overtly against the cost of fuel duty, which makes up a disproportionate percentage of the rising cost of vehicle fuel – which most of us will agree is now completely out of control.
Whilst many and probably the majority of us sympathise with the reasoning and motivation of the protest, it is clear from the comments from people who have had their ‘normal’ days disrupted by the action, that not everyone has bought in to this particular action plan.
Indeed, in terms of any kind of protest, blockade or strike amongst what we can now expect will become a steadily increasing number of events involving direct action to demonstrate discontent to politicians and the government, the point that these actions not only divide, but can actually polarise what would have previously been support – all to the benefit of the government and those who are responsible for the problems – is being regrettably missed.
The truth is that the majority of people know that the system is not only broken. They also know that everything our politicians, the elites and the establishment does is now wrong.
The problem that those of us who have woken to the point where we are no longer ‘bought in’ to the system have today, is that for the majority of those who actually know they are being hurt by what’s happening and how it is already directly affecting them and their lives, the system still feels like it is working for them. As such, for that majority, the benefits of acquiescing at this moment in time, still appear to outweigh the cost.
That a point in time will come when for the majority this is no longer the case is now inevitable. It is not a case of if, but when. But that when could still be a very long time.
We are doing ourselves no favours in the meantime, by failing to box clever and fight the politicians in a way and on ground that is important to them and in ways that they have no way to ignore or to deliberately misunderstand.
The only fair and just solution to the problems we face, isn’t left or right. It is a middle way that no political or economic ‘expert’ will like
The only thing worse than the failure of the capitalist experiment – which is the reason for the cost-of-living crisis and the systemic collapse that we are now in the early stages of – is a new narrative, already at work across podcast, vlogging and social media platforms, telling us that capitalism is absolutely great – it just has to be done in a different way.
If this ‘we would do it better and make it work’ mantra sounds familiar, it’s because it’s almost exactly the same one that we have been hearing for decades from the apologists and champions of socialism. Or rather communism or even Marxism in its most inhumane and punishing forms.
Uncomfortable as the reading may be, the painful reality is that what socialism and capitalism in their many respective forms have in common, is it is only their leaders, crown princes and elites that benefit from these perverse systems of governance. They just play to the vulnerabilities and ignorance of the very people they keep captive, through idealism or an obsession with money and wealth, in their most malevolent and destructive forms.
Sadly, our cosseted and entitled world, is a very long way from the experience of Stalin’s historic Gulags, contemporary North Korea or some of the very dark places that China’s ruling CCP hides away today.
So, the innocent idealism that accompanies the inexperience of our massively overlooked young, is all too easily taken in. It is manipulated and misled by the militant generation and their sleepers. Unforgiving victims to the realities of life, whose anger, bitterness and complete lack of understanding of the human experience beyond their own bubble makes the young all too easy for them to betray.
At the other extreme, greed, self-interest and an obsession with power and wealth that drive everything in this failing system, have intoxicated even the most virtuous at every level and nuance of life.
Decades of manipulation and propaganda have made us believe that material wealth is the only way that happiness can be obtained. Old and young alike are so drunk on all that they have or could possess, that they do not believe it possible that a system that feels so good, could never ever fail them or go completely wrong.
Few understand that we are all part of an addicted society, where everyone’s habit is money, wealth and whatever it takes to get it.
Yes, the rules are set by some very wealthy and very greedy people at the top. But they have successfully bent every part of our lives to the will of a greed that has then infected our lives so effectively, that we have forgotten the true meaning and value of any part of life that doesn’t carry a price tag.
The most bizarre twist of similarities between capitalism and socialism is our obsession with this same material wealth. It’s just on one hand the messaging tells the unprivileged population that it should reject it and every part of it. Whereas the other demands that we allow it to take over our lives in every possible way.
Wealth, prosperity, ownership and individual success are not wrong. It’s how we behave when we have them, or what we do with them, that can lead to unimaginable crimes.
The biggest crime of all that has been visited upon humanity by these religions and wealth based political ideologies, is their success in making everything in life all about money in some way.
But it is people, not money or things, that we should always put first.
No Labour Government, no cryptocurrency, no Liz or Rishi, VAT Relief on Energy Prices, Cash Handouts, Qualifications without study, Universal Basic Incomes, Strikes, Inflation beating wage rises, The WEF ‘You’ll own nothing and will be happy’, or any other self-serving tool of the political left and right alike will work to benefit anyone but those who are sat at the top of these top-down, self-serving trees.
There’s a flow chart for all of them. It always goes in exactly the same way. The flow slowly but surely takes everything. In return it sells us much, but in truth gives very little back.
Yet the flow of life should always go full circle and come all the way back around. So that everyone is able to exist and just exist if that’s all they really want to do. Anything and everything else should just be effort related. This is the meaning of ‘you get back what you put in’.
The alternative to these failed and flawed political and economic philosophies that all belong to a money obsessed world, is for us to choose to take the middle way.
The only option or choice to solve all of our problems, is to put People First.
A People First society works from the grassroots up. It puts people and their communities first, providing the legislative, social, business and supply chain networks that put the sustainability of life and the self-sustainability of each and every individual who can work (supporting those who cannot), before anything else.
A People First society requires that all businesses and their processes place the needs of essential living for the community and the advancement of working conditions as their priority. That earnings beyond break-even, are responsible and not traded beyond those who have a direct interest or are actively involved.
A People First society puts governance of the people, for the people, by the people above all things, and always prioritises localism first. It recognises the need for collaboration at every level. But respects collaboration should never itself require the surrender of relative powers at any level of local agency or of our own control.
The central tenet, pivot point or anchor of The People First Economy is The Basic Living Standard or The Basic Living Standard for All.
The Basic Living Standard requires that the minimum wage or wage paid for the least demanding role that any society may have, will always be enough for the person who earns it to cover the basic essentials of life.
The Basic Living Standard for All requires that an independent adult will always be able to feed, clothe and home themselves. To provide for their own basic communication, transport and entertainment needs, along with everything that is essential to ensure that person can exist without third party support, without subsidy from government (benefits) and without having no choice but to go into debt.
By adopting this formula and requiring every part of society, business, industry and other to focus on The Basic Living Standard and doing nothing that will compromise it, either intentionally or unknown will assure its success.
The Basic Living Standard for All will ensure that every part of society, our system of governance and fundamentally the ways in which we live, will redirect to putting People First – which is now the only sustainable way that we will survive and live free and happy lives.
The Basic Living Standard will encourage people to achieve, excel and do whatever they really want to do. But in a People First economy, nobody will be able to do so by exploiting or riding off the back of others, or without regard for the real consequences or true cost of anything they do which can or has the potential to affect the lives of others.
The prioritisation of People, communities and locality first, will not only solve the problems created by greed, by envy and the hatred they promote. It will also address the climate issues, which are the consequences of years of greed-driven abuse of the environment and overuse of natural resources too.
***
With things as easy right now as we have been brainwashed to believe they are, change would not be possible for any of us in what we understand to be ‘normal’ times.
However, most of us already know we are no longer in ‘normal’ times, even if it’s not something that we find easy to say out loud.
Whilst politicians and the elites are still pushing a narrative using their pet media that suggests that everything is planned and thought through, there are no alternatives, and above all – that they are in control; the truth is that they are not.
The cost-of-living crisis and everything that is now going wrong with public services like the NHS in the UK, are all part of a systemic collapse. A collapse of everything we know that is both their responsibility and their fault.
When it hits YOU and the people who are important to YOU – in whatever way that will be, that will be the moment YOU have the choice to decide what YOU want to do.
Just remember; a leopard never changes its spots.
***
The Basic Living Standard is proposed as the solution to our problems in ‘Levelling Level’, a book that I wrote and published in early 2022, where I also discuss how we got here, what’s really going on, and how it’s possible for us to thrive and survive throughout the difficulties and challenges that we will soon face.
Both Levelling Level and my shorter e-book about The Basic Living Standard are available to read as books for Kindle and can be bought and downloaded from Amazon by clicking the links below.
However, the complete content is available to read FREE on this blogsite www.levellinglevel.wordpress.com, where you will find the index of all pages on the right-hand side of the PC or Laptop viewed screen.
10 Spoilers about the so-called ‘New World Order’ and what is really now underway
Despite the increasing talk about the plans of the World Economic Forum (WEF) and their dastardly plans for a New World Order, a lot of people have been blinded by the fear of what all this talk represents.
Sadly, many of thepeople outside of government and establishment influence who have public platforms have been drawn into behaving like rabbits in the headlights and they are unwittingly fueling this fear too.
Everyone needs to take a step back; count to ten and do the reading, research and thinking necessary to see the wider situation we face for what it is.
Yes, there is a massive system collapse underway. But this isn’t the birth of a ‘new’ world order. It is the death of the one that already exists. One that has been hurting us all more than we are ready to accept for a very long time.
Today we are watching the death throes of the world order that already exist. And the chaos is set to continue to get worse as all those who have knowingly benefited, desperately try to put out the flames of this collapse by adding even more of the fuel they used to create it (MONEY!).
If you are looking beyond the establishment and the mainstream media for answers that will only begin to make sense once you can move beyond the betrayal of trust and begin to reflect on how you have bought into all of this too, here are 10 SPOILERS or hacks for you to get started with:
SPOILER No.1: The WEF and all its cronies represent a dying world order. One that was once new, and you’ll find politicians talking about it historically too. However, their ‘new world order’ is being destroyed by the very same tools that they designed to propagate and assure their own power decades ago, whilst they filled their own pockets at the expense and impoverishment of everyone else.
SPOILER No.2: The System and Economic collapse are happening, because the clever system that the world elites created to enrich themselves had its own set of rules. Generations of foolish and stupid politicians and the bankers and business leaders who influence them – motivated by their own ambition and greed; have long since forgot, completely ignored or been left out of the loop of their own secrets. The mess they have created is what we are all now experiencing as it unfolds.
SPOILER No.3: The only tool that this Money-Based-Order ever had was to create money out of thin air. The aim was always to benefit the few who understood the reality of ‘The Lie’, whilst perpetuating the myth for the many, that money has always been real. They quite literally created rules to support ‘The Lie’, making it a crime to work against a value and morality set that is no more than an idea which is based on making something real out of nothing but thin air. The many have not only increasingly lost out, but they have also been punished for the inadequacies and unfairness of this duplicitous system too.
SPOILER No.4: The people behind the Money-Based-Order don’t have any way to solve the problems that they have created that we are all now facing today. Their only option now is to print more and more money that has no value other than the belief that we all still attribute to it. Then, when the system finally collapses, they will do all they can to attempt to maintain and further impose control. The desperate steps that the elites are taking under the guidance of the WEF (such as stopping farmers from farming) are no more than a pre-emptive attempt to destroy the infrastructure that they know people will quickly harness for the common good, once the collapse has destroyed any remaining practicality to their plans.
SPOILER No.5: YOU CAN SAY NO MORE TO ALL OF THIS AT ANY TIME. The secret is hidden within us all. The secret is all about the way that we think.
SPOILER No.6: The only reason that the things we consider to be normal and part of daily life around our Countries and around the World appear to be continuing to work, is because too many people still believe that the system they are living in and experiencing is beneficial to them in some way. We – that’s the people that this system is hurting – are actually the ones who are keeping this dying system alive right now!
SPOILER No.7: The collapse that is now underway will affect everyone. The Money-Based-System was built and perpetuated on greed that has benefitted the few at the cost of the many. Anyone – and that’s pretty much all of us – who has bought into the wealth-driven, money-is-god way of valuing everything in life, will be hurt as the material ‘things’ we believed to be important that it gave us – which it never really did – are taken away. No, not everyone will lose everything they ‘think’ they now have. But what is left after the collapse and the period of crisis is over, will be valued by us all in a very different and much healthier way. We have the opportunity and will think about life very differently to how we do now.
SPOILER No.8: The Money Based Order is OVER. We may not realise or even see it yet. But the Top-Down system has been on a downward trajectory for years and in reality, from the moment that the post-war pathway to globalisation began. The responses of Governments to Brexit, Covid and War in Ukraine – and now the resultant energy crisis too, have made it impossible for the Money-Based-Order (That’s the FIAT Money System) to be saved. That is why the collapse is now underway.
SPOILER No.9: We ALL have TWO CHOICES coming up. We ALL have the collective choice of becoming little more than caged animals, shackled with digital chains, kept happy with virtual reality and computer games in a world that revolves around an open secret which is our mass enslavement where existence will be about nothing more than making up the numbers for the few who believe that the world and everything in it was put here for them to own. The alternative choice WE ALL HAVE is to take back control of our own lives and rebuild society from the grassroots up, rebuilding and restoring a value set that revolves around the value of people, consideration for others and our whole environment before wealth or anything else, returning technology to its rightful place as our servant and money as the system of exchange it was always only supposed to be.
SPOILER 10: Your Community, Your Locality, the people you know and regularly see, is where the real power behind life for you and everyone around you should always be. By getting decisions in our localities right and stepping back from the dependence on systems and people who we do not know and will never ever see, we will return to a form of living and governance for us all that places true value upon everyone who takes part and is involved. Take care of what’s real first and the rest will follow!
WARNING: If you continue to live in fear of what people like those who represent the WEF are threatening, promising or arrogantly committing everyone too, that is exactly how the world you know will become.
THE OPPORTUNITY: No, we may not all be awake to what has happened and what is now happening and why life is now as it is. But the collapse and the effects and reach that it will have into the lives of everyone will present a real choice for everyone.
THE TRAP: The risk is that too many will hear the promises made by people they should never again trust and take what sounds like the easy options and a route back to how things were for ‘everyone’ before. Unfortunately, there is no route back and the days of endless abundance and the selfishness and loss of integrity for us all that it has encouraged are no more. If you listen to that lie, you will discover too late that the freedoms you never really had but which you still covet are no more.
THE ENDGAME: Freedom of a kind that you have never really known starts in the mind. Pain and difficulty are now inevitable. The choice you have is whether you want to experience it so that someone else controls every part of yours and everyone else’s lives, or whether you take the leap of faith and trust the people you know and see every day, and work together to make life better for everyone, beginning and getting it all right from the grassroots up.
Most of us already know deep down that the world as we have known it can no longer go on. The way we have been living has been completely unsustainable and we have placed our value for life on nothing but money and trinkets, whilst we have traded our integrity, our health, our happiness, our relationships and our humanity for nothing but thin air. It has been a very convincing lie!
Nothing is really free – whether we talk about how things are valued right now in terms of money, or how they should be in terms of thinking that really could be as simple as saying that ‘In life, you get back what you put in’.
Things are going to get very tough, very soon. The choice you have to make won’t be like voting, signing a form, buying something or agreeing to follow someone or something else. It will quite literally be about saying no to what appears to be more of or a continuation of all that you have known, and then to take the leap – with others – into what will only appear for a brief moment look like the unknown.
See you there!
More Reading
From Here to There Through Now was the third book in a series that I began writing about three years ago in early 2022.
Each of the Books that follow are a variation on a shared theme, working very much under the principle that it is not only possible but actually healthy to be able to understand, value and even hold different views or perspectives of the same situation or set of circumstances at the same time, whether that be in the Past, Present or Future tense.
Equally, it is also important to be able to consider different pathways for the future that sit beyond what many consider to be the obvious, simply because the obvious itself is usually inextricably linked with what has already been done and what sits in the past.
All of the following titles are available to purchase as complete eBooks for Kindle from Amazon using the links provided.
Where indicated, titles may also be available to download FREE as PDF Copies from my Blogsite in different forms, using the links provided.
If you would like to discuss any of the works listed, please get in touch.
Published as an eBook for Kindle on Amazon on 31 March 2022, Levelling Level follows here in the form of the original text, with some minor editing principally to allow publishing in PDF form and this online format.
Much has changed in the political environment over the 3 years since the original publication and it is important for the reader to bear this in mind. Not only because of the 2024 change in government and change of name for the ‘Levelling Up’ Agenda, which certainly still exists. But because only 8 months on from the end of the Tory government, many have already forgotten what the Conservatives did.
The one thing that will become clear, if it hasn’t done so already, is that the answers, solutions and outcomes that will solve all the problems will not come from any of the political parties that we know in their current form (as at 3 March 2025) and it is just as likely, if not certain that a better future will only be reached under the stewardship, guidance and leadership of something that doesn’t resemble anything we recognise in today’s political terms at all.
Levelling Level has been written to discuss the need for change so that life actually works for the poorest and most disadvantaged in our society, and how we will achieve that change by making the very best of events and circumstances that are out of our control to do so.
It is the ability of the poorest and those on the lowest incomes to be self-sufficient, without external intervention or without their situation having a negative impact upon wider society, that reflects just how healthy we are as communities, as a nation and how together we operate and work.
To achieve the aim of real equality, there are many problems that our society faces. Problems that must be fixed.
You cannot fix any problem unless you understand both the effects of it and how the problem was caused.
You cannot fix any problem unless you have people in charge at the top of Government who know what to do to fix that and every problem, and are prepared to do it too.
Creating a balanced and fair society, where everyone has access to what they genuinely need, but not necessarily all that they might actually want, cannot and will not be achieved by a process of levelling up or by levelling down.
Levelling down or levelling up are the only solutions that the politicians we currently have can offer as solutions to the problems that increasing numbers of us have quietly been facing for decades, and that many more of us are beginning to experience now.
As someone who reads a lot of very different material, I understand how appealing it can be to have a quick look through the index and then cherry pick the bits that I think I might like to read, when there is a specific topic or answer that I’m trying to find. I would ask you to resist doing so if you can.
Levelling Level, or what Levelling Level will really mean will only be achieved as a whole outcome by those with the leadership skills and power to influence change for the better.
The power within that influence can only come from fully understanding the real problem, or rather, by gaining complete fluency of the real causes of the problems that we face, and the relationship with other problems, that each of the problems we face really has.
The problems that we face today have been created by taking a bit by bit, step by step or piecemeal approach. We can only deal with the problems that this has created by dealing with every problem that has been created as a whole, in a joined-up and wholly comprehensive way.
Levelling level is an outcome that will only be achieved by considering the types of solutions and options that will be open to us under good leadership, and then drawing conclusions of our own, before we then seek to work together as a community with everyone who feels the same way as us.
The subject matter of Levelling Level is massively complex. So complex in fact, that the technical intricacies that have developed which allow such a broken system to exist and function are, or will seem to many, too elaborate or even illogical to believe.
The best way to get the value from this book and the proposed outline of Levelling Level as it is intended, is to read it right the way through, and look at the trees before drawing any conclusions about the whole wood.
As a blogger, I have frequently fallen into the trap of writing with the aim that the reader should reach the end and have a clear understanding of the message that I conveyed.
To some degree, depending on the audience, this is always likely to be a fool’s errand. After all, every reader views the subject through the lens of their own experience – even if the topic is completely new to them.
Nonetheless, it has meant that the length of the blogs I write are often 800-1000 words long, instead of the 400-600 words that is regarded by some to make the generally accepted blog-style of writing accessible to all.
In the case of Levelling Level, the topic is complicated to say the least. Yet it is one that everyone will soon need to understand. Regrettably, people are going to understand it very well – once circumstances have made everyone look at the world around us all in a very different way – when the messages of Levelling Level will make a lot more sense.
For this reason, I have deliberately written a long story into the shortest book possible.
Whilst I have suggested solutions to many of the problems we face, they are in no way as comprehensive as the coming changes will require. They are a starting point, not the end.
If you find yourself focusing on sentence structure, spellings, grammar, absence of some detail or conclusions or solutions that in isolation don’t seem to work. Or you are getting upset because Levelling Level proposes a way of thinking which opposes any comfortable and accepted thoughts of your own, you may be falling into the trap of missing the point.
This book is not intended to be perfect. It is not here to offer up a polished political manifesto or golden age philosophy that tells everyone what they now need to do. It contains messages to help and guide as changes in the world around us force us all to have a very big rethink.
Please do proceed through Levelling Level with the Principle of Charity in mind as you do so.
Levelling Level is intended to be nothing more than a lighthouse, switched on now in an attempt to try and stop the ships that represent our different journeys hitting some very perilous rocks.
Levelling Level gives enough of the detail to identify the real problem and warn everyone of what we need to be aware of in the dark that lies ahead and within the storm around us.
Together, collectively, as a community and as the grassroots up, we must now create the daylight that removes the darkness around us and brings awareness to the detail of the new world, new normal and the future that lies ahead and begins immediately in front of us all.
Each and every one of us are the captains of our own ship; a ship that must be navigated.
Yet even within a framework or directional choice like that which Levelling Level proposes in the pages to come, the way we respond and navigate around the experiences that life provides always gives us two choices.
In the spirit it is intended, I would ask that you read Levelling Level, come to your own conclusions and then reflect on what has happened, what is happening, and what will really work best for us all as we journey through very turbulent times into the world that lies ahead.
The so-called success of our politicians revolves around the use of soundbites.
It’s been a problem since the time of the Blairite New Labour Government of 1997-2010. There was an identifiable shift from politics being about the end result (when at least some of our politicians had the wherewithal to get things done themselves), to becoming all about the message itself.
So bewildered was the Conservative Party by the (New) Labour landslide victory of 1997, they decided the only way to beat them was to play them at their own game.
As power has shifted back from the Blairite years (1997-2010) of the left-wing wolf dressed in right wing clothing, to the Johnsonian Conservative Party of the right that today is even more left than the left, a new low in the meaninglessness of what our political classes do [to us] to retain their power in this Country has finally been reached.
As I write in early 2022, one such soundbite in daily use is that of ‘Levelling Up’.
Suspicions that Boris Johnson and the current crop of Parliamentary Tories are pushing the Levelling Up agenda just as one way to survive, the element of truth that makes the term feel valuable to anyone with ears to listen, is that our political classes do at least appear to know that there is a problem.
All the while, the Labour Left pursue an agenda and way of thinking that through the changes and implementation of public policy achieve nothing but levelling down.
Levelling Up or levelling down; it doesn’t matter. Unless there is balance and fairness in the form of a level playing field at the point where we all step off, there will always be too many of us who lose out, whilst the same old few will end up with a win.
Regrettably, the truth that sits beyond that knowledge, is that none of the MPs sitting on the green benches in our Parliament know or understand the breadth and depth of the problem, or how the problem actually works.
That is why they are playing around with a soundbite that suggests the problem can easily be fixed.
None of the politicians that we have today either understand or want to understand how the real problems that create an unjust and imbalanced society can or will be fixed.
The greatest travesty is that those we have elected to deal with such problems on our behalf are failing to do so.
Our politicians cannot deal with the problems that we face, because they are incapable of fulfilling the roles and responsibilities that they have been given, or self-interest leaves them wilfully blind to actually doing so.
Politics has become the end, rather than being the means to the end.
The UK is the person with major health problems. It’s in a beauty salon, where every wannabe politician must be seen as top dog by everyone. But this political class are just the Saturday morning trainees, only able to sweep up and comb hair*. They smile sweetly and tell the Country that having a great look is all it takes to fix the problems experienced by all. Meanwhile, what the UK really needs is every form of medical surgery known, with the mental health care and physical rehabilitation necessary to make every part of our system work together, returning the UK to full fitness and providing fair and balanced lives for everyone in the shortest time possible.
For as long as this broken political culture and way of thinking in UK governance is allowed to continue, no soundbite or promise that it contains to us all, will ever end up delivering in any way as we believe it was intended, or indeed in any of the ways it really should.
In the pages of Part 1 that follows, I will cover the real problems that have led to the Johnsonian Tories pursuing their ‘Levelling Up’ agenda, whilst over recent decades, the influence of the Left has been the pernicious approach and impact of ‘Levelling Down’.
I will discuss why the nebulous policies of both Left and Right end up making the problems that society faces worse for everyone – if they actually help in any way at all, and why the problems that nothing more than political tinkering around the edges creates only serves to obfuscate and hide the real causes of the problems that we all now face.
With the changes to the world and the way that we live now coming, In Part 2 I will then move on to talk about the issues that the next generation of politicians will face.
I will offer some solutions and ways to begin addressing the imbalances that exists across society, and the early steps that must be taken if we are all to experience a future that is fruitful for all, is sustainable, healthy and above all actually works.
*The qualified hairdressers are the government officers and civil servants, or people who like to ‘nudge’
In so much as it has been possible to do so, given the very complex nature of the problems that we face and the solutions that will necessarily follow, Levelling Level has been split into two main parts.
Part 1 covers the fundamental breaks and flaws of the existing system that we have in the UK and discusses why things have become this way and why things don’t work as they should.
‘Levelling Up’ is a clever term – and it’s meant to be so.
For most of us, levelling up sounds very much like we are going to see everything we experience being pushed upwards. It suggests that the point of balance in our lives is somewhere higher than where our current experience actually is.
Before anything, it’s important to understand just how important the Levelling Up agenda really is to the Conservative Party today.
Politics in the UK has changed from what it was. The European Referendum or ‘Brexit’ Vote in the summer of 2016 was a watershed moment. One that tells anyone paying real attention to the change that nothing in British Politics could be the same again – that is even before the arrival of the Covid Pandemic, the invasion of Ukraine and everything that happens next.
Up until the summer of 2016, the tried and tested methods of creating and controlling us with an establishment narrative had always worked.
Those methods were expected to work with the European Referendum Vote too.
Lies and stories were concocted and mixed up with a few threats and a little fear. It was all focused on maintaining the easy way of living and the nice experiences that normal people would otherwise lose if they didn’t conform to what the establishment wanted to achieve from the Vote.
Yet the script that had been written for even greater integration with the European Union didn’t work.
The majority of the British People found instead that they identified with a different way of interpreting the future and voted democratically for the UK to leave the European Union.
The result of the Referendum set in motion what was to become a three-year battle between the democratic will of the people and the unwritten agenda of an establishment and a perceived loss that it still refuses to understand.
Three years of political infighting and undemocratic behavior in our Parliament began the process of lifting the stone and shining light on everything that is wrong with politics in the UK today.
It meant that those amongst the General Public who were most frustrated by the ineptitude and contempt shown by our politicians were ready and waiting for the opportunity to change things.
Normal, everyday people became wide open to soundbites, whether they spoke to certain truths or indeed contained the sweetest lies.
With Prime Minister Theresa May unable to convince anyone that she could lead objectively enough to keep her Remain and EU Member heart at bay, the summer of 2019 saw the arrival of Boris Johnson.
With him came what we can now argue has been a whole series of whoppers wrapped around soundbites such as a deal with the EU that was ‘Oven Ready’.
Soundbites that not only emboldened him to go to the Country, but they also saw him win an 80-seat majority in the General Election the following December and secure his tenure in No.10.
The dynamics of that General Election win were very different to what anyone had really expected.
Of the constituency seats that gave Boris an overall working majority win, many of them were gained in areas that had previously been Labour held. It was because of this that they are now known as the Red Wall.
Whilst an 80-seat majority is something not to be sniffed at, anything-for-an-easy-life Boris found himself with a list of new MPs that in Tory terms were never supposed to be there.
These new ‘Red Wall MPs’ had been the candidates that were never expected to win. They were certainly a long way from the A-List mentality that sees Conservative Central Office parachute ‘beautiful’ people into so-called safe seats where the chosen few are guaranteed entry to Parliament and will do absolutely everything they are told, and everything they can to toe the party line.
The Red Wall Tory MPs typically represent areas where the working class and financially poorer demographics dominate.
Suddenly, avoidance of issues like social mobility, food poverty and the imbalance across society were no longer an easy choice for the Tory hierarchy and strategists to avoid.
We will talk about the role of money as part of the crisis that we face in more detail later.
For now, it is important to understand that the Tories of today believe that every problem they face can either be fixed by using money, or by moving money around.
Levelling Up is literally the plan that Tory High Command has come up with, using money to try and cement the non-existent bonds between an out of touch political elite and the realities that people who lent them their vote in 2019 face each and every day.
It relies primarily on buying communities and constituencies lots of nice things, or what in political circles are known as sops.
The success of the Johnsonian Tory Levelling Up plan is built on the premise that problems disappear when people can be bought.
Buying people or being bought might work for the Tories who have got to the top. But for those at the base of the pyramid, it’s a very different world that exists.
If you were looking for a lesson or demonstration of how out of touch our political classes really are, there probably would be no better example than what the Tories are employing with their Levelling Up Agenda.
Contemporary ‘Conservative’ thinking (which is arguably not in any way ‘conservative’ at all’) in terms of tackling financial and income inequality hinges on a massively fallacious belief:
This ‘conservative’ Government operates on the belief that poverty is synonymous with unemployment. Or, rather, Johnsonian Tories believe that being poor and having no job is exactly the same thing.
As this brick is thrown into the societal pond, the tidal waves ripple out with ridiculous suggestions that our politicians genuinely believe, such as all jobs are the same and everyone with a job will be fine.
Then, the tsunami of their unreal world thinking hits: The Tory strategists and the leaders they influence conclude that life can be improved for the poor if government buys the things that their communities would otherwise be unable to afford.
Never mind the reality that spending other people’s money to solve problems with solutions that only make sense to Tory strategists and politicians is a travesty of public representation in its most tragic sense.
With the Levelling Up Agenda, the Conservatives have quite literally banked on maintaining and consolidating votes that will keep them in power by using our own money to buy our communities gifts.
The Conservatives believe that they will achieve this and win the next General Election by building new roads, creating new tiers of government with new Mayors or by gifting deprived communities’ new sports centres, school buildings and swimming pools.
Yes, all these things look nice, and they sound great. But they don’t change any of the deep-seated issues that are really at work.
In fact, if anything, for those of us experiencing the problems within our society that should really matter to any politician, these hollow acts of abusing the power we have gifted to these so-called public representatives, in order to help us, just make our problems even worse.
Through the implementation of the Levelling Up plan, people without the lives we all deserve are being conditioned to think that everything is improving in the world around them.
But Levelling Up will leave them with the rather troubling question; Why is nothing really improving for us in life, or how we really feel about everything – despite what everyone is being told?
To say that our political classes do not understand the lives of the people they represent would be a massive understatement.
It is a situation that would perhaps not be quite as bad if the ‘experts’ politicians rely on to advise them and dream up the strategies they then implement, had an understanding of life that would make up for the lack of life experience of their own.
Political Philosophies and textbooks are the go-to advice guide, where both our politicians and the people who advise them are concerned.
The people leading the UK are all led by the nose, by ideas and ways of thinking that appeal to them only because of what they offer as the suggested result.
Yet those results were usually written about or defined in very different times.
Whilst socialism has been pursued to the point of human and societal destruction by communist leaders such as Stalin and is then written off by socialists in the west with words that suggest it only ‘failed’ because it wasn’t executed in the right way, the right have also been pursuing a social experiment of their own.
For the past 50 years or more, the right has led what is in reality a socio-economic experiment based on an alternative set of ideas called Neoliberalism.
Yet for past successive UK governments of that time and from all political sides, Neoliberalism is the foundation upon which all of their legacies are defined.
Neoliberalism perpetrates the lie that egalitarian living can be achieved by letting the ‘knowing few’ run riot with minimum restraint. That by allowing them to control everything through their own interpretation of any rules, everyone and the public good will be truly well-served.
Yet the reality is that by deregulating markets and financial activities to the extent that they already successfully have, the power that should be in the hands of legislators and policy makers on behalf of us all, has been passed to private interests whose priority is profit and not the public interest instead.
The extension and growth of Neoliberalism is dependent upon reducing the reach and impact of government at every level.
It doesn’t matter what process is followed or becomes necessary for the outcome to be achieved.
Smaller Government is a Neoliberalist aim. The outcomes for the people who need good governance most will only get worse under the Neoliberal view of smaller government, as even the status quo will no longer be maintained.
‘Smaller Government’ or what is in fact much less government or what is interpreted as the reduction of the restrictions that prevent so-called wealth creators from creating wealth are the fundamental basis of what Neoliberal thinking is about.
The Tories really do believe that by pumping money into schemes and infrastructure across society, that the investment encourages an uplift in commercial and capitalist activity that will benefit the poor – because that’s what Neoliberal scholars tell them it will do.
It all comes under the guise that free markets and free flowing money look after the public interest when they are left unhindered by the state.
Regrettably, our Politicians are too stupid to understand what the ideas underpinning neoliberalism are really all about.
Neoliberalism and free markets are all about bringing more wealth to those who are wealthy already and nothing more.
Neoliberalism when adopted at the state level is a tool to sanitise and legitimise selfishness at the highest level.
Neoliberalist thinking has helped make it ok to do anything that is legal, even when that legality exists because it has been created only by and for those who benefit from it.
The end result is that others suffer at incalculable number of levels or degrees of separation. Because ethics have been replaced by the idea that you should do things because you can and not because you should.
Neoliberalism is basically a philosophy of creating misery and exploiting others so that those who are able, can benefit from that choice.
Neoliberalism is the modern form of mass slavery, where oppression and suppression has been sold to everyone as freedom and choice.
The words that the Tories don’t use to describe what they mean about change tell us that they believe that they can simply drag everyone up to a better life by changing the environment around them.
It’s as if politicians believe they have the power to dictate and then control how we think by changing only some of the things we can see.
They don’t.
Whilst both the Left and the Right share the same ridiculous idea that lack of, or absence of money in life are the only problems people face that any government need to fix, the Left are also blissfully unaware of how many problems the policies they have implemented and pursued over recent decades have actually created, made worse and continue to create for us each and every day.
The damage that the Left have inflicted on the UK has developed around their obsession with rights and how they operate.
The left creates, pursues and implements policy based on the idea that those who appear to be ahead or in a position of advantage must be restricted or held back so that others can succeed.
It is a wholly naïve view of the way that the world works.
Instead of succeeding by bringing everyone up to a better level of existence as they suggest, their philosophy has only ever succeeded in levelling down. Culminating in a process which can only be described as putting the lowest common denominator first.
The process doesn’t stop there. In fact, the process has become so very skewed that the policies that the Left pursue actually defy practical reality.
The Labour Party and the left-wing today display and live by a lack of understanding not only of how people think, but how businesses and operations must operate not only to exist, so that they can succeed in achieving just the basic aims or purposes that they exist for.
A hundred years ago, the work and existence of the Labour movement made a lot of sense. The inequality that existed between the working classes and the elites that existed then were stark.
But the differences and inequalities that existed across society in the early Twentieth Century are not the same as they are today.
The problems within the working environment for people were far worse. But they were addressed.
This was in no small part due to the Labour movement and the work of the Labour Party.
The good achieved by what we now know as the Labour Party and the Left that surrounds it came to its natural zenith decades ago, when businesses and organisations accepted the duty of care that they have to all staff, their safety and welfare at work.
But like most things political, when that point was reached, the practicality that had driven meaningful change was replaced by impractical idealism. Probably for no better reason that the movement needed to find reasons that justified it continuing to hold the position it had and gave it a legitimate reason to exist.
Whilst there should always be a system of checks and balances to ensure that benchmarks for acceptable management practices exist, what few have realised is just how damaging it was when the Left adopted a new path which was the pursuit of rights.
Rights of any kind, but employment rights in particular have always been a popular cause.
It is after all pretty normal to be happy if you feel you are being given something for nothing, no matter that at a very different level, no such equation for employers and their bottom lines exists.
People are now literally led to believe by the Left that their job and their conditions are more important than the objectives of the business or the organisation that they work for.
Businesses and organisations exist only to provide the services, produce the goods or achieve the very specific aims that they were set up for or developed to do.
Job creation is literally a happy coincidence or consequence of this process.
Creating employment never was nor never could be a meaningful strategic aim for any organisation or business that has a real purpose, unless that purpose is itself simply to keep people employed.
When appreciated, the reality that businesses exist for a purpose other than being an employer begins to shed a lot of light on the lack of understanding and cynicism of politicians when they spend so much time projecting out soundbites about creating jobs.
Ironically however, the rights culture mentality that the constant narrative has created has on one hand made people afraid of their own shadows – as they begin to question whether their normal behaviour is actually right, whilst within the workplace, employees – particularly within the left-wing dominated public sector, have increasingly refused to accept responsibilities that are not within the confines or parameters of their own jobs.
This process has itself heralded the creation of ‘non-jobs’ such as human resources, and many additional posts that were never previously necessary and carried out as part of general management responsibilities, before the situation began to exist where employees may not explicitly say it, but through their actions, they are telling their employer and customers that ‘this isn’t my job’, and opportunists have been more than happy to step in and fill the gaps.
The culture shift from practical reality to idealism in the workplace has been exhaustively counterproductive.
Within the NHS alone, the creation of non-jobs and a mind-boggling array of roles that have been invented so that more and more responsibility becomes specific, means that the whole emphasis on what hospitals and health organisations are there to really do has been effectively lost.
Not only this. All of these jobs attract massive additional costs to manage. Not least of all the very generous pension schemes that jobs right across the Public Sector attract.
The point should not be ignored that each and every public sector organization has to use our money to pay for all of these additional and in many cases unnecessary employment costs BEFORE any of their real work actually begins.
Government and the Public Sector exist to allow every part of our wider community to function in ways that are beneficial and considerate of all.
Yet it is in no small part due to the policies of the Left and through the actions of levelling down, that the entire public sector and structure of government functions as a sclerotic monolith.
Protectionism exists right down to the personal level of the employee or worker.
This means that in terms of priorities or what the true purpose of the public sector is, the end user or customer – that’s us – in many ways simply no longer exists.
It is too easy to overlook and forget just how much impact and influence the Public Sector has on our lives.
To put the impact of having a completely dysfunctional Public Sector in perspective, it is perhaps best to try and provide at least some context by providing a list of how the work the public sector and the structures of government does, touches our lives:
Hospitals
Ambulances
Schools
Fixing Roads
Building Roads
Police
Fire Brigade
Parish & Town Councils
Borough & District Councils
County Councils & Unitary Authorities
Driving Licenses
Passports
Vehicle Licensing
Tax
Planning
Alcohol Licensing
Health & Safety
Flood Management
Environmental Health
The Courts
Jobcentres
Social Services
Emptying the bins
Erecting bins and dog bins
Bus Stops
Public Transport
NGOs (Non-Government Organisations)
[Army]
[Royal Navy]
[Royal Air Force]
The list goes on. Not least of all because even the functions that I have touched on here are managed by a wide range of different Public Sector bodies. They are all managed by organisations that have offices, structures, hierarchies and in many cases operational service departments to manage beneath and beyond them.
The bill to the Taxpayer (That’s us) for all of this is massive. In fact, it is currently thought to be the case that you actually work until late May or early June each year, just to pay the bill for all of this through the taxes that you pay.
Yes – that means you aren’t actually earning a penny for yourself for around five to six months of each year that you work.
Before we even consider the financial cost of maintaining the public sector as it is today in financial terms, it is important to begin thinking about what it really means for us when not just one employee, not just one individual organisation, but the entire Public Sector is not doing its job with its true purpose in mind.
Although it is now 20 years since I worked professionally as a Local Government Officer myself, I recognised then that without the pernicious culture that had already taken over at that time, one person should be able to do the work of four others and be four times as productive, IF they were allowed and encouraged to actually do their jobs properly.
Over 12 years of being a Councillor and in the years that have passed since, I have seen nothing that has changed my mind about this, other than to say that the situation or problem has increasingly gone from bad to worse.
Public service delivery – and the people who actually deliver the public service to us – are not the priority.
It is the frameworks around those jobs that have become most important to Public Sector organisations and the Public Servants who work within them. For us, that only results in loss.
The Public Sector costs far more than it should because of the culture that the Left have instilled within it. And it is not even carrying out the work that it should.
Having created a situation where the public sector literally can no longer do its job with the income it has because of its wages and pensions bill, the very rights and employment laws that Labour, the left and the EU it championed have created and have culturally installed, has made it impossible to function efficiently.
The irony is that Public Sector organisations such as the NHS can therefore no longer function without the use of contractors and employment agencies.
In the first instance or at the first level, this is the real so-called ‘privatisation’ that the Left continually shouts about and so loudly blames the Right for.
The burden that the Left has created is at first glance the polar opposite of the light-touch approach to government that the Tories would like us to believe works better.
Yet for reasons that are completely self-serving, this whole political class overlooks the consequences of their own policies and actions. Then when problems arise – which they inevitably do – they play around with the effects of the problems they created, without ever accepting or having the sense or indeed taking the risk to deal with the cause.
We previously discussed the Neoliberal purposes and motives to create smaller government that underpin what the Johnsonian Conservatives, the Right and even New Labour Policy does.
In the context of the ongoing damage that the Left has done, the argument certainly exists to support cutting back on many of the dysfunctional aspects of Public Sector delivery that their idealistic ideology has helped to create.
But the true purposes of the Right and the Left when it comes to public service provision and government itself must never be confused.
The reason that public services existed are as good now as when they were created.
Yes, the needs may have changed as different aspects of the way we live have changed too. But addressing the need for there to be a proactive and responsive approach to the needs that we collectively share across our communities is an intrinsic part of what makes a society fair.
However, that provision is not fair when any or all of the functions of the Public Sector are not working as they should.
That extends right down to the way that an entry level employee thinks about the purpose and the responsibilities of their role.
There is no doubt that the structures and the functions of the Public Sector have to be comprehensively reformed.
But Levelling Level is also about changing the way that Public Servants think.
The underlying reason that our Politicians talk about reform and change of public services, but then just throw more money at the public sector is because of the legislative complexities that will be required to be reviewed and changed in order to deliver that reform.
To be able to make services such as the NHS operate and function as they should, and for the priority and emphasis to be returned to front line delivery and the staff that deliver it as it should, it will mean unpicking and rescinding much of the legislation and the crippling rights that have been created and instigated by politicians of the Left.
It will also mean removing the private interests and the laws that facilitate profit-making opportunities from public service delivery for the friends of those on the Right.
Neither ‘side’ of the political divide as it stands today perceives there being any benefit to tackling the real issues that lie behind the problems that the Public Sector faces.
This entire political class believes that it would be electoral suicide to do so.
Changing the way that politicians see the issues that stop them – because they have a habit of being issues that we have no reason to tackle too – are a big part of the dilemma that we now face.
The issues with the rights culture that the Left has created that I have already covered relate to the creation and changes in Public Policy in their most basic sense.
But the changes that the Left have made on the basis that rights can fill the gaps where those without can quickly become those that have, took perhaps their most profound turn, when Blairite New Labour decided to turn the education system on its head.
Given that the Labour movement was built around the needs of the working class, there is plenty of irony in the approach that the Blairite Labour Party pursued in its attempt to create an environment where everyone could achieve an undergraduate degree.
Whoever you are and whatever background you are from, you will know from experience that academic learning and attainment is not a process that works for all.
In fact, recognising, accepting and indeed celebrating the benefits that come from understanding and then harnessing the reality that in educational terms, both practical and academic learning has equal but different value, is something we should really see as being highly advantageous to a modern economy.
Yet for Labour and the Left, the obsession with ‘equal rights’ have also made them blind to the reality that different learning pathways not only have the potential to be very good for business and the economy. They are also much fairer and considerate of the individual learner too.
To be fair to the Blairites, Labour and the Left had previous form. Their assault on our formally word-class system of education began with the assault on Grammar Schools or so-called ‘elite education’ over a period of decades before.
But their new and more advanced form of imposing idealistic equality on the population took the meddling of the Left into an entirely different league when in their obsession with imposing a solution over the right to a higher education for all.
In fact, they overlooked the reality that the reason so many people didn’t have degrees wasn’t just because of their background, where they come from or how much money they had.
In the majority of cases, lack of academic attainment is down to many other factors. Not least of all that perhaps 50% of the population or many more are not academically inclined.
In one stroke of Labour-defined genius, entire generations of young people in this Country had their futures compromised.
The higher education system itself became focused on the bottom line rather than the quality of teaching as money became the focus, rather than the quality of what anyone learned.
New graduates were condemned to at best begin their professional working lives saddled with what for some will be never-repayable debt.
An educational system that was once envied across the world, found itself forced to create more and more worthless degrees and dumb down the process of academic attainment as schooling was commercialised and we forgot what ‘universal learning’ was really there for.
All so that students who should never have needed to walk through the doors of a university to ‘qualify’ themselves in someone else’s idealistic eyes, would always be guaranteed a pass.
Perhaps within all of the policies that the Left have inflicted upon people and communities across the UK, levelling down standards in education may well prove to be the worst that they have done in time.
Never mind that Industry is now facing a crisis based on the reality that a degree-level education can no longer be relied upon as the educational benchmark that it once was.
We are now facing a situation where young people leave university with degrees, they believe will entitle them to opportunities and riches that simply do not exist in the real world. Simply because the world of business employs staff to carry out the functions that they are able to, and not what a piece of paper tells the world they can do.
The lie that qualifications solve all social problems is indeed one of the sweetest from the Left that we have heard. But it has been a massive contributor to the disaster we now face.
Today, as things stand, this legacy of the left is destined to last.
The chances are that as you read this today, your perception of money is that money is a thing. That is because you can save money in a piggy bank or look at the bank balance that you have, money exists and is definitely real.
You might believe that money is the key to everything, and that with enough of it, money can solve any problem.
If this summary sounds familiar or would be a good description of your own view, it may be of comfort to know that you are certainly not alone.
To be fair, this is pretty much how the whole world thinks and how everyone perceives money today.
What you may not realise is that whilst this may be representative of majority thinking today, it certainly hasn’t always been this way.
In fact, the relationship we have with money and the way it now runs our lives isn’t that old at all.
I’m guessing that your immediate response to the question ‘what is the money problem’ is likely to be ‘I haven’t got enough!’.
But why do we need more of anything when so many of us have already got so much?
The relationship that people have with money has been changed by the way we have been and are being conditioned to think.
We are programmed by just about every stream of information that comes at us to believe that there is always something better that we can have and that what we really need is the money to get it.
The truth is that right now, we are all part of a society that functions upon and is driven by envy. We live and breathe the mantra that more wants more.
The fundamental problem with money today is that we believe that the value of everything can now be calculated or measured in financial terms.
The value of our time or the time that it takes to carry out work or a job, the goods, food, clothes, phones, computers, bikes, cars, houses, holidays, professional services and even the education that we can buy is now considered by us all in terms of what it will cost us – or in monetary terms alone.
We have quite literally moved from valuing effort, experience and the end result or outcomes, to what cost or income the process will generate.
We do so in such a way that we now overlook or simply forget the qualitative aspects of any process, and this is why so many of us so often find ourselves questioning why the customer service or the way that we are treated by anyone we buy a service or goods from, seems to be increasingly poor.
When we have reached the point where money is the only thing that is important, it naturally follows that whoever controls money, the rules that govern money and the supply of money itself, will be the person or the people who are ultimately in charge of EVERYTHING – right down to what we do, think and say.
Because we revere money and wealth in the ways that we do today, the very democratic system that we believe to be in place to serve our best interests, doesn’t really exist.
Contrary to conspiracists talk and views, there is not some hidden world power that lies at the heart of everything and all public policy decision making, with someone sitting in a bunker on a mountainside pulling every world leader’s strings.
Yes, a simple look at the way money rules everything, does make it seem logical that such a power exists. But the real power and influence that now lies in the hands of others who have or control money, and therefore have control over us all comes down to the way that we ALL think about money.
It is the way we think about money that surrenders our own power and control over life and everything else.
Life isn’t working fairly for all, because those who control money and therefore the lives of everyone are not thinking fairly. They think only of themselves.
It is important to understand that freedom, as we perceive it in the world today, doesn’t actually exist.
Our so-called freedoms are all dictated by money and the systems that manage money. Those money systems are managed and controlled by people who do not have our best interests at heart.
Each and every part of our life is controlled by the actions of others, as is even the way that we think – IF we accept the validity and credibility of every information source that we choose.
This isn’t freedom.
If we do not question the information we are given and then live or go about our lives acting upon whatever we have been told, we have accepted someone else’s truth or narrative as our own.
This isn’t freedom.
Everything that we need and that is made available to us so that we can live our lives comes into our lives under someone else’s control.
This isn’t freedom.
We should not be fooled into thinking that because we are able to buy a nice car or an expensive house, we are the ones who are in control, when to do so we have had to ask someone else for a loan and they have then told us that we can afford to do so.
This isn’t freedom.
We should not fool ourselves with the idea that a qualification of any kind makes us different to anyone else. It only makes us different in someone else’s eyes.
This isn’t freedom.
In fact, if we conduct ourselves in any way that reflects the impression we will make on others or the world that lies beyond our doors, or we qualify anything we do or say by the way that others react or we believe that they will see us, we are not the ones who are in control.
This isn’t freedom.
If we are not free to be, say and do as we please without cost or impact upon others, life for us will never actually be fair.
In the doublespeak of politicians that we hear today, the Tories have made unemployment synonymous with poverty.
Yet in today’s world, not having a job and not having enough money do not correlate in any way. They are massively different things and are not even sat on the same page.
With the political class being as obsessed with labels and soundbites as they are, politicians have somehow managed to pick up and run with the rather cynical idea that everyone will be ok and can get on with their lives, as long as they have got a job.
Yet no two jobs are the same.
We will return to the question of what it costs to live and how a benchmark minimum wage should really work later. But for now, it is important to recognise that under the way legislation in the UK currently works, there are jobs that just don’t pay people enough to live self-sufficiently in the current business and economic environment. But there are also jobs that aren’t really jobs on even these terms at all.
One of the most sinister and indeed cynical aspects of industry today, is to look at the laws that exist using highly paid legal professionals, and then find the gaps or loopholes that are not covered, and then identify the opportunities that they can exploit.
Under the guise of being self-employed, many people who want to work are drawn into ‘employment’ that may appear to pay well in terms of hourly rates. But the companies hiring them – who are actually just dodging the additional costs associated with employing people frequently fail to make clear that the rider, courier, driver or whatever trendy name their role has been given has to cover the costs of carrying out whatever work they do from whatever they are given too.
What the media don’t tell us – as good investigative journalists operating without fear of the consequences would do, is that many of the companies that function within or are wholly dependent upon the gig economy can only exist because they have found these loopholes to exploit people legally and therefore make their platforms profitable when they wouldn’t be in any other way.
Many of these companies are now very well known. They may well be bringing something you have ordered using an app to your door today. Yet the people coming to all of our doors to provide these services are being exploited in potentially many ways, whilst our politicians champion such ‘opportunities’ as being ‘jobs’.
Regrettably, the reason the gig economy exists is a) because the people behind them have a lot of money and influence over our politicians and b) because we like having easy and quick access to whatever we want and especially so when we believe that for us its ‘cheap’.
The creation of the minimum wage – which was another Blairite policy that was implemented in April 1999 – heralded the arrival of what we were told by the government would be the end of the days of old, where unscrupulous employers would be able to get away with paying their staff whatever they liked.
Once again, a policy based more on the successful impact of the messaging and the soundbite in the media, to the employee, the implementation of a minimum wage always has and probably will always sound good.
But there was also a flipside. The Labour policy was once again no more than an act of tinkering around the edges that ended up creating many more problems than the one that it never really fixed.
This particular way of benchmarking gave employers a moral get-out clause. So, if they could demonstrate that employees were always in receipt of the minimum wage or its equivalent, they simply didn’t feel obliged to worry about anything else.
Salaries have been used to hide the fact that employees were being paid less than the minimum wage when things like the hours actually worked were calculated, making what appear to be generous levels of pay turn out to be anything but.
By creating more and more laws in an attempt to cover every eventuality, our politicians just give the unscrupulous more and more loopholes to find.
I should probably be a poster boy for the Social Mobility cause:
I grew up in social housing in a very troubled household, received free school meals and clothing vouchers and didn’t spend any time with my dad until I was 13.
I left school at 16 with no qualifications and then talked my way late into the GCSE year at the local technology college when I was 20 – and ready – for the academic part of my lifelong learning to begin.
I was a Regional Manager for a National Charity in my late 20’s, Managing Director of my own specialist transport business contracted to a National Newspaper Group at 30 and Chair of a Licensing Authority where I was also an elected member, all before I was 40.
I laugh – sadly for all the wrong reasons – whenever I hear self-aggrandizing politicians regurgitating the term ‘Social Mobility’.
I know, only too well, that very few, if any of them, understand the real and many different reasons that so many of us do not achieve our real potential – if they should actually choose to try and do so.
The people we have running the Country certainly don’t appreciate that there is a lot more to the solution than the so far futile idealistic attempts to impose a fix
What many do not understand is that the Social Mobility issue is one that sits along the same road travelled by all of the different prejudices that have become such great celebrity causes.
The only difference is that the prejudices that create barriers to social mobility have been ringfenced by the reality that it is not fashionable for those who are rich and popular with public voices to challenge public thinking by championing the fight against poverty and the boundaries that surround it as a cause in any meaningful way.
Sadly, like many of the ills that society faces, tackling Social Mobility issues requires decision makers to actually understand the problem and then use the tools at their disposal to affect change surrounding a range of interconnected problems that are not and never can be directly in their hands.
It doesn’t matter how many initiatives that Government or the Social Mobility Commission come up with on their behalf.
It doesn’t matter how many rules or laws are created or changed to force what politicians believe to bethe doors of opportunity wide open.
There is not one initiative that will work for everyone who needs help, until we have all accepted and learned to change the way that we think about anyone of anything about them that is different to what we consider to be normal – in the sense of how we see ourselves and how we were brought up or conditioned to be.
Replacing negative prejudices with positive prejudices is just swapping one set of prejudices for another. So, the result will always be unfair.
So, there’s a young couple, let’s say in their late teens or very early twenties. They are unmarried, left school with nothing more than a token GCSE each. They haven’t worked a day since they left school. They already have a baby, and another is on the way. They are in a flat provided by the local social housing association. They both drink and smoke cannabis.
If I ask you to visualise the future of those two children in your mind, what do you think?
The chances are that you, or if not you, then the majority of people you know who are like you will immediately think ‘They are totally f*****d’ – or something equally obtuse. Nonetheless, it will be VERY conclusive in terms of how that future will be defined.
And that response – or indeed anything like it in terms of Social Mobility for those children, their parents and indeed anyone else who needs help to achieve and to be the best that they can be – is a real problem for us all.
The really challenging aspect of the answer to the Social Mobility question is the acceptance that we all have a part to play in helping others to get on.
More often than not, the part we have to play is resisting the innate prejudices that we all have – that call on us to obstruct people from progressing or accessing opportunities who we identify as being different and therefore a threat to us in some way.
Yes, the term ‘innate prejudices’ is yet another term that has and is being actively misused by the rights lobby today, simply because you cannot legislate to change the way that people think.
The spurious attempts regulate against innate prejudices are counterproductive. They make light of the reality that every one of us has innate prejudices that affect everything we do and every interaction that we have.
It is basic programming or software that constitutes the way that we think. Without modification through life learning and broad experience, it will have either been there, have been created or have been developing since the day that we were born.
The reality is that everyone has a part to play in being more considerate in the way we think about and therefore respond to others.
Social Mobility is an issue that affects people of all ages. Contrary to accepted thinking, Social Mobility is also an issue that affects people from ALL backgrounds too. Yet again, we fall into the trap of believing that Social Mobility issues only affect people that society classes as being financially poor.
For example, at one end of the spectrum:
A schoolteacher, early in their career, who lacks self-awareness and perhaps confidence too, can easily create challenges for a student that they find difficult, that they wouldn’t create if they had the benefit of understanding that wasn’t available to them that day. That student could indeed be one of those children who had come from a very challenging home environment, where the support for academic learning simply wasn’t available. Their poor behaviour was nothing more than a behavioural cry out for help and support, when they had neither the maturity nor the ability to elucidate what was going on for them. They probably worried about what the reaction of other students or the teacher would be if they even tried to do so and then when they are punished or singled out, they just have the feeling that they are not worth anyone’s time confirmed, and the whole process just becomes one further step entrenched and yet another step away from them ever finding a way out.
Then:
A senior manager is interviewing external candidates for a junior to middle management role in a corporate environment. The shortlisting went well and there are 5 candidates that on paper all achieved score levels against each and every part of the Job Description that indicates they are good for the job – subject to who comes first on interview day. The manager is looking forward to meeting one of the candidates, as beyond the scope of the questions he believes that she has experience that would bring added value to the role and has the potential to make him look very good. When the candidate walks in, the first thing that the Senior Manager notices is not the smile, or the effort that the girl makes to greet everyone with the confidence that reflects her qualifications and experience that was acknowledged by here invitation to attend interview, it’s the fact that she is tattooed from head to toe. The manager sees and hears nothing else apart from the internal dialogue that’s suggesting what an animal and source of trouble this woman could now be. It didn’t matter that the girl would have taken the Managers sales targets into a different league by the end of month 3, or that he would have had a promotion after six months because of how good his recruitment had been. It certainly didn’t matter that the girl had broken every societal shibboleth to get to that interview, having been the first from her family to even get GCSEs or A Levels – let alone the postgraduate degrees that had taken years of extra working part time jobs. His decision based on nothing but that innate prejudice against tattoos and what being tattooed actually means, meant that the company, all the people who worked there and all of their customers had lost out on years of growth and innovative product development, because instead of recruiting the best candidate because they looked different, they recruited a man who looked the part, but would not seven years later become the divisional head and later Company CEO.
Okay, so the two examples I’ve just provided may have been a little long-winded. But by now you are probably beginning to get the point. If you had not been some of the way there already.
But there is another dimension to the Social Mobility question that is a very long way from the list of populist issues.
It deals with people who are in the jobs market already, rather than the pathway and barriers they experience on their journey to get there.
This problem MUST be addressed if we are to achieve the outcome of Levelling Level and treat everyone in every situation just the same.
In terms of those who have completed their education and are at any point of their careers, the social mobility barrier that many people face are the systems that business, organisations and industries now use to recruit people and get them into interviews.
Methods that are leaving businesses and organisations short-changed in terms of their talent pool, keeping exceptional candidates out of roles they would be perfect for, and giving people who are unsuited to the role they are given, opportunities which just end up being everyone’s loss.
The issue that I am referring to is the tech-based and light-touch methods that companies, their HR people and the agents they employ to recruit people for them now use.
Software tools take the effort out of reading CVs in a way that never allow for the nuances relating to how every individual writes differently – based upon their experience. It makes no allowances for the subtleties that may be as simple as one or two industry terms being absent from a CV or covering letter, therefore not allowing all of the preprogrammed tick boxes to be completed when it comes to setting the search word terms.
The mindset across the recruitment sector has, like everything else, become obsessed with the bottom line too.
When it is not uncommon for fees to be in the range of 20-40% of the salary for the role they are recruiting, the desire to reduce risk whilst maximising profit means that using a tick box system basically guarantees that the results for the recruiter are assured, with little effort being involved.
All industries now recruit on the basis of looking for reasons to rule people out of a recruitment process, rather than looking for reasons such as the added value they bring to rule them in.
That must change if Social Mobility is to be achieved and the way we are all to be treated at every stage of our lives is both balanced and fair.
At some point in the very distant and historic past, somebody somewhere recognised the need for some kind of service to be provided for everyone in the community, on our collective behalf.
Through a process that probably began under the control of those with money, power and influence, the pathway of civilization brought us to a place where instead of there being services that everyone needed that were maintained under the control of specific or vested interests, services like sewage and waste management, the provision of water, looking after our roads and even our policing came under public control in the form of elected bodies that were there to represent the interests of us all.
Whilst it is staggering to know this, it is only within the past one hundred years or so that we finally reached the point where services that everyone needed every day or that everyone needed access to in the very same universal way, became fully under ‘public control’. In no small part due to the impact from and because we had to fight the Second World War.
Yes, the NHS was only born and created as a universal public health service just after WW2. An act that probably saw the zenith of public service provision, in terms of our system of government having full control over all of the public services.
It ensured that everyone had the same access, opportunities and support available to them both as individuals, but also in terms of anything -such as looking after infrastructure, where our collective interests were involved.
With a public services system or ‘public sector’ that had by this stage become so big, it was perhaps inevitable that it would take on a meaning or persona of its own.
That was of course, before politics became involved.
The behavior of our MPs, the political class, the establishment that sits behind it and activist movements such as unions are the key or common components of all the problems that we now face.
Some will choose to see the last two years of our political history as the only contributing factor in terms of all the problems that are set to come.
But the uncomfortable truth for many is that the kinds of problems that society faces today are born of a rich tapestry of poor decision after poor decision, made by the wrong people being in positions of power and influence for all the wrong reasons.
Rather like the whole being greater than the sum of the parts, together all of these bad decisions have had a cumulative effect, we are now in the early stages of experiencing the related disaster unfold.
To overlook the causes of problems, or to pursue policy of any kind because of bias or influence – even because it’s the way politicians think or because of what politicians believe – rather than making decisions simply because those decisions are right for people they represent – are a massive abuse of power. It is as if a totalitarian dictatorship had been formed.
Our politicians may actually believe that they are doing the right things. But if they are not aware of themselves and their own thinking to a level where they can see where what’s good for people starts and where their self-interest ends, we are, as a Country, as communities and as individuals, pretty much damned.
And that, I am afraid to say, is where the UK finds itself today.
The top-down system that thrives on a culture of assumed deference to those in positions of influence, power or roles that traditionally attract cross-community respect is broken.
Our system of governance is now dysfunctional to the point where many of the people who we should be able to trust for their integrity, purpose and ability are in fact imposters.
Yet we still have this ridiculous and illogical respect for those individuals by default – simply because of the way we have been conditioned to perceive their role.
There is no example of this problem that is more profound than the way that the British Political System and access to every level of choice and decision making with any real meaning in government across the UK is in the hands of just a few political parties that together monopolise the system and have effectively made it a closed shop.
Taking the situation as it stands today and changing the system to one that works fairly for all as it should, cannot be achieved if it remains in the hands of anyone who either benefits from the system as it works today, or indeed believes that they could.
Politicians cannot deliver balanced policies that are fair to all if they are not balanced and fair in the way they look at the tasks and opportunities that face them.
Political Parties
We face a situation today where there will be no real choice for any of us when and if we choose to vote at the next General Election.
Conservative, Labour, Liberal Democrat, it doesn’t matter. They are all cut from the same cloth and have all played their part in creating the problems that we have got.
Without change – and that means having an alternative to all of them to vote for which isn’t just the same as any of them but with a different name, things will certainly change as it is inevitable that they will do so, but in terms of the societal injustice and unfairness that we are all now beginning to understand, the imbalance will simply go on in the same ways, hitting us very hard, all over again.
Because of the way that the system currently works, the political parties that we know, effectively have a monopoly on who gets into Parliament and onto local Councils too.
That means it is the political parties that decide who is best to represent us, not us. And that means that when you vote for any Conservative, Labour or Liberal candidate, they will be speaking with their party’s voice – not yours.
With the majority of us having a level interest in politics and the quality or background of the people we vote for in elections being little more than surface deep, the political parties have been able to develop a system where politicians ranging from local councillors right up to the ministers who effectively run the Country today may have no relevant understanding or experience.
They offer the public nothing that makes them suitable as leaders or qualifies them to hold the responsibility that they have been given.
Whilst they may quickly move home to a constituency when they become a ‘candidate’, the reality is that few of the MPs we have in Parliament today, really have any real interest in the areas or genuine affiliation with locality they represent – other what they have created – so that they can obtain and then keep the job.
The political system today does not work on the basis of us being able to elect the best and most able public representative to serve on behalf of our community and serve our collective interest – as it should.
The people we are able to choose from on our ballot papers at elections are selected only on the basis of how likely they are to serve the purposes of their political party.
The interests our politicians represent today are not our own.
When the going gets tough, the tough get going was an adage long before the arrival of the Billy Ocean pop song of the same name in the 1980’s.
Regrettably, it alludes to the reality that when times are difficult, we need strong leadership to see us through.
What it doesn’t suggest, is that the flip side to this two-edged sword is that in times of peace or stability, it is very easy for poor and weak leaders to do anything they want to try and make themselves look tough.
Until the Russian invasion of Ukraine (Which is underway as I write) the UK and most of the world had experienced and enjoyed over seventy-five years of continued peace.
Sadly, whilst challenging times – and by this, I mean genuinely challenging times, such as a World War – have the capacity to bring out the best in leadership. Whereas for us all, a period of peacetime – when circumstances and the accepted narrative suggest that our every need is taken care of – lead to complacency for anyone and everyone who is not being touched by problems that to everyone else remain unseen.
Birds of a feather flock together, and a system filled with the poorest leaders only attracts more of the same with diminishing quality that makes everything get progressively worse.
We have forgotten to value everything that is important
In the period of time immediately following the Second World War, people in this Country genuinely appreciated all that they had. Not in terms of material wealth – as rationing continued to exist into the 1950’s – but in appreciating others, their sense of community and in simply just being alive.
This didn’t last long. As the consumerist drive of the 1950’s and beyond took control, life lost the real meaning that it had.
This societal change was reflected in the development and evolution of post-war British Politics too.
The prolonged period of peace without anything but easy options being taken by the political classes – because genuine leadership has only been seen in peacetime as an option, rather than a requirement – has led to the present-day political system that has thrived on ‘easy’ being the only thing to do.
In fact, so long has the Political Party system been furloughed away from the need to provide what we would recognise as real leadership at a challenging time or within a period of National Crisis, the political class has managed to make it impossible for genuine leaders to come through and join their parliamentary ranks.
The darkness that surrounds small-minded and self-interested control freaks in public offices has led them to do everything they can to prevent light of any kind shining through that will expose them for the charlatans that they really are.
Weak leaders don’t take tough decisions. They lead by taking easy decisions and then tell us that we should believe they are tough.
Weak Political Management
Management or rather good management is not a skill that can be taught in a school, college or university.
Good management skills are based on experience that can only be gained by managing others in a real-life environment where people can only fully utilise their own skills when outcomes are clearly set, and the frameworks are policed so that delivery is achieved.
The political system that we have today doesn’t value this reality as it should.
MPs are typically drawn from the ranks of activists, think-tankers, people working in Westminster or on the Parliamentary Estate. They are people who have probably chosen to pursue politics as a career, when in reality, public service and public representation cannot be and should never be treated as any such thing.
The people we have leading us today, in the majority, have no real experience of life. They have no real experience of managing others. They certainly do not have the understanding of looking at the way an organisation or operation functions, and then being able to delegate through instruction to others, what they need to do in order to achieve a result or to just make a service work.
This has regrettably led to a situation where we have MPs and people running the Country who do not have the wherewithal to ‘make things happen’. They certainly do not know what to do other than to say yes, when a civil servant, government officer or an advisor says no.
So long has this process within the wheels of government now been at work, that civil servants, government officers and advisors are now able to dictate the direction that public policy goes.
This is undemocratic. It means that decisions are not being made for all.
Without good leadership and the oversight that goes with it, the public sector – or rather the executive, administrative of operational functions of it, have effectively been allowed to run riot.
Indeed, it is no accident that the public sector has become the sclerotic money pit that it has. The situation now exists where public sector organisations take a view on the public policies that are generated from above, and then interpret this in the way that it works best for them (the managers).
The complete lack of commerciality means that there is no reference point or incentive to find more cost-effective ways of operating. Instead, the public sector has been actively encouraged to become bloated on the staffing side, with the bill to the public purse being again and again massively enlarged.
Without the system of checks and balances that political leadership with real-life and real-world experience offers, the mentality of the public sector has become very much that ‘we are the ones who are in charge’.
We have a public sector that runs and operates for all the wrong reasons. We have a political system that sits above it as its political master, that is filled with politicians who will not tackle the issues or take the decisions that they are there to take.
When politicians and public sector organisations aren’t doing their job or rather have nothing to do, they feel obliged to justify their existence, simply so that they can continue doing whatever they actually do, rather than what we are told they do.
This process inevitably leads to the creation of problems or even the division of existing problems to create new ones. Processes exist that literally go in search or more problems, so that politicians and Public Sector organisations can find new ways to justify why they actually exist.
As all of these functions are established on the basis of public policy, it therefore becomes necessary that more public policy or more laws are created to enable them to continue to exist.
If politicians and public servants were being completely honest about their jobs and responsibilities, they would already be doing a lot more than they already do.
They would also recognise that they don’t need more responsibility than they already have.
They would in fact understand that they would be better giving much of that power back.
However, once again there is a complete avoidable battle between the ideology of the Left that created this mission-creep culture, and that of the slash and burn approach adopted by the Right
Earlier, we discussed the approach or philosophy that drives the Right that we know as Neoliberalism.
One of the tenets of this highly flawed and self-serving philosophy is the removal or reduction of rules, laws and red tape – or what is commonly known as the process of deregulation.
In context, the push from the Right would see not only the unnecessary rules and regulations that have been created by the Left-wing rights culture destroyed. It would also see the removal of many of the regulatory tools and devices that provide genuine checks and balances across society – the ones that are actually serving us right.
Politics, the politicians that we have and the way that they do politics are the root cause of the problems that we have.
But they are closely aided and abetted by the role that the monster they have created in the form of the public sector plays.
Government provides services through the public sector, and it legislates or sets the rules that provide the framework for how everything else works too.
Whilst so many of our problems have been created by Government and the Public Sector through their obsessive fervor to try and control everything by creating rules on top of rules, their approach to business and money has been very different.
In the case of business and in particular the UK Financial and Banking Sector, successive governments have stepped further and further away from legislating to govern how the money men behave.
They have done so to the point where this massively overvalued sector is basically allowed to set its own rules.
Neoliberalism, Free Markets and Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) are only able to function if government is involved as little as possible. This is achieved through the spinning of the myth that everything that bankers and financiers do is done with our best interests at heart, and that their increased freedom is balanced by the altruistic nature of unbridled market forces which replace the need for government intervention and care.
(SPOILER: They certainly don’t)
When our political classes have bought in to the lie that money is the only thing that can really solve any problem, and those same politicians are basically blind to the way that the money system works, it means that we have money men not only able to exert such influence on politicians that they actually have a different set of rules for them than those we have for us, they are also able to set the rules that govern the value, our access to and the way that money works for all of us.
Money is nothing more than a medium of exchange or what began as a very practical way to create a universal system of exchange that meant we were only two transactions from offering what we have in exchange for what we want.
Up until 1971, a system called the Gold Standard existed. Any money that we had in our hands – whether it was in the form of notes, or coins of whatever value, actually corresponded to the same amount of gold, which was then held in the vaults at the Bank of England (or wherever the safest place at any particular time to store a very large amount of Gold actually was).
At the behest of people with big ideas who knew better, following many of the ways of thinking that ultimately have dictated the way that we now live, the Gold Standard was effectively abolished and the money in circulation was no longer tied or anchored to anything of real value.
The removal of this anchor or tie, gave the money men the scope to invent more and more elaborate and complicated ways to create, hide and multiply the value of the money they managed. Even though and especially so, that to all intents and purposes, the money they use to buy things, pay each other and yes, lend to all of us at substantial rates of interest – doesn’t actually exist.
The world we live in revolves around the value that we attribute to money.
We have made our way of living all about belief in something that doesn’t actually exist.
And we have got to this place because we are all victims of what is likely to be the greatest confidence trick that the World has ever seen.
The reality that money not only doesn’t exist, but that bankers and financiers actually create it out of thin air is so troubling that for many of us, even the suggestion of this is too ridiculous to believe.
If that is hard enough, the next twist of the knife that the few have been cutting and abusing us all with is that they also manage, control and police credit ratings, credit checks and the rules that govern your credit worthiness too.
In a world that we are conditioned to believe revolves around money, this means that the people who create money are the very same people who control everything that relates to what we believe to be our wealth and financial status – right down to the value of the smallest thing that we own.
If you have never had to worry about paying a bill, paying the balance of your credit card off at the end of every month, or had to go to a bank (if you are one of the lucky ones) or a loan shark (if you are not) to get a loan, I can only really say that’s great, have a high-five and good for you.
Regrettably, very many of us have and do have those worries.
Right now, the number of people having to look this experience in the eye is growing, more and more each day, as the impact of the cost-of-living crisis comes firmly into sight.
The pernicious irony of all this is that the people who have created or played key roles in the creation of the cost-of-living crisis are the same people who are setting the terms and requirements of credit and loans.
As a society that overtly prides itself on fair play (or historically has done so), we recognise that balance and fairness is not normally achieved when the beneficiaries of a system are also the managers of that system, and the rules have been developed so that it appears to be legitimate for them to ‘self-police’.
The good news is that the money lie is coming to its end. In fact, the purpose of this book is to discuss what happens next and the good we will all have the power to do both for ourselves and for others, after the lie is fully revealed and this damning chapter of our history comes to its end.
The bad news – or at least the temporary bad news – is that we all have to wake up from the drug addiction that we have to wealth and money. The change that our politicians and leaders have made inevitable is change the change that we need. But the circumstances that accompany the process of that change will require that we all do cold turkey, and that will be painful for a period of time.
Yes, events happening around us are dictating change and the pace of that change. It is our experience of those events and the light that they will shine on how politicians, decision makers and influencers really behave and how they have been behaving, that will expose the corrupt system that we have to thought-changing truth.
The incompetence of our politicians would not have been the success that it has been, without the media having had the role it has and having been there to tell us that it is so.
So little of the news that we see and hear on so-called mainstream channels and stations is actually news, that propaganda should really be switched with news as the recognisable term for all that well known current-affairs mediums actually do.
Whether it is the agendas of the owners or political masters of the channels and platforms that set directional agendas, or just the personal motives and the experience of life that drives then journalists and presenters themselves, the reality that we face is that opinion and news have long since become a wholly interchangeable term.
The irony is that the opinion which is probably as much as 90% if not more of what the content of mainstream news and current affairs commentary really now consists of, is in reality a sanctioned or legitimised flow of fake news.
The only thing that makes mainstream sources any different to the content which comes from YouTubers, TikTokkers and social media commentators who are attempting to share helpful programming – other than the fact that the 10% news is even less that the alternative – is the fact that the programming is seen as reliable BECAUSE it is the mainstream.
Of course, as individuals looking out on the world as it is today, we can too easily be led to believe that it is only us – and strange as it may seem, the few people around us that we care to talk to – who see everything that is wrong in the world around us and with the narratives that we continually hear.
What I can tell you now is that this is a very long way from being the case. It is only the way that we are surrounded by a flow of information, coming at us from each and every direction in the information technology age – that tells us and then repeatedly confirms to us – that the narratives which override our own common sense and what our instincts tell us – are able to thrive and continue to exist.
Bullshit really does have its own sound, and the sources and perpetrators of the lies that have made life so unbearable for many, in so many different ways, – whilst suggesting that we are the only ones who think that way or even worse, that we are actually alone – are in the process of being uncovered and shown to us all for what they really are.
Within the narrative that has slowly but surely been tearing British culture apart, whilst giving just about every one of us an identity crisis as we try to fathom out the question of whether we should feel guilty for simply being the people that we really are and should be proud to be, there is a self-serving and self-propagating process at work.
Actually, it’s a rather large elephant that sits in this room, and it’s the reality that whenever we focus on any difference between anyone, we are highlighting or amplifying that difference, and creating division or further divisions between us or between members of society as we do.
We are all different to each other, whether those differences are physical or just in the way that we think. And the damage that wokeism and political correctness is doing only fails to be evident, because the success of this subversive culture is less than surface deep and championed only by sleepwalking groupthink.
Part 2 covers the realities of dealing with the changes that the collapse of everything we know will bring and how the changing world and the need for very different processes and ways of living will make this necessary.
We will look at how we can use these experiences positively to improve our own lives and as the benchmark for the process of Levelling Level to create a system that doesn’t allow or tolerate involuntary disadvantage for anyone and creates a system that is balanced and fair for all.
As I write, two years of the Covid Pandemic, the impact of Government Covid Measures and even the Partygate scandal that was looking more and more as if it was about to unseat Prime Minister Boris Johnson, all seem to have disappeared or somehow morphed straight into the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The Media are already beginning to create or rather craft a new narrative around what the politicians are doing that will frame the Ukraine Crisis as the real reason for what will soon become a systemic and financial collapse that touches just about everything that we know.
The problems that we will have to face will be so big and so profound that there will be no narrative that even the cleverest of the people working on ‘nudges’ and manipulation of the kind used on us all during the Covid Pandemic will be able to use to cover their political masters’ tracks.
The Government will not be able to make people look at the problems they face differently. Because we will have moved from being manipulated by the fear of what could be, to dealing with the pain and impact of what already is in our lives.
The Great Correction will not be a single event that we recognise as being what it is that has arrived in one moment or we woke up to following its arrival overnight.
The Great Correction is already underway. Kicked off by the handling of events that will prove to have been catalyst because of the way they have been handled, they are the culmination of many other events and hinge on decades of bad decisions being made before.
We are experiencing the first stages of the Great Correction in the price rises, cost of living crisis and everything that is beginning to happen around us. Each and every part will add up to change which when we look back many years from now will be seen in a way that we will not believe that we have lived through and experienced ourselves.
Together, it doesn’t matter whether it’s the cost-of-living crisis, energy prices, the way that Covid was handled, food poverty and hunger, social mobility issues, climate change, housing shortages, immigration or indeed any other problem that we can see.
These problems have been developing, growing and creating even more issues through their knock-on effects over a period of many years.
Today, more and more people are asking questions about why things really are the way that they are, rather than simply accepting them as being normal, as we have been doing – and have been encouraged to do so by narratives – for a very long time.
Regrettably, bad decision making can take a very long time to work through and can remain unhindered up until the end result. It can and will cause a lot of pain to innocent people, before it finally does.
No public policy – or the effect thereof – that hurts people or is unfair to anyone is sustainable in the long term. And the long term can be a very long time indeed.
Even then, when vested interests benefit from the existence of that policy or that approach, they will do all that they can to keep that opportunity open – or to maintain that narrative, often being consciously unaware of or blind to the pain that they cause to so many others by doing so.
Many different things haven’t been working as they should – and have been hurting people as a result – for all that time.
So many, in fact, that there is very little public policy that now exists or works proactively to create or maintain a balanced way of living in any genuine way.
What is remarkable about this situation is just how ridiculous the situation has become, where so much has been wrong about the way that we live, but at the same time, because of just how bad things are, the wrong people have been able to succeed at keeping things as they are, or indeed actually making them worse.
The fact is that the wrong leaders give us the wrong results.
Perhaps the most critical dimension of writing Levelling Level, has been the challenge of putting on paper what some will read or perceive as being predictions at best and complete nonsense at its absolute worst.
However, all of the information and evidence that now makes Levelling Level necessary has been hiding in plain sight for as long as the decisions and actions creating the need for change have one-by-one, taken place. The direction of travel is very real indeed.
People are very comfortable with the way that the world has been working for a period of time that for many equates to the same thing as living memory.
Let’s face it. When things are good, why would you believe that they could ever change?
Of course, just like the enjoyment of alcohol and the massive influence that it holds on the lifestyles of so many of us, when we are enjoying something, we rarely think about or acknowledge the harm that it may also be doing us too. Yet these are real harms that far outweigh what are only the perceived benefits that we only believe to be making us happy, but are in fact storing up disasters for us in a myriad of other ways.
The obsession with material wealth and the use of money and finance as the benchmark of life that it has become, revolves around the very worst and self-serving aspects of capitalism.
Through the manipulation that underpins consumerism and fashion, unchecked capitalism has effectively taken control of our lives – even dictating the pain and punishment that arrives by default, at the doors of those who for whatever reason cannot afford to actively take part.
To many, this is just the way things are, or what some see as ‘Business as Usual’.
Yet what those of us are so heavily invested in this way of living and what we believe to be the benefits it gives us don’t yet accept or understand is that Business as usual is already over.
The collapse that will lead to this all changing is already underway.
Many of us scoff at or simply do not like the idea that there are forces at work that are out of our control.
The reality is that the reason that terms such as ‘The Hand of God’ or The Invisible Hand’ make a lot of sense to those who observe how events come together and then create particular results, is because there will often be no logical reason or excuse that can be seen to explain how things ended up the way that they did, or the chain or events or decisions that made them so.
Our default setting is to look for the first excuse or reason that makes sense of anything.
That is why in an age when our leaders, the establishment and the media don’t normally speak with sincerity or truth, many of us are both open and vulnerable to the idea or suggestion of conspiracies that come from what we consider to be any credible voice.
Yet, the reality is that the unsustainable way of living that greed and the obsession with money has imposed across the world, has, under the guidance of the wrong politicians, come at a considerable cost to us all. Not just because of the end results like you and I experience. But because their actions have pushed everything about life and the world we live in out of balance.
It is natural that the balance has to be restored.
Ironically for our leaders, it is their own way of looking at the world and the decisions that they make in each and every moment, that has created the circumstances where all of the problems that they have created and maintained are coming to a head.
Not everyone understands or accepts the principles of the Butterfly Effect or the Ripple Effect.
But as I wrote and discussed in my e-book Small Decisions have Big Consequences, the significant issues that we face today will have come about as the result of many different decisions that those taking them would never had such consequences in mind.
At the time of writing, most of the voices that I hear or read have become obsessed with the invasion of Ukraine.
Yet their obsession is about the now, and what it means in the future for them.
There is little in terms of thought being given to what the events we are experiencing in Ukraine really signify. Or more importantly, what influence the Ukraine Crisis and how it is handled by our politicians will mean in relation to what happened before, and where the world and how we live will go next – once the immediate crisis has itself disappeared from the news.
David Cameron led to the EU Membership Referendum. The EU Membership Referendum led to Brexit. Brexit led to Theresa May. Theresa May led to the near three-year Parliamentary logjam. The near three-year Parliamentary logjam led to Boris Johnson. Boris Johnson led to the unnecessary Covid Measures. The unnecessary Covid measures precipitated the coming collapse and cost of living crisis. And then Vladimir Putin got involved…
These are events that are in public view. They are happening at the ‘macro level’. But their implications and consequences, along with the influences that guide their next steps, are happening concurrently at the ‘micro level’ – that’s in all of our lives – too.
As this book is about the process and outcome of Levelling Level – and what we will experience in the coming years or during what comes ‘next’, I will not dwell on the mechanics of Brexit, Covid, or even todays Crisis in Ukraine – especially as I have covered these in other Books and within my Blogs.
However, Brexit was the first stage of what in future is likely to prove to be a trilogy of key events, that through the actions, responses and decisions of our politicians, through the Covid Pandemic and the Covid Measures that they imposed, and then on to the way they have handled Ukraine and used it with other purposes in mind, they have effectively sealed the deal on the Great Correction – that bit by bit will change life as we know it, probably for many years to come.
Reset might be an easier word to use when it comes to discussing a review of everything that changes every part of the system so that it works better than it has been doing.
But as I have come to realise as I have been writing about the coming correction over a growing period of time, the term reset also suggests keeping the same system that we have – and with it comes the suggestion of keeping the same system of government and leadership, with just the levels or the measures within the system being reset.
That simply will not work. It will not benefit us in any way.
As Einstein said, ‘Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results’, and this, without question, applies to the top-heavy hierarchical system and the people we today have at the top.
Everything quite literally needs to be corrected, so that we are once again back on the right path.
The right path is about appreciating and feeling good about the things in life that are really important.
It has got nothing to do with what we own, what we earn, or what we have.
There is little doubt that to many reading this book around the time that it is published, the content will reflect what looks like an entirely different world to the one that we see around us.
Yet our lives continuously revolve around acts and events that create change. It’s just very difficult to see and appreciate – with the way that the world works today – that the kind of change that is now required – can only come about through a series of events or experiences that are equal to a complete systemic collapse. A collapse that causes enough pain that we all accept that we have to act.
That collapse is already underway. It is reaching us through the experiences that we have had through the Covid Years. It is reaching us through what we see happening in Ukraine. It is reaching us through the cost-of-living crisis that is unfolding around us.
It is now time to accept that things will never be the same again.
As the impact of these events that are happening on our TV Screens and on our social media feeds begin to physically touch our real lives, more and more of us will realise that what has been happening is wrong.
We won’t only accept we need it, but we will also actively encourage and then embrace change.
The biggest change that we will have to encounter and travel through will be in relation to the way that we think.
Once we have again learned to value what is important and value each other as we really always should, then we can begin the process of rebuilding the world around us, correcting everything that touches our lives and the lives of others, so that the system we live in works as it really should.
Every problem that has been discussed in this book alludes to ways of being, laws, regulations, policies and the actions or activities of politicians that have either allowed or encouraged these problems to exist.
They are the apparent causes of many of the problems that we face, yet they themselves are in many cases only the effects.
Many of the problems that exist have been made worse by the fact that politicians and leaders have treated the effects of problems as if they themselves are the cause.
We have literally found ourselves in the mess that we are now, because the effect of one problem has been addressed as if it’s the cause, leading to another or more effects which have then been treated the same. Meanwhile, all the time this has been happening, nobody has ever dealt with the real or root cause.
The suggestions I have made all relate to where the root or real cause of all the problems lie.
When it comes down to it, the real change is one for all of us and that change is about our approach to life.
Like just about everything in this world, even ‘doing the right thing’ is a term that is open to interpretation, depending on way you think, or the priorities in your life that are involved.
In fact, so ridiculously grey is the area or cloud that surrounds ‘doing the right thing’, that if you were to sit down with the politicians running the UK today, or the journalists and commentators reporting on it in the media, and then ask them, ‘do you always do the right thing?’, the chances are that they could look you straight in the eye and honestly answer you yes.
And they wouldn’t be lying either. The difference is that they would always be doing the right thing for them. They wouldn’t be doing the right thing for everyone else.
Yes. There is a massive difference. But the two get massively confused.
Doing the right things for them is how politicians and people with influence and power got us all into the mess that we are in.
They have made decision after decision, based on the consequences they foresaw for themselves as a result of doing whatever they have then done, rather than basing those decisions on what would be the effect or consequences for us all.
The problem has always been that no decision is made with isolated consequences, particularly at public level. And every decision that has been made to benefit specific rather than the public interest, has been made with consideration only for the impact or consequences for that specific few and without any consideration for the impact upon everyone else – who will inevitably also be involved.
Actions always have consequences, and we all need to adopt a way of thinking that enables us to discern between whether the actions we are about to take have consequences for anyone other than us who may directly or indirectly become involved.
Whilst many may try to do so, we can never guarantee the options or choices that will be made available to us even two steps down the line.
In fact, there are no guarantees that even the consequences of the next decision that we make in the here and now will turn out exactly as we had anticipated or as we would like.
If we learn to take each and every decision in life based only on what we know our best judgement on what the impact of that specific choice in the moment will be, and then make the right choice for everyone who will be touched by that decision, we will always end up in the best place that we can be – no matter how hard we anticipate that choice will turn out to be for us personally.
It’s difficult to talk about the change that is already underway, without acknowledging the story of the ‘Great Reset’ that has been propagated by people within organisations such as the World Economic Forum (WEF).
The problem with the conspiracy theory about a world takeover that accompanies it, is that at present, the model that the WEF is promoting is likely to become reality. Not because these people have any real power. But because they have enough about them to predict what the public reaction to change of the kind we have already begun to experience over the past two years, and what comes next will be.
Hats off to them, the elites know that we are now in a period of significant change. But no matter how much they may desire to manage and own that change, so that they can remain in control of the ‘new world [order]’ that is to come, the Achilles heel that will down them is that they are the architects of all of these problems and the problems they have created are too big for small minded and selfish people to control.
Just remember that in a system that works for them as it now feels it always has, the elites will always appear to be in charge until the very moment that everyone else accepts that they are not.
As I have just touched on the WEF and New World Order conspiracy, it’s only fair that I mention not only the apparently large number of conspiracy theories that are around at the moment – particularly in relation to Vaccinations and the ‘Covid Measures’, but also the question that surrounds the reasons why people we would otherwise believe to be sensible and grounded, appear to have jumped right in.
If you have read this far into Levelling Level, you will almost certainly have begun to appreciate how different things really are in terms of the way the UK is managed, as opposed to how they either appear to be, or how we are told they are.
People are not stupid. In fact, even those without big words, technical understanding or the academic or experiential grounding that it often takes to be able to take public policy apart, know and understand at an intrinsic or visceral level that something is fundamentally wrong and that things simply don’t add up.
In the absence of good leaders who have built their foundations and messages on truth, people awakening to the presence of a government culture built on spin, messaging or outright lies, begin looking for alternative voices and information that feels credible and explains or gives some logic to why things are happening the way that they are.
The most regrettable part about the rise in popularity of conspiracy theories is that many of those looking for answers or someone to blame in an environment like we have right now, find it too easy to believe that many of the voices on social media that offer an alternative route to the one our current politicians offer, are leaders who can be trusted.
Circumstances will dictate the changes that lie ahead.
The changes we face will not be dictated by politicians or the elites as we know them in any form.
The Ideas and ideologies, often written by people who have never even experienced the times we are living in, that have previously driven our system of leadership and the direction that it then takes all of us, will be replaced by public policy and a way of living that based on practical need, rather than the impractical idealism that our current political culture represents.
That isn’t to say that we will not always be looking for ways to improve our lives and the world around us.
It will simply be that the motives and reasoning for doing so will be based only on improving life for everyone, rather than because of the benefit to self-interest or profit margins as is predominantly the case with everything now.
It is important to not get hung up on the terminologies being used.
Words have different meanings and different uses for different people, and in no industry or situation have so many esoteric terms been in use with the deliberate intent of suggesting that magicians are at work as there are today within the financial or banking trades.
Money behaves as it does today and the goods and services that we need and used are priced as they are, because it has been in somebody’s interest – usually making profit – for them to work in that way.
As we established earlier, a reset in its most literal form will not help anyone as we go forward.
It would simply mean that we have the same players and influences sat at the top of a system where nothing works as well and in fact gets progressively worse for every level of the hierarchy, as you travel down.
The collapse of everything that is underway will, through a chain of events, reach a place where we will all accept that the financial system that we have and the way that money is managed and used to control every part of life, cannot continue as it has.
The prices of everything that is essential to live and to survive will have to reflect its true cost to produce or provide, with the least number of separate interests in that system of supply – or the supply chain that is involved.
This inevitable process or correction of prices will result in what appears to be a devaluation of the Pound.
But as a process that compressively corrects the pricing of everything and takes it back to a level that reflects its true value, the value of everything that we own will remain exactly the same in relative terms.
It is just the case that the way we calculate costs, profitability and how we are taxed on what we have or possess from that point onwards that will no longer be the same.
In the future, prices will reflect what they really cost to produce and get to you, with only an appropriate layer of profit added at the minimum number of stages of the supply chain that are necessary for any essential goods or service provision to reach you.
For instance, you buy a loaf of bread from the baker. The baker buys the flour from the miller. The miller buys the wheat from the farmer. That’s three necessary points in the supply chain that get you a loaf of bread.
What we don’t then need is a broker buying the wheat from the farmer that he hasn’t even grown yet, and then selling it on to a grain merchant when it has actually been produced, with both of these two stages themselves adding unnecessary work and additional profit for themselves, all adding to the end cost for you.
This example is a very simplified view – and deliberately so.
Try to visualise just how many different interests have and are able to become involved with the process or supply chain providing goods and services, where global and even UK-wide supply chains are at work.
The prices of everything have been massively overinflated without any additional value being added to the end product.
This is one of the key reasons why we will return to supply chains that are as local as it is possible for them to be, and a system where only recognisable players – who are adding value to the end product – are actually involved.
Within the Great Correction, the change from a system that has been skewed in the favour of the money men and the belief in money and wealth, will require the way that everything we own is also valued. This necessarily means reevaluating how we see and manage past debt.
The best way to ensure fairness – in a system where money lenders have been lending out money that has no value and charging interest for it, is to reimagine that debt and recalculate it so that it no longer exists.
This isn’t a suggestion that we all embark on some giant game of musical chairs where we all suddenly own outright what is in our possession when the music of the old system stops.
But it does mean that ownership of everything must be revalued to be proportionate.
Where major assets such as land and resources are concerned, if they are not to be returned to or held in public or community hands, the new system of taxation will reflect the benefit to the private owner, so that the benefit from its utility is shared via the community for the benefit of us all.
Whilst there are many problems that are being caused by the impact and reach of social media, the availability of information and the evolution of how it is affecting life is a process that politicians are unable to control.
The example of Vladimir Putin’s attempts to tell the West that the bombing of Ukraine was fake news being the case in point.
No matter how hard any controlling politician tries, they will not prevent the dissemination of information within audiences that they wish to control.
Ironically, whilst fake news – or what in mainstream media terms is the publishing of opinion that we are then told is news – is causing governments around the world all sorts of problems, the end destination of what we are witnessing will be a new reality for truth and openness. One where leaders will only be able to function by telling is the truth, as the sheer weight of numbers of information sources will make it impossible for them to do otherwise.
If you are reading this from the perspective of one of so many of us who are today feeling the pinch and are becoming more and more aware of just how expensive it is becoming to live, the fact is that a rise in your income level – whatever that income might be – is probably the one thing or the one solution for you that will make immediate and overwhelming sense.
Whilst a rise in income is always dependent upon factors that are external to us – for instance how much we can get our employer to raise our weekly wage, we nonetheless feel that it is directly within our control, because our income is directly linked to what we personally do or what assets or investments we personally control.
Income is within our personal bubble or sphere of responsibility. So, when we believe we have enough income to cover all of our costs and all the things that we want, we can easily – and happily – conclude that all is ok in terms of our relationship with the world.
Yet the problem with us only thinking about money in terms of whether we have enough of it to pay for whatever it is we want to bring into our lives, means that our state of happiness is constantly and continuously being dictated by the prices – and therefore the decisions made by others out in that world.
In reality, we do not have control over our happiness, because the affordability of everything that we need and want is inevitably under someone else’s control. And what is more, our ability to afford all of it is also set by someone else too.
OK, so I can almost hear the thought bounding back at me here that says, ‘that’s just how the world works’ or ‘that’s just the way things work’. And yes, on the face of it, that is how it is.
But ‘that’s just the way it is’ exists, only because that’s what we have so far been prepared to accept.
We accept it because that’s how we have been taught, conditioned or programmed to think.
It was or would only ever be safe to think this way, IF we could trust the people who are in power to ensure that all of those influences and the power that dictates the prices we pay and the income that we receive were fair. That they were genuinely representative of what things cost, and that the ‘system’ was being managed in exactly the way that it should be.
But the people we trust who we have trusted with OUR power are not doing their jobs. In fact, they either don’t know how to do their jobs or are deliberately not doing them – because it benefits them in some way to turn a blind eye.
Life must be affordable for all
Prices and the cost of living are out of control because nobody is running a system of checks and balances that actually works or operates on the basis that life actually needs to be affordable for all.
Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should
Furthermore, those who are able to dictate prices are not doing so on the basis of taking only what they need. For the same reasons as that absence of checks and balances, they charge whatever they want and take whatever they want not because they should or because they need to, but because they can.
It is the responsibility of government to create and police a framework for an affordable life that works
The people whose responsibility to make sure that we don’t have to worry about prices, inflation and why everything inexplicably costs as much as it does, are our politicians – nobody else.
Our politicians are the people who put themselves forward to all of us for election on the basis that they are qualified, have the wherewithal or that they possess the experience, understanding and skills that are necessary to interpret everything that is going on in the world that impacts each and every one of our lives. They also do so on the basis that they have the vision and leadership skills to then come up with solutions and changes in the form of public policies that are not only fair and balanced for everyone – but they also actually work.
With the existing political culture that we have in power and occupying seats in our Parliament, within the devolved Administrations and within every Council across the Country today, none of the issues that are having a real impact on our lives that could be addressed, are being tackled as they should.
In fact, the majority of the politicians who have been elected by us have no idea or concept of the power that they actually have and are entitled to use on our behalf.
Others willfully choose not to do so, because for reasons of self-interest or because they have been influenced wrongly by others, taking action that can actually make a difference to the people they are supposed to be representing is something that will not help them, themselves.
Nobody has the right to make a profit
Nobody has the right to make a profit. They certainly do not have the right to make a profit by exploiting others, or by forcing them into arrangements that they simply cannot afford.
Yet this is the situation that exists in this Country today, simply because our MPs and Politicians – the people we have trusted to look after us – are not doing and are not up to the job.
Prices are at the highs that they are and are now rising all the time, because it is in the interests of others for them to do so.
The prices that we are being asked to pay, simply do not reflect the real – and much lower costs.
Self-interest is a powerful influence, because those who are driven to do everything that benefits themselves are more than happy to bring others into their plans so that one becomes just a few who benefit from the result.
I am acutely aware that those particularly on the right, which will include those who are keen exponents of Neoliberal thinking and policy, will deliberately see the drive and direction of this book as being socialist.
Yet socialism has already failed, despite the ridiculous protestations from the Left that it only failed because it’s never been done right.
The whole drive and direction of this work is the creation and implementation of what will be nothing more than a level playing field. So that those who are creative, hardworking and entrepreneurial can ethically thrive, whilst those who are driven differently and for whatever reason are just happy to exist, can do so, without those who are in a dreamed-up race to the top continually changing the rules of the game so that less ends up being even less, whilst more just adds more.
Contrary to current and unethical capitalist thinking, you do not need to attain or maintain excessive personal wealth in order to thrive.
If the rules of the game are fair to everyone, the players in the background can still enjoy taking part, whilst those who have pushed themselves will always have the opportunity to cross the line and feel like they have achieved a win.
It doesn’t matter what goods you buy, or what services you need to hire in. There isn’t one industry that exists now that hasn’t had the desire the people within it have to be the best at what they do and deliver the best they can for the customers they serve, replaced by the prioritisation that work is all about what they can make (£).
People used to think about careers in terms of the enjoyment, satisfaction and sense of personal achievement that it would bring them. Now, young people look at qualifications, courses, careers and social media in terms of what money, glory and celebrity will give them instead.
Money and wealth are the motivation and underlying aim in all that we do. So even the few who do desire to continue working ethically are now restricted from doing so, because the community or industry that they function within no longer operates in the same way that they wish to.
In a world where all systems and ways of working will be brought back into balance – which is what this document here proposes – there will be no reason for anyone to not function and to approach their work ethically, always looking at what they do in terms of the effect, consequences and benefits not just for them, but for everyone.
The reality is that profit should always be the happy consequence of doing any job well.
Profit or personal gain should never be the sole aim of doing anything.
Whilst not everyone chooses to broadcast the fact, increasing numbers of us see ourselves as being Spiritual rather than religious, and within that bandwidth, follow a wide range of ways of thinking that have basically replaced the place that faith in a religion previously held for us all in some way.
Like religion before it, new age thinking has created a ringfenced system of piousness where talk of great awakenings, raising consciousness and personal journeys, encouraged by astrology, tarot and ‘enlightened thinking’ still encourages people to completely miss the point.
The point of getting life right for us as individuals is that our own progress is about playing our part in getting life right for us all.
We cannot run away from the role that we have to play in creating a new, balanced and fair world for all. by only focusing on what is good for us. This is just another way of prioritising our own self-interest in what only looks like being a different way to what everyone else has been doing or already does.
The events and the changes that are happening around us will inevitably be interpreted in many different ways.
But in practical terms or objective ways of thinking, the new way of living or the new world that we will experience once we come out of the other side of all this will overtly look and feel very much the same.
The key is finding peace and acceptance with who we are in all this, rather than who we believe we should be.
Taxation is one of those things that everyone hates but accepts under what is perhaps the most ridiculous use of the shibboleth, it’s just how it is’.
In a response to one of my blogs I wrote a few years ago, a student suggested that taxation was a ‘voluntary’ process. I replied that the reason people paid their taxes without any apparent friction, was because it is the law for them to pay tax and to do so – not because it’s a voluntarily act.
At a deeper level, the student was arguably right. Because the fact that we don’t question the ridiculously extensive nature of the UK Tax Codes does indeed mean that in a counterintuitive way, we have voluntarily accepted the complexity and therefore the unfairness of the system that we have got.
Of course, it is the complexity, and the sheer volume of the UK Tax Code which stands at over seventeen thousand pages (17,000) and over a million words in length, demonstrates perhaps uniquely well how the more detail you have in legislation, the more holes you create for an entire industry of highly paid accountants to get their wealthy clients through.
The fairest way to pay tax, is for everyone to be treated exactly the same, and that means that everyone pays in the same way – which will always be the simplest way.
We occasionally hear talk of a ‘flat tax’, that is known to be a topic that our politicians avoid like the plague. They avoid it because of the upset it would cause the people who currently have so much influence over them and do so well from finding their way through those complexities that we have just discussed.
But a flat tax – which would mean everyone, and everything is taxed at the same rate, will not in itself go anywhere near enough to achieve the outcome of Levelling Level itself.
For reasons – which yes, once again, only benefit the rich and those with considerable wealth – the whole direction of Taxation in the UK today, is skewed towards productivity and output, rather than what anyone owns, manages or has sat idle in some form that is stashed away.
Taxing work and effort is a foolish thing to do, that contributes greatly to the difficulties and challenges that those on lower levels of pay face. It also works against social mobility, as it restricts the money available for people to ‘better themselves’ – perhaps by investing or starting a business – that would allow them to achieve and realise the aims they have – which should then be the focus of a much fairer and balanced system of tax.
Because the UK doesn’t currently tax land and resources that are held in private hands but provide the raw materials that are essential to daily life, those few that ‘own’ them suffer no discouragement from charging exactly what they like – and making no proportional payment back into the community pot as they do.
Equally, as public investment in infrastructure such as roads, railways, airports bring business to new areas and adds value to premises those private interests own, there is currently no system in place to tax the benefit to the company or the individual that they have gained for no reason other than it being the right time and the right place.
The argument that taxes are too complicated to overhaul holds no water. Like everything else, the only reason for arguing against change or for our politicians refusing to do so when they understand, is because there are powerful vested interests that benefit from not being taxed on capital and land, and an entire industry or profession exists that was created and developed to make the tax burden less and less painful, depending proportionately upon how much you are able to pay.
Adults, working a full working week in any job at any level, must be able to feed, house, clothe and provide adequately for their own transport needs, whilst providing basic necessities such as communication themselves, without the need for credit, loans, benefits or third-party support of any kind.
This Basic Living Standard Statement provides the benchmark that politicians and government must pursue in order to achieve and deliver on the aim of providing a societal and economic structure for the UK which is genuinely fair to all.
Those who tell you this aim is impossible have reasons for not wanting to have a fully balanced society with systems that are fair to all.
The reason they don’t want this may be as simple as they believe that such an aim is simply too hard or too difficult to deliver. That the way things are today are the way that things have always been done.
More likely however, it will be because they are comfortable with the way things work today, because there is a benefit or pay off for them in some way.
Such thinking is in itself a big part of the problem.
It is the complexity that the self-serving have created over a very long period of time, that now has to be unpicked so that everything outside of life itself is there to serve life and the way that we live. Rather than how it is now, where everything in life is focused outside of ourselves and dictates that we exist rather than live.
Levelling Level is built on the foundation of life being affordable for all.
The key step to achieving this is recognising that it is both the influences around life that are the problem and the influences around life that will also provide the solution.
Both the Tories Levelling Up and the Lefts Levelling Down are obsessively focused on addressing the perceived needs of the individual, literally looking at the problem from the top-down.
Levelling Level is the process of creating a level playing field by ensuring that the stepping off point in our lives for everyone is exactly the same – in terms of the practical circumstances that we are in or would be in, IF everyone started off with nothing or no advantages of any kind.
Anyone, no matter their beginning, always has the potential to achieve the best they can do for themselves, provided the environment and circumstances around them do not obstruct them or disadvantage them in some way.
However, when the environment or circumstances around anyone place them in a situation where their priority is simply to exist or to survive, and every part of that system around them is set to work against them in ways that suggest the disadvantage they are experiencing is wrong, the people in that situation are effectively damned from the very start.
Whilst laws and regulations may make the many factors and behaviors of others who in many cases unwittingly control this process technically legal, there is nothing good, ethical, or morally right about the way that this works.
The real change for us all that leads to Levelling Level must be the change in the way that we view the problems of others.
We must accept that creating the level playing field so that nobody has to fight just to exist is the most beneficial way that we can come together to help others. Only then will everyone have the choice between existing happily – which should be everyone’s right to do so, or alternatively to take every step that they can to thrive – in so far as their own abilities and outlook at any time will allow.
The role of government or the community in all of this, is quite literally to become or provide the system of checks and balances to create this level playing field, so that Levelling Level becomes the change in the way that we all think, and we really do have a system that is genuinely fair to all.
To bring parity or income equality to all, isn’t to ensure that everyone is being paid the same to do the same job. It is to ensure that the lowest paid are able to function self-sufficiently, without any kind of additional support.
Attempting to define what the UBW would be in today’s terms is of course possible. But the rate that it would be, would be higher than any business leader or politician would be prepared to consider. Because they would see that wage being in terms of what the financial or price levels in the UK at the present time now are.
They would also assume that in order to accommodate such a change, they would then be forced to raise the prices of everything, so that their own margins and way of operating remain relative on par – and in real terms just the same.
This is why the price correction (rather than reset) that we have already discussed is an essential part of the mix. So that the way that we price and value goods and services – or rather the way we allow them to be priced and valued, is brought back to a correct level in monetary terms (where prices are no longer ludicrously inflated).
Once the price correction has been implemented and legislated for as it should be, we then have the technical and policy devices in place to ensure the regulatory measures exist that move the focus of all transactions away from the bottom line, to being about the quality of the experience that every transaction provides.
It is at this stage that the rate for UBW can be set, based proportionally against the cost of a Basic Living Standard, relative to true cost and the amount that must be earned by the lowest paid for the equivalent of a full working week.
The aim of the economy should always be to provide all of the goods and services that the people and businesses that operate within it need. Its aim should never be focused primarily on what people want, and it should certainly never be driven by the whims of just the selfish few.
To ensure that UBW cannot only exist, but then be maintained, it will be essential that certain goods and services have their pricing levels corrected and then maintained. These ‘essential’ goods and services should be provided and supplied by entire supply chains that operate within the exact same set of rules.
Suppliers of these essential goods should always have the option to provide the same offerings in a more ‘luxurious’ form, but this process itself should never come at the cost of the quality or experience of what they offer to end users in the essential form.
As envy or seeking to make others envious is a critical driver of the problems that we already face, no supplier should only be able to focus solely on the production or supply of luxurious goods or services, if indeed an essential form of those goods or services exists.
The provision of essential goods and services that are accessible to everyone must always come first.
As I begin to write this chapter, I am chuckling at the thought of those who read this and will immediately conclude that I am advocating nothing less than a fully legitimised nanny state.
After all, if you are telling people what foods, goods and services are deemed essential to live, you are by the very act of doing so, telling them that they live frivolous lives, aren’t you?
Well, in some respects yes. But very few would be able to look you in the eye and not acknowledge that fact that we should always prioritise what everyone needs before what an individual wants if you were to put them on the spot and ask.
The point is not about bringing anyone down to a poorer person’s level. We would all like to have the best of everything that is readily available.
It is about creating a benchmark level for what our society accepts that it takes to live and function self-sufficiently in the most basic way(s) that are possible.
Be under no illusion that the Basic Living Standard and UBW are benchmarks for life that we would all very quickly want to have in place and available to us personally as a safety net, if and when we should for any reason find ourselves down on our luck.
The process of everything changing around us that is now underway will lead to what some will recognise as a wartime economy – whether or not we have by that stage become involved in any larger conflict that has been set off as a result of the response to the Invasion of Ukraine.
The availability of food and goods and the prices of those foods and goods that are available to us in anything like the way that we are used to will diminish and this will quickly lead to empty shelves. Shelves that will not be replenished with the same products that they previously held.
The twist to the evolution of this situation is that it will in effect recreate ground zero for the provision of what we actually need to live. Rather than what we believe that we need to obtain in order to maintain the type of lifestyle that we believe that we are entitled to.
Whether it is food, water, waste care, communication, clothing, housing, transport or anything else, circumstances – that have been created by the long-term mismanagement of life by politicians and influencers with vested interests – will create the experience that will demonstrate what is actually important for anyone to have available to them as a basic standard.
This real-time demonstration will prove to be a genuine reminder to everyone of what people really need available to them to be able to function and exist at a time when they are down on their luck.
This demonstration will show us what everyone needs to be able to have as a basic requirement to live and will illustrate in a very practical way just what anyone should be able to buy or pay for without debt, support or subsidy, on a basic full-time wage.
What will in effect be a return to rationing will indeed have a significant silver ling in terms of the process of Levelling Level.
The outcome of Levelling Level will only be achievable because the majority of people will have no choice but to experience the basic hardship that is now inevitable, before they will understand, accept and then embrace the change that will ultimately benefit everyone fairly and in a very balanced way.
The days of unnecessary food production and manufacturing, prioritised only on the basis of repeat financial turnover and profit-making are done – even if that doesn’t appear to be the case right now.
As we experienced being the case in the early days and weeks after the first Covid Lockdown was called in March 2020, foods and goods such as flour, some vegetables, some fruits and toilet rolls are likely to be in short supply. The reality is that they will be the first of a growing and ultimately extensive list.
The rationing that will quickly become a necessity, will also be a sign of things to come. Our industries, production and manufacturing will have to be redeveloped and reestablished to support UK self-sufficiency in its most comprehensive and practical form.
Yes, rationing sounds horrible to anyone who has never been without or has never known what it is like to not be able to eat a meal, because the food that they need is something that they cannot afford.
Yet there are real people – possibly people that you or I pass in the street each and every day, who are already living what to you might see your own worst nightmare AND they are forced by the way that the system = works now to make the best of it. They literally have no choice but to accept it and do whatever the world requires of them to at least try and get by.
The silver lining of the situation that we all face, where the foods, goods and services that are essential to daily life will be rationed at least temporarily for all of us, is that it will provide us all with a real-life understanding of what we and therefore everyone needs as a basic standard in order to ‘just get by’.
This level, or the accumulation of the different basic foods, essential goods and services that an adult needs to be able to obtain in order to survive and maintain their exitance, is the benchmark level to which a basic full-time or weekly wage should thereafter correspond and then be maintained, once the Great Correction is complete.
Whilst we will discuss the need for UK self-sufficiency elsewhere, circumstances that will demand that we are limited only to what is available and what we genuinely need, will encourage those of us with access to gardens, allotments and even window boxes, to start growing our own food.
Real localism is set to take off (and return) in a way that we have never known before, and whilst the way that commercial farming will have to be refocused to provide foods in the most efficient and cost-effective way possible ‘from farm to fork’, the new localised marketplace and economy will provide opportunities for everyone to sell or exchange foods and goods that they have grown and produced.
Greedy influencers hate price controls, because they effectively tell them how much they can earn.
Indeed, it would be rare for anyone who reacts with stories of how everything goes wrong when prices are controlled or set by a government, to acknowledge the impact on end users and just about everyone that sits within or at the end of a supply chain, when prices are unrestricted, ethics have gone, and greed is in control.
During the period of change that lies ahead, price controls and rationing will be necessary too.
However, once we emerge on the other side, it will only be the factors that influence prices that will need to be controlled by legislators – as it is their responsibility to do – and not the prices of the goods themselves that will directly need to be controlled.
The point we shouldn’t miss is that a Financial and Systemic collapse of the kind where everything we know changes, will result in everyone having to share what is available. Access will not be based on what anyone can or cannot afford.
The coming changes will necessitate not only restrictions on what we have available to eat and to use, but in some cases will remove access to them altogether.
The experience will enable everyone to understand the difference between what we need and what we want. It will define what each of us needs as being what each of us should be able to afford.
The collapse around us will precipitate changes, not only to what is available to us, but also what we should no longer think of as goods and services that ‘we need’ – and which we actually just ‘want’.
We do not need the wide range, nor the wide variety of foods that are available to us today, in order to survive.
In fact, the majority, if not all of the food that any of us require to have a very healthy and nutritious diet, can be produced, provided, or is already available to us all from not only within the UK, but in all likelihood from within the local areas around our homes.
The prospect of a ‘meat and two veg’ kind of lifestyle may sound abhorrent to many. But if you are hungry and have very little of anything, a good meal of anything will make you happy – if it is something that you can afford to buy and to prepare.
The thing that will surprise many, is that the issues we face with obesity, food allergies or food intolerances and the rise in many of the illnesses that people suffer as they go through life, are all related to the foods we eat and the way that we eat them. We have been actively encouraged to move away from very simple and straightforward foods, to highly processed versions that rely on many additional ingredients and that often involve massive supply chains in some way.
If food is grown or produced locally, and then only preparation which is strictly necessary is carried out locally too, the need for packaging, preservatives and further processing is VERY limited indeed.
We may not be living in a time where life can be put in a time machine and literally transported back to when we had a butcher, fishmonger, baker, saddler, blacksmith or any other specialist provider of the basic goods or services we need, located in shops or premises around the village green or in the Town Marketplace. But the reality of what we actually need AND what will be good for us all, will be a result that in 21st Century Terms, ends up being practically the same.
As quickly as possible and in order to alleviate the unnecessary pain that will come from delays, we need to refocus the priorities of food production to the shortest journey and shortest time possible ‘from farm to fork’.
Where possible, farms and farmers should be encouraged and supported to become able to make the foods and goods they produce available at either their own gate, or to work closely and collaboratively with other local producers and retailers through localised cooperative systems to ensure that any necessary supply chain is a local as it can be.
The technology and understanding exists for all ancillary services such as abattoirs and such like to exist at the highest standards possible on a much smaller and much more localised scale than ever before, and it is here that the real support for UK Farmers, Growers and the Fishing Industry from government and our communities should now be.
Contrary to current Housing Policy and the obsession that the political classes today have with building new homes as being the answer to solve all ills, we do not actually need to be building new homes of either the kind, or of the number that we have been or that we have been told that we need to be building.
The only reason that the obsession with new housebuilding exists is because our politicians are not prepared to manage existing housing in a better and fairer way, based on the reality that nobody needs or requires more than one home in order to live or exist.
As part of the whole process of restoring values and creating a system that achieves Levelling Level so that life for all is where it should actually be, we must recognise that homes are essential for all.
The provision of homes is therefore and should never be the basis upon which massive profit-making industries should be able or allowed to exist.
When we value what we really have, and value the important things in life, we do not need additional homes in the country, by the sea or in places around the world – wherever they may be.
Just because some of us can afford second homes and in many cases pay more than they are actually worth to buy and maintain them, it doesn’t necessarily follow that it is right to do so.
In these circumstances, it is the unnecessary use of the advantage we have that disadvantages others. This is what is leading and enabling others to create a push for housebuilding and a whole set of avoidable circumstances that makes those who need housing they can afford, easy to exploit.
Taxation can and must be used as an effective tool to immediately make better and more effective use of the housing stock across the UK that we already have.
It is not a question of taking from those that have and giving it to those who don’t. It is just a question of ensuring that excessive and unnecessary ownership is priced out of fashion, so that lives are not being disturbed or even ruined on the basis of what is no more than a whim.
We have become culturally obsessed with the idea that homes are something that we need to own.
We don’t.
We should all have the opportunity to rent homes affordably.
But as homes are essential to our Basic Living Standard, home rental should only be available through not-for-profit and ideally community-owned providers, with there being no opportunity for any form of profit to be made from the transaction being involved.
The age when every member of any household owned and ran a car is over. Inflationary price changes are telling you this right now, even if you don’t want to think about it yet.
We do not need to travel in the ways that we have been doing so.
It is extremely costly for us both personally and for the world to be travelling around as we have been.
As it is only large corporate interests that now really profit from our being able to do so – whether it’s through the provision of fuel, energy, roads, cars, insurance or anything else associated with their purchase, running or maintenance, the need for personal transport that may have existed at one point no longer exists.
It is inevitable that our perceived reliance and love affair with having our own car must stop.
The way forward for us all – where any kind of longer journey is required – is to focus on better, more efficient and more reliable public transport – that MUST be in public or rather community hands.
Where transport by car (or small commercial vehicle) is the only sensible way to undertake a journey, because of the destination, purpose or time of the day, we should be using shared environmentally friendly vehicles through community lending or carpooling rather than commercial rental services, so that any profit-making element is removed from the provision of transport services that must be available to us all.
Community lending should extend to the loan or non-profit rental of electric bikes too.
The most effective way for every community to go forward would be for parish & town councils or their equivalent in local areas, to own and manage their own personal transport hubs.
Petrol and Diesel will only remain essential for personal use as long as we maintain the unnecessary use of cars that run on these fuels.
As we reduce the number of cars that households own, the practical need or requirement for the use of fossil fuels for vehicles that cannot be used efficiently or reliably using emerging technologies – such as buses, trains, agricultural vehicles, heavy goods and delivery vehicles, will quickly become a lot more sustainable than it currently is.
Perhaps one of the most challenging areas covering basic needs provision will be that of the supply of affordable shoes and clothing.
If there is one area of industry that has been outsourced to other Countries more than any other, it will surely be the production of clothes and shoes.
Whilst many today look scornfully at shops such as Sports Direct, the reality is that retailers of this type are today providing goods at a price that keep people on low incomes clothed.
The irony is that whilst cheap and cheerful, the price reflects the quality of the materials and the manufacturing. It is not uncommon for such items to require regular replacement and over time, for the customer to have paid out much more on multiple purchases of the same items at a lower cost, than it would have done over the same period IF they had been able to afford a better-quality version of the same thing.
Whilst cotton will always be imported to the UK as a raw material, wool and other materials are not. There will be a need to redevelop the British Textiles industry with a primary focus on the materials that we have readily available from our own production, or which can be supplied without significant reliance on international supply chains from our traditional trading partners.
Fashion is of course a commercially driven concept that promotes the perception that it is important to obtain and use the latest versions of goods. We buy fashion that we envy in the possession of others or buy it to make others envious of us.
Buying clothes purely for the purpose of how they look is not a sustainable practice. The types of clothing that have made fashion possible in the very extensive way that it has reached will not be available to the few who may be able to afford it, without compromising the requirement to always address everyone’s needs too.
Rationing of the materials to make clothing is a clear possibility. Just as our forebears did during the Second World War, we are going to have to embrace a culture of Make do and Mend, where we are literally making the best of the clothing that we already possess through repair, reuse and recycling, enjoying the prospect of upcycling as we do.
For those occasions when a special outfit is required, we will need to develop clothing libraries, lending or rental services that work to support the cultural shift to making the very best use of everything that everyone has already got.
The need for basic entertainment for anyone can be met without the need for any paid-for streaming services, visits to the cinema, ticketed gigs or any other form of live entertainment that attracts heavy one-off gate fees.
The only recognisable need to maintain a basic standard in access to entertainment for anyone will be the provision of broadband quality internet services, along with the minimum amount of appropriate equipment to view and access it.
Communication is changing and evolving all the time. It is the one service that has bucked the trend in terms of price explosion and in order to ensure that the new localised and community driven world can function adequately for all, it is essential that everyone has access to a universal basic package.
As discussed earlier, public services have become a political football and plaything for politicians, public sector workers and those with a financial interest in them alike.
Man cannot have two masters, just as you cannot put two saddles on the same horse. Services that are provided for the benefit of the public must have the benefit to the public as their primary aim and their overriding priority. As soon as private interests are involved, profit is the master, so public services must always be in public or community hands.
In order for everyone to have unfettered, affordable and reliable access to services that should be accessible in the same way for everyone, no matter where they live, it is essential that certain public services that are currently ‘owned’ and managed by ‘private’ and therefore ‘profit making’ interests are returned to public – or rather community hands.
The caveat is that legislation enabling unions to influence working practices at any level within public services of any kind must be rescinded.
Any responsibility for complaints relating to public sector employment practices not covered elsewhere by the Levelling Level proposal must be addressed by a third-party body, that cannot influence day-to-day operations and public service provision in any way.
The entire utility infrastructure must be returned to public and preferably community hands. So that issues such as repairs and the impact that they have on other areas of life are managed in a far more thoughtful, responsive, localised and therefore intelligent way.
The rail network must be fully returned to public or community led operating companies, holding responsibility for all activities on the most localised basis possible.
Each local County level authority should become a bus operator, ensuring that service coverage is universally provided by a system that allows equal basic access to everyone, whether they live in a city, town or village location.
Parish and town councils (or their equivalent) should be supported to establish community bike and carpool hubs, providing access to those of us who have a legitimate requirement to access personal transport.
They must, on behalf of the local community, be able to set by-laws which govern their access and use.
Many of the foods, goods and services some currently see as being essential are in fact luxuries that we do not need.
They would not be essential to any of us, even if and when we can easily afford to pay for them.
These non-essential foods, goods and services must be recognised and defined as being the luxuries and lifestyle choice that they are, as part of the process of identifying what people need, as opposed to being the things that people simply want.
Likely to be the most controversial part of Levelling Level, the following list that covers the food, goods and services that we actually need, will look and sound alien to many reading the contents right now.
However, what we need and what we want or believe that we should have are two very different things.
This list outlines what we need as a basic standard for ourselves, and therefore what we should recognise as the benchmark level for anyone else to be able to provide for themselves without going into debt or without the requirement of support of any kind – when they are able to live and function with a normal life.
In reality, people need no more than two (2x) meals per day.
Clean eating may have become a recent fad. But clean eating is also prescient and a precursor of what necessarily lies ahead.
Contrary to what all the commercial and big money interests will keep telling us for as long as they can, we do not need rich, heavily processed foods in our diets. In fact, it would be much better for our own health if we did not.
A healthy adult requires no more than two (2x) meals per day. These should consist of basic foods of an origin that is as a rule, identifiable once prepared from its original form – i.e. you can see that a meal is made up of fish, meat, potatoes, carrots, greens or whatever, with only light-touch (manual or traditionally-based) production methods being used to provide ancillary foods such as butter, cheese and bread, which will clearly look different to what it would to in its original form.
The basic standard for any accommodation would be that its warm, dry, safe, secure, accessible to local amenities and public transport links (or appropriate alternatives), with an environment that facilitates and allows healthy living and provides appropriate space and facilities for the number of people who are permanent residents within the household.
The basic standard for transport would be access to regular public transport services that will not place restrictions on accessing employment during normal working hours, with access to electric bike hire from 14 years and to community carpools as appropriate.
The basic standard for personal clothing provision would be to be able to maintain 2/3 sets of clothing for general use. To have 1 set of all-weather clothing and to have 1 set of clothing for special events.
Beyond this, all communities should have their own lending library or service for clothes.
The basic standard for personal healthcare will be for any person to have access to a minimum of two different healthcare providers (either public run service and/or commercially provided under fixed per head premium), that everyone is required to pay their contribution towards at their source of income.
The basic standard for personal healthcare would necessitate that dentistry is provided in the same way as general healthcare.
The basic standard of utility provision for each person would be electricity to provide light and power for all basic requirements and no more. Gas for basic heating and cooking requirements and no more. Water for basic consumption and hygiene requirements and no more:
The basic standard for communication requirements would be to have unrestricted access to broadband quality internet provision. To have one (1x) computer or combined PC/TV device that can be used to complete personal administration, shop online, access job applications and free to view TV/News Services/Digital Radio/social media.
As a basic standard, everyone should have access to a community sports hub within a short distance of home, where the widest range of different sports clubs should be available for that location.
Everyone should have unlimited access to free to view TV and Digital Radio.
As the basic standard, everyone should have access to a basic non-contributory pension scheme (Employer administered when working), paid into the community ‘pot’
Hopefully, by now, you will understand that one of the underlying messages about Levelling Level is that you and I are as important as each other. It’s the way we think that gets in the way.
Earlier, within the chapters where we discussed the Left-wing approach of levelling down, we covered the problems with today’s education system and where the myth of intellectual genericism has resulted in nothing but loss, the lowering of standards and yes – the removal of opportunities for some of those that need them the most, resulting in a net downward spiral for all.
So here comes one of those highly controversial moments. Yes, I am going to say that we really need to embrace and make the very best of the differences in the way that we learn – just as we did without really thinking about it in the past.
People really are either heads or hands. I.e., people are either more academic or they are more practical in the way that they learn.
Whereas the current Education System is skewed to academic attainment and learning – even in what we are told are its vocational qualifications – we must return and redevelop a genuine twin or parallel educational pathway with an academic route and a genuinely vocational route for learning and attainment that begins at the age of 14.
One of the things that the Left-wing takeover of education since they began the attack on Grammar Schools has resulted in, has been the growing assumption that the educational basics (language and arithmetic) just arrive for everyone at the same time. That life skills are only something that poor learners (the more practical) or those with special education needs should be given focused time for – as everyone who is ‘able’ just picks these things up as they go along.
Sadly, they don’t.
We have arrived at a point where the idea that everyone can have a degree has reached a critical fork in the road where graduates – yes, that’s young people who have already gained a degree – don’t have the basics. They are, as such, therefore not fit for work.
Pre-14 education has simply become too diversified for it to treat everyone fairly and in a wholly balanced way.
There needs to be a shift back to ensuring that every young person achieves an acceptable level of fluency in English and Math’s – but more importantly a basic understanding of how life works and how they can function effectively in the world of today by being taught real life skills such as critical thinking, so that everyone can support themselves adequately in the 21st Century UK.
Whilst we may no longer be experiencing a time when a young person can or should be indentured in the way that an apprentice blacksmith, saddler, farrier, wheelwright or cabinet maker once would have been, the reality is that history has a lot of good things to teach us about the way that our system of education can and should now operate.
No, these trade crafts may not reflect the opportunities en masse that are available in the modern age.
Yes, the industries we have today may look and sound very different. But if we have brought the priorities of why businesses exist back to providing for life for all and away from providing profit for the few, we will soon find ourselves with genuine opportunities to create a parallel vocational apprenticeship pathway alongside the academic route from the ages of 14 to 21, that will be good for the apprentice, good for business and good for the wider community and the UK too.
A seven-year apprenticeship would allow young people of a practical orientation to literally learn their skills – with light touch support from tertiary or technical colleges, whilst their training could easily involve additional training such as driving licenses and industry standard qualifications. All the time providing a low-cost source of basic labour for industries in return.
At the age of 21, the parallel pathways would both end at the same time. And whilst degrees would have had their real value in the eyes of industry restored, there would also be an equivalent pool of candidates who were just as valuable, but qualified differently, with skills and experience that could only come through the process of being ‘time served’.
Sold as beneficial, because it makes everything we want ‘cheap’ to buy, ‘globalisation’ and the ‘global economy’ have always been a myth that only appeared to work out well for us because that was what we were being told by the people and companies that benefitted from us all believing so.
As the impact of employment and working rights created and pursued by the Left have hit harder and harder and impacted further and further on company bottom lines, closely followed by the piles of red tape that went into a different league when EU Membership became involved, many companies made the commercial choice to begin buying or producing goods of their own in Countries, and therefore environments, that provided conditions which were much more conducive to growing and extending profit margins.
Focused only on what the things we buy actually cost us, the only people to notice this massive industrial shift were those of us directly touched by the change. And in this case, it was always local British workers who immediately felt that pain.
No longer able to exploit British workers in the way that they wanted to do so, there was effectively a cheaper option to do so abroad. But what we were not told about this move was that the obsession with the bottom line that drove this change also meant that the companies would be exploiting much lower paid workers who this time didn’t – and in many cases still don’t have a voice.
It was a double whammy. Because the savings and benefits from paying ridiculously low wages that in some cases even offset the need to invest in newer cleaner technologies, was also consolidated by the reality that many of the countries that these companies had moved operations to, simply had few or no considerations on the impact on the environment that these industrial processes involved.
So, as the Left have steadily driven us to become obsessive about rights that go way beyond anything that benefits anyone or any industry or sector at all, the real problems facing workers that they had successfully dealt with here in the UK long ago, were simply shipped abroad or even recreated for very poor people abroad, so that the money orientated could just keep on making their money at an increasing cost to us all.
All the time, the growing problems have been out of sight and out of mind.
Whilst we were told that the cost of everything would be lowered by Globalisation and the economies of scale that centralisation of the kind that naturally follows then presents, the reality of building a global economy was that it hasn’t been helpful to the UK or to any of us in any way.
Purchase prices have never really fallen. But the prices of production have. And it was this very small truth hidden within what has been a very big lie, that has created difference in the views of the benefits and disadvantages of globalisation, and what has made the perpetual myth work
The move to globalisation was never based on the reasoning that it was supposed to be. It was and still is only about profit and nothing more.
Yes, the driver was always the increase in profits for every company that played or that plays a role in the supply chains that are involved.
But the true cost of globalisation has been the loss of jobs, the loss of skills, the loss of training opportunities, the loss of businesses, the loss of communities, the loss of self-sufficiency, the impact on the environment, the impact on quality of life. And yes, the list goes on extensively to cover all of the impacts and consequences related to every part of that list which is involved.
Globalisation was seen to work because we have all been fed the story that it benefits our self-interest in some way.
Yet the only beneficiaries from the process of globalization were and always have been the people and corporate interests that have created, developed and directly profited from an unethical system that exploited everyone in some way – and that includes even those directly involved at every part of the chain.
Globalisation and the model of global business and supply chains that existed at the end of 2019 – before the Covid Pandemic hit us, no longer exists as it did then in functional or operational terms.
In the same way that our system of government and the political system that supposedly drives it has built itself by putting sticking plaster on top of sticking plaster when it comes to public policy and building it into the dysfunctional system that exists today, the way that industry and the global business system has been developed also been without thought for consequences or impact at even the closest degrees of separation.
What we have ended up with is a so-called global economy that is in fact a house of cards that has little in terms of foundations and is already on the verge of collapse in many different ways.
So obsessive has the motivation of greed for profit been, that those driving this way of doing business have come up with ever more creative ways to defy the practical realities of business and production.
These have included the development of ‘Just in Time’ methodologies and ‘Lean Manufacturing’, which are heralded as brilliant ways to manage profit driven commercial business. But pay very little heed to world events or what any kind of unforeseen circumstance might have in store.
The response of different governments around the world to the Covid Pandemic, quite literally brought many parts of the global supply chain to a halt.
The massive costs and margins of this ridiculously fragile system had been dependent on every part of it continuing to work endlessly – as it was always expected to do so – with only what we would consider to be the minimum of contingencies having been planned for.
So, when a worldwide virus that inept political leaders completely overreacted to and used fear to make populations think that it was much worse than it actually is became involved, the global supply chain was exposed in a way that was rather like the first of a squillion dominoes that had been set up to knock each other down being flicked.
And so has begun a process of destruction. Beginning slowly with those dominoes falling one by one.
Covid set off the power within a latent chain reaction that anyone who understood the fragility of the global system was waiting for.
The reason the global supply chain hasn’t just stopped overnight – which to be quite fair is exactly what many onlookers would naturally expect – is because those who have a vested interest in it are doing all that they can to try and rescue it in order to make it work.
For those invested in it, the invasion of Ukraine came along at what they believe to be a very fortuitous time.
In the Terence Trent D’arby (Sananda Maitreya) song ‘If you all get to Heaven’, sits the immortal line ‘Old men’s cigars puff up the wars to protect their fuck ups again’.
Whilst one of the alternative truths growing considerable traction in recent years has been that the United States has in effect created wars around the globe, simply so that the corporate interests that fund the politicians can keep profiting, the reality is that war has been used as a very costly distraction and as a way of taking attention away from the public, from what is really going on around us all at home.
As I write this in early 2022, Russia has just invaded Ukraine. It is already clear that Western Governments are going to use the crisis as a way to cover up the damage that they are responsible for. Prolonged mismanagement that has led to all the problems that we are facing now.
When people at the top have gained so much through a system that exists on the basis that it exploits the greater part of the population without them realising that they are being used, it is in the interests of those people at the top to ensure that the truth never comes out a) so that they don’t get blamed when it fails and b) so that no one will attempt to stop them doing all that they can to return the whole system to how it previously worked – even when they are too stupid to realise that it is now impossible to do.
Perhaps the biggest cost of globalisation that has never been factored into the equation (or more likely it has deliberately been left out), has been the issue of what happens when a Country becomes dependent upon supplies of goods or services that come from another Country, or Countries that may not always have interests that are mutually aligned or have like for like benefits with the UK at their heart.
The best example of where dependency can compromise the security of a country or of the interests of that country is very current and comes in the form of the dependency that Germany has on Russia for its supplies of natural gas.
During the Ukraine crisis (late February 2022), Western Countries excluded Russia from the SWIFT International Banking System as a punishment (also known as a sanction) for invading Ukraine. Yet Germany had a special dispensation to not do so, as it would not have been able to continue paying the Russians for gas supplies, if it had continued to be involved.
Whilst Germany was most compromised by becoming dependent upon Russia for energy supplies, the reality is that as a Country, the UK is far too dependent upon other Countries for the supply of essential goods and services too.
For as long as this situation exists, and for as long as we have politicians in control of the UK who either cannot or will not take tough decisions on energy supplies or the supply of anything that is essential to us as a matter of course, we will remain at risk of high-level compromise with countries that supply us and can therefore bribe us, as our security as a Nation will remain exposed.
Of all the myths created by those with an interest in building and maintaining an alternative narrative, the one that our changing world now requires us to completely rethink is our dependency upon any essential products or foods from anywhere abroad.
The UK possesses the basic resources and environment necessary to support and provide for all of our basic needs. We require very little and can make do without minimal ongoing input from supply chains that are not localised or our own – if that is, we really even need it at all.
We only believe that we have to continually have new things all of the time, because it has been in the interests of somebody else to create and propagate the myth that this is so.
Products of all kinds that we use daily or very often could and should last much longer than they do. In fact, they could even be repaired or renewed, if the companies that produce them didn’t have regular repeat sales – and therefore profits always first in their minds.
The process behind this is called Planned Obsolescence.
Planned Obsolescence is one of the most cynical, exploitative and unnecessary processes that industry and big business has ever designed. All with making money in mind. It’s not green or in any way environmentally friendly, and the knock-on effects over decades have been massive amounts of production that we didn’t need, that we have had to pay for and that has used inestimable levels of resources around the world, for no genuine cause.
I have not specifically focused on climate change, going green and the fallacious government policy they call ‘Net Zero’ itself for a reason.
That reason is that by addressing or embracing all of the changes that the Levelling Level process will require, many of the issues relating to the damage that our unsustainable way of living has been causing the environment will be addressed.
Yes, many changes lie ahead, and we will have to embrace new technologies and habits as they arrive. However, the changes to the way that we live and think that may not seem to be linked to green issues today play a much more significant part in the problem than it has been in vested interests to allow us to be aware of or to think about.
As we divorce ourselves from the system of old, the changes will buy us the time to take a much more realistic and practical approach to adopting any changes that are then left for the UK (and the World) to embrace.
If you want people to forget who they are, what they want or what they need, give them bread and circuses.
Surprisingly, these words have been around since Roman times. They reflect one of the key ways of thinking that cynical and poor leaders use to prevent people from revolting and engaging in civil unrest, when things are not going well or as they really should.
During the Covid Pandemic, we were repeatedly misled by the Johnson Government and its ‘nudge unit’, that used behavioural science, to play around with the basic fears that operate often at an unconscious level inside our heads.
By keeping everyone, or rather, the majority distracted from focusing on their own inability to lead, by keeping everyone focused on what we were being told was everyone’s duty to fight for everyone else’s life whilst putting our own lives on hold, they have so far managed to walk away from crippling the UK financially and destroying many people’s futures scot-free.
The programming that the government and the media use only works, because of the way that our society now works.
People don’t interact with others from an early age in the many different ways that they used to. So, when it comes to learning what’s real, what’s unreal, what makes sense, or what it’s in our best interests to do, unless we listen without question to family and the people who are close to us when we consider everything, the politicians and the media that support them have within all of us, an open book.
We learn the value of everything through what we consider ‘real experience’ to be. Life works best and most beneficially for all, when the interactions that we have with everyone and with everything have real meaning and have real value for all of those involved.
Over time, politicians and our system of government haver worked progressively to take the power and influence that we had or should have further and further away from us, so that the social learning and opportunity to understand other people and different people in our neighbourhoods and communities are longer available to us as they once were.
This ‘progression’ has meant that decisions are always made from the top looking down. Often at great distance and in a way that helps those same vested interests to get away with doing all the things that they do, without ever having to see or experience the end results which by now you will be beginning to understand are always painful for us.
Another area of life today that must change so that we can achieve a workable Basic Living Standard for all, is our relationship with charity giving, how we pay for services in the community, and how we all give back or contribute in a way that gives us ownership or a stake in the success of the society that functions around us.
The fairest, most sensible way to achieve both a buy-in for us personally and a pay-off with impact on the world around us that we can actually see, will be for us all to give the community 10% of our working time or income – or the equivalent of one-half day working per week.
Most of us could use the specialist skills and experience that we have to offer three and a half hours of massive impact and contribution, or just volunteer to support charities and public organisations with whatever help they may need where we cannot.
Alternatively, if we believe that it would be more helpful to do so, we could donate 10% of our income too.
By providing such help and support, through a new local community services hub which is linked to the revamped and localised system of governance, we will easily reduce the cost of the local public services that we still actually need, reduce the reliance on ‘professional’ government staff, and all be able to play a part in improving the experience that we all have of our local environment, which will help us all to regain a healthy amount of pride.
As you read through this book, you are increasingly likely to see that there is a vein of commonalty running through many of the issues or policies that Levelling Level looks to unpick.
That commonality is the mechanics of a top-down, or centralised structure.
We have been conditioned historically to give what is an assumed deference to anyone who we consider to be in a position of influence or power.
No matter how ridiculous the people we find ourselves showing that deference to may seem be, the fact that they are in those positions of influence or power, somehow and for some reason unknown makes us willfully blind to quite how stupid such people can be. It certainly obscures the reality that underpins how self-serving and focused upon themselves they actually are.
Yes, we have had some great leaders and great people in positions of influence across society in the past.
But as time has gone on, more and more have them have been all about themselves. It naturally follows that when you have that many insecure people with power who simply shouldn’t have it, they will work together to consolidate that position and stay exactly where they are.
The easiest way to consolidate the power that poor leaders have when they are the top, is to bring more and more of that power towards the centre and to them – or what is in reality the top. They deliberately take it away from the people who they condescendingly believe aren’t equipped to handle that responsibility properly, but in reality, they see it as a distinct threat to their power, their control and to themselves.
Top-down or centralised hierarchies depend on everyone other than those who benefit from the structures not being interested in the real detail of what is going on. They thrive when we aren’t asking the right questions about who really are the main beneficiaries of the process that is unfolding round us.
We quite literally have a rather dangerous habit of simply accepting that the changes around us are actually needed, and that they will be beneficial or work better for us all.
The best example is that of how we are all being manipulated into thinking that power is being given back to us when it isn’t, is through the creation of Metropolitan and Regional Mayors.
In reality, the levels of government already exist where the decisions that these very political roles will be gifted with should in fact be taken. That is what parish and town councils, borough and district councils, and what county councils are already there for.
The big budgets will always be controlled from above, and the function of these unnecessary roles relies on sucking power and influence away from the lowest tiers of government, where the most risk to politicians from being exposed to real democracy is involved.
More layers of government mean more layers of insulation to protect those at the top.
You may have seen how messages get changed if an instruction or information is given to one person, and then passed on to another who didn’t hear the first conversation, with the process then being repeated several times.
The way that a multilayered system of government works when it is as highly politicised as the structure of government in the UK now is, means that it is incredibly easy for the real purpose or intent of overarching public policy to become confused – not always intentionally, but through stupidity – with something that will actually work, once it is implemented at the bottom of what in some cases can be a long and convoluted chain.
Rest assured that if those at the top are being insulated from risk to themselves and their positions by how messages can be obscured on their way down, whilst being taken up passionately by those who believe they are doing their job, the reality is that the information and feedback that should be informing public policy and really making a difference through public structures that comes from the bottom, is certainly not reaching the top, or being taken seriously on the rare occasion that it does.
Government is a complicated business. But it has become far more complicated than it should be, and that is because it suits the needs and purposes for those involved, and specifically so at the top.
What they don’t tell you is just how much of that complication isn’t really needed, and what the cost of that complication really is.
The only argument that gives any legitimacy to the operational structure of government and the public sector that we have today is the cost and keeping the cost as low as it can be every day.
Obsessed with money as we now are, our collective viewpoint plays straight into the unworthy politicians’ hands. As we allow that obsession to make us focus on the cost of public service provision, rather than the quality of it, or in many regrettable cases whether it doesn’t even need to exist – if we don’t actually use that service ourselves.
Contrary to what our political masters would like us all to believe, we do not have people leading us from London who have a better understanding of how life works, or how we see, experience and feel about the lives that we live.
Yet the way that government works and the way that the public services and structures that support our lives operate, would suggest that people not only in London, but in a range of different public sector organisations do actually know better than we do when it comes to everything that we deal with and face each and every day.
Whilst there will always be decisions that not only need to be but also must be made at the relative collective level – for example, our National Defence, the reality is that far more of the decisions that affect our daily lives are made further away from us than they either should, or actually need to be.
Defence is of course a subject that we hope to never have to think about, and it is certainly not one that we expect to face in daily life (unless of course we are employed by or within the military, or there is a base of some kind located close to where we live)
And this is very much the point. It is only decisions that don’t touch us – or more importantly any of those like us – at the relevant level of our community or what it is we have in common – that should rest in the hands of anyone beyond.
There are always going to be sensible exceptions to every rule. When it comes to governance, we should always strive for unity, cooperation and collaboration when it comes to working together with others to achieve mutual aims – even to the degree that we might work globally to deliver help or outcomes that will be of benefit to the entire world.
What there is no need to do, and what we should never do, is accept that such unity is dependent upon the surrender of control.
We cannot all be politicians. In fact, very few of us would even want to be politicians. But that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be accessible to us, especially when they are making the decision on our behalf that affects us all.
We all have an equal stake in society. In our communities. In our Country at large.
Contrary to what those who benefit from us thinking otherwise may believe, money, wealth and power do not make anyone more worthy than anyone else, and they certainly should not have access to more power or control.
The argument that we can no longer have free access to top politicians because it is not safe for them, underpins the reality that power has now been focused and concentrated too far away from us and towards too few for the decisions that affect us every day to make any real sense to those who are supposed to be solving our problems.
When decisions that have meaning in our life are taken by people we can access and talk to, we feel and have a much greater sense of responsibility and of being in control. Yes, there will always be exceptions, and there will always be people at every level of government or who have responsibility who will be intoxicated by any power and influence that they have got.
But by bringing every decision back to the level of community or the relevant level where people and businesses can actually see and feel their influence at work or see the real-life stories and experience that give them the opportunity to learn and think differently, society will work better for us all.
We quite literally need to look at every part of government and what the public sector does, and rethink who should be making the decisions about how they function and what they do, based on the who, the why, the what, and with only the delivery itself becoming an issue of cost.
The technology now exists to ensure that even if operational delivery is implemented at a broader level or by a service delivery organisation of some kind, the decisions about that delivery can now be taken as locally as it is possible for them to be.
With so much that needs to be corrected and changed for the better, it may seem a little trivial to go full circle back to the issue of how politics works, where Levelling Level first began.
However, we are in the mess that we are in, and we are faced with the huge challenge of addressing that mess, because we have had the wrong people in politics for such a long time.
We have touched on the reasons for this issue in different places throughout this book, but the problems that poor leaders create for the rest of us will not be solved and will just be changed or transformed into a different form of those problems, for as long as we don’t set values-based rules or boundaries around the quality and ability of the people that we choose to elect.
Like everything else today, too many politicians are recruited by the existing political parties based on how their candidacy will look. The majority don’t have the life skills or experience to make decisions that will have an effect on other people’s lives, and even those who could offer something useful don’t have the conviction and confidence to stand up to a system that rejects or ejects those who do not conform.
Politics or rather public representation is NOT a job. Despite having a system or accepted career pathway for wannabes who have decided they will be Prime Minister when they are children and then do degrees and early career jobs that line them up as perfect tick-box candidates for the existing political parties, public representation or being an MP is NOT a career too.
We have fallen into the trap of thinking that things like popularity, the ability to speak or argue in public and being able to stay on message are the attributes that make a politician good.
But they are not good for anyone, when the key attribute of a good politician is having a real understanding and appreciation of how life works for different people in very different circumstances, and what strategy looks and feels like for others, when it is implemented and then put to work.
If our political system is to be healthy and work on behalf of us all, rather than be maintained by people who are only out for themselves, we must only elect people who see the role of being a public representative as a vocation or calling based on rich and meaningful life experience, and not on personal agendas in any form.
The often-unrecognised strand and dynamic of top-down politics is the reality that the people we currently have at the top are usually at the end of their career (or beyond), and that those even in the lower stages of this perverse hierarchy are themselves in or approaching middle age.
Yes, there are exceptions as there are in anything. But when you have a system that maintains itself and functions by using the same thinking continuously – and that thinking reflects only the selfish wants and needs and outlooks of the older people who are at the top, it stands to reason that there is a massive gap not only in policy, but also within the messaging that makes sense to or can be identified with by the young.
The issue of life experience and the impractical idealism of the young will always run contrary to policies and practical solutions that consider everything and work as they should for all. But that doesn’t mean that the outcomes and aims that Younger People have in mind shouldn’t be heard, or indeed incorporated into wider policies that reflect practical reality and therefore become solutions that can and do actually work.
Just as power must be restored to the level of government and decision making that is most relevant to the collective voice, Young People must be considered within that process too, with youth or young people’s councils meeting as part of and feeding into each tier of government and being used as an effective tool to influence and inform.
Whilst I have made a big thing of the need to both regulate and monitor the ethical conduct of any industry or service that provides any goods, services or has an influence on the factors which are essential to a Basic Living Standard, we must in general terms step back from the culture of having laws for laws sake.
A basic framework for everyone’s conduct is of course essential. But the laws and regulations that do exist must only be there because they are essential for good order and good conduct to exist. Not because weak minded leaders are attempting to control.
People must be treated as the adults that they actually are. People must be allowed to live freely and able to exercise common sense in as many areas of their lives as possible.
The principle that we should all be guided by is that:
We should always be free to exist, to do, be and think as we may want, provided that our actions and influence do not impinge on the right of any other person to be exactly the same.
One area of public service that could easily become a book all of its own is the future and direction of the Law Courts across the UK, whether they are dealing with Criminal, Civil or Family Matters.
Both the judiciary and the legal profession have been overtaken by self-interest.
In terms of the judiciary and of magistrates there has been massive blurring of the lines between what standing law actually is, and what they themselves want to see – or feel influenced to allow for there to be, depending upon their own innate prejudices or the fear that currently comes from the culture of group think or the populist voice of what they see as being the relevant crowd.
In terms of the legal profession, the desire and aim of providing the best service possible based on the understanding and knowledge of law that the lawyer, solicitor or barrister has to ensure the least pain possible to the client, has been superseded by the desire to provide the most expensive service over the longest time possible, without any consideration for the qualitative impact that unnecessary, emotive and highly polarising human misery that court cases cause.
In recent years there have been steps to temper the direction of this evolution by the introduction of mediation as a step-requirement in the case of family law, but its success has and will always be dependent upon the commitment and motivation of the primary counsels or solicitors within the process, and so it has been doomed never to reach the height of its potential and do the good that it can for any civil or family law process, for as long as the prioritisation of the bottom line continues to exist.
For a fair and just society to work in a balanced way – as it should – for all, it is essential that we have a healthy and robust court system, supported by a legal profession, which facilities an unquestionably impartial decision-making process and a legal advice system that always puts the interests of the client – and not the bottom line – first.
Such change will be greatly supported by the removal of laws for laws sake, as the Levelling Level approach provides, but it is nonetheless essential that the whole legal system them operates without self-interest of any kind, and that once fixed, it is fully funded as locally as possible, so that it can function as expeditiously as it can in every way.
Good Policing exists when you are surprised to see a Police Officer, or you don’t have reason to regularly have them in your day-to-day thoughts.
Clearly, I am not talking about what we see or hear on our news streams every day or each night. But the reality is that we have lost confidence in the police, and like the courts and legal profession we have already discussed, we now have good reason to doubt the impartiality and motivation of the decisions that police officers make.
The responsibility is not one that falls on the shoulders of police officers themselves.
The Police are only carrying out and following the instructions that they have been given by our broken political leadership after all.
The responsibility for the problem lies squarely at the feet of politicians, who have instigated and forced targets on a public service to measure the success of the Police, when that success should be defined only when there is nothing to measure at all.
A Police Officer or Police Constable should have the ability, responsibility and power to act using their common sense with the law itself offering the only framework that they use as a management tool.
The processes that have been added to uphold the rights of people who have at the very least temporarily surrendered their right to enjoy the full rights to which any member of society who doesn’t infringe the rights of others should enjoy, have made the laws which govern our response to and the punishment of criminal behavior nothing more than a joke for real criminals. Meanwhile they have cast a very dark shadow for those who have been caught up in very little and instead of losing massively, should have just been told off and then sent home.
Like the many who are practical in their awareness of life and their approach, good Police officers do not need degrees to understand and enforce the law efficiently and very well. They just need a lot of common sense and the moral grounding in any situation to discern what’s wrong or right.
The fear of the controlling few that others cannot be trusted to do such a responsible job without rules that account for every thought and for every action, is reflective of how sclerotic and neurotic our whole society has become.
The Police need the freedom to do their jobs. So that people respect the law again and then fear the sight of a Police Officer, as it was before all the political correctness began.
As with the case of taxation, the benefits system in the UK is far more complicated than it either needs to be or should be.
Yes, we should certainly have a system available to support those who cannot work, or for whatever reason cannot genuinely get a job that they are experienced or able to do.
What a benefits system should never do however, is just to provide an alternative way of living, or a way of living that is in effect a lifestyle choice for those who see it as an option.
With The Basic Living Standard functioning and in place, work and the self-sufficiency that goes with it will make the benefits and welfare bubble a very different place to exist.
Those who are there and need benefits of any kind must be supported and supported to the level of the Basic Living Standard. But that support must be given on the terms of wider society and not on the terms which makes that dependency feel like an attractive choice.
The only obligation of wider society to those who are in need of support, is for them to be able to maintain a basic lifestyle during their period of need to Basic Living Standard Terms – with the support being given, being itself the only obvious difference.
By making all payments or rather the equivalent of payments using a smart card, or a bank card from the Community Bank that we will move on to cover next, the community can ensure that support is being spent and used as it was intended, and support to cover costs for anything other than items such as food – which even when rationed are a personal choice – should always be paid direct to the supplier, removing the risk of debt that will limit peoples next steps, at a time they are most vulnerable.
Nobody needs anything other than the essentials for living when they are in real need.
If anyone down on their luck has a problem with not being able to eat at McDonalds and having to buy the essential goods that they need, rather than what they want, the chances are that they are taking help and support from others as a lifestyle choice, and not because they are in genuine need.
The additional benefit to the wider community using smart card technology is that a supplier list can be defined that ensures card users make purchases from local businesses. This will ensure that money from the community is used within the community and therefore supports the community at large.
Whilst we have a ‘Bank of England’, its role as a so-called central bank is a long way from where it could or should be.
The fact that banking in the UK is completely in private hands means that there are no public-centric influences at work across the range of financial services that are essential to life. There are no rules, guidelines or working examples that provide a benchmark in terms of either ethics or fairness and demonstrate to commercial finance houses and banks how financial ‘products’ should actually be.
It is essential that a new ‘Community Banking System’ is created that reflects the genuine and service-based needs of personal banking and small business banking needs – with the need for real start-up and development lending for what is the engine room of UK industry too.
In recent years, the digitisation of money and financial transactions and the reducing reliance on cash, coupled with the obsession with profits rather than customer service, has seen many retail bank premises close.
This process – yet another example of the top-down, profit-before-people approach, must be reversed. It must be replaced with a system that clearly focuses on genuine support for the customer and their financial needs first (service first, profit is the happy consequence)
The UK (government) already owns significant shareholdings in banks that were bailed out (wrongly) around the time of the Great Financial Crisis of 2008. The remaining shareholding of one of these could easily be bought up by the government on our behalf, and then re-tasked for the purpose of being the Community Bank.
Alternatively, a new Community Bank could be established and started from scratch.
Either way, having a public bank that provides all of the services that the current private banks do not, will quickly help the mentality within ‘retail’ banking to change, and probably answer the question of why one doesn’t already exist right now.
Money is a unit of exchange that doesn’t hold any value of its own.
However, we have been conditioned to think that it is the money itself and not the goods or services that we use money to exchange with that have no value until such time as they are bought or sold.
This way of thinking only serves the rich, powerful and governments that have an unhealthy desire for control.
In the period of change or transition – or the process of correction that lies ahead, the financial system and the way that money and our currencies are valued today will inevitably change.
The process of that change itself is likely to involve and be driven by inflation of a kind that will at least temporarily make money worthless in every practical sense.
It follows that during a period of turmoil such as the one that we face, the joined-up thinking and continuity of the way that money and finance work that we have been used to and taken for granted will break down.
The successful transition to a new financial system that works fairly and appropriately, and in the right way that it should for everyone, must not become an aim that can be compromised in any way.
Like politics and the system of government structures around it, it is because of the role that money plays – as it will continue to do so, even in its correct form, it is absolutely necessary that the monetary system and the way that financial systems work are dictated and governed from the grassroots up.
To do otherwise, puts all of the power and utility that money and its use as a medium of exchange provides into a third party’s hands.
The point has regrettably long since been missed that the real function of money was to make bartering or the exchange of goods or labour much easier.
For instance, when there was no money: if a fisherman had fish spare but wanted his horses saddle repaired, he might have to exchange the fish for bread with the baker, the bread with the butcher for meat, and then the meat with the saddler for the time and materials from the Saddler – who might have gone through a similarly convoluted route to secure whatever he needed to live, but also to work.
Like the goods used in this example, labour, skills and the experience that each of us has are also a commodity which has value for others.
It is only because our experience tells us that it’s the money that we receive for providing our labour, skills and experience to others that holds the real value, that we have accepted the way that prices escalate at rates that others decide.
In a period of massive change, when everything that we know or take for granted has stopped, and the great correction is underway, one of the key areas of change will be our relationship with money and the way we pay for the things that we need – and if we are able, that we want.
The refocusing on local production and localism in its truest sense that we will have to embrace will enable a much healthier relationship with money to exist. One where money will be seen again as the unit of exchange that it is, rather than the must-have or endgame in everything that it has sadly become.
Much of Levelling Level has focused on everything that we know around us changing – and the way it will require us to change the way that we think.
With money being the key driver or lifeblood of the system we know; a system that is already in freefall, it is inevitable that the value of the money we use will collapse.
Money as we know it will become worthless in terms of daily use, until the new system is fully operational and the use of money as a functional tool has replaced the role of money driving every part of life and thinking for all.
Whilst there will always be a need for a common currency at National Level, the new way of doing business will like everything else with meaning coming and being created from the grassroots up.
Circumstances really will dictate the need for a correction with money – and what money is really about, to the level of ground zero.
Like everything of value, its people and not the technology of the system itself, that must be used to define what it is all about
When no amount of cash or currency we have available can secure the goods or services that we need, practical need will step in and demand that we exchange whatever we have or can offer to secure whatever we need.
Ultimately, as real creativity, innovation and entrepreneurism begin to thrive at the community level, one thing will again become apparent to us all:
The real base currency is the element that is common to every exchange: The time it has taken somebody to grow, produce, manufacture and transport whatever it is that the end user wants.
In other words, the real base currency is (or will be corrected to become) the value of input that an individual can make themselves, as the basis of an exchange to provide everything that they need to meet the requirement of being self-sufficient.
Fortunately, we have moved into an age where it will be incredibly easy to develop easy to use exchange or system of exchanges that can operate or be restricted to geographically defined areas.
Every member of a community will be able to exchange the goods they have, or the labour, skills and experience they can offer whoever needs them directly for goods, or a common online unit of exchange that can be added if there is a shortfall or received as change if what provided or offered into the exchange is agreed as being worth more than what the other party has to exchange in return.
Yes, I can hear you thinking ‘well that’s why we need the pound we’ve already got!’ – and I agree that on the face of it, that’s what most people would think too.
The problem is that the Pound IS ONLY A UNIT OF EXCHANGE – no matter what anyone tells us or what anyone thinks.
The only reason the Pound works as it has done until now is because of the belief that people like you and I have placed in it. Our currency and financial system is basically a money system built on trust.
That trust has already been broken. But the break and the lie are only now being fully revealed so that all of us can see.
To make any currency work again when there is change of the kind we are facing, its foundations must be based within a system of a size and type where people can actually trust what money is, and what it actually does.
Digital or crypto currencies will not survive in their current form.
Like the system that cryptocurrencies were created with the best intentions to try and override, it is simply the belief that people have, or the way that people think about cryptocurrencies today that appear to make them work.
The cryptocurrencies that you can buy or trade today may be worth a lot of money. But like the money they might replace, they have absolutely no value at all.
In reality, digital currencies that exist today are as flawed as the FIAT money system itself. They are based on no real value or tangible holding.
It is literally the belief of those who invest in or use the existing blockchain currencies that make them work.
The moment anything happens to shatter the belief in today’s versions of digital currency – as you can be certain that it will – these cryptocurrencies will return to their intrinsic value. That value is zero or nil.
The new ‘local’ way of living will allow the creation of new digital currencies based on real value that is defined by the community that runs it.
That value will be pinned or anchored to the value of input and output (labour, skills, experience) and the true value of the locally produced goods that people genuinely need to live.
We cannot and must not even try to return to a pyramid or hierarchical system that is skewed to allow prices at the foundation of our society to be dictated by actions at the top.
We could very easily and very quickly come to experience a fully functioning system of digital currencies that are locally linked. Currencies that become interchangeable and exchangeable with others, because of how the basic value of input and essential goods are defined.
Whilst many question the validity of the mainstream media today, very few really question or analyse what our mainstream news mediums really do and how they actually work.
As with the case with money, or the new unit(s) of exchange as we go forward, the great correction will define that media sources with influence must tell the truth and therefore be a medium that the public can trust.
We are already at saturation point when it comes to other people’s narratives, and we desperate to hear leaders and influencers speaking the truth, demonstrating that they are sources that we can trust.
Trust in the media will only be achieved when there are no agendas at work.
Once again, the best way to achieve this will be to keep channels, platforms or mediums as local as it is possible for them to be.
That way, the interests and motivations of the journalists and managers will be to prioritise the needs and benefits to the community and people within that community they are working for. Not some commercial power that sits above.
Many of the societal problems that we have today exist in the way or at the level that they do, because of the way that the media focuses on sensationalism (bad news for somebody else).
The whole model functions on a strange kind of vicarious state of being. One that provides people with an instant high when they are able to witness someone else’s pain (All the time being thankful that it’s not them in the frame).
Problems in life, such as crimes will always exist – even if they are thankfully very few. But the way media has been working has been to expand stories of every kind that aren’t a threat or in any way likely to become real for any of us to a disproportionate and overwhelming level where they take over real life – simply because dishonest media has been abusing the trust we have in them and pumping nonsense straight into our front rooms.
People are far more tolerant and understanding of anything and anyone else, when the story they encounter is one that has only come to them as a part of their own journey through normal life, and they are literally ‘looking it in the eye’.
For a genuinely healthy society to exist, we need only to have exposure to news that is based on what is or what has been, and NOT what could or someone else believes should be.
Despite a Bill already working its way through the UK Parliament that is overtly designed to deal with issues surrounding how big tech platforms operate and work, the reality is that as is the case with most things, our politicians have only been making lots of noise about the specific issues they believe help them to play to the current crowd. Meanwhile they have deliberately avoided creating, developing or changing any legislation that would be truly fair and beneficial to everyone whilst providing a level of functionality that actually works as it should in real life.
With corporate interests and the role of money as the motivator being dealt with as part of Levelling Level in many different ways, there are three key areas in relation to the role of the Internet, where legislators will need to legislate thoughtfully and effectively.
These three areas are key to Levelling Level, so that the new internet – an internet that is unlikely to resemble what it does today, in a just few years’ time, is a safe place for everyone. One that supports and benefits real life, rather than providing an alternative that is open to abuse and is currently a danger to just about everyone.
Right now, at the time of writing, the internet is not a terribly nice place. In fact, it can and does literally destroy people for no good reason at all.
Echo chambers and the realities of misperceived influence aside, it is the dehumanising of relationships that every part of the internet enables and creates – illustrated at its very worst in the way that trolling, cancelling and piling-in is facilitated through social media – where many of the societal ills that we face today have exploded into what feel like uncontrollable forms.
There is an immediate need for a code of conduct that reminds everyone to behave in the same way online as if they were interacting with whoever they are communicating with in person face-to-face.
However, this aside. The biggest issue that must be dealt with is the ability for anyone to be able to create an online personality and behave in any way they wish too, without apparent threat or risk to themselves, whilst creating untold harm.
Neither the platform providers nor the government are best suited to managing the solution to the problem. As the requirement for registering personal details to a level that will become a real deterrent to harmful and dangerous behaviour, will enable the user to be tracked in ways that could prove counterproductive and in the wrong hands actually do them harm.
We must have either one or a series of independent agencies that are governed and maintained by their impartiality. Hubs that provide a registration system for everyone who wants to engage and communicate openly on internet platforms. A process of registration that will allow them to do so using their own name – or to speak anonymously, but to do so knowing that they are effectively licensed by that register and the rules that govern it. And that they can be identified if they attack others or behave in any way beyond what communities agree should be acceptable online norms.
One of the greatest travesties of so much information and history now being stored and publicly available online, is that the history of anyone that has no meaning to anyone other than the individual concerned or to those making mischief or looking for ways to do that person harm can easily be found.
People can be unnecessarily cruel and have little regard for the consequences of their actions when they want to counteract what they see as a threat to them personally, or punish someone else for what they see as a crime against them or someone they care about subjectively. Objectively their targets were more than likely doing nothing wrong and should be dealt with by the appropriate authorities if they were. Indeed, to a fresh set of eyes and ears would more than likely be in the right.
As people travel through life and gain more experience as they live that life, most become well aware of the damage that can be caused when the misperceptions that others have of a stupid or foolish act from the past can have when turned into a crime by being framed or dressed up as such in contemporary thought.
If there has been no crime or act against the community or against others as the law provides for on the part of an individual, or the responding punishment or restrictions of any court they have been given have ended or been spent, that individual should have the opportunity to wipe the slate clean or to have their past forgotten.
Every web page or platform that carries information that an individual believes to their detriment online should be required to remove any related information – once they are aware of the requirement – for someone enacting their right to be forgotten – not continuously or on an ongoing basis. But at perhaps one or two career-changing or life-changing points.
Whilst an alarming lack of care is still being shown by todays politicians in regard to the way that people behave on the internet, they are effectively comatose when it comes to what the so-called Metaverse has in store.
Levelling Level will address many of the reasons why so many people find themselves living alternative realities online today, in so many dangerous forms. However, that isn’t to say that the Metaverse and the creation or exitance of an alternative online world that can provide healthy social interaction that reduced travelling, working from home and positive localism does not.
However, like the internet, no matter how ‘real’ it feels or becomes, the Metaverse must always be used as a tool to support the needs and functions of life, and not become an alternative to life in itself.
Successfully creating and maintaining a societal benchmark that prioritises the ability of everyone to be able to sustain themselves and their life and calling it the Basic Living Standard, doesn’t mean that it will be impossible for the circumstances that some people find themselves in to enable them to fall through.
Achieving Levelling Level as a standard should significantly reduce the number of people who find themselves homeless simply because of being in debt, unable to find work or being able to pay for accommodation.
But like anything else anyone does to help others; Levelling Level will not cater for the people who find themselves in difficulty because of addiction – which a fully corrected system should also cater for without being seen.
No system, however well thought out or constructed, will be able to cater for every need of those who become homeless because they quite literally feel they can no longer conform in any way or do not wish to continue ‘taking part’.
If we have achieved the Levelling Level and created a system that is balanced, fair and maintained as such to benefit us all, the people who will find themselves at odds with that system will be remarkably few. But they will always exist.
We therefore need communities to have facilities that are open, without question or the perceived heavy hand of any authority or control to provide sanctuary for those that need it, when they need it without anything – even personal care – being required in exchange.
We also need to create a system where for whatever legitimate reason they might have to do so, any individual can effectively begin all over again with a new identity, in a new place, and without any ties to their former existence, at least once in their life – if they should choose.
The days of being able to choose a monastic or convent-like existence may be over or no longer exist as they once did. But alternatives already do and should be encouraged, so that one way or another, if life has become so unbearable for anyone for any reason, they are not left with living on the streets or taking their own life as the only choices they have, simply because nobody else can understand the pain they are in, because that pain which is very specific to that individual, and is an experience of pain that they themselves have never had.
When a system exists that is balanced and fair for all, many of the societal problems that exist and that nobody seems to be able to fix today, will simply vanish or quickly go away.
Poverty, debt, inflation, knife crime, antisocial behaviour, the cost of living, educational standards, drug abuse, theft, restricted social mobility, prejudices, political disenfranchisement, fake news, the lack of community, the failure of public services AND many other issues will be addressed, when enough people understand, accept and are ready embrace the inevitable change that will allow us to help others as we go through a process of helping ourselves.
Levelling Level is all about creating a system that takes care of every individual, every person in the same way no matter how many degrees of separation lie between us.
When we get it right for everyone else, it all comes full circle, and we get it right for ourselves.
No, this is not wishful thinking. It is about giving everyone at every age and from every background the reason to rediscover and give them back a sense of value and self-worth.
Values and self-worth reflect in the way that we interact with others and how we come together with respect and care for others as a community.
Levelling Level is a way of being that recognises the only way to achieve and maintain the outcome of having a system that is fair and balanced for us all as individuals and as a community, is to create and secure a system that is fair to the poorest and most vulnerable individuals within our society before anything else.
This is not about trying to create a system that is perfect.
It is part of the human condition that some of us will step outside the framework of any boundaries that are placed there to help us.
In a society that is fair to everyone, it is essential that it is only when an individual steps outside the framework of that society, that the community then seeks to intervene.
When society does intervene, it must be with the lightest touch possible. Rather than try to regulate against every eventuality – which is how our world around us has now become.
You cannot make life better for anyone by only attempting to improve the environment around us, calling it levelling up.
You cannot make life better for anyone by attempting to force everyone to believe they are exactly the same, when you cannot change the way people think and so, the only way that you can make everyone appear to be the same is by levelling down.
In the pages of Levelling Level, I have attempted to lift the large rock that covers all of the problems within ‘the system’ or the way that the UK currently operates, that so many of us feel and experience in our daily lives, but at the same time, cannot seem to see.
I have talked about some of the key solutions, new ways of working and new ways of thinking or ways of living similar to them that we will soon have to consider and are likely to be forced by circumstances to adopt anyway.
That is, IF we genuinely desire things to change and wish to experience a world that is as fair to us as we perceive it being fair to all.
Levelling Level has been written from the perspective that it will be read only by you. However, the conclusions, solutions and suggestions are intended to benefit everyone as individuals, as neighbourhoods, communities and collectively as the United Kingdom that together we are.
As the reader will already be aware, we are experiencing and navigating our way through very challenging times.
The problems discussed here are not new. They have been getting progressively worse over a long period of time. They have been hiding menacingly in plain sight.
There has been no self-serving incentive for those who have the responsibility and power to take any meaningful steps towards finding genuine solutions to the problems that society faces and to do everything that is necessary to sort them all out.
Whilst change is happening around us all the time, it often does so without us being consciously aware.
The kind of change that is now required is so profound that it is only a unique set of circumstances that touch everyone and causes pain to each of us in some way, that will provide the incentive for us to think differently.
Only then will we be open to a change in thinking that will create a much healthier way of living for us individually, as well as making fairness and balance a part of everyone’s life.
Such a unique set of circumstances or events now exist and are underway.
A series of events, that began with Brexit, then The Covid Pandemic and now the Invasion of Ukraine, have become the catalysts that have precipitated and accelerated everything that we know to change around us.
They are the first steps of a Financial and Systemic collapse that none of the current political elites have the power to control.
Somewhat ironically, it is the decisions that these same ‘leaders’ have been making in response to these events that are the real cause of all the problems that society faces today. This same malign influence has been at work, not only for the past six or seven years. But for what we must recognise as being decades of time.
These same few are using the term ‘Reset’ or ‘Great Reset’ as a forewarning that we will ignore at our peril.
Their misuse of these terms is a forewarning that the existing elites intend to use the collapse that is underway as an opportunity to reboot the existing system that has benefitted them so well, so that it will work even better for them – all under the auspices of what will be much tighter control.
However, what the elites haven’t banked on, is that things are set to change in such a way, and to such a degree, that all of the reasons and motives that drive these people – at considerable cost to us all – are going to be exposed to daylight. The actions and motives of the elites will then be seen and understood by all.
The unsustainable ways that we have been living under their manipulative leadership will come to an end.
We will be forced to revalue life and what the important parts of it are.
Times ahead are likely to be painful for us. But the pain of experience is how we really learn. And as we learn and realise what the basic essentials for life – in both a practical and mentally healthy way – really are, we will also understand what any of us would need if we found ourselves in circumstances where we were having to ‘just get by’.
Right back in the early pages of Levelling Level, I referred to this being a very long book, delivered in a very short form.
Okay, so forty thousand words isn’t all that short.
But the point I was briefly attempting to make then and to which I am returning now is that the technical detail and complexity involved in delivering the wholesale changes to public policy that we MUST have, so that the world around us really is fair and balanced for us all, is so spectacular in its nature, that to many, it just resembles the very worst kind of fog.
What I realised as I wrote and worked on Levelling Level through late February and for most of March 2022, was that almost everything I was writing about, was a topic that I had written about in some isolated way before.
If you have found yourself focused on any of the topics and would like to read more, I would encourage you to visit my Blog www.adamtugwell.blog and use the search facility to find more about what interests you most, or alternatively read my other e-books that are available via the links within the Other Books by this Author list.
I’m always happy to help where possible and can be contacted by e-mail at levellinglevel@gmail.com .
Levelling Level was the first part of a series that I began writing about three years ago in early 2022 and also provided the main body of work for the updated version of the book Days of Ends and New Beginnings which was published in April 2024.
Each of the following Books is a variation on a theme, but works very much under the principle that it is not only possible but actually healthy to be able to understand, value and even hold different views or perspectives of the same situation or set of circumstances at the same time, whether that be in the Past, Present or Future tense.
Equally, it is also important to be able to consider different pathways for the future that sit beyond what many consider to be the obvious, simply because the obvious itself is usually inextricably linked with what has already been done and what sits in the past.
All of the following titles are available to purchase as complete eBooks for Kindle from Amazon using the links provided.
Where indicated, titles may also be available to download FREE as PDF Copies from my Blogsite in different forms, using the links provided.
If you would like to discuss any of the works listed, please get in touch.
It is reasonably safe to assume that if you have found your way to reading this page, you will be aware that we are facing massive societal and economic problems, locally, nationally and internationally too.
The chances are, however, that you will already have an idea or ideas of your own that anchor to what you have concluded yourself or that you agree with others to be the cause.
Common causes for problems like the Cost-of-Living Crisis, Inflation, National and Personal Debt, Energy Prices, Strikes and others too are identified as events such as Brexit, The Covid Pandemic, The War in Ukraine, or placed directly at the feet of The Government, a previous government, any one of The Political Parties or one or more of the Politicians involved.
However, it is not the events that the Country and the World has faced which are the cause of our problems themselves.
It is not the Political Party, the Group or Individual itself that can be identified as the cause.
Yes, the way that our Governments, Politicians and anyone with influence or responsibility for the response and measures taken to mitigate against or implement solutions to, or even see them through to conclusion, are certainly a more informed way to think about these events, rather than it being all about the events themselves.
But even the response or way that those with power have responded isn’t the real cause of our problems.
Our problems are caused by the way that we, and more importantly the way that our Politicians and anyone with influence or responsibility that can affect our lives in some way thinks, acts and behaves.
It is thoughts, actions and behaviour that cause everything. This is what really matters when it comes to the effects of every decision taken that affects Public Policy of any kind, and then finds its way to us.
The crisis that we face and the problems ahead were not deliberate. But they weren’t created by accident either
The UK and the world are sleepwalking towards disaster. Chaos that could have been avoided if the people who lead us – Our Politicians, had taken a very different approach to the way that they think, act and behave when it comes to the decisions they make.
Contrary to accepted thought or to any common or accepted narrative, the people who we currently elect to be Politicians are rarely the best fit to fulfil the role of being a public representative.
Poor Public Representatives make decisions subjectively, in an isolated or myopic way, and do so without due care and attention to the broad range of factors and considerations that the Public should be able to expect and already assume will inform the process of how objectively based Public Policy – which all of it should be – is made.
It is because we have been electing people who are not suitable to be Politicians for so long, that the negative impact from having poor decisions made repeatedly to solve that problems that previous poor decisions made by other unsuitable Politicians have created, that the effect on everything has been cumulative, getting steadily but unconsciously worse.
Bit by bit, ‘The System’ that we have has become increasingly skewed away from and in many ways proactively geared against balance, fairness and what we might call being just in about every conceivable sense possible, when it comes to the different life experiences that we all have.
What is ‘The System’?
For the purposes of making sense of Awakened Politics, ‘The System’ is the structure or framework that makes everything work (or not work) in the way that you and I experience life from the moment we look outside our inner being, live, interact with businesses, organisations, and basically everything beyond personal relationships that lie outside of ourselves and outside of our homes.
For many, indeed for most, ‘The System’ only touches life or the experience of life in a number of very specific ways.
The ways that ‘The System’ touches our lives specifically can be defined by location, lifestyle, career, demographic, education and just about everything that can be used to define or identify a difference of some kind between each of us and anyone else.
‘The System’, for us, is usually a lot of very different things that we have going on continually within our awareness – whether we are physically asleep or awake, added to an even greater list of things going on outside of our awareness that we may not even become or need to become aware of if we were to live a full life and exceed an age beyond 100 years old.
Whether we are aware of ‘The System’ or even parts of it or not, any system or what might be called an ecosystem has its own set of rules that make it work and keep it working.
The rules of ‘The System’ are defined, created, reviewed and maintained by a process that we understand as ‘Democracy’.
We elect Public Representatives or ‘Politicians’ to think about, research, consider and make all the decisions about ‘The System’ – which will ultimately affect us all, even when we are unaware that any or all of these decisions are affecting or touching our lives in some way.
The role of Politics in ‘The System’
To reach agreement, compromise and then conclusion on the rules of ‘The System’, a process of review, discussion, debate and regrettably even argument has historically taken place, based on alternative ideas, or sadly ‘whose idea is best’.
It is rarely, if not ever conducted on the basis of discussion to find agreement on what outcome will be best for everyone concerned.
This process of debate and everything that surrounds it is what we know as politics.
The people we elect as Politicians have responsibility for the rules that govern the thinking, the actions and the behaviour in everything beyond ourselves and our personal lives.
However, if the power entrusted to Politicians is misused or abused, rules can easily become law that mean the thinking, actions and behaviour of others can become unnecessarily, avoidably and unjustly detrimental towards us all. Whether it be us as individuals, as communities or even as a seemingly silent majority.
When we have entrusted Public Representatives to make decisions that are in the best interests of everyone, we are less likely to question the validity of those decisions because it immediately brings into question whether the decisions made by the majority in selecting them are actually sound.
We will not therefore easily accept that ‘The System’ and that The Electorate could be the victims of abuse.
Why do we need Politics?
Let’s start with a question: How do you know what you need at any moment or for any reason or any purpose?
When you’ve thought about it, your answer is likely to be ‘from experience’ or rather, what you have learned from experience so far.
So, what do we do when we don’t have the experience to provide that answer?
The chances are your answer will be to look for and to find the solution – probably by tapping a question into a search engine like Bing or Google, or rather to learn it in some other way.
But what happens when decisions need to be made concerning the services like schools and the NHS, or the infrastructure like parks and roads that are common to us all, that we share, but are not under our direct influence or control?
Whether they are ‘services’ in the strictest sense, or infrastructure that is managed by a service of some kind, all these things that exist for the common good – because we will all typically need them or need access to them at some point or for some reason in life – must be managed with decisions made for us all, on our behalf, for that same common good.
Politics, in its strictest sense, is the debate or discussion that surrounds the management of these ‘public services’ and the system or procedure of decision making that creates, reviews and oversees the implementation of the management strategy for all of these things.
It’s what happens beyond this basic need for the exchange of ideas and discourse – where decisions should always be made in a fair balanced and just way – where the problems really start to begin.
Why do we need Government?
For the purposes of understanding Awakened Politics, it is important to recognise that the terms ‘Government’, ‘Public Sector’ and ‘Public Services’ are all interchangeable terms.
They stand alone as terms to different people, depending on the perspective or experience of the individual.
In some ways they are arguably the same thing and in others they are very different. They are not in any way mutually exclusive.
In relation to Awakened Politics, Government itself is the decision-making body or if you like, the board of directors. It is the top of the management structure that makes the strategic decisions that the executive managers, administrative and technical staff (that make up the Public Sector and provide Public Services) then carry out.
We need and should be able to rely on government to ensure that decisions on our behalf are taken when they should be, and that their implementation into delivery and material form are then completed or continued in the way that they should be.
Who is The Way of Awakened Politics for Good Government for?
Awakened Politics has been written with the UK Political, Government and Electoral Systems primarily in mind.
Whilst The Way of Awakened Politics for Good Government is the fourth book in a series following ‘Levelling Level’, ‘The Basic Living Standard’ and ‘From Here to There Through Now’ that were also written and published in 2022, it could just as easily be the unexpected or unanticipated prequal, building on the way of thinking or methodology that was presented in the 2018 book ‘How to Get Elected’ too.
The fundamental basis of the idea or proposal made here is built upon an alternative ‘grassroots up’ system to the outwardly 4-Tier system of Government that we currently have in the UK.
However, the model of constructing Government or rather the way of selecting and appointing Politicians or Public Representatives suggested later could be applied to and implemented within different existing political spaces, if it were collectively decided to pursue The Way of Awakened Politics for Good Government within the constituency or constituencies involved.
If you are reading this book, the chances are that you will either a) wish to see a system embracing Awakened Politics fully implemented where you are located, or b) Will be resistant to any process that will deliver it and a system of government or governance that will reflect it.
The Way of Awakened Politics for Good Government has been written for people who are awakened to the need for all decisions on Public Policy to be made by others who are fully conscious or awakened to the realities of how life works.
Awakened Politics can only genuinely exist if we have Public Representatives who not only can but will translate and legislate in a way which makes sense of that understanding – and most importantly the realities of human nature – to ensure that we have governance that works responsively and proactively in a balanced, fair and just way for all.
Awakened Politics is for everyone and everything.
Part 1: Where we are today
Problems always begin with the way that we think
You may only be aware that there is something wrong with the world beyond our doors.
If the problems outside haven’t walked directly into your life and touched you yet, the chances are that your experience will tell you that whatever might be wrong, those kinds of problems will always get sorted out. That everything will ultimately be fine, and things as you know them, or what you have consider to be normal, will just carry on as they always have before.
It is certainly true that the UK and the World has been in a mess many times before. However, what we face now is likely to be different to anything that anyone has experienced in living memory. It has the potential to be far worse than anything that the history books that we have seen can tell us. We are now in the first stages of what will be inevitable change.
Contrary to the accepted or common view, the reasons for this change and the combination of problems that will lead to and be part of it, are not the events that happen that cause the real problems.
It is the way that we think, act and behave – and more importantly the way that our decision makers think, act and behave towards all events that have an impact upon all or a number of us, that really count.
Poor thinking, actions and behaviour in decision making leads to poor experiences of life.
Today’s Politicians are unconscious, unaware and asleep at the wheel. This means everything is out of control
The problems that we are facing today have been created little by little and step by step over a very long period of time.
Yes, you will read and hear many well-known public figures and people such as journalists attributing blame for everything to an existing Political Party like The Conservatives, Liberal Democrats or Labour; to events such as Brexit, The Covid Pandemic or even The War in Ukraine.
But the reality underpinning all of the problems that we have, the way that these Political Parties behave and the way that events such as Brexit, Covid and Ukraine have been dealt with too, is it has been the thinking, mindset, values, motives, integrity and understanding of the decision makers – The Politicians – when each and every decision has been made, that has led the UK and the World to be where we all are today.
Believe it or not, the pivot point between Politicians making good decisions on Public Policy or making poor decisions on our behalf comes down to their understanding of the difference between what’s right for them subjectively and what’s right for everyone objectively.
The problem with Politicians today is they either don’t understand the difference between what’s right for them vs what’s right for everyone, or they deliberately fail to discern between the two.
Either way, the result is very much the same. In the most basic of terms: Politicians are not making decisions based upon being fully aware and in full consideration of everything that is relevant to each decision.
Politicians make poor decisions and continue to make poor decisions because they believe that the methods of thinking, acting and behaving they have adopted culturally are acceptable, proper and therefore ok.
Politics will not change or even deviate away from this until Politicians change the way that they think, or we change the way that we think and elect Politicians who think differently.
Because decisions are not being made in the best interests of everyone, Politicians have and are still creating life experiences for increasing numbers of people – and potentially for us all – that are out of control.
Real people, living real lives and having real life experiences just like you and I are on the sharp end of this right now.
Politicians are unaware of the impact of the decisions they make, because they have no understanding of the lives that the majority of the population live
The reality of how the UK Political System and how British Politics is broken, can be more than adequately explained in the difference between having Politicians who are effectively unconscious or ‘asleep at the wheel’ as they are today, and the very distinct alternative of having Politicians who are fully conscious of the reasons for and the implications of everything they do.
It cannot be emphasised strongly enough, just how real the different consequences are and will be between what we already have and what we could have and should have in terms of decision making in the best interests of everyone and everything.
These differences will continue to exist for as long as we fail to embrace the necessary process of change, rather than continue to seek what look like easy alternatives.
All of the Public Policy decisions being made today and the decisions that have been made for decades have been made with highly subjective aims.
The aims or desired outcomes that led to these decisions may have been to appeal to the Voters who typically support the Political Party in or seeking power. They may have been to keep the Banks, The Markets and Big Business happy. They may have been to maintain or gain favour with the EU or the Government of a Country such as the USA. They may have been based upon what the government of the day decided that ‘they’ could afford (£).
Whatever the motives or drivers behind the decisions may have been, those motives have become preferential influences or biases.
This means that the decisions have been made without consideration of all the facts, impacts and consequences in mind – as they always should be.
Poor decisions made by Politicians, influenced by biases or fears that favour one thing or the aims or wants of certain people always disadvantage something else or other people in some way.
There is no in-between – irrespective of whether the result is publicly seen or unseen.
The impact of poor politics, poor Politicians & poor decisions in all areas of Public Policy: We have inequality, imbalance, injustice and unfairness creating winners and losers in life
The impact of Poor Politics or poor decision making, undertaken without due care and consideration of all the facts, consequences and what is balanced, fair and just, is what you see and experience when you look outward into the world in any way today.
If your own life and experience has not been touched in a way that is discernable to you personally so far, please do be grateful.
If your eyes are open to see beyond the narratives, you will witness problems, pain and suffering being visited upon innocent people and entire communities.
If you really want to see how Unconscious Politics and the Unconscious System of Government and Governance that we have is affecting people, you will not need to look very far.
The majority of the problems that people, communities and entire Countries face are unnecessary and could be avoided.
The UK ‘System’ of Governance and Public Services is now broken beyond repair
As is the case with most money-based or money-obsessed systems and their countries around the world, the UK ‘System’ is now broken beyond repair.
Along with the USA, the UK may soon prove to be just a little further ahead in the race towards the bottom and a final collapse.
But in real terms, the reality of having every government across the world led by sleepwalking Politicians and with Unconscious Politics will soon add up to the same thing. What we will personally experience in the form of massive change and a period of painful challenges lies ominously ahead.
Whilst the downward line of trajectory that successive UK Governments have subjected the UK to has been the same since the FIAT monetary system and unhindered globalism was arguably fully embraced in 1971, there have been many, if not countless opportunities when Politicians could have taken steps to lead and run ‘The System’ in a very different way.
As the thinking that the money-based order that the UK sits within has successfully reached everyone and everything, the belief in money as a thing, rather than money being just a means of exchange has moved the emphasis of modern life away from humanity and values to measuring and qualifying everything in terms of what you earn, what you can accumulate and what you can own.
We have now reached a point where the prioritisation of money, greed and the accumulation of wealth with easy living is so obsessive and the sickness about money and the role it plays in life so profound, we have reached and passed the point where ‘The System’ itself as we know it could be repaired.
Accepting second best and compromise as the only alternative to the Politicians we have today doesn’t work: It’s what we’ve tried doing for decades already
The giant step or quantum leap on the path of voluntary change is reaching the understanding and the acceptance that what we genuinely need from our Politicians and from Government now and for a better future will not simply be offered up to us on a plate.
There are plenty of wannabe politicians as well as existing politicians who can appeal to many of us as an alternative to what we already have right now.
Those who covet public roles, just like the Politicians in control today did so before they assumed power, will use words, use the media, use social media platforms and even look a certain way that sounds like or gives the appearance that once elected they would be different, do different things and take governance of our Country in a very different and beneficial way.
Regrettably, the majority of these people are or would be no different to the Unconscious Politicians that we have already got and would deliver Public Policy with the same biases and being subject to the same kinds of self-serving motivations and influences as Politicians we see sat as Conservatives, Greens, Liberal Democrats, Labour and the SNP already are.
For example, as I write this in late November 2022, the Political Party or Group known as ‘Reform UK’ which doesn’t currently have any seats in the UK or Westminster Parliament, is promoting itself as an alternative to the current government on the basis that it says it will stop illegal immigration via France across the English Channel – simply by ‘stopping the boats’.
Single issues are by their very nature single issues. That’s not what General Elections are about.
The existing Political Parties and the Politicians who appear to have credible policies that suggest they will solve the widest number of problems win General Elections, because their approach touches most areas of Public Policy.
However, the Parties that we have – even the ones we haven’t elected yet – do so Unconsciously.
The Political Parties and the Politicians we have, whether elected or not, do not understand, consider, make allowance for or think about the consequences of everything they touch for everyone who can be touched by what they do.
They are false prophets. With messages that appeal because something or some part of it looks or sounds great to enough of us in some way.
The reality is that they are Unconscious and have no appreciation of what their piecemeal involvement in Public Policy and legislating will really do.
There is no meaningful exception to this rule.
Noise isn’t action. Just because a problem is talked about, it doesn’t mean anything is being done
Because of the way that media, social media, the internet and the dissemination of information works today, our attention is all too easily distracted and diverted away from many of the things that we should really have much greater care for.
Meanwhile, the way that we have become conditioned to interact with the flow of information coming at us from the world outside of us or outside of our life bubbles also has the ability to add additional weight to events and to the influence of celebrity and people with public platforms in a disproportionate and therefore highly misleading way.
Regrettably, this has become an ingrained cultural problem to the point where many people believe that it is normal.
In respect of the issues that we really should be considering as important to us personally as well as communally, the result is that unless we are actually looking properly and not taking everything as read or at face value, we are missing the news, or when it reaches us, it comes with a wrapping of opinion that far exceeds its genuine value.
Unfortunately, we easily fall into the trap of believing that what we don’t hear about or what we don’t see doesn’t matter, and take for granted that when we do hear about anything, the fact that the information has come to us in some way means that solutions are already being found and that whatever is necessary is already being done.
Sadly, for all of us, this simply isn’t the case.
Money can only put the effects of problems on hold. It never addresses the cause
Because Political and Executive Decision Makers in the Public Realm either avoid or are ignorant of the complexity and interconnectedness of the issues and problems that they face on our behalf, it has become very easy to suggest and create the narrative that money and more of it is the answer to all things.
The problem with this approach isn’t only that money isn’t real – as we are all in the increasingly painful process of finding out.
It is that when the money lie is working, providing more of it just has the effect of putting the problems – or rather the causes of the problems – on hold.
Money itself never addresses the causes of problems, as even when money is apparently short, the question still remains ‘What was the cause of money being short?’
What is real, never changes in value.
Missing the point: The Devil is in the Detail
We are all guilty of having allowed ‘The System’ to degenerate and for things to have become as bad as they are. Because as a majority, we take it for granted that the way that everything works is as straightforward as we believe and think.
Politicians are the same as the majority of us. Before they are elected or appointed, the majority of them have been looking at and interacting with life in exactly the same ways.
There is nothing different about most of them that makes them better able to deal with Public Policy and managing the things that are important to all of us in any different way.
What Politicians, senior executives in the Civil Service and in Local Government fail to recognise, because they have no experience, acceptance nor understanding of the wider picture, is how the services, creation and running of infrastructure or anything to do with the Public Sector interconnects with not only so many other areas of Public Policy, but has a direct impact on so many different areas of life for so many different people, businesses and organisations too.
Public Policy is made today, as it has been for a very long time, based on dealing with the effects of issues or problems.
Decision makers are either unaware of or deliberately avoid dealing with the cause.
The complexities and interconnectedness of Public Policy & Governance require a way of thinking and an outlook on life that today’s Politicians just don’t have
Regrettably, the way that culture and society work today with the messages, narratives and programming that it provides, has left or is encouraging everyone not only to believe that they know and understand everything, but that armed with this seemingly ubiquitous knowledge they are being told that they have, they can then do or be whatever they want, without fear of consequence and without any kind of cost.
Thinking is not ‘joined up’. There is no recognition of the relationship between work, effort, commitment and integrity.
The journey or process takes place from start to finish without any kind of meaning to the result for anyone and least of all the individual.
The ease with which things appear at the click of a link or push of a button compounds this lack of awareness into the failure to appreciate the complexity of the systems and the procedures that make everything work around us and just how many different roles or contributions can and are being made in order that what seem to be the most basic of products or services are accessible to us or reach us on what we have learned to regard as throw away terms.
Public Policy and the system of governance that we have is no different.
In fact, what we fail to realise and appreciate far beyond the complexity of the relationship between input and reward and ease of accessibility of all things, is everything that seems to be so easy has come to be taken for granted in these ways because decision makers are either blind to or are deliberately ignoring the real costs of living life unsustainably.
The self interest and greed that has influenced the decision makers is allowed to permeate the whole public narrative, because our decision makers believe that they will benefit even more if they acquiesce with an approach that apparently comes without any cost to them, but with every benefit too.
Few of us will willingly recognise or accept the costs of unsustainable living, until such time as those costs reach us directly or have an effect on us in some way where we accept that the perceived disadvantages outweigh the perceived benefits in a meaningful way.
There are consequences to every decision made in the Public Realm.
Each Public Policy affects other Public Policies, is or will be affected by other Public Polices in some way.
Public Policies that govern the way that businesses and organisations behave and conduct their business, as well as how each of us as individuals think, have the power to have either positive or very negative implications for us all.
Everything our Politicians do has a cost, implication or consequence in some way. Especially when they surrender the power that the Electorate or that Voters have given them, to people, to ideas or to 3rd party organisations that are or have their own agenda, and therefore subjectively influence them.
Our Politicians are making a mockery of the democratic system. Many of them are willfully blind to the consequences of their actions. But whether their actions are deliberate or borne of ignorance, the fact is that they have taken roles that require awareness of everything that Public Policy does and that it touches, and that when they fail one of us, they fail all of us just the same.
Can the problems we have with Government & Politics be solved?
Yes. All of the problems that we have with Government and with Politics can be solved.
The question really should be whether the majority of people want those problems to be solved or whether they will accept and where possible embrace the changes to everything that we know today that would allow for all of the problems that we collectively share to be solved.
Part 2: The Way of Awakened Politics for Good Government
We can solve all shared problems if we have Good Government
A system of Awakened Politics, leading to the implementation and continuance of Good Government will allow for all societal or problems shared across the community, where The Way of Awakened Politics for Good Government is fully implemented and comprehensively or universally responsible to be solved.
However, it is important to understand that the solutions to today’s problems that The Way of Awakened Politics for Good Government offers will not be to everyone’s liking.
Some, perhaps those we currently recognise as just the few, have much to gain from maintaining a system which continues to benefit only some at the expense of all others and mitigates this in very inhuman ways.
In terms of Awakened Politics and Good Government, what does Awakened mean?
In terms of Awakened Politics and Good Government, to be Awakened quite literally means to be fully aware, considerate of and making allowance for the impact and consequences of the choices or the decisions that are about to be made for everyone and not just those who appear to be the only ones that decision will affect.
It is important to understand that intelligence, education, position or anything else that ‘defines’ anyone as being different does not make anyone ‘Awake’, fully ‘Conscious’, or enlightened, and this is particularly so in the case of the Politicians we have today.
How is Awakened or Conscious Politics different when we are all awake or conscious anyway?
Medically or physiologically speaking, yes, if you are reading this page, you are ‘conscious’. Also, in these same ‘literal’ terms, you are likely to be physically ‘awake’ too.
What some people may not realise, or indeed, what many of the people around them may not realise is that what they currently understand to be conscious or to be awake is only partially so.
In terms of absolutes, people may not be ‘Conscious’ or ‘Awake’ at all, if there are things going on in the world around them or that are contributing to the experience that they are having that they are neither conscious of or aware of in any way.
That absence or lack of awareness most often exists in terms of peoples understanding of themselves. Why they feel the way they do about things. Why they react the way that they do. Why they are motivated in the way that they are. And how experiences they have themselves affect and influence them in their future – usually without them giving the matter any thought.
If a person is not fully aware of or can make consideration of, or allowance for everything that is going on in a situation over which they are making some kind of judgement or a decision, they are not ‘Awake’ to or ‘Conscious’ of everything that is going on. They will therefore be making that decision or judgement unconsciously.
Politicians are not and have not been making decisions consciously. If they were and had been, the world today and the experience that we are all having of it would be very different in just about every conceivable way.
What is Awakened Politics?
Awakened Politics is the assessment, creation, proposal and pursuit of new and improved Public Policy and Community or Social solutions that are based upon, built and evolved from the point of decision-making taking place under a condition of full awareness and consideration for all factors involved, driven by the unequivocal pursuit of fairness, balance and justice, and what is in the best interests of all members of the relevant constituency involved.
As a minimum, the attributes, experience and qualities of any Awakened Politician will include their ability, commitment and will (and in no order of prioritisation):
To be fully self-aware.
To be human and to prioritise humanity, conscious thinking, actions, behaviour and life above all ‘things’.
To treat all other human beings as equals, in thought, in word and in deed.
To be able to see, understand and value all sides of an argument or dispute and undertake to always access all the information necessary and from enough sources to make a fully reasoned judgement, even when circumstances are fraught or pressurised.
To take all decisions on Public Policy based upon what is known to be at that moment, not on the basis of what could be, what might be or what if?
To make decisions that run contrary to public and media opinion or subjective narratives, even when they might appear to reflect the zeitgeist or common view.
To recognise and discern the needs, impacts upon of the person or upon persons they are least likely to identify with and treat them the same as if they were themselves that same person and have nothing in life to support them beyond the person that they are.
To not be intimidated by the perceived power and the different circumstances of any other.
To be able and willing to ask questions which lead to understanding of impact, motives, circumstances and likely outcome from all perspectives.
To understand and respect the realities of human nature in all things and in all circumstances.
To see, volunteer for, promote and live the role of being a Public Representative as a calling or as a vocation. Not as a job or a career.
To recognise the role of money, currency and all systems of payment as a method only and not as being a ‘thing’ in any sense.
To be the voice and reasoning of the third parties who are not present or represented, or are not ‘in the room’.
To be able to empathise without being emotionally compromised or without becoming emotionally entrenched, or to recognise and act accordingly when they are.
To have a rudimentary understanding of how business, organisations, economics and the regulations and regulatory system that governs the activities of them all work.
To have practical experience of working with and leading a range of different people in different working environments and circumstances.
Understand, question and asses the motives for something being proposed
To uphold the correct decision, even when it may not be popular to do so.
Understand and make allowances for their own biases, aims and desires
Understand the practical implications in terms of desired outcome (advantages) and the undesired outcomes (disadvantages)
Be able and prepared to reject proposals and solutions that create imbalances that are not essential for the greater good
To see their role through impartially at all times, particularly when under pressure from subjective influences that seek to compromise the objective nature of any decision-making process
To practice the Principle of Charity in every conceivable and valid way.
To be able to be a leader, even when being led.
To understand or make allowances for the positive and negative behavioural effects of a decision
To understand the impact of circumstance and relativity to conditions for people in all circumstances and situations.
To be able to consider and visualise the impact and consequences of Public Policy decisions up to as many times removed as necessary, upon people, upon businesses, upon orgnisations, upon existing Public Policies and upon the relationship between us all and with all others.
To be able to make arguments based upon being constructive, improving proposals or suggestions already made, or making clear the flaws in such proposals or suggestions that may not be apparent to whoever initially made them
To be able to determine exhaustively the difference between wrong and right based on the freedom of the individual to be, in relation to the freedom of all others to be, set against the needs of the community to provide public services and support that is accessible to everyone in the same way, when required, on a universal basis and no more.
To be able to assess and understand the process of conditioning that creates innate or unconscious prejudices as well as those which the person is aware of, and how these influence behaviour and impact society when that person has an influential role. They will be particularly aware and conscious of any such prejudices within themselves.
To be able to look beyond the detrimental behaviour of any individual group and consider their needs impartially, as they would do any other individual or group
To be committed to localisation, deglobalisation and the priority of the community, our communities and our Country, from the grassroots up.
To be committed to working collaboratively with all other nation states for reason of mutual benefit without relinquishing or surrendering political control to any person, organisation or government of any type that would have the ability to create, impose or police governance of any kind upon people, businesses, organisations or public bodies of any kind that they themselves are responsible to and have been elected to represent.
To see and treat Government, Governance and The Public Sector as tools of facilitation to be used on behalf of The Public for the Public and Greater Good, and that they are not and should not ever be treated or considered to be an entity that can prioritise itself or its existence in any way or at any time.
To never surrender the power to decide on behalf of the relevant constituency that has been entrusted to them to any Political Party, Ideology, Social or Demographic Group, subjective interest or bias of any kind, for the full period of their elected or appointed term, or until the moment they have chosen to relinquish that responsibility and formally stepped down.
And more.
What is Good Government?
Good Government is the creation, implementation and review of governance systems and public policy with impartiality, balance, fairness and consideration to the implications for all, from the creation of strategy to individual policy and ongoing at the point of operational delivery.
The approach of those working as Public Servants (Civil Servants, Local Government Officers, Public Sector Workers) of every kind as a part of Good Government will always as a minimum include:
Treating every Member of the Public as an equal and value them as being exactly the same when it comes to the service, solutions and outcomes that they offer or provide.
Being minded that the function of Government and the Public Sector is to serve the best interests of the Public and the relevant community above all things
Being minded that the organisation, department, or service that they are employed by is not an entity in its own right and that the priorities of that organisation, department, service or of their own, must never be placed before the best interests of the public and the communities they serve.
Being self-aware enough to know and to step away from prioritising their own needs, fears, desires or aims in relation to the role that they have, when they have the ability or function that will allow them to do otherwise
The reform of The Public Sector and of Public Services that was already necessary before we entered the current period of crisis MUST begin with the reform of Public Policy via Awakened Politics. Then and only then can the structure, working practices and cultural models of what will constitute Good Government and the delivery of Public Services in the most appropriate and relevant ways be able to begin.
How does Good Government work?
Good Government requires that all policy makers, legislators, executives and officers at every level and of every kind fulfill the requirements and expectations of their role and/or responsibility with awareness and understanding of the impact and consequences of their decisions and actions both directly and indirectly, no matter how many times removed.
The consideration given will always be reflective of the level of responsibility involved. For instance, an MP or government minister should always have fluency in understanding the impact of public policy on all end users, whether their role be personal, professionally representative or pecuniary in a practical and/or material sense.
Beliefs or emotional well being – which could also be considered to be taste or appearance is always specific and therefore subjective to the individual concerned, can only be addressed effectively at the individual level itself and Good Government will always therefore allow for catering for specific requirements at the one-to-one level, where decisions made by officers can and will only impact upon the individual concerned.
It is the framework or overriding commonality of structural policy which is the most essential element of Good Government.
The whole principle of Good Government and its overlap with Awakened Politics is that it should never be argued for, created or delivered on the basis that someone is this or because someone is that.
Awakened Politics and Good Government succeeds by delivering on the basis that it treats everyone equally and exactly the same, or supports this same principle by excluding the circumstances where this principle can be compromised.
Any policy which does or could play to alternative thinking is self-serving in some way – even if it appears to positively discriminate in favour of a particular group.
Isn’t The Way of Awakened Politics for Good Government just being idealistic?
No, Awakened Politics isn’t just being idealistic.
Although many people would argue that it is idealistic to think that everyone could think, act and behave ‘Consciously’ or in an ‘Awakened’ or enlightened manner all the time.
The thing to always bear in mind about The Way of Awakened Politics for Good Government, is that it is the thoughts, actions and behaviour of decision makers, legislators, executives, administrators and technical staff of all kinds that will deliver a Fair, Balanced and Just system for all.
The Way of Awakened Politics for Good Government is not dependent upon each and every one of us thinking, acting and behaving in an Awakened, Conscious or enlightened manner all of the time.
The Way of Awakened Politics for Good Government requires that those who have taken up a role that is publicly responsible on our behalf are not only able, but will think, act and behave Consciously and in an Awakened way in everything that they do when they are fulfilling the responsibilities of that publicly related role.
Can Awakened Politics exist within the current political system?
Yes, Awakened Politics can exist within the current Political System.
In fact, to a very small degree you can be sure that it does. Even now there are a few Politicians who really do think, act and behave as a fully Awakened Political system would require that each and every one of them would do so.
However, acting either alone or in isolation means that when any Public Policy is delivered and implemented in a way that genuinely ends up being for the genuine greater good, the outcome is down to pure luck, a lack of interest on the part of other Politicians, or because those other Politicians believe that to support such a Policy will help or enrich them or some subjective interest in some way.
The foundations of Awakened Politics are self-awareness, awareness of others, values, integrity and humanity
It seems incredible that the concept and existence of an alternative values-driven world to the one we currently live and believe in must be explained. But this is where the world is and where we really are today.
The fundamental basis of Awakened Politics and therefore Good Government, is always doing the right thing for everyone, even when they are not present and represented, or it would appear that they will not be affected by whatever our Politicians are about to do.
Awakened Politics and Good Government is about valuing People or the Person, and the experience they are having, more than what is outside all of us, or what we might know as ‘things’.
When we can care and understand about ourselves, we can care and understand about others – or choose not to do so, if that should be our own genuine choice.
Politics and Government by its very nature and purpose is the care, service to and consideration of all others and the governance of all things that are external to or outside of them.
This care, service and consideration must always be provided by people who are thinking, acting and behaving in a Fully Conscious way when taking or enacting that responsibility for others.
There is and can be no in between. Or somebody, somewhere will always be failed.
The Golden Rule: Good Government is a method of facilitation and delivery. It is not an entity in itself
One thing that will always be important to remember and bear in mind is that no matter how powerful any Council, Parliament, Assembly, Non-Government Organisation (NGO) or related Public Service Provider might be, that body, organisation or department is and only ever will be a tool, device or service for action and delivery on behalf of the Public for the genuine greater good.
These Public-serving organisations will never be an entity in their own right.
Public-serving bodies and organisations must never be allowed to be able to make their own policies or set strategies of any kind that prioritise their own existence or that of their staff or members above or before the interests of the Public and therefore the People they have been created to serve.
Whilst todays Politicians are either ignorant of, deliberately avoid or are therefore Unconscious of the truth, much of the problems with Public Services of all kinds today are reflective of this golden rule about the existence of Government and the services it provides to the Public in some way.
Good Government is a question of priorities
In the most basic of human terms, we can either prioritise what is inside of us or who we really are, or we can prioritise what is outside of us and what we appear to be or have means to everyone else.
Good Government will always prioritise the Person and humanity first and in all things.
It’s what a politician thinks of and does for the person they least identify with that really matters for Fairness, Balance and Justice in Government to exist
Diversity, alternative Political Philosophies and differences in Politics don’t promote or guarantee fairness and balance.
Anyone appointed to a position of influence and authority because of the physical, material or ideological difference they have with others is more likely to prioritise those who they most closely identify with – or for want of a better term, prioritise the interests of ‘those of their own kind’.
The benchmark of any system of government and the political system that facilitates or leads it being truly representative, Fair, Balanced and Just, is what the politician or political decision maker does on behalf of the person they know least about, have least in common with or are least likely to understand.
A system of government cannot and will not work in the best interests of all, if it doesn’t consider and treat fairly, justly and without bias of any kind, even the very people we might consider that we have every reason want excluded in some way or to despise.
If you have read this and immediately think of someone or some group of people that you feel to be undeserving of the same care and consideration that you for yourself would like, you can now use that feeling and emotion to understand how any system of governance and politics will quickly be undone.
Good Politicians MUST be Judged by the results of their actions. NOT by their words, what they appear to do, or how they might look
It is easy to see why Political Parties now fall over themselves to secure Candidates for Elections who already have a name, such as celebrities or people who have for some reason been publicly recognised as a champion of some specific cause or in some other way.
‘They are this’, ‘They are that’, are the words or the thinking that accompanies the thought processes of today’s Politicians and Political Parties when they select and appoint their Candidates – often for ‘Seats’ that they already consider to be theirs to allocate and that they therefore ‘Own’.
What the Political Parties today don’t think or worry about, is what the Politicians they effectively appoint would actually do, or indeed, what they have actually already done.
Words are just words. Whether spoken, written or even typed up or presented to the public through a screen, on a page or through a public meeting somewhere.
If we really want an idea of what any Politician can offer us or what they will bring, we must think differently about the way that they have been appointed, and the pathway that has delivered them into a publicly representative role.
What politicians have already done, rather than what it looks like what they have done or what they or someone else tell us they have done, is the best indication of what they will do.
Real research doesn’t stop at a title or at a headline. It takes time. But when one person must be trusted to think, behave and act Consciously for so many, it is essential that we too made that selection Consciously and being Conscious of all the facts and realities that underpin who they really are. Not how they or anyone else would like us to think.
People will always tell you who they are. They will also do so very quickly, as long as you make the effort to hear as well as listen.
Awakened Politics tackles today’s problems today and is mindful of the future. But it leaves the past behind
It may surprise many that most of the decisions made in Public Policy are based on what Politicians want the world to look like in the future using what’s already happened in the past as their guide.
Because the past triggers what we know as guilt, whilst the future triggers what we know as anxiety too, Politics and Politicians today are fueled by emotions.
When emotions are in charge of decision making, no form of Awakened, Conscious or Enlightened thinking and the genuine care that comes with it has any hope of shining through.
Yes, lip service can and will always be paid to ‘good thinking’ in a world where what everything looks like is firmly in control. But the end results will never turn out as anyone intended, simply by design.
Emotions don’t dwell in the moment itself. They are the sirens of another time and place, which is irrelevant to the moment in which we make the decision to act.
For Good Government to do its work beneficially for everyone, the decision making of Awakened Politics will always be conducted in the here and now.
Yes, there are those of us who will always respond to this by proclaiming ‘There has to be a plan!’. But it is because we have become so obsessed with ‘plans’ and trying to control the future, that we have completely lost control of what is happening around us and around the world right now.
The Way of Awakened Politics for Good Government will solve our problems
When all Public Policy decisions are made impartiality, with integrity, with respect to the laws of cause and effect, and with what is in the best interests of everyone in mind, in the moment and without trying to second guess or prevent certain outcomes of any kind, those decisions will always be right.
Doing the right thing is not always easy, especially when there may appear to be simpler, more cost effective or even more reliable or proven ways. The cost of doing the right thing in everything never creates problems or comes at a price that isn’t just or is unfair, whilst failing to do so will always cost someone, somewhere and more often than not, that cost to others will become cumulative in many different (unforeseen) ways.
Just as one lie requires many more to cover its path, poor decisions in politics require many more to cover them up.
The Way of Awakened Politics for Good Government would mean that everything will be done the right way at the right moment in time. Doing so shines light on what also needs to be changed for the better, rather than requiring more and unnecessary action to cover bad policy up.
The Way of Awakened Politics for Good Government is a method, way or direction. It is not a manifesto, strategy or fixed agenda in itself
The Way of Awakened Politics for Good Government is not and cannot be a political philosophy or a set of specific objectives or aims in itself.
Like being awake or being conscious in itself, The Way of Awakened Politics for Good Government is a way or state of being, or method that can and will be applied to Politics and Government in a comprehensive or universal sense.
Compromise isn’t necessary when everyone does the right thing for everyone
Perhaps the acid test or most accurate way to confirm if Public Policy is being created or revised through Awakened Politics by Awakened Politicians.
Anyone who has been active within Politics at any level or employed in any role or profession allied to Politics or Government of any kind, who believe the way that it all functions is ‘normal’, will certainly scoff at or ridicule the idea that compromise isn’t necessary in order for everything to work.
The point is being missed by them, and by anyone who believes that anything about ‘The System’ works as it should, that compromise is nothing more than ‘the middle ground’ and an agreement to disagree.
Any matter of Public Policy that is determined by Awakened Politicians would not require a middle way.
By its very nature, bias against the shared aims of Balance, Fairness and Justice for All, founded on the principle of humanity and life first, doesn’t exist. If and when it does, it indicates the presence of thinking and a way of being that functions in a different way.
Part 3: The bridges we must cross to reach Awakened Politics
The biggest obstacle on The Way of Awakened Politics for Good Government is our own unconscious thinking
Changing from a system of government that doesn’t work in everyone’s best interests to one that does should be very easy. Don’t we all look after our own best interests after all?
However, without an external event or series of external events taking place that really forces the majority people to stop and think and awaken, a course of voluntary change will take a very long time.
People who see, experience and believe there is nothing bad about the unconscious System that we have will not willingly embrace an Awakened System of Governance that they will inevitably see as likely to cost them or create a loss for them in some material or money-based way.
People are so intoxicated with the current system that revolves around Money and self-interest, there is very little understanding, acceptance or appreciation of how the values set that we have culturally adopted hurts us all as individuals.
Awakened Politics & Good Government cannot exist where other influences are at work
For Politics and Government to be fully Awake, it is absolutely essential that the sanctity of the relationship between Voters and Public Representatives is uncorrupted and remains incorruptible.
The greatest travesty that exists within our so-called democracies today is the role and influence of Big Business, ‘The Markets’, Banks and ‘The Financial Sector’.
It has become very clear through the chronology of political events in the UK during the Autumn of 2022 alone, that our Politicians are actively prioritising ‘what the markets want’, above doing whatever is in the best interests of everyone else.
The reality that this action effectively rubbishes or gives the lie to The UK being a democratic Country aside, this evidence does in itself spell out that care and consideration for the impact of decisions are only being made on purely a financial or rather monetary policy basis.
Government decisions are not being made on a public policy basis. This means that issues created by the very real ‘cost of living crisis’ are being treated as nothing more than an afterthought at best, if they are really being thought about by Politicians in any meaningful way at all.
Awakened Politics isn’t fully Conscious or Enlightened if any bias or subjective influence is present or at work, either for the individual Politician, for any Political Group or Grouping to which they may belong, or indeed within the Council, Parliament or Assembly of whatever kind it might be, to which each and every elected Politician once elected belongs.
The relationship between Voter and Public Representative (Politician) will always be ultimately based upon trust. But that doesn’t mean we cannot or shouldn’t have a political and electoral system that reduces the instances where corruption of any kind cannot be limited to a point where it will not be easy to hide and where it can be readily detected or seen.
The UKs broken Political System: Straight to the top must stop
No, of course the Prime Minister of this Country doesn’t just end one day as a normal person and find themselves PM the next day. But the pool of politicians that every British Prime Minister is drawn from – that’s currently the 650 Constituency Members of Parliament (MPs) pretty much can.
MPs literally are at the top of the UKs political tree and its certainly not unknown for MPs to be elected in their 20’s, with very little experience of life and the only experience of working has been in organisations which are closely aligned or feed into the political system in the UK as it is and has for a long time been.
Age itself is certainly no guarantee of what any MP can offer and the very regrettable truth is that many older and supposedly better informed or experienced new MPs offer a very myopic or subjective view of life, are also driven by politics being ‘a career’, and have no real understanding or experience of life that has enabled them to ‘step into someone else’s shoes’, when it comes to making judgments over policy decisions which will inevitably have a profound impact on life for many people in a way they are simply unequipped to visualise, empathise with or even constructively think about.
You cannot provide Conscious Government or even have functioning Conscious Politics if the politicians or representatives involved in any public debate cannot or choose not to relate to the reality that people, communities and organisations already face and what they will face as a result of whatever decision that is about to be made.
Money related bribes are not the only kind corruption that exists
One of the flaws of the English Language and the way that it has evolved, is the manner in which we freely attribute different meanings to the same word. People then fall into the trap of failing to recognise the different uses and then see others as being wrong when they have used that word in what we see as an incorrect way, or more likely they have used that word in a way that their experience tells them is correct, but which ours then tells us is wrong.
There are many examples. The meaning of one word in particular that can create such a misunderstanding and become one of the barriers we face to understanding why we have an urgent need for Awakened Politics and Good Government, is corruption.
In the Western world, we generally consider the word corruption to equate to illegal or unofficial financial payments, backhanders, the exchange of brown envelopes or what we most commonly know as bribes; all using money or a resulting financial payment or pecuniary benefit of some kind.
Corruption isn’t just about money. In fact, any act which is undertaken by a decision maker or person with influence or responsibility of a public or legally recognisable kind, that aims to secure a result or outcome that favours themselves or the interests of someone or something they favour, is itself corrupt.
In terms of or in comparison to so-called Third World Countries, ‘banana republics’, other less ‘developed’ economies and even globally known group organisations where bribes using money are regrettably all too recognisably widespread, Western Countries and their governance may not outwardly appear to be in any way the same.
However, decision making that favours a specific group, a specific interest, a specific Political Party, a specific idea or indeed a specific or subjective outcome of any kind – right down to something such as career advancement or the job security of the individual, is arguably even worse.
This form of sanitized, prejudicial corruption is rampant throughout the Western world today. But its impact and ramifications are even less likely to be detected or openly seen – even though they are arguably often far worse. Beyond the obvious, prejudicial corruption creates injustice at the quality-of-life level for those on an honest path, that defy logic and sense.
Making others wrong, doesn’t make anyone right
Perhaps the biggest obstacle to Awakened Politics, beyond the cultural obsession with money itself, is the underlying and emotional need and driven desire on the part of so many people to make others wrong, in the misplaced belief that it somehow then makes them right.
Just because we can look better, sound better, communicate better, influence 3rd parties more effectively, or do anything that can ‘win’ the argument, it doesn’t necessarily follow that the argument, proposal or solution that we have made is right.
Winning an argument or debate in this way certainly doesn’t confirm that the outcome or consequences will be in the best interests of everyone that it then becomes the route that everyone involved then takes, or that it becomes the policy or agenda that is then adopted.
We are the sum of our experiences. And from the perspective of every individual, our view of the world is based on our past – whether we are Conscious of this or any part of this fact.
In the subjective environment of a debate, discussion or argument, we may well reach the conclusion or even agree that one of us is right. But that doesn’t make the other party wrong.
Objectively and to step into the way of Awakened Politics, Conscious Politics or even Enlightened Politics, each of us – and especially our Politicians, must be humble enough to accept that we do not know everything, no matter how confident of the credibility and value of the experience that we already have, and which has made us who we are.
There is nothing worse than people being so sure of what they do know, that they have no idea of what they don’t.
Power and influence doesn’t automatically make someone right either, even though it will certainly help those who do not value the responsibility they have to others that comes with that power and influence to convince many other that they most certainly are.
Why is Awakened Politics not active and flourishing as it should be within Government today?
Awakened Politics and Good Government doesn’t exist within ‘The System’ today, because ‘The System’ itself is skewed too far towards indulging and pandering to the biases of anyone or anything that is able to influence the leaders and Politicians that we currently have.
Yes, there are certainly a few Politicians around who ‘are in it’ for all the right reasons – i.e., they are thinking about and wish to fight for what is good and what is right for everyone. But Awakened Politicians are certainly few and far between, right now.
There is certainly a much greater number of people that arrive in the entrance hall of todays Political System with good intentions. They join the Political Parties and become Candidates in elections at all levels of Government.
Regrettably and more often than not, they discover the realities of just how broken and undemocratic ‘The System’ just as soon as they are elected and have experienced the very tip of the iceberg from within. They are all too easily corrupted by the realities that Politics today isn’t about achieving what’s best for all and that you have to submit to the unconscious and corrupt nature of ‘The System’ if you want to progress and fit in.
Sadly, the reality is that the rot and chaos caused by so much unconscious thinking within the decision making and governance processes over such a prolonged period of time, has made it seem or feel all but impossible for anyone who looks objectively at the problem, its causes and effects, to believe that life can be lived in any other way.
However, all that is wrong with ‘The System’ is based on just that – belief.
So, if belief and thinking can be changed or is changed and reaches a critical mass that transforms ‘The System’ so that it works and operates in a completely different way, the power of groupthink will certainly do its magic. Only this time, it will be for the good and benefit of us all.
Good Government vs what we have today = People & Life vs Money & self-interest
For as long as the majority of people unconsciously or without thinking believe that they continue to benefit from the way that the world works today, and that those benefits outweigh what they understand to be any disadvantages for them, we all remain condemned to a world and future that will be increasingly unfair, unjust, imbalanced and a champion of pain and hatred in places where such darkness has now natural right to be or to even be seen.
That is the world today. This is where we really are. And if you cannot feel, see or experience the unfairness yourself, that quite literally means that you continue to unconsciously believe that it is ok for someone else to be disadvantaged, for them to suffer, or for you to even store up disastrous consequences for yourself that are ‘out of sight and out of mind’.
Many of us neither see, nor realise that the way we have all been living for decades and beyond is not sustainable and never has been.
We have been living unsustainably without any apparent, perceptible cost for so long, that we have all fallen into the trap of thinking that this is normal, and this is how things will always be.
The current System, mindset and way of thinking is based on feeding a manufactured or created desire for pleasure. Not happiness.
The world System functions to keep as many of us as possible blinded to our reality by providing us with a constant flow of instant hits.
Yet the cost to us all, of this money and self-interest-based system or order has and will increasingly be the compromise and destruction of our physical, mental and spiritual health.
We are quite literally living and existing within lives which run completely contrary to who we are and who we should continually be striving to be, just because of our relationship with two things:
MONEY & SELF-INTEREST
If you are able, take a moment to reflect upon how money and its bedfellow’s wealth, greed, material gain and self-interest itself have an influence or an effect on just about everything in life that is outside or external to ourselves.
Then reflect on the reality, that this thinking touches everything outside of us in just about every way, and it does so and can only do so, because we have allowed our thinking to be taken over so that everything could become this way.
Yes, you, I and everyone else has surrendered their power to this material driven world and continue to do so each and every day in even the very smallest of ways.
But we have the ability to take that power back. We can reject the desire that we have for instant gratification or pleasure that is only touches us momentarily from outside, but is nonetheless used against us by the system that is supposed to serve us, but is in fact taking everything from us in every possible way.
Happiness is a state of being that cannot be influenced, created or installed by something that is outside of us. It is by being fully Conscious or self-aware of ourselves, that The Way of Awakened Politics for Good Government will begin.
By being Conscious of ourselves, we then have the ability to be Conscious of the experience of life for others. We then have the ability to create and maintain a system of Awakened Politics and therefore Good Government too.
Good Government will work in the best possible way for everyone, because it will provide either the services, the rules & laws and the opportunities that everyone needs, rather than what each individual wants.
Could Awakened Politics work in the current structure?
Yes, Conscious Politics could work within the current political structure.
But for Politics to be fully Conscious, it would require everyone operating or functioning with the current political structure to change the way they think. To change the way they behave. To change the way they interact. To change their experience (and therefore step aside to allow people who are better suited to Conscious Politics to take over). To basically change everything that they are and currently do.
Existing Politicians and the Political Parties they are a part of will not step aside or change. They are unconscious of the impact of their presence and what the real cause of all the problems are that they are failing to address.
Wouldn’t politicians have to be ‘Spiritual’ for Awakened Politics to work?
The answer is NO.
Politicians do not need to be ‘Spiritual’ to be ‘Conscious’ and Good Public Representatives.
The term ‘Spiritual’ is massively overused. It is used inappropriately in many cases and within the circumstances to which and to the behaviour of those to whom it is applied.
Awakened Politicians cannot be qualified by the group they belong to, by their affiliations, by the qualifications or type of experience that they have.
Awakened Politics is not about what Politicians say. Awakened Politics is all about what Politicians actually do and how they do it too.
Being a good person in the most meaningful way is not something that is within the gift of any other person, group or organisation to qualify in another, in any way.
Being ‘Conscious’ or ‘Awakened’ is not about being better than anyone else. It’s about being the best we can be. About seeing everything as it really is and responding and then acting in the best ways that it is possible for us all to do so.
Nobody has to be part of anything or be qualified in some way by anybody or anything else to be the best that they can be in every possible sense.
Good Government can only be fully Conscious if it is both aware of and able to act upon every issue at the most local, community or individual level possible
We’ve all heard terms such as ‘Localism’ and ‘Devolution’ being used by todays Politicians.
Regrettably, the way that Politicians use these terms is misleading. The meaning Politicians use is intended to suggest that the Public Policies that they relate to are bringing Political Influence and Power back to local Communities, thereby giving people like you and I more of a say and therefore a bigger role.
What Localism and Devolution have really meant in reality, is the centralisation of power and influenced carved up differently or in an even less meaningful way than the attribution of Political Power and influence over the way that we are governed today, through the Government Tiers as they already are.
We don’t need Mayors, Police & Crime Commissioners or Regional Bodies or Boards of any kind. Especially not when the pretense suggests misleadingly that their presence somehow results in the Public, The Electorate or Voters being more involved or able to influence the decision-making process.
The Tiers of Government already exist in many areas across the UK that would be more than sufficient for power to be devolved in a very meaningful way. To a level where people could and would have a much greater level of influence and have a genuine say on day-to-day and real-life solutions to the issues that affect them.
The reason that Politicians in Westminster will not devolve power back towards the people using the existing framework of Government* is that everything they do is always about maintaining or increasing their level of control.
Awakened Politics and Good Government is based upon the decisions that affect us communally being made where it is best and most fitting for that decision making to be.
*There are currently up to four Tiers of Government in the UK. Beyond the Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assemblies in Mainland UK, these are Parish & Town Councils, District Level Authorities (Borough and District Councils), County Councils and Parliament.
Having Political Awareness, a Political Conscience, being Politically Conscious or Politically Aware is not Awakened Politics, Conscious Politics or Enlightened Politics
Because of the way that we regularly attribute different meanings to the same words, it is important to be clear about the differences between Awakened Politics, Conscious Politics, Enlightened Politics and what are arguably similar everyday terms such as to be ‘Politically Aware’ and have ‘Political Awareness’ or to be Politically Conscious or anything like that.
If you are ‘Politically Aware’ or ‘Politically Conscious’, you are thinking about, considering, observing and may even be involved in politics and are very likely to have your own ideas about what politics itself should achieve.
However, being ‘Politically Aware’ or Politically Conscious’ doesn’t mean that your involvement in Politics – in whatever way that might be or mean – is being conducted in an Awakened, fully Conscious or Enlightened way.
Wokeness and Woke Politics
Wokeness and being Woke in any related way is just being idealistic in a heightened or dangerously myopic way.
Woke idealism seeks to impose a specific and subjective value set on others unconsciously, as it pays no regard to alternative life experiences, practical reality and human nature in any meaningful way.
Wokeness is the promotion of the view that an idealistic narrative can be imposed upon everyone and then become the view accepted and ‘lived’ by everyone, making the objective the subjective and the subjective the objective for all.
Being Awakened, fully Conscious or Enlightened is knowing about, understanding, making allowance for and having a reasoned relationship with everything and everyone. It is not about excluding, erasing or destroying the things that make us uncomfortable or that we do not like.
Part 4: How do we make Awakened Politics a reality?
How do we make Politics truly representative of everyone?
If we really want Politics to be truly or genuinely representative of everyone, everyone must feel they are being represented genuinely and that their own truth is the place where the journey to the creation, review and change of public policy begins.
Anyone who pours scorn on the idea that you can or even should involve everyone in politics in some way beyond programming people or telling them what to do, is part of the problem we are moving away from.
They will not accept the validity or functionality of The Way of Awakened Politics for Good Government as a worthy or legitimate cause.
For The Way of Awakened Politics for Good Government to work effectively and as it should, it is essential that the people effected by decisions are able to access and interact with the people making the policy decisions.
In the limited cases where policy decisions being made affect people at an inter or intra community level (Regional, National etc.), those same people or others just like them should always have been directly involved in appointing the politicians upon whose shoulders that collective responsibility will be shoulders and the decisions made.
Cause & Effect: Awakened Politics leads to Good Government
If you require a very quick run through the technicalities and mechanics of why the majority of solutions to existing problems presented by politicians don’t work today, the mechanics of the travesty are quite simple.
Politicians today are not aware of, do not have a meaningful understanding of or are resistant in some way, to the relationship between cause and effect.
Everything Politicians do today is focused on dealing with the effects of a problem.
For example, when it comes to there being a shortage of people to fill low-paid jobs, some Politicians argue that the UK should allow more immigration of low skilled workers.
Yes, it sounds like a reasonable and sensible solution. But none of our Politicians outwardly ask the question or want to even begin dealing with the reality that there are already millions of people in the UK who could work, but are not working. People who might otherwise be able to fill some, if not all of these jobs.
We cannot and will not have solutions to the problems that we face together or communally – whether we are aware of them or not – if we do not have Politicians who not only understand the complex nature of creating and maintaining effective and balanced Public Policy, but are also prepared to have the difficult conversations and debates that will certainly offend those who would benefit from the current way of doing things to be maintained.
When the Political System itself becomes Conscious, it will lead to Good Government in every sense.
The process begins with us all being Conscious and making Conscious decisions about who Represents us Publicly and therefore is all about who we choose to elect.
How do we get from here to Good Government?
Good Government will come as a direct result of fully Awakened Politics.
Awakened Politics is only possible when the Politicians that we have can, will and do think, behave and act fully Consciously in everything that they think and do when they are representing others.
The most challenging obstacle to Awakened Politics today, isn’t changing the mind of individual politicians. Indeed, some ‘Awakened Politicians’ will already exist. But their number is very few.
The most challenging obstacle to Awakened Politics today is ‘The System’ itself.
‘The System’ is overwhelmingly focused and driven on the ‘money, wealth and self-interest’ motives.
When a system is so overwhelmingly skewed to work in such a twisted and selfish way, it literally means that everything within that system – whether it be procedures, rules, laws, cultural thinking or working practices – is built, created or has been adapted to promote that same way of thinking for everyone.
A skewed system makes it very difficult for anyone to operate or act differently, even if the thoughts of the individual are not aligned with the practice itself.
Whilst it is always possible that everyone within ‘The System’ could change their mind and approach at the very same moment in time and embrace Conscious Thinking, behaviour and actions in every meaningful sense from there onwards, the reality is that not everyone will change their mind about everything they share or experience with others communally, unless something has happened which changes everything for everyone and makes them of the same mind.
Awakened Politics & Good Government will not work for everyone until every public representative works for Awakened Politics & Good Government
For every one of us that changes our way of thinking about how the world works and then embraces that change in every way we possibly can, humanity has already taken a giant leap forward.
However, for a society to exist that is Fair, Balanced and Just in every sense possible, and that has a System of governance which reflects that, it is essential that we have a Political System that is fully ‘Conscious’.
For our Political System to be ‘Fully Awake’, it necessarily follows that all of the Public Representatives, decision makers, legislators or Politicians within it must think, act and behave Consciously and in an Awakened manner too.
What would a fully Awakened Electoral System look like?
It is or would be possible for the current electoral and political systems to function Consciously and for all of the Politicians and Political Parties within it to think, act and behave in an Awakened way.
However, Awakened Politics done properly would not require Political Parties or any kind of process based on competition – or what is in effect a race to decide whose ideas are best.
Equally, the existing Tiers within the UK Government System mean that it is quite literally the case that the people or Politicians making the most far-reaching or profound decisions that affect us all are likely to be the most difficult for us to reach, for us to know or for us to interact with.
For Awakened Politics and therefore Good Government to exist and then to work effectively, it is essential that none of our decision makers are insulated from different realities and the life experiences of the people they govern.
It is impossible for anyone make potentially life-changing decisions on behalf of The Public to be able to function or operate with a number of different people or levels of communication between them and Voters, effectively making them many times removed.
Awakened Politics is beyond any need for Political Parties
By its very nature the pursuit of a political, economic or other kind of ‘ideal’ or ‘philosophy’ by any group, whether political or not, is in the interests of that group or what they specifically share in common. It is not in the ‘best interests of all’, because it prioritises outcomes that are aligned with those beliefs, aims or the philosophies that are shared by that group, or that group and its affiliates alone.
Doing the right thing for everyone, and by necessity using the benchmark of care for the people a politician will have the least in common with, doesn’t require any ideal or philosophy other than doing the right thing by and on behalf of everyone in the most Balanced, Fair and Just way.
Awakened Politics supersedes the biases and innate prejudices that flourish and take over within politically motivated groups that see outcomes being all about the routes or journeys to get there, rather than the right result being the most important thing.
If Politics is undertaken Consciously, Political Parties are therefore no longer necessary.
Awakened Politicians do not need to leverage ideals or philosophies to ‘do the right thing’.
Wouldn’t we just be better off with a Dictator taking the decisions that affect us all?
In the situation the UK and many Countries around the world are facing, there will already be many who would find the idea of a ‘no messing around’ dictator or authoritarian character ‘who gets things done’, to be highly attractive.
Indeed, during periods of world history where similarities exist between different times and what we are now experiencing within our own, people have found themselves very receptive and open to the idea of charismatic leaders who deliver a strong and compelling message that suggests that they and only they have the magic formula and the ability to put everything right.
When life gets really shit for a lot of people – as things are very likely to do so for the majority of us all very soon, it can be very easy to fall into the trap of believing what’s right for them is right for us too – or rather what looks like a win-win, will actually turn out to be a win-lose
Is it possible to have a ‘Good Dictator’?
The idea of a good, benevolent dictator can be as intoxicating as the most compelling political messaging, soundbites and propaganda. Particularly when the process of looking closely at the problems with our broken Political System will quickly demonstrate that meaningful decisions rarely happen by design, because individual politicians and Political Parties are always putting their election hopes and other forms of self-interest first.
However, like most things in Politics, Government and life generally, the realities of decision making are multilayered and nuanced to say the least. I.e., just because you can streamline the process of decision making, it still doesn’t guarantee that the person or in this case, the dictator will be making Conscious decisions which are good for us all.
Whether we begin The Way of Awakened Politics for Good Government via the ‘Voluntary’ or are compelled to do so via the ‘Sudden Impact’ route, the practical reality is that at least temporarily and for a period of time, somebody – either an individual, or a very small group of individuals, will have to make and oversee the implementation of all of the key Public Policies that will make Awakened Politics and Good Government work, as it should.
By necessity, this is likely to require that we place our trust in someone to do this all for us.
To do otherwise will take significantly longer and may open the door to alternative forms of leadership and societal control that we really will not want or enjoy in any way.
As with the selection of Awakened Politicians for the future, this selection or choice will all boil down to one thing; the question of who and what will really work.
It will be by necessity the case that alongside the prevailing question of who we can trust not only to do the right things and to see them through, that they will also hand over power, once their tenure has ended and the fundamental basis of a Good Government System in in place.
Part 5: WE ARE ALL RESPONSIBLE AND HAVE A ROLE TO PLAY. Awakened Politics and Good Government will only come from us – not someone else doing it for us
We ALL have a role to play in The Way of Awakened Politics for Good Government
For Awakened Politics not only to work, but to keep working and for it to lead to Good Government too, it is essential that we all play a very conscious part in selecting and appointing the Public Representatives or Politicians who will make decisions on our collective behalf.
It doesn’t matter how any of us may be different or may even be perceived as being different to others.
For Awakened Politics to work and function fully and effectively, we must see everyone as being fundamentally the same and being equal where the role of Government, of Governance and of the Public Sector itself is concerned.
Whilst the people we select, appoint or elect to be Politicians may be relatively small, it is essential that we create and maintain a structure of Government and an Electoral Process that feeds into it that ensures that Public Representatives are not only in touch with real life, but that the real-life experiences of all that need to feed into Public Policy are heard and valued as they should be.
To be able to view the people we elect differently and in a fully conscious way, we must begin by being fully conscious of ourselves and think differently about the relationship we have with our communities too.
The personal benefits of Awakened, Conscious & Enlightened Thinking
Few of us understand that seeking a never-ending line of temporary hits from the pleasures that the world will give us in the form of ‘things’ and as experiences, comes at significant personal cost.
In exchange for fleeting, temporary and transitory pleasures, we are surrendering our thinking, our humanity and ourselves.
Moments of pleasure will never replace a constant state of happiness and the peace that we can and will attain, if and when we put humanity and life first.
When we have attained a relationship with everything and everyone outside of ourselves, based on what’s Fair, what’s Just, what’s Balanced and what’s basically good for everyone in the situation, because it’s how we would all like to be treated in that situation – whichever of the roles we might play, we will all have very good lives and live life in a very good way.
It may appear to be materially poor in some ways in comparison to what we take for granted and consider to come without cost right now. But it will be a life and way of being that is both mentally and spiritually enriched. It can and will provide a level of wellbeing that no form of material wealth will ever afford.
Self-Awareness leads to Awareness of others
Most of us at some point in life will fall into the trap of believing that everyone else thinks like us. That in the same circumstances, they would choose to do and then do exactly the same things that we would do too.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
We are the sum of our experiences. And if we have not understood and learned from all the things that we have experienced, we are very likely to repeat any mistakes or poor decisions that we have made over and perhaps over again.
Self-awareness is achieved by taking the time and making the effort to ask why things happen, how they happen, what role we played in making them happen and asking all the questions about events which feel meaningful or create an emotional response for us.
The process of becoming self-aware is the way in which we equip ourselves to reach a place of understanding of life around us that steps beyond the simple process of attributing blame.
It sounds like a lot of work. But like most skills we learn and assimilate as we grow, once we have mastered the basic process, it is a skill that can very quickly become akin to muscle memory and help us in the very smallest, yet the most significant of ways.
For us to live, experience life and to survive, the reality is that we don’t need to be fully conscious or self-aware in terms of our metal being.
Indeed, many people have lived entire lifetimes and good lives too, without thinking deeply about anything they experience and without feeling any need to do so.
There’s nothing wrong with living a life with limited self-awareness, if the individual concerned isn’t making decisions or isn’t taking responsibility for the lives, experience and wellbeing of others. Especially when those others are going through experiences in life that those who have accepted responsibility for them do not properly understand.
Self-Awareness & Critical Thinking
Once we have learned to be or have become ‘self-aware’, in the sense of learning to ask the ‘How’, ‘Why’, ‘Who’, ‘What’ type questions of ourselves and the experiences that we have had and that have made us who we really are, we become much better equipped or enabled to look on the world outside of us in a much healthier and productive way.
Being self-aware is much more than just being ‘present in the moment’, being ‘mindful’ or practicing ‘mindfulness’*.
Self-awareness is about understanding who we really are, why we are that way, how we function and operate, and what we need to do or to improve to be the best person that we can possibly be.
The reality is that as Voters, we don’t need to practice self-awareness for The Way of Awakened Politics for Good Government to exist, work and be maintained. But we do have a responsibility to ourselves and to anyone that we care about to ensure that anyone and everyone who has influence over our lives is thinking, acting and behaving in the way that they should be.
For a Fair, Balanced and Just System to exist, we must all contribute to the process that ensures that the decisions that affect us all and therefore the people them on our behalf, are making from a place where they are fully self-aware and have the integrity, diligence and commitment that follows and goes with it to be able to make Public Policy decisions that are in touch with and considerate of all of our very different lives.
To be able to engage in this process in a fully Awakened way, we must be able to observe, accumulate information and think critically too, as this is the way that we filter the information that comes to us, and how we ensure that the gaps in our knowledge are filled, if for any reason we do not then fully understand.
* Like most things of the self-help genre that are usually far more complex and require practical experience that goes way beyond intellectual understanding today, mindfulness has been packaged and repackaged many times over, so that personal growth can be sold as being easy. In reality, it is anything but.
Critical Thinking
Critical Thinking is the process we undertake to decern between what information is genuinely helpful to us to know, and what is not.
We take for granted that the sources of news and information that we follow are providing us with facts, when in many cases – particularly in respect of what we believe to be legitimate or ‘mainstream’ sources, the information they provide is anything but.
When you are able to ask the ‘Who’, ‘How’, ‘What’, ‘When’ and ‘Why’ type questions of yourself, and see the benefits to yourself of why it is always good for us to do so, you can then apply this way of thinking to the process of filtering all the information that comes to you in a much more reliable way.
For example, try watching, listening to or reading the same news story from a number of sources and pay attention to what comes into your view. ‘What’ are they telling you; is it fact, opinion, subjective or objective? ‘Why’ are they telling you this; ‘Who’ will benefit from you accepting what they say without question? ‘Who’ and ‘What’ is hidden from view? ‘How does someone gain or how have they been incentivised by any of this’? ‘Who’ will be disadvantaged by this; ‘How’ and in ‘What’ way?
As you begin the process of repeatedly knocking on this same door, it is just as important to view the secondary and tertiary and however many sources of news and information that you visit in the same way, and that you do not simply trust a source like the government or an apparently reputable brand just because of who they are. It is regrettably the case that they expect the majority of us to be asleep and will often exploit that fact – which makes what they are doing even worse.
When we approach the selection and appointment of Public Representatives with self-awareness and think critically about the information that greets us within that process, it will be much easier to discern between false prophets and pretenders and those who once elected, will deliver decisions on our behalf for Public Policy which is Fair, Balanced, Just and always done right.
REMEMBER: We all have a vital role to play in our systems of governance
If we have not engaged with and contributed meaningfully to the process of selecting the People who become our Public Representatives and Politicians, we have no genuine right of regress when the decisions that these same people have taken, or the responsibilities they have to us are neglected, and everything goes wrong.
Part 6: How The Way of Awakened Politics for Good Government will happen
We could change to a system of Conscious Politics and Conscious Government right now, IF everyone of us were to change how we think about life and our relationship with everything and everyone outside of ourselves, in what we see as the world.
As you’ve probably already realised by reading this far, that’s very unlikely, given the way that the world works today.
In a reality where even now, as ‘The System’ we know is in the process of collapsing, so many people are not awake to the reality of what is going on around them because it hasn’t directly affected them yet, there are only two pathways that could put us on The Way of Awakened Politics for Good Government.
The First Pathway
The first or preferred pathway, is the voluntary or step-by-step route. This revolves around each and every one of us rejecting the legitimacy and benefit of ‘The System’. Then asking all of the right questions and doing all the right things that we either can or feel able to, to provide others with the opportunity to walk through this door voluntarily through a process of free will, and somewhat sooner than they might otherwise do so.
The Second Pathway
The second or unavoidable pathway, is the sudden impact route. It’s the process of being jump started from our slumber by an external event or changes to our circumstances that have the immediate impact of making us aware in a meaningful way. Basically, a shock that hits and tells us that the way everything has been working and the role that we have ourselves been playing within it, simply isn’t right.
The Voluntary Pathway to The Way of Awakened Politics for Good Government
The good news for you if you are reading this, is that you are already on your way to Conscious Politics and Conscious Government – hopefully via a journey of exploration, rather than because events in the world have already created the emergency that will force the majority of us to look at life in a very different way.
The Voluntary Pathway is about discovering who we really are, how the world outside of us really works, what our relationship with the world outside of us really is and how the world influences all of us.
When we begin to understand all of this and the role that we personally must play to bring about change, we can also begin to understand how and why other people behave the way they do – even when they remain unconscious of the real reasons.
By waking up to ourselves – much in the same way as it has been said that you cannot love others if you do not love yourself first – we can then really begin to understand just how difficult and challenging the role of being a Public Representative should genuinely be.
In turn, we can then appreciate just how well equipped, experienced and motivated all of our Politicians need to be.
The Sudden Impact Pathway to The Way of Awakened Politics for Good Government
We are fools to take for granted the apparent peace, security and seemingly good lives that we believe we have today.
Very few of us believe that our experiences of daily life will really change. Even though the majority of us lived through the Lockdowns of the Covid Pandemic (so far) and have recent memories of just how contrary our thinking vs reality can actually be.
We still don’t believe it possible that things could change completely from the way that they already are.
We have covered events and the process of events that are likely to unfold in the coming months and years. Events that are already unfolding in many ways that the reader may not currently be fully Aware of.
The upshot of this series of books is that things will change, whether we are Conscious of them or not.
For the majority of us who are not insulated from everything that happens in the world (in the way that very few could possibly still be), this change will require us not only to look deeply at ourselves, but to then change our way of thinking, our way of being and our way of living to then live and interact with each other and the world outside of us in very different ways to what our experience has been up until now.
The impact of national and world events may be very sudden. Perhaps a war, natural disaster or like event.
Or they may be cumulative. Perhaps the ongoing collapse of The Financial Markets, Currencies and The Money Based System itself. All as greed and ineptitude of those with power and influence steps further and further away from humanity, sense and control.
Ironically, the ‘Sudden Impact’ route and the ‘Voluntary Route’ not only have the outcome of The Way of Awakened Politics for Good Government in common.
They also have a point of ‘critical mass’ or point of change, where the scales of balance literally tip from the existence of ‘The System’ to the next system in common too.
This critical mass will be much easier to define via the ‘Sudden Impact’ route. As the collapse of The System – in whichever way it might come, will ultimately affect the majority of us at the same time, and force our hand when it comes to changing our thinking and then embracing the changes that will equip and help us in what some call the ‘New Earth’ to come.
Part 7: Steps necessary for The Way of Awakened Politics for Good Government
The solution to every problem begins with the selection and election of Politicians who are fully Awake and committed to Balance, Fairness and Justice for all
Anyone would be forgiven for having little interest or confidence in the Politicians that we have running the Country today.
However, there is a vicious circle at work.
We have poor Politicians making poor decisions that affect us all poorly, because we are collectively making poor decisions when we Vote to elect our Politicians.
Sometimes we are not even bothering to Vote at all.
It has been said that we get the Politicians that we deserve. And in this sense, it is arguably very true.
We don’t all need to live our lives consciously the whole time and there is no obligation for us to do so. If our way of living and the decisions that we are making don’t put others or anything else in harm’s way.
However, what we should all be taking very seriously and what we should all see as the role in Politics that each and every one of us are obliged to play, is in selecting people as Public Representatives or Politicians.
Our own meaningful engagement in the selection and election of our Politicians is the only way that they can be trusted and relied upon to engage in Awakened Politics and in a fully Conscious and Enlightened way, as Public Representatives, on behalf of us all.
Just like securing the best of everything that we can do for our families and the people we love to keep them happy, secure and safe, selecting the right Politicians to make the right decisions on behalf of us all is very much a process of engaging in and seeing through our responsibility to ourselves and to others in the same way.
How do we identify and select ‘Awakened Politicians’?
The only way that we can be sure that any Politician will act and behave Consciously and with the integrity that we should all be able to expect of them at the highest levels of government and Public Representation, is to require that they prove themselves at the level which is nearest and most transparent to the locality or the community first.
It stands to reason that Politicians who lead any system, should have a Conscious understanding of the way that the entire system works first. And that for us to rely on them thinking, acting and behaving Consciously in leadership of other Public Representatives, they should have demonstrated their ability beyond question as a Public Representative at all levels leading to that role first.
It is always better to have been offered than to have asked.
How do we maintain Conscious Government once we have it?
If we identify, select and continue to identify and select people who will be Awakened Politicians, and do so with an Electoral System that prioritises grassroots-up, the system and decision-making process will itself become self-governing.
It cannot therefore be emphasised strongly enough just how vital it now is that we all take the steps necessary to engage in The Way of Awakened Politics for Good Government as individuals and as communities at the grassroots level, to ensure that every Public Representative is the right choice.
With Awakened Politics, the way we Vote doesn’t matter, as long as it allows genuine choice
Within the unconscious way that our Politicians, Political Parties and the Political System works now, the recognition that there is something wrong on goes so far as to encourage the misplaced belief that the problem lies within the way that The Electorate Votes.
The point that those Politicians and people with an interest and influence on Politics today are missing, is that it isn’t the way that people are asked to vote that matters, if the people who are then elected as Politicians and Public Representatives don’t think, act and behave in a fully Awakened way.
The ongoing debate over ‘First Past The Post’ and ‘Proportional Representation’ or any voting system like it is little more than a straw man argument or the promotion of an alternative system that is a white elephant.
Poor Government, Poor Governance and Poor Public Services are directly related to Poor Politics and the Poor Politicians that exist and masquerade as Public Representatives within it. Nothing else.
Why is there any need so many different politicians, if those at the top are fully Awake?
If all Public Policy decisions are or were always made on the basis of doing what is right, in the moment and without consideration for any ‘what ifs’ or ‘what could be’s’, we wouldn’t need masses of politicians, political groups or political parties in anything like or what we would recognise today.
However, human nature is such that any one of us can become unconscious of the biases that come from experiences of all kinds and the massive power of even the smallest and most passive of influences that can creep into our being.
It is therefore essential that there is always a Council, Assembly, Meeting or Parliament that is formed that consists of independent Conscious minds, that mean anything other than decision making conducted in the best interests of all is flagged, called out and no longer continue whether innocently or under the gaze of the willfully blind.
The New Electoral Process: The influence of the Voter must be and remain ongoing. It cannot just be meaningful on the day of an Election or Vote itself
The Way of Awakened Politics for Good Government will require that every Voter is able to access and influence the Political process in a meaningful way, continually.
Under the current Government Tier and Electoral System that we have, this is simply not possible. It must change.
With The Way of Awakened Politics for Good Government, Voters at the grassroots or most localised community level will always be able to vote for Public Representatives that they know, are able to get to know and who they know and understand all about.
Tier 1
These local representatives should then collectively make up grassroots or local community level councils, meetings or assemblies where all decisions that concern only that community will exclusively be made. This would be Tier 1.
Tier 2
The next level of decision making will be made at a level or Tier of community (perhaps what we might know as a region or Counties today) where the next level of collective decision making is most relevant and to where as much as possible has been devolved or decentralised away from what we today recognise as central government. This would be Tier 2.
The Public Representatives in Tier 2 would already be or have been Public Representatives in Tier 1 and therefore selected and elected by people or by communities at the grassroots level.
Tier 3
The next level – what might be Tier 3, might well be at the levels we recognise today as England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, or at Westminster or UK Parliament level, which of course could be Tier 4.
Again, Public Representatives at each and every Tier must be serving or have served in all the Tiers below and the emphasis on the whole system is that the responsibility for every decision is devolved exhaustively to the Tier which is nearest to the Voter and that it is practical and therefore possible for it to go.
The importance of the role of Young People in Awakened Politics
Whilst Awakened Politics indicates a grassroots-up restructuring of Government, of Governance and how the Public Sector is managed and run, it is easy to assume that even then, the voices and influences will focus on older people of all kinds and backgrounds, who have more experience of life. Thereby taking away value and consideration of the very relevant views and input that must be considered from the Young.
The inexperience of the idealistic young blinds them to practicality, whilst practicality blinds the old to aspiration and the pursuit of something better for all.
Better outcomes for all are encapsulated by the idealism and energy of the Young. That idealism must be moulded and redirected, but not stopped or prevented by the experience of the old.
The relationship between the direction of idealism and the practical journey that takes us there must be defined and formalised so that Young People who can offer better aims and objectives within the realm of Public Policy, Governance and how everything works can and will influence change where it is in the best interests of all to adopt.
The Young who are engaged should always have the benefit of a learning opportunity that goes way beyond ridicule or being told ‘you are wrong’, when there are genuinely good reasons – that can be explained – for those with more experience saying no to whatever the Young might want everyone to do.
It is certainly not impossible for Young People interested in Public Representation to be able to contribute a fully Awakened approach and understanding to Politics and Government. But they will regrettably be few.
We must embrace the process of looking carefully and considerately at idealism without allowing idealistic outcomes to be imposed in any way that can affect others, without care for practicality and human nature.
A way to do this will be to convene shadow local Councils, Assemblies or Meetings that all locally elected Public Representatives must attend. And that some way for such panels of Young People to influence the selection, appointment and election of Politicians at the most local level in a meaningful way should be a required part of that process.
The Helping Hand that we will need to engage everyone in The Way of Awakened Politics for Good Government
It cannot be understated how challenging it will be for many to picture that way that we do Politics, Government and Governance any differently to how it is done now, given that to one degree or another, most of us still believe that we have an overwhelmingly beneficial interest in things continuing as they are.
It is certainly true that more and more people are Awakening to the deeper and unseen realities of the way that the world around us works, each day. Whether that understanding is based on a personal or spiritual type of revelation, or it is about waking up to how decisions that affect us all are really being made and who they are really being made for.
Even the most Awakened, Conscious or Enlightened amongst us do not know everything.
The danger we face as we set about the unenviable task of changing how the whole world thinks, is that change of this kind can and will only begin in the abstract, because of the way that the world works today.
To make a meaningful start, we need a practical foundation or jumpstart that makes sense of or provides an unyielding reference point that guides the transition between the money and material wealth obsessed earth that we are spinning around on today, and the people and life focused ‘new earth’ that we will find real happiness upon, if we refuse to let unconscious and unenlightened thinking, actions and behaviour in Politics and Government get in the way.
The Helping Hand is The Basic Living Standard, or cultural recognition that society has an obligation to create, monitor, maintain and implement such rules and regulations across government, the public sector, charities and business to ensure that the focus, motivation, aims and priorities are to observe the value and freedoms of each individual person first, and that as a minimum or benchmark, everyone can afford all of the basic essentials in life and to live in a sustainable, happy and healthy way, without need for support or intervention of any kind, whilst in receipt of the equivalent of the basic weekly wage or the equivalent thereof.
The Basic Living Standard is effectively the lighthouse that will guide people of every kind to think, act and behave differently in their interactions with the world around them.
Adopting what appears to be such a radically different baseline for our values set may seem difficult to imagine. But the reality is that with the focus flipped from material wealth to people and life, everything else and every problem that must be solved will begin the journey towards the best outcomes for everyone, with the right option becoming ever clearer to decision makers and to us all, as we collectively travel further along The Way of Awakened Politics for Good Government.
You can download a FREE copy of the PDF Version of The Way of Awakened Politics for Good Government immediately below and copies of Adam’s other Books which are currently available to download FREE can be found HERE. The link to download the Book for Kindle version from Amazon (£1.99 UK Price at time of publishing) can be found at the bottom.