I thought it was an exaggeration but this is the Conservatives’ handbook!

It’s not the sort of book I normally would read but after reading 1984, I am keen to read his other works now too.  I had heard so much about George Orwell’s’ book 1984 and so many people telling me how the government of today were using it as an instruction manual, I just had to read it and judge for myself.  

I can say there is not much that I cannot relate to in some way or other, the two way TV screens that watch your every move and hear your every word, well our internet resembles that factor of the government spy network of its citizens.  The fake war that never ends and the reasons behind it (of this I will not say too much, as it is a piece of realization that should only be given by Orwell himself) but there have been several wars as of late that have been wrought with allegations of being illegal but the reasoning behind these wars is very convenient, to add to this there is further food for thought in Orwell’s revelation of this.  

The proles in Orwell’s book are left to their own devices, classed as natural inferiors, they are very poor and not educated enough to let them see what was going on, so as they would never revolt. They resemble the 99%, the proletariat of today. The way I describe stratification of our very own education system in a previous article is very frightening to consider, when you look at Orwell’s fictional world and how it resembles our world so very closely.  There were also no medical facilities for the proles that were mentioned either, much like our own NHS being dismantled right now. 

There is also the daily two minute hate sessions that are held.  The population of the outer party are brainwashed to hate one man, ‘Big Brothers’ opposition.  Under our government, the population is being turned on the poor, the conservatives opposition, very much like the German population of 1933 when Hitler took over as chancellor.  The government in Orwell’s tale control the media and news to a degree not thought possible, they change the news on a daily basis to match what they want the population to know.  Our own government also controls the media and can control what we do and do not see.  Any of these resemblances can be found in governments acts passed by our very own government on the government website and yet day by day people are drawn into Orwell’s vision unconsciously.

One final haunting thought that this book leaves you with are the great purges at the start of the reign of ‘Big Brother’, you cannot help but remember the purge of World War Two but this was based on the purge caused by Stalin when he had 11 million people slaughtered in cold blood.  Although our government is not as obvious as this, we are now sitting at an estimated death rate of around 20, 000 elderly and disabled since 2010.  After reading this book I can, with a clear mind state that I believe our own UK government and possibly even the US are using this as their handbook.  George Orwell is a great visionary, but I pray this vision comes to a halt before it becomes as blatant as his fictional vision.

I will say that I will have to read the book again as I soaked up every chapter so fast, I am sure I missed more resemblances and for those that have not read it yet I would recommend this as a really good read.  I understand that this, however, is a book of fiction based on some very real background history that the author experienced, the Spanish Civil War under the oppression of Franco and Russian Communism during the years of Lenin/Stalin. He decided to write some fictional novels about his experience, which are good reads on their own, however when added to today’s predicaments add a haunting note to his tale. 

For anyone wanting to delve further into todays policies I have put the link below:

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/

Stratification within the Education System

The picture seen for the children of tomorrow is very bleak and disheartening. Marx stated that the ‘ruling class ideas were maintained for the ruling class’ and I now find that stratification has now somehow leaked into our educational system, creating disaster for our children’s future. Some people would state that the education is being ‘dumbed down’ however this is not the true definition of this ruling class ideal of stratification, nor does ‘dumbing down’ encompass the whole outlook of the role of the education system today. When you look at the motivation behind the education system as being the workforce needed for tomorrows society, stratification, the division of social class or the division of strata, is the dominant issue within the education system today. The Labour Government used their power (in 2010) to implement the idea of stratification for children using their (self proclaimed) new and improved ‘multiple choice’ education system. They emphasized that this was to benefit education in the UK, in reality however, it only benefits the future workforce. Due to this change to the system the education systems role has changed and rather than it being an institute of knowledge and enlightenment, the system has now become nothing more than a cloning industry for tomorrow’s workforce. This begins in Primary schools and prepares them to become drones in their own future society for the ruling class to exploit when needed.

When I was younger, school is where I learned many and various different topics. Some things would be difficult and challenging and others much easier to grasp and understand. I loved English and History, but was your average typical young student of the eighties, full of ideas, ambition and drive, totally unaware of the economy and politics. I now have nieces and nephews and used to love helping them with their homework until it dawned on me recently that the new education system is teaching young primary school children in picture book style about things such as Egyptian history, Roman history and nature. My older nieces and nephews had homework and tests with a lot of multiple choice tick boxes in them. None spoke of history or nature as they grew up, none seemed to have the same excitement about their future as I did in my school years, and none had any ideas of being a scientist, an archaeologist or indeed anything other than service roles such as child care or call centre work. Why would they? It is common knowledge that the UK is now built upon the service industry and there are hardly any science or research institutes around the UK any more. The UK government does not invest in such frivolous spending any more due to budget cuts and the economy. Children are being taught to grow up and become drones to benefit the service industry in this country, they are not taught to strive higher and achieve or exceed expectations, they are not taught about the world outside the UK and they are not shown things that would make them want to travel the world any more. They are needed here in the UK, therefore the government restricts, minimizes or controls what is taught and when it is taught. This then creates a passive working class for the ruling class to exploit.

This is not to say that they never teach history however; teaching young children about Egypt becomes an issue when the knowledge is not expanded upon in High school education. It’s as though it is deliberately taught at an age where children forget things and nothing grows from that little seed of interest planted at primary school as it is denied from further thought. I was in high school before I learned about the Rosette Stone, The Battle of Hastings in 1066 and the French Revolution. When I had learned it all, I read more in my own time, I was enthusiastic about this new knowledge. My concern is that if the younger generations want to learn properly about various topics, they now need to find the cash to get to college or university. Previously we were taught in great detail about these things at high school that gave you the drive and enthusiasm to follow up these subjects in greater detail and go to college. In today’s education system there is nothing to motivate high school pupils into wanting to read more or push themselves through the financial hardship of student life at college.
I would also like to point out the very unreliable “tick box” learning method. I had to sit an exam without “tick boxes”. I had to actually remember what I had been taught and write it down in an essay format at the age of 16 (15 for some of my friends whose birthdays fell later than the exam dates). Back then, we applied what was taught to us in daily life without even thinking about it. Now children are taught what to do but not how or why they are doing it. This means that the knowledge learned is not being applied anymore, they pass tests by ticking boxes and then forget about it.

The Labour Government imposed this ‘multiple choice’ method of education and the Conservatives have not moved to reverse this. I would at this stage ask why? Andrew Marszal, from the Daily Telegraph, shows a table of schools before and after the change in examination methods and by all means each school performed on average of 40% better. This, at first glance looks beneficial however looking at the research carried out below by Craik & Tulvin, there are cracks in this system which are not being dealt with.

What these results do not show, is whether after a year the students could take the same test and score the same again. Psychologically this is not possible. This type of learning and examination process does not account for the fact that immediately after the exam the information becomes forgotten. This is because nowhere in the curriculum are the students taught how to apply this knowledge to everyday life, why they need this knowledge, in other words. It has been researched and proven that ‘applied learning’ is remembered much better because it is repeated and used often. This can be seen in the research carried out by Craik & Tulvin in regards to their “levels of processing” theory where results showed a far higher long term memory when the participants gave meaning to the information they were trying to remember, in other words they applied learning to the information gained.

Where in the current teaching curriculum method do we ensure that this type of research is actually used to benefit the children being educated today? The answer it seems, is that we don’t. Politicians are either oblivious to these important factors or they choose to ignore them because it does not give the instant results they are looking for.

Ambition is a key factor here. It is being wiped away by political bureaucracy and red tape. Where are this generation being guided to? Are they being geared towards a production line, a desk in a call centre, an office assistant? Now there is nothing wrong with either of these roles. I, myself, have worked in two of them and known many good people who have worked in these sectors too. The key difference is I was given ambition, the choice to strive forward at school and in life. I learned about things I wanted to know more about and I am capable of applying many taught skills to life which enables me to continue moving towards a goal or overcoming an obstacle. At school I was given a passion to learn more and grew up with ambition knowing there was another world out there. The way our Education system is working is archaic, and removes choice and ambition from today’s children.

This system is working backwards and teaching children less and less about the world, achievement and ambition. It wipes away opportunity at being anything other than what the ruling class want for society. Stratification as Marx has argued, exists in all capitalist society’s as a Ruling class idea. This Ruling class idea now begins in schools, with children and creates a complacent subject class for the work force of the future. As working class adults who are always in conflict with the ruling class in today’s society, we should be protecting these children from this same conflict in tomorrow’s society. Instead we sit back and allow the ruling class to continue exploiting us, and now our children too.

In time, if we continue in this manner we will regress and some things in history will be buried and long forgotten. Some things will never be discovered. Along with this forgotten information will be the very reasons that there should never be another war. Today’s children should be encouraged to study science in order to take us into a cleaner, brighter future. History should be remembered by these children so as the mistakes of the past are never repeated. This current state of the education system is failing to account for these two very important factors in favour of capital. The children of today, the adults of tomorrow, will suffer for this.

The basics of Locke and Marx contributions to the theory of the state

At least three main types of power exist in all of the states. It is cannot be a state if it does not have these types of power. These powers can be Legislative (Parliament in UK), Executive (Government in UK), Judicial (Courts), Sovereignty (Permanence)

Most state population will also identify with the state and accept its authority, giving the state legitimate power; known as authority in democratic states. Sometimes, however, this is not the case, for example; the people of Basque rebelled in the early 90’s and their rebel core, the ETA refused to recognise or identify with being part of the Spanish state. A state usually has defined territories over which it can exercise its power. Often there is a misconception that the government is the state. State and government are not to be mistaken for being the same, they are two very different sources; however, the government is an important feature of the state.

There are three types of State Apparatus, each with their own model of support supplied to the state, not the government. There are the Coercive State Apparatus (CSA) which incorporates Executive governments, legislature, police, secret police, courts, prisons and military. The Ideological state Apparatus (ISA) includes Education, Media and religion. Finally there is the Administrative state apparatus (ASA) which deals with sectors such as the civil service, the welfare state and social work. The state apparatus are all intricate parts of the key features of a state however breaking them down into their actual apparatus structures allows you to see each detail as a separate sector.

Compared to most institutions for instance, a government who rely on limited time based on public voting, the state exists as permanence or under longevity. The British state has been in existence since 1707 since the act of Union. The sovereignty of the state differentiates the modern state from the medieval or feudal state. Instead of a King passing his land down to lords in order that they control their own territories a modern state utilises centralised power over all sectors.

The theory which makes the most logical sense was created by John Locke, a Pluralist. He argued that power is shared between various groups to create a democracy or democratic state. He also believed that the elected officials, the government of the state, had accountability for their actions. This accountability gave the people, the electorate, the power to renounce them if they did not act responsibly for the benefit of the state. He called this “The social contract”. In return for looking after the state, the people were also obligated to uphold the law and return in kind, the responsible actions of an individual of the state.

In days gone by this theory fit the time well but has this theory aged well? Has it become outdated due to sheer mass of human expansion, compared to the 1700’s? Where does our system fit into Locke’s’ theory?

Locke must have been visionary in his day as the system still works. The social contract is still a vital feature in today’s society. The ability to vote through choice, not coercion, gives us the authority, through voting, to renounce current government if they are not accountable for their actions or do not act in the best interest of the state. In this area of Locke’s theory it still stands extremely solid.

Locke’s theory of separation of powers is also still a working model in today’s’ modern state. We have many groups with power over specific sectors such as religion, politics, military, education, judicial, legislature and Executive. Although one government does govern these for its term, these sectors are in effect kept separate. Each sector has its own policies and budgets to work with so no one party alone or individual official can dictate objectives to them. Every decision has to be agreed and negotiated, often voted on via a referendum, before conclusion.

Marx was an idealist. Marx believed that there was no state before Capitalism and that Capitalism was the state. He believed that the proletariat were oppressed by the Capitalist class. He argued that there was no choice for the proletariat but to go and seek employment in order to live. He argued that there should be common ownership or equality of condition. He believed that resources should be shared equally and that only the limitations of human ingenuity or recourse availability itself should impact on this.

 Both Marx and Locke were seeing the state from different concepts but both were looking at a fairer system where the people of the state would have benefited. Marx’s theory was a sound theory but the world is not ready for his utopia as yet and I fear it will never be ready.

Locke’s theory has potential to carry us much farther through time. The state definition by Locke was a precision theory for its time and has withstood mass growth of the human race with ease. Our society has become more complex however it is simple to assert this theory to any sector of the state, even in today’s modern world. Take media for instance, something that never existed in the 1700’s and yet it has been integrated into society using this theory with ease. John Locke’s theory has held solid since our sovereignty in 1707 and holds solid in many other states too such as America, Canada, and France. States all over the world are still influenced by his theory and until we see another visionary such as Locke, it will continue to work as it has stood the test of time and no doubt will work for many more centuries to come.

The Road to Dictatorship in the UK

I truly fear for the future of the UK under the tyrannical rule of one Mr David Cameron. When looking at what he has succeeded in doing since his "shoulder barge" to the political throne in may of 2010 it seems very clear to me that Mr Cameron is indeed an authoritarian dictator determined to destroy the poor and make the rich richer during his reign.

This may sound harsh however we need to remember that firstly The conservative party were 20 seats short in the elections so they are in fact (although it is hard to see this right now) a coalition government. The definition of Coalition states that it is "An alliance for combined action, especially a temporary alliance of political parties forming a government or of states."

I, personally cannot see an alliance anymore, I see a power, money hungry man stamping on everything and everyone who opposes him. Think about it, even the Labour leader yielded to the policy of refunding all of the sanctions to people who were unfairly made to work (under an archaic law of slavery-may I add). These people had their payments sanctioned for standing up for their belief that slavery was outlawed centuries ago. In turn they suffered, some of them starved, some of them lost their homes, some of them would have lost their families; because let’s face it, fear of challenging the government and loosing the only income they had would have stopped them supporting their partners beliefs even if they knew it was basically illegal. Cameron has already stated that they would look at re-wording the act. The act is immoral and if re-wording it makes it legitimate we have serious issues. 

April the first 2013, or April fool’s day.  This is truly named correctly as we are all fools in the unluckiest year of the century. Today will be remembered by many, not for the pranks or the funny news stories, but for the beginning of the destruction of the welfare state, Bedroom tax introduced, disability living allowance scrapped for some watered down version called PIP and council tax benefits are now in the hands of local councils who have no funding as it is. The NHS can now buy privately (as long as it meets regulations-and we all know how that will work, they have minimal budget already. We will see less and less state of the art medical advancements unless we choose to go private...on minimum wage?)

Legal aid is being severely limited and will hit two key things that will cost lives in the end. Child custody cases, Fathers and mothers, carers all will be hit as legal aid is denied. Children stuck in the middle of these custody battles will suffer, what happens when a parent cannot afford a lawyer and the child is inadvertently handed to an abuser? It’s too late for the child then. What happens when the poor parent knows that but can't prove it fast enough? I am truly sorry to say it but suicide and child abuse will rise. It is very sad to say but I feel I must emphasize this, some parents fight over the children only to score points with each other, these are the types of cases which are treacherous for the child, but David Cameron doesn't care about this at all. Another addition to suicide attempts will be the Employment legal aid which is being vastly reduced. The larger corporations are already taking advantage of their staff having fear of being fired and sent to the unemployment line which they see only as another oppressive system. This will give them cart Blanche to do whatever they like and no-one will be able to fight back, this will cause stress, depression and add cost to the NHS on prescription medication and again I foresee a rise in suicide.

For every action there is a reaction and Mr Cameron is not accepting the reaction to his actions which will come, either that or he just doesn't care as long as he continues to live in his beautiful house and eat out in the best of restaurants with his happy little entourage of yes men. He has started dissecting our welfare state and it will not be long before we are left with nothing, no homes, no food, no security for our families and no protection from the very people that are meant to look after the state and its citizens, ALL state citizens. I see a man who has done nothing but blame the unemployed and the poor for the countries so called debt he persecutes them and is ensuring that they disappear from the statistics but he does not help to create jobs, so how is he planning to make us disappear? That is the fearful question.

There are many, many other policies and acts that the government can push to have re-worded to their own benefit.  Not least of all the Human Rights Act!  Now; I realise that the ‘snake tongued’ Mr Cameron has said it has to do with protecting the country but somewhere in History you will find that Hitler, Stalin and Mussolini all used the same verbal and tactical concepts to brainwash their own state citizens.  What they actually did is beyond comprehension, but I’m sure you know of the 11 million Stalin murdered and of the tens of thousands Hitler sent to the death camps or the thousands Mussolini had shot.  Their rule caused death, suffering, slavery, inequality, forced labour  and the list goes on.  Women and children were of no consequence and were used as required.  The poor were forced into labour until they were near death or dead.  I ask you to step back and look at the changes made so far, now look at the changes Mr Cameron wanted but were denied.  He lost the cases for forced labour so is re-wording the act but Specifically let us look at the ‘Communications Data Bill’  or more commonly known as the ‘ISP Internet Snooping Law’.  He fed us this proposal because he wanted to ‘tighten the countries security against terrorism’.  This would make sense however they also made 4000 soldiers redundant in the same month that this ‘Snooping Law’ proposal was put forward.  Would 4000 soldiers not give us protection against terrorism if they invested in them more? Thankfully this snooping law was denied, unfortunately 4000 of our countries military lost their careers.

Make no mistake, they did not want this law to protect the country, they want this law to monitor what the citizens do.  For instance, eBay, online work, blogs, ad sense these can all be taxed and without a clock in or out resolution we cannot prove we worked less than 16 hours.  Remember; in Britain if you work more than 16 hours no matter what you earn, you are entitled to next to nothing.  This would mean they could cut further benefits.  This government wants rights to access your private lives, finances and tax you for it.  Morality and legitimacy are not part of their plan. 

They are proving this over and over again via ATOS with their punitive measures against the disabled. Many disabled cannot live their lives anymore, they are barely surviving on a day to day basis.  Many illnesses are getting worse because they are being demoralised and humiliated whilst being accused of NOT being disabled whilst sitting in a wheelchair!  They are planning on taking away free travel and TV licenses from the elderly.  These are the very people that fought for the freedom of the country they are meant to be looking after.  These are the people that gave them their next generation of workforce.  The women of this generation kept this country working while their men went to war and some never returned.  They did this for their country and this government is making a mockery of their loyalty.

Over the last two years I have read about old couples dying of starvation, homelessness rising; including child homelessness, and I myself have been on the rather oppressive end of the civil service also known as the DWP. After 15 years of working we were sent into financial crisis as we waited 6 months to have rent issues resolved, 4 months to conclude we were not to get child tax credits for the only reason that we didn't send in the paper work on time (only we did, we sent it 4 times) , 6 weeks to sort out a joint claim and 8 weeks to resolve it when I went to college. Any one of these delays and mistakes could have contributed to yet another death caused by having no money for a home or food and its going on all over the country.  

To put the icing on the cake I was told to go in for an interview with the DWP when I was 7 months into my college course (one month before exams) I thought it was a mistake, I was told it was not and that if they thought I had other skills that my partner did not they would look at getting me back to work.  I was speechless, a month before my exams and they could take me out of college to put me in work? I asked if they could do this when I was at university and was told if we were claiming in any way they could.  I have to say that this was the beginning of a panic for me as I was doing really well and to be forced out of university into any job they seen fit was not part of my educational plans.  I am happy to say now however, that my partner did get work after 2 years of searching.  I will now be able to go to university knowing I can complete the course (all going well).  This example however only shows that there is no care about education for the poor only a care to get as many forced into work as possible.

I originally thought they were doing this deliberately however, after some research I found that The DWP union were in fact trying to fight to get better benefits for us and better working conditions for themselves, They were highly understaffed by 20% nationwide and were banned for a long time by Mr Cameron's government from hiring more staff.  The civil service is meant to be an impartial body between the state and its people but somehow Cameron has them tied in knots too.  For further information on changes made you can read it here.

Mr Cameron is a Dictator and what I believe, the worst Prime Minister in British history.  He is causing suffering and death across the UK and no-one that has the legitimate power is challenging this. Where are the labour party and where are the Liberal Democrats; they are, after all suppose to be part of this government. 

Only the SNP seem to be challenging this Dictator. The SNP are doing all they can to try and save Scotland from this tyranny but I cannot see anyone fighting for England, Ireland  or Wales.  I say all this because I truly cannot see democracy at work in the UK anymore and sadly believe that soon we will truly be under a totalitarian rule; and this type of rule is not only archaic but it is the scariest in history.  Cameron does not need death camps or guns to control the citizens he is using the welfare state the same way Hitler used death camps and the same way Mussolini and Stalin used guns.

Take independence in 2014 before Mr Cameron gets his way and removes our Human rights.  As for the rest of the UK Vote him out in 2015 and save yourselves the misery and suffering that will follow if you don’t.  

For further info on Camerons plans for the Human Rights Act read here