Monday 17th February 2020
13 of us were present. Seven sent their apologies.
We considered the Tory attack on the BBC, which seemed to be in line with policies towards the media in right wing populist governments in other places (Trump, Berlusconi among others). It was noted, however, that many Tory supporting people would be supporters of the BBC as an institution. Since no change was likely before 2027, this was not urgent. But it was a symptom of the wider concern of the present government to limit public access to government thinking (eg ministers being instructed not to speak to the media). Brexit was about control being returned to the British government, or rather, the British Prime Minister, rather than to Britain.
Despite Tory claims that their policies would be advantageous to ‘the north’, we felt that HS2 would have little impact on the lives of people in ‘the north’, and that funding for it would be at the cost of funding for more immediately felt public services (libraries, child care, etc.) Such policies were part of a wider lack of overall strategy or value base.
We returned to a perennial issue for us: Where does political power lie? Local government has lost power as have the National Parks. So have trade unions. We discussed what kinds of process might be involved in a more bottom up approach to change, drawing upon our experience of XR, Compass, HVCA, etc. We thought that the problem was to understand how small groups grow and collaborate in order to have an influence of policy.
An optimistic view might be that big problems, such as climate change, might provide a context in which small group development and collaboration could arise together with increased community awareness.
Finally, we discussed the possibilities for Labour removing the Tories at the next general election. Or would the ‘wheels come off the Tory bus’ before then?. Much will change before the next election. In just the next twelve months will will know more about the consequences of the government’s Brexit policy which may well change the possibilities for change available .
The next meeting will be held on Monday 16th March.