Meeting held on Monday 8th January 2018
8 people were present and 7 gave their apologies.
What will happen in 20018? Trump could be said to be doing well: shares
are up; unemployment down. But there is still possibility of impeachment
or action under Article 25 (unfit to govern). If there is no deal on
Brexit, Trump will be more important to UK trade. His presidency
reflects badly on democracy as a principle of government, although in
USA, more than elsewhere, money is what counts for getting into the Oval
Office.
We questioned the concept of ‘populism’ often applied to Trump and other
right wing ‘successes’. Is populism applicable to the Left (eg Corbyn,
Sanders) as well as the right? Is it the consequence of ignorance
fuelled by the press, or is it just a term of disparagement used by
those in the ‘centre’ to refer to the rise of what they see as extreme
views? There was some disagreement in the group, but agreement that we use the
term perhaps too loosely. We also questioned whether the
predominant view that the power of the nation state has given way to the
power of global corporations, is challenged by the rise of popular
nationalism.
Locally, many positive comments were made of Ruth George (MP for High
Peak), particularly her offer of holding public meetings about Brexit.
We commented that there appears to be lack of clarity on Labour’s
approach to Brexit. Many, but not all, in the group were totally opposed
to any form of Brexit and wished Labour supported this view. We thought the Irish
Boarder issue was perhaps the biggest obstacle to Brexit.
We considered what would a Labour Brexit look like? A Tory Brexit is
horrifying, but would it be possible for a Brexit under Labour to pursue
a really socialist agenda? We had our doubts. We also wondered whether a
‘hard’ Brexit might lead to the break-up of the UK and that this might
make it impossible to get the seats needed for a Labour government in
the foreseeable future.
We saw radical change in the economy and the monetary system that underpins it as being vital, especially from a ‘green’ perspective. Would more
democratic forms of finance be possible under EU, we wondered.
Experience of EU Central Bank regarding Greece makes this look unlikely.