The Hidden Power

"There's a class war alright," chirruped Investor Warren Buffet recently, "But it's our class making war on yours. And we're winning."

It reminded me of the Lao Tsu, where he says that the Way of Heaven is to take from those with excess, and give to those who do not have enough.

"The way of man is different," the sage quips. "He takes from those who have nothing, in order to give to those who already have too much."

When did the worm turn? When did the liberal centrist consensus become this nightmare of neo-feudalism? How did the Tories, in particular, drift from their one-nation, Compassionate Conservatism to the libertarian bandits who rarely miss an opportunity to darken our media with stirring xenophobia, and hallucinations of Getting Things Done? Was this written into economic neoliberalism from the outset?

In this episode we rehearse the history and make some observations, not least the upcoming opportunity to vote.

Talking Points:

Some context of the Centrist Consensus

How the worm turned: Brexit

Empire and Old Tory

Feudalism in Britain and Russia

The Thermocline of Truth: erosion of the middle class

The Irish answer to Neoliberalism and inequality

Will they ever learn?

Links:

Ed's Cris de Couer - Old Tory

Start the Week - Left Behind But Not Forgotten

Ireland and Neoliberalism - David Mc Williams Podcast

John Pilger - Governments and Media roles in War Propaganda | The War You Don't See - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mDuxFnn2RY
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In this special edition of The Hidden Power podcast for Democratic Yorkshire, Philip Tottenham talks with Ed Straw, and Professor Malcolm Prowle on the subject of the day and panacea England's ills - Regionalisation.

Talking Points:

- The experience of government: consultancy, Thatcher, Blair, powerlessness at the centre of power
- Problems with centralisation. How we experience it.
- Devolved parliaments and regions. Wales, Switzerland, Germany
- How this might look for Yorkshire. Some of the challenges and pitfalls.
- What’s the next step? Talking about it. Taking an interest. The long road ahead.

Links:

Wikipedia on Regionalism:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regionalism_(politics)

Localism - a tangible route to Regionalisation:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Localism_(politics)#:~:text=Localism%20can%20also%20refer%20to,power%20becoming%20centralized%20over%20time.

From the time of the Scottish referendum on independence:

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/sep/17/scotland-independence-referendum-england-counties-devolution

Widely respected community action group Locality:

https://locality.org.uk/

Some links from Malcolm:

Has Devolution Worked - a 2019 Institute for Government report reflecting on the first Twenty years:
https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/sites/default/files/publications/has-devolution-worked-essay-collection-FINAL.pdf

Some reflections on Government dysfunction (Malcolm Prowle, LinkedIn):
https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7130931236369231874/

Ed Balls and others on regional inequality in the UK for the Centre for Economic Policy Research
https://cepr.org/voxeu/columns/how-tackle-uks-regional-economic-inequality-focus-stem-transport-and-innovation

From Ed:

Northern Independence Party:
https://www.freethenorth.co.uk/ourfuture

Charter to End Westminster Rule:
https://citizen-network.org/library/charter-to-end-westminster-rule.html

A Nation Trapped Inside England (YouTube):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=C2DFTj0Ot2o

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Philosophy, famously, will not get the washing up done. And it will not fix the crises of climate and biodiversity. So what can I do? An individual amongst Billions?

In economics, a basic unit is - The Household. And while economics tracks the flows of goods and services, it is striking that both goods and services require energy and other resources. Therefore The Household is an important unit to think about in terms of how we metabolise - exhaust and pollute - the planet.

Confronted with countries and large companies, we all have recourse to wringing our hands - but the Household is a strikingly accessible unit for pretty much everyone.

So - having surveyed, in Series 1, Proof of Concept, just how effective Systems Thinking can be; having rehearsed in Series 2 Preflight Checklist the principles that would see us through the climate and biodiversity crises; having explored in Series 3 - Is God the Biosphere? - how making the Biosphere a central partner in our governance systems requires us to rethink our religious demeanour - what next?

Given our relative entrapment in what are in many ways systems of extraction and poisoning, what levers might be available to a Household to minimise harm while maximising the best life has to offer?

This episode is a call to action to all our listeners -

Can you articulate your household constitution?

Can you produce a suitable systems map of the flow of goods, services and ideas passing under your roof?

Send your household constitutions and household systems maps to thehiddenpowerpodcast@gmail.com or tweet a link to Ed @EdAStraw - we are v excited to see what people have to show, and will set up a Google Doc to exhibit any responses.

Talking points:

Model of change in the 1850's

Convening as accessible - Systems convening event SCIO - t
https://youtu.be/vdohTndxWSM

Our innate Systems Sensibility, governance as adequate development and mental health

Religion, science, commerce, a moral code - and consumer power

The migration from past state to future state - in increments

- awareness beyond the bin

The power of collective action - The Preston Model

https://www.uclan.ac.uk/articles/research/preston-model-community-wealth-building

https://cles.org.uk/publications/how-we-built-community-wealth-in-preston-achievements-and-lessons/

Family constitutions: some relevant points -

News media:

Preferential Lobbying (articles)

voting

Proportional Representation (podcast)

https://theconversation.com/how-to-express-yourself-if-you-want-others-to-cooperate-with-you-new-research-182705

thehiddenpowerpodcast@gmail.com

Ed @EdAStraw
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It is no secret that the various tribes and bubbles of our world have wildly differing beliefs about things. Why can't people just accept the truth? But the truth is so contentious. And framing is so contentious. And all these people seem to have the most outlandish superstitions.

An abiding feature of these podcasts, as we've highlighted many times, is this thing called Systems Thinking, and while this is a broad enough discipline to be fairly tribal in its own right, one key feature of this Systems Thinking is thinking about your thinking.

In this episode we review some of the things in normal western life that have the character of superstition, and explore to what extent our innate capacity for gullibility and naïvity might be used to our advantage, in evolving a more constructive mindset; in connecting better with Nature, and specifically in nurturing the health of our habitat.

Talking Points:

An experience with a palm reader

The power of belief and ritual in performance

Listener comments - a bishop, a yogi, and a reflection on who we are

Some superstitions - recognisable, and hidden

Like Science - eg impact of false HRT Study warning cancer

To what extent are your superstitions working for you?

Heuristics and humility regarding knowledge

Good and bad fairy-tales

What you do and what you think about it

Whatever gets you through the night

We all need superstitions

Faith as an alternative to cynicism

Faith in your own human system

Faith in our project of a viable habitat

The Good Place - it's impossible to be "Good"

The system is fundamentally bad

The challenge is bigger than all of us

And that is why we need faith in a higher power to sustain us

Links:

Fundamentalism as a superstition about text:

https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/first/a/armstrong-battle.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

On the placebo effect:

https://www.health.harvard.edu/mental-health/the-power-of-the-placebo-effect

On a scientific Truth that turned out to be untrue - HRT and cancer -

https://www.nursingtimes.net/clinical-archive/cancer-clinical-archive/study-linking-hrt-to-breast-cancer-was-wrong-26-01-2012/

William James (Philosopher and psychologist)

On pragmatism:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_James#Pragmatism_and_%22cash_value%22

On the Variety of Religious Experience (Wikipedia preçis)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_James#Philosophy_of_religion

Timothy Morton:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timothy_Morton#Ecological_theory
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The late Ken Robinson, in one of his TED talks, tells the story of a child who was drawing with wild strokes. The teacher asked - What are you drawing? And the child replied "God". The teacher said, "But nobody knows what God looks like." And the child said, "Well. They will in a minute." Badum Tshhhh.

Last week we explored what people are talking about when the talk about gods. But for most people, this is a secondary aspect of religion - the primary aspect being the rituals. So what are rituals, and why are they so powerful?

In this episode we look at some rituals, religious, secular, useful, destructive, and start to imagine what rituals might help us to place the biosphere at the pinnacle of our aspirations.

Talking Points:

Listener Email - A moral revolution is possible

Rituals. What are they?

Ablutions, Jewish weddings, Christian signs of peace

Conscious and unconscious rituals in daily life: focus and distraction

Positioning the biosphere and political will

Rituals of nurturing and kindness

Waste is an affront to nature, not wasting feels good

Gods - conscious and unconscious

Addiction and deification

Human power - like a bull in a china shop

Possible futures

Possible rituals - the 12 step recovery process as a route out of the addiction system

When things change, we'll be happier!

Habits as the b-side of ritual - and their power

Getting past the Doom Bar - learning to love stress

Links:

Peter Oborne - the Triumph of the Political Class (review/Guardian)
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2007/sep/30/politics

Water and religion ( incl Ablutions) - BBC podcast "How Water Shaped Us" -

https://open.spotify.com/episode/5NURa5GgoD7PxTzJQNrjzG?si=0hgb5f6hQkuo4Oc_XbleqA

The 12 Step Program (Wikipedia) - main points:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twelve-step_program

Dr Alia Crum on mindsets

Excellent paper on the subject:

https://mbl.stanford.edu/sites/g/files/sbiybj9941/f/2014_mindful_stress_chpt_crumlyddy_handbook_of_mindfulness.pdf

And podcast on mindsets in general,( 1:04:50 - The three step process: 1 Acknowledge; 2 Welcome; 3 Utilise):

https://open.spotify.com/episode/3ELdxrMTQum8E4ulpMSb2J?si=HGPXTCRiR9ykMy-UOdn2qw&context=spotify%3Ashow%3A79CkJF3UJTHFV8Dse3Oy0P

The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People (Wikipedia summary):

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_7_Habits_of_Highly_Effective_People

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