Panoramic Vision

Following last night's Panorama, let North West Durham Constituency Labour Party consider who it would really want as its parliamentary candidate. Not that the party nationally would bother to ask.

And following last night's Panorama, we should reassert democratic political control over the Bank of England, including that the approval of the House of Commons be required for changes to interest rates. 

We should assert democratic political control over the City of London, with a Glass-Steagall division between investment banking and retail banking, with the Freedom of Information Act extended to the City, and with its municipal franchise conformed to that of local government in general. 

All tax havens under British jurisdiction should be closed, non-domiciled tax status should be abolished, the Big Four accounting firms should be broken up, auditors should be banned by Statute from selling extras, and they should have unlimited liability. Limited Partnerships and Limited Liability Partnerships should be required to have at least one member who was a natural person resident in the United Kingdom. 

The State should buy a stake in every FTSE 500 company, large enough to secure Board-level representation, for the exercise of which both the First Lord of the Treasury and the Chancellor of the Exchequer would be accountable to the House of Commons. After any investment in public services, the dividends would be distributed equally to everyone, through the same infrastructure that paid the Universal Basic Income. 

Public bodies and public contractors should be required to buy British wherever possible, and to buy local wherever possible. Employment rights should begin with employment, and apply regardless of the number of hours worked. There should be a four-day working week by 2100. Our people should be members of the trade unions appropriate to their jobs where applicable, or otherwise of Unite Community. Every part of this country should be on the Belt and Road, and we should encourage the building of one or more Bering Strait crossings. And the principles of the Antarctic Treaty should be extended to Outer Space.

Depending on local circumstances, in each constituency at the next General Election there should be one Conservative, Labour, Liberal Democrat or Independent candidate who subscribed to this and this. The complete list of those candidates would appear here, and anywhere else that we could get to publish it. If I could raise enough money to be a viable candidate, then I would contest the seat where the most people had offered to sign my nomination papers. Please give generously.