Alf on Politics

Image via Wikipedia

Image via Wikipedia

By early 2011, I had become rather  disenchanted with many political leaders, their sponsors and the vast bureaucracies of central, local and European government administration. For me, political leaders seemed increasingly long on words and short on action. Despite enormous political, social and economic challenges, it was hard to see demonstrable leadership, with politicians of all colours putting their sponsors first and frequently blocking rational political decisions. I was especially passionate about the austerity debate, and favoured Keynesian interventions to stimulate investment.

Reflecting back over my life, when I was younger, in say my twenties, I really struggled to understand politics, especially in the United States. Four decades later, with experience of life, and far greater access to political analysis – especially on blogs and micro blogs (like Twitter), I have developed a passionate interest in politics.

2011 was a watershed for me in many ways. For the first time in my life I got so angry with politicians that I started to share my own views on the political stories of the time. Twitter helped me keep on top of the political news and I was able to use my weekly blog to share my two cents worth of analysis.  

As I reflect, let me try to capture in a few words some of my political beliefs:

• Libertarian, rather than authoritarian
• Internationalist and Pro-Europe
• Right of centre , favouring strongly individualism compared to state
• Strongly anti-bureaucracy, favouring small government
• Pro democracy
• Anti corruption
• Pro Keynesian and anti monetarist (I favour a belt & braces approach with sound monetary policy, good fiscal discipline but leaving room for state intervention where necessary)
• Pro Monarchist

To give the reader a flavour, below are the titles and hyperlinks for my top dozen 2011 political blogs (ranked by number of hits):

• UK Local Authorities & Shared Services: Cost-Cutting – Myth or Reality?

• Public Sector Performance: Catch 22 type Dilemmas

•  The Open Public Services White Paper, the Budget Deficit and Thirteen Key Reasons for the Government to Deploy Professional Interims for Risk Reduction?

• Public Sector Catch 22: Structural Reform, Strategy and Implementation – How to avoid a Omnishambles Recovery Programme?

• Sector Catch 22: Cost-Cutting Vs. Cost Reduction

• Cabinet Office & Treasury Score Own Goal with “Catch 22″: More Myths, Realities & Escalating Risks?

• Public Services Reform: U-Turns, Banana Skins, the March of the Neoliberals and the Demise of the Professional Interim?

• Reforming the Professional Interim and Independent Consultant Supply Chain Model?

• Twelve Open Questions for UK Government on its Strategic Vision for Shared Services

•  Youth Unemployment, The Lost Generation and Reversing the Emerging Trends

•  Public Services Reform: Shared Services, Outsourcing and Mutualisation?

• Will David Cameron and George Osborne become the Pioneers of Third-Wave Neoliberalism, just like Thatcher and Reagan Pioneered First-Wave Neoliberalism

   

   

   

   

   

   

Related articles

• Dealing with Austerity – Commodity or Individual: Personal Branding: the Next Frontier? – Part 1 (dralfoldman.wordpress.com)
• Keynesian Myths and Illusions (alethonews.wordpress.com)
• EU crisis: The Frogs do love us – they’re just hopping mad with Germany – Telegraph (dralfoldman.wordpress.com)
• Dealing with Austerity – Commodity or Individual: Personal Branding: the Next Frontier? – Part 2 (dralfoldman.wordpress.com)
• Understanding Unemployment (alethonews.wordpress.com)
• Five Neoliberalisms (clubtroppo.com.au)
• Ed Balls is right on the economy – but the public aren’t ready for Keynes | Jonathan Freedland (guardian.co.uk)