Twitteretter

After an unprecedented technological race, humanity has researched, developed and approved several vaccines against the virus which shook our society at the start of last year. The approval comes with record speed and may provide a welcome solution to the otherwise possibly unsurmountable social problems the pandemic is creating.   We now can continue to develop, to grow, to increase wealth (the distribution of which is not for this post) without unpalatable sacrifices of life. Alas, vaccination success will rely on its adoption, on a sufficient percentage of the population accepting it. Given the speedy development and approval, many are justifiably wary of its potential risks. Humanity will, once again, split down the middle, those who believe in institutions and in the fundamental virtue underpinning society and those who believe in conspiracy, exploitation and nihilist individualism as their only antagonist. It is not a matter of safety, but of outlook. My arm is ready, is your...

Spain is seeing record snowfalls this week, which combine with the coronavirus pandemic to create chaos. They have resulted in, amongst many other things, many drivers who ignored travel alerts being stranded all over the national geography. It is simultaneously amusing and depressing to hear them angrily calling national media to denounce that, after hours stranded, nobody has come to their rescue. We inhabit a society in which many want to exercise their personal freedoms to act ignoring all advice, pay little taxes and, convergently, have the state immediately get them out of the messes they wilfully walk into. They denounce the curbs the ‘nanny state’ imposes on their personal freedoms, but cry for their nanny as soon as their ill advised exercise of those freedoms in defiance of the state lands them in trouble. This incoherent attitude is not unusual in small children who have not learnt the meaning of responsibility yet. Freud would have a field day studying these so called adult...

I often hear this statement in conversation. I would believe it of an anchorite or a shipwrecked, but not otherwise. Those who state it mean they are not interested in the political options available to them in the electoral process, that choices are too complex, or that they are disenfranchised by political tricks and lies and don’t feel represented. But politics is much more than the four yearly election of members of parliament and a Prime Minister. Politics is every decision we make as to how we live. We are making political statements when we vote and when we don’t, when we use a local shop or a supermarket, when we buy organic, cycle instead of driving, take a cash payment to evade tax or buy The Big Issue. Every choice we make, every breath we take, is politics. We cannot hide from it and, since we must participate, we must be interested, or give away control of our lives to others, we relinquish the one power society affords us, the power to choose how we want to live our lives...

I am lucky to have significant acquisitive power and spare income. I see this not only as a privilege, but a responsibility to use my good fortune to influence my environment positively. One way is by making purchasing and investment decisions with not only my short-term self interest at heart, but the general interest. I buy sustainable products through socially better channels and invest in globally beneficial companies and initiatives which may not yield best short-term financial returns. By deploying my individual resources socio-politically, I can have small but significant impacts. This is long-term sensible and satisfying, I buy a chance to shape my world. My ability to earn above average is a combination of the right opportunities and a bit of fortune, not a god given right or the result of a superior intellect or work ethic, as too many believe. If all of us who can made a conscious decision to produce and consume strategically, we could have a great impact shaping our society...