Ten ways to improve the UK

It’s almost a week since I ranted about something - I wanted to put down a few not quite fully formed proposals for your consideration.

Might even make an unpopular Government soar in the unimportant polls people often seem so fixated on. 

1. Abolish the TV licence fee.
There must be a fortune to be saved in detection and prosecution (not to mention these absurd harassing letters). No more people going to prison for not paying or forcing people to pay for something they don’t use. The money would have to be raised from increased tax unfortunately but in giving the BBC their funding every year, the government could also give private and independent broadcasters a smaller grant for quality or educational programming.

2. Politics without pundits
A monthly half hour of airtime on the BBC for each of the political parties and top assembly parties. Air it late at night. Let each party compete in “the battle of ideas” in the most accessible forum. If a programme is popular, let it compete for a better slot in the listings.

If there is room for all those property programmes, all those cookery shows and all the talent reality competitions (not to mention the vast number of soap operas), many of which are on prime time, surely there’s an audience for such programmes. There are over half a million members of the three main parties alone.

3. Beef up the Advertising Standards Authority.
Encourage them to ban the practice of volume variance where the ads are louder than the programme. Get them to write guidelines outlawing aggressive ads (designed to hassle and irritate).

4. Ensure miscreant celebrities feel the full force of the law.
Without naming names – there are far and away too many drugged up celebrities staggering around the national media. I accept some are speculation and the only thing you can really believe on a newspaper is the date, surely these people are a source of information about dealers etc. Find them and lock them up.

5. “Take all your belongings with you when leaving the train”
Limit the number of “announcements” permitted to be broadcast on the London Underground and all other public transport. Make it far, far fewer than it actually is. 

6. Encourage facts in political discourse
Find a way to fund a British version of www.factcheck.org. Get cross party support if necessary and find a way of keeping its independence. I leave it to someone else to figure out how.

7. Paying a proper debt to society
Where someone has been found guilty of creating internet viruses – their punishment should involve working for the authorities to counter other viruses etc.

Where someone with music or sorting skills have been sentenced to community service for driving offences or other non-violent crimes, their punishment should involve working for youth and community groups.

The idea is basically that when paying your debt back to society – society should get the most from what you have to offer.

Unlike most people who blog – I’m happy to flag up where I’m ignorant – do prisoners still do any form of penal labour? I’m a far cry from right-wing but I can’t see any reason why time in prison shouldn’t be turned into productive working time. Anything that would mitigate the expense of prison while helping to reform the prisoner – perhaps they do already.

I’m not talking about chain gangs or any of that nonsense but there must be something better than sewing mail bags? Sorting recycled rubbish? I don’t know – suggestions welcome.

8. Abolish the direct mail industry
This may seem harsh but think about it. I get national newspapers in my office (not to mention a host of trade publications) – I’m not exaggerating when I say that for the past four years, at least one in five times in the nationals, there are several identical fliers for the same product or service.

Not only is this a tremendous waste of paper and ink, especially given the publication itself will be full of ads, it’s also ripping off the advertiser who bought the inserts. Most DM campaigns are delighted with a 3% response rate so it’s not as if the economy would be critically hit. Matter of fact, a large minority of the 3.3bn unsolicited letters we receive every year are from credit card companies – given that the country is up to its eyes in personal debt – a slowdown of personal debt may be one (long-term) benefit of a ban.

A ban would force the lazier marketers to get to know their customers better. Opt-in campaign work better anyway and tend to be on email. DM agencies would be reduced but not wiped out in that opt-in campaigns would be fine.

We’re trying to take a hard line on spam in inboxes given the cost to UK businesses – I see no reason why we don’t naturally assume published material to be just as useless to the overwhelming majority who receive it. It would also make scam campaigns – “you’ve won one of three fantastic prizes”- more visible.

The Mailing Preference Service doesn’t stop local cab firms, fast food outlets and estate agents who “urgently need to buy on our street” stuffing up the mail box – it’s not even nearly representative of the vast majority of people who say they don’t want junk mail. Cut out the need for a database which is ignored any – abolish DM.

For fetes and local events, local organisations like charities, schools, community groups, local councils and political parties could still leaflet at a local level. 

9. Saving pub companies from themselves.
Pubs are brilliant. Pub companies often really aren’t. It’s frustrating that pub companies are so short-term in their views and collectively stifle anything that moves the pub away from a drink-as-much-as-you-can, appeal to the lowest common denominator culture.

The days of the smoke-filled pub where there’s nothing to do but drink should be long gone – we should hasten the day.

Pubs should be encouraged to save their businesses by schemes such as free or cheap soft drinks for designated drivers and (where appropriate and possible) play areas for children which encourage more business for weekend lunch etc. There is enormous potential for pubs to recapture their place at the heart of communities by initiatives such as renting out function rooms to study groups or being the club house for sports clubs.

Perhaps the licence should be cheaper if they can demonstrate forward thinking in this regard.

Publicans should really learn to shut up whingeing about the death of their business due to the smoking ban or cheap alcohol from off licences. The smoking ban made their premises more habitable for the vast majority of people.

With regard to cheap alcohol, they either believe the majority of drinkers enjoy alcohol in moderation or they don’t. Alcohol bought for consumption at home can be consumed over a period of weeks where what’s bought in the pub is consumed immediately in the pub. The whingeing even overtly suggests that their only product is alcohol – not atmosphere, events, other people or even food.

Finally, there’s an awful lot of nonsense talked about tackling binge drinking and being more like continental drinkers. One thing that would help tackle the issue is to make more non-alcoholic drinks available and make the prices far cheaper than the alcoholic ones. Alcohol Concern agrees – we were supposed to have an enquiry from the DTI on the incredibly high mark up on soft drinks in pubs and it never materialised. It should be resurrected.

10. Make it legally possible to prosecute local councils on the basis that they completely MISINTERPRET race relations laws
The damage done to ethnic minorities doesn’t come only from the far right. The so-called “loonie left” does them (and us) a whole load of harm with over zealous application of new laws.

“PC gone mad” is exaggerated grossly by the press but it is not a myth. The resentment ethnic minorities must have when some idiot introduces “Winterval” in their name can be prevented if some legal compliance officer in these councils understands that overdoing it may lead to a lawsuit.

Perhaps something similar could be done with the country's Health and Safety enthusiats? At Christmas, fellow travellers and I were treated to the sight of a workman at Gatwick Airport on a pneumatic raising platform pulling down and adhesive sign from a doorway. He'd have been able to pull it down without a platform had he been half a foot taller!!



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What do you think all? Any vote winners here?
By the by - I don't think there's anything here Tories would have a problem with - too much intervention perhaps?


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Re: Ten ways to improve the UK (#1)

Not really what I joined the Labour Party for...

Re: Ten ways to improve the UK (#2)

That was a swipe methinks.

What do you mean - Jijb2?

It's not like responding to posts on Labourhome are a necessary part of Labour membership.

If you mean that the post above was unworthy of your consideration - why post anything in response at all?