Tragedy of Riches: How Our Politics Has Failed Us and Why We Need a New Economic Destiny

Stephen Barber

Description

Offering a critical analysis of the UK political system, Tragedy of Riches argues that politicians over the past twenty years have changed our economic destiny for the worse. The corresponding demise of ideology means that there can be no great improvement in the British economy without fundamental political change.

Stephen Barber introduces the concept of the ‘mixed economic settlement’; the argument that the policy mix in which Europe and the United States operates is forged in three contrasting forms of liberalism to have emerged in the post-war West: economic, welfare and social liberalism. He describes how our single-minded pursuit of prosperity has constrained politics from being a force for good.

The book argues that the present economic policies of the UK government are unsustainable and, if they are to tackle the difficult issues of modern society, politicians and communities alike need to face up to this truth.

Sujets

• Politique
• Business
• Economics
• Theory

Informations

• Publié par: Legend Press
• Date de parution: 07 octobre 2011
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781789559958
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Published by New Generation Publishing in 2018
Copyright John van Weenen 2018
First Edition
The author asserts the moral right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.
All Rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means without the prior consent of the author, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
ISBN: 978-1-178955-210-2
This book is a work of non-fiction. It is a true story that took place fifty-four years ago and all characters, places and incidents are as accurate as the author s memory permits. Dementia is not an issue at this moment in time, but the author is abundantly aware of its ability to descend indiscriminately on its next victim. A clandestine liaison with a Mr G Reaper is in evidence for together, they appear to have a total monopoly in servicing mankind and are boastful of a never ending supply of human fodder-or so they think. I m on their case, they better take me seriously-or else
www.newgeneration-publishing.com
Books by the same Author:
The Beginner s Guide to Shotokan Karate
Advanced Shotokan Karate Kata
Shotokan Karate-the Definitive Guide
Karate for Children-Volume One-Basics
In Funakoshi s Footsteps
Task Force Albania-an Odyssey
Task Force Albania-The Kosovo Connection
Victims of Love
Dedication:
I would like to dedicate this book to the following people:
Lillian van Weenen
Leonard van Weenen
Derek van Weenen
Moss Hollis
Doris Duthie
Gavin Duthie
Eddie Whitcher
Paul Perry
Tony Robinson
Hilda Robinson
Geoff Dix
Mick Harton
Masutatsu Oyama
Joseph Maguire


All of whom are sadly no longer with us. R.I.P.
About the Author
J ohn van Weenen s life has been eventful to say the least. After a childhood of poverty in North London, he travelled the world and discovered Karate, eventually returning to Britain to achieve success by sheer hard work.
He developed his passion for karate, that most demanding of martial arts, first in Australia, after having arrived there with his two brothers as Ten Pound Poms and then Japan, and later under the great Master Hirokazu Kanazawa, himself a student of the legendary Gichin Funakoshi (1868-1957). It was he who introduced karate to Japan from his native Okinawa in 1922. Funakoshi saw karate as more than a physical martial art form-for him it was the key to his philosophy of life; of responsibility to others: Make benevolence your lifelong duty.
John modelled his own life on Funakoshi s precepts and followed in the Master s footsteps. He handed down the message of his mentors Kanazawa and Funakoshi to generations of new students to the art; encouraging his followers to help the needy.
Ultimately his teaching led to the giving of time and skills by many to a series of epic convoys of mercy during the nineties to help the starving and dying of Albania and Kosovo. He took British Doctors to Albania who successfully performed sight-saving operations on blind orphaned children. Finally, he commenced work on the British Children s Library Network, a scheme to bring basic education and computer skills to underprivileged street children.
He proudly accepted on behalf of all his students and helpers The Order of Mother Teresa (OMT) and the MBE for services to the children of Albania.

John, with Mother Teresa in Calcutta in 1995
Contents
Prologue
Requiem
The Catalyst
The Die Was Cast
Young Elizabeth Taylor
Bombay
A Stabilising Influence?
The SS Iberia s Appalling Catalogue of Disasters
A Welcome to Adelaide
A Message from Col. William Light
Who Said, Blood s Thicker Than Water?
The Six o clock Swill
Freedom and Horseshoe Bay
Early Days
Our First Holiday
The Coorong and Storm Boy
Young Love on a Deserted Beach
The Bats of Naracoorte
Mount Gambia and The Blue Lake
The Twelve Apostles
Sister Mary MacKillip
Tailem Bend
Hahndorf
Goliath
The Beginning of a Long Journey
The T G Insurance Company
The Finsbury Migrant Hostel
A Gesture out of Character
The Thorn Birds
Guard Against Impetuous Courage
Jeff s Close Call with Davey Jones
Sharks
Gone on The Ghan
Andamooka
I m Forever Blowing Bubbles
Sheer Greed
Take Your Partners for a Conger
All Because The Lady Loves Milk Tray
Wish Me Luck as You Wave Me Goodbye
The Law of Karma:
My Time in OZ: by Jeff van Weenen
My Trip to Queensland: by Garry van Weenen
The Long Journey Home
Knocked Out by a Little Urchin
Anyone For a Starter?
Masutatsu Oyama
Farewell to the Japan Karate Association
3000 miles-Los Angeles to New York on 11
Joseph Maguire
A Ride to Nowhere
Gus
Epilogue: The Author s Life after OZ
Joan s Life after OZ
Jeff s Life after OZ
Garry s Life after OZ
The Ten Pound Poms
Further Dedications
Prologue
Just who were the Ten Pound Poms ?
A llow me to provide a brief introduction to the Australian Government s Assisted Passage Migration Scheme which was created in 1945 and ran to 1972. It attracted over one million migrants from the British Isles, representing the last substantial scheme for preferential migration from Great Britain to Australia.
Assisted migrants were obliged to remain in Australia for two years after arrival, or alternatively refund the cost of their assisted passage. In 1964 when my brothers and I migrated, the cost of the ticket was 300. If they had returned within the two-year period, it would have cost each of them the 300 return fare plus the 290 paid by the Government to get them there in the first place. Now 300 sounds like a comparatively small sum but its equivalent today in 2018, taking into account inflation would be a staggering 5,595.00. Even the 10 the Poms paid, equates today to 192.50.
So it s easy to understand why many of the Brutish migrants, through no fault of their own, spent their two years in a Nissen Hut, saving hard, to raise enough money to buy return tickets to Britain. The cost of the return tickets for a family of four, two adults and two children, would have been equivalent in today s money to 16,785. It was obvious why the Australian Government provided little or no incentive to return to the UK. The Poms had made their bed, so they should lie on it.
There is no doubt The Australian Government s White Australia Policy was racist, however, a quarter of all British migrants did choose to return to the UK, but half of these-the so called Boomerang Poms , returned back to Australia again.
Many people who have risen to prominence were Ten Pound Poms . New Zealand s Julia Gillard was one. She migrated from Barry, Glamorgan in 1966. Another Prime Minister, Tony Abbott, migrated in 1960. England s fast bowlers Harold Larwood and Frank Tyson took advantage of the scheme in 1950. The Jackmans migrated to Sydney in 1967 where son Hugh was born, and so on
Looking back to the period after World War II, many Britons were sold the dream of a new life in Australia, seduced by the 10 fare. Government propaganda films in glorious Technicolor sold the dream of a modern British way of life in the sun.
It was a chance to escape post-war rationing and a housing shortage. Australia was sold as a land of enormous opportunity. In the first year alone, 400,000 Britons applied to emigrate, and Australia desperately needed white British stock to populate its shores and build its burgeoning post-war economy. The racist law known as the White Australia Policy meant blacks or Asians need not apply. Briton was more than happy to oblige, helping to populate the Commonwealth with Britons.
It s hard to imagine how things have changed in Britain and what a multi-cultural country it has become. Racism has had to be kept in check whilst Political Correctness has assumed greater status.
Over fifty years have gone by since I was a Ten Pound Pom . So why should I have waited all this time to commit to paper countless memories of a bygone era that are as clear today in my mind as they were in those balmy days of the swinging-sixties. Some of the answers can be found in the following pages whilst others are less obvious and a touch more obscure.
What was never in doubt was my perpetual affinity to Australia and her people, regardless of colour or creed, who demonstrated their warm friendship. Our intention was always to go to Australia for the mandatory two years before returning. We were three young single boys, with no ties, looking for a way out of a mundane, suburban life. We all had a very basic education that left much to be desired, no skills, no prospects and no careers-we were going nowhere-and we knew it.
So when the advertisements appeared almost everywhere inviting Britons to come to Australia, often portrayed as a land of milk and honey , for the sum of 10, it was an offer just too good to miss. We saw it as a great adventure beginning with an amazing sea voyage and promises of employment, accommodation, sunshine and endless beaches. To not go would have been plain madness!
As I write these words in 2018, it seems a lifetime away from those first tentative steps my brothers and I took, as we boarded the SS Iberia at Tilbury Docks. Naturally we were a little apprehensive-who wouldn t be, but as we sailed from England to the other side of the Earth, fate decreed that I would meet a very beautiful girl and we would fall hopelessly in love with each other as we sailed into the unknown.
From the outset, this book was always going to be about the incredible time us brothers experienced during our two years in Australia-that was the story.
However, running in parallel to this and beginning by sheer chance on day one, is a love story of two people thrown together in times of uncertainty. Only in each other s arms did they find comfort, and for Joan, solace, fol