here are a few more comments on current affairs written in responses to relevant Guardian articles
please forward or send comments back
Britons are not ageing healthily – we need to learn from countries that have made it a priority
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In order to live healthier longer we need a pan generational approach which encompasses a fairer, just and equitable society and economy for all ages.
Our work at www wiseage org UK has focused on trying to build intergenerational solidarity bringing old and young together in work, in leisure in a shared environment.
There are 1.2 million people over state pension age still working, mainly part time. This is a reflection on both the number of pensioners, especially women living on or below the poverty line while at the same time many work because it gives them meaning, community and a positive contribution towards society.
But if you want an age friendly and age diverse society you need politicians and decision makers to enable and listen to the what the young and old say they want and need. No research or Action about us without us
The decline in public and local services hits both age demographics, the closure of libraries, community and public sports centres, the absence of maintained public spaces and parks, including toilets, clean air and the ability to walk freely are all impacting negatively on old and young alike
Yet when older people carry out age friendly audits of their communities and recommend solutions they are usually ignored by planners and politicians, same with the youth.
In the TV programme which looked at why 5 places across the globe had large numbers of people living to over 100 what was clear is you need good food, exercise, community and friendships, clean air and equality to live well for a long time.
These are not expensive to implement if you involve the local population, stop privatised and outsourced profit driven services, encourage inter generational volunteering and end the ageism in employment
The main problem with Macron’s vision is that he arrived as an investment banker / hedge finder giving a tax break to the already rich while cutting public services and people’s financial wellbeing.
So while he is right to demand EU self sufficiency in defence, IT, trade, energy and international relations as well as pushing France as it’s main EU leader, it fell on deaf ears domestically.
If you don’t look after your people but act as rich lobbyists provider you drive people to the hard right or demanding real redistribution of wealth.
This is the central contradiction: to build progressive international alliances you need policies which benefit the public and private finances of the majority, and to do that means taking on the rich and powerful and most of the media which is outside of the ken or will of the likes of Macron.
What is needed is full on socialisation of public services with a board including elected consumer directors, taxpayers and staff representatives, environmental experts and govt financial member. This would need to be an independent body autonomous from govt and is able to keep and reinvest surpluses.
But also the current rip off owners not only get no compensation but face court action to recover money siphoned off to pay dividends and directo
Europe frets about Trump. But soon he could be the least of our problems
Good slogans for the Democrats – Lock him Up, Clear the Swamp- seem to remember someone using that back in 2016. Maybe add another Give us our money back!
Europe frets about Trump. But soon he could be the least of our problems
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I quite agree , we must put Trump along with Xi and Putin at the top of the UK’s and EU’s list of threats and take appropriate action. That means urgent massive moves to establish autonomy and self sufficiency in Defence, Energy ( the Green New Deal), trade and economy and a commitment to human rights in foreign policy. In particular we need to tax and regulate US IT and AI companies and to halt foreign political donations plus a cap on individual donations.
Only when we can defend ourselves and not rely on fossil fuels from Russia, Middle East or US do we have any hope of real independence
All fascist nationalists are corrupt and rely on external and internal enemies to justify their exploitation of their own people. So it is inevitable that such governments will end up fighting each other as well as their own democratic resistance
Wake up, Britain: Donald Trump’s US is no friend of ours. We must secure our own place in the world
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Trump is now the leader of the nationalist / racist / fascist attack on democracy, human rights, human life, independence, self sufficiency and a habitable planet and must be treated as such.
All of the ills of the planet are on him, when ever there is international agreement there he is absenting himself- while on all the key issues- global warming and fossil fuels, AI and data centres, global inflation, wars – there he is egging on the forces of greed and self destruction.
We don’t just need a European united resistance but across the globe we need a new world order, its Socialism or Barbarism and at the moment Barbarism is winning
AI is driven by neo fascists without empathy so it will not be good for the rest of us. On top of the risk to humanity there are the risks here and now with data centres taking much needed water and electricity, heating the air around us and polluting with constant humming noise.
Its only benefit will be for the billionaires and dictators leaving the rest of us u employed and destitute.
There needs to be a global resistance to this now. Maybe the Luddites have something to teach us
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The 4 horsemen of the apocalypse have been joined by Climate crisis and AI.
So now we have to watch to see which of them wins the race to human oblivion.
Nuclear war, AI driven human destruction (even if they don’t kill us all their pollution, heat water and electricity consumption will drive us towards the cliff edge.), climate crisis leading to burning, destruction of land, sea and air, or Trump and his fellow fascists fighting it out.
However there is still hope, if we can unite around a popular, progressive, anti fascist, anti AI green policies. That will mean a mass movement supporting govts to stand up to the global apocalypse lobbies of big tech, big arms, big oil and big pharma.
We don’t have long to sort this out, but we must
