This is all hypothetical of course.
But when actually you think about it, it sounds realistic. Many corporations operate like organized crime.
Brits: Let's allow MPs to work as lavishly paid lawyers for water companies
Brits: Let's allow House of Lords members to work as lobbyists.
Brits: Let's have a political system where a single party gets an absolute majority
Brits: What could possibly go wrong?
It's the politics. Show me the political institutions of a country. I'll show you the dysfunctional outcomes. You guys have the worst political institutions of any western country outside the United States.
Britain allows MPs to work as lavishly paid consultants/lawyers for multinationals. It's completely illegal in many countries. In Britain, for some reason I don't understand, it's legal.
Several House of Lords MPs are professional lobbyists. They enjoy lifetime access to parliament and they sell that access. That's exactly what Peter Mandelson did.
The UK voting system is also designed to be unrepresentative.
With the Dutch voting system, here what would actually happen.
Greens would say: "You don't have any majority. You can't form a government. We will support you if you tax SUVs and nationalize water companies".
Reform would say: "You don't have any majority. We will support you if you reduce immigration by 50% and ban cousin marriage".
Lib-Dems would say: "You don't have any majority. We will support you if you ban gambling ads and switch computers to Linux. Do we have a deal?".
That's how it works in a healthy system.
In the UK system, with 40% of votes, Labour has an absolute majority. Starmer and his buddies do whatever they want. Just like the Tories did whatever the hell they wanted.
I genuinely believe that with proportional representative and a ban on MPs having second jobs, private water companies would have been nationalized.
People focus on the outcome. But they should focus on the process
As a non-brit, one of the most hilarious - or sad - thing is how easy British political elites can get away with breaching rules.
In France, there is now an independent agency, the authority for ethics and transparency (HATPV) in charge of ensuring politicians respect ethics rules. And if they breach rules, they can face very heavy fines and even jail.
HATPV isn't joking. They have prosecuted dozens of french politicians.
In Britain, you have a bunch of toothless watchdogs that say "The honorable gentleman did not act honorably"
Acoba is JOKE. Their enforcement mechanism is a strongly worded letter 🤦 🤦 🤦
Seriously guys, this is just embarrassing.
There is a big difference between criticizing and doing something about it.
Idon't like China or Russia. Their foreign influence attempts are disturbing.
But Rupert Murdoch has done an extraordinary amount of damage and somehow, it's consider perfectly normal. US Billionaires are allowed to wire money to UK Think Tanks and it's somehow considered perfectly normal.
I'm pointing out the irony.
The anglosphere businessmen that UK Elites consider "family" are not inherently better than Russians or Chinese.
The United Kingdom is an utter joke.
Don't get me wrong. I actually like this country. This is the nation that produced George Orwell, Harry Potter, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, JRR Tolkien...
But they are completely panicked about Chinese interference.
Meanwhile, several of their newspapers are owned by Rupert Murdoch.
John Major, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, has publically said that Rupert Murdoch pressured him to change Britain's foreign policy :
https://www.channel4.com/news/major-denies-sun-editor-abused-him-after-black-wednesday
A foreigner tells the Prime Minister to change Foreign Policy or he will try to remove him from office. How is that not electoral interference ?
Gordon Brown, another Prime Minister, had his family medical files stolen by thugs working for Rupert Murdoch:
https://www.politico.com/story/2011/07/murdoch-paper-left-pm-in-tears-058767
A UK Prime Minister that said he was bullied by a foreigner.
A UK Prime Minister that said he was blackmailed by a foreigner.
In fact, it doesn't stop here. Rupert Murdoch played a key role in Brexit. Remember this headline, a few days before the referendum?
The Queen actually never said this. Murdoch told his editor to publish it.
Nigel Farage publically said: "Brexit wouldn't have happen without Murdoch"
This is pure foreign interference.
Let's imagine if Rupert Murdoch was Chinese or Arab. Imagine he was named Li Wu or Mohamed Islam. He buys newspapers and spreads disinformation. He threatens Prime Ministers. Brits would be screaming about the need to stop him.
Do you see protests? Headlines? Worried MPs? They don't care.
Why ? Because Murdoch is a white anglo. In the british subconscious, white anglos are "family".
I'm a foreigner, but I know Britain well. One of the benefit is that I see things Britons can not see.
She is right. I don't use a smartphone anymore. I now use a dumbphone. It helps me focus and reduce stress. Turns out you don't need the internet with you 24/7. If someone really needs me, he can call.
- Customer: My iPhone cable doesn't work. It's strange because I bought it recently 😢
- Apple: Have you considered buying a new cable ? It's only 22.99 euros 🙂
Apple is a corporation that makes 30% operating margins.
https://companiesmarketcap.com/apple/operating-margin/
That means that on average, for any product sold $1000, they make $300.
Apple also hates open source software. They use their proprietary operating system to jail users. They force developers to pay huge fees. This is total abuse. Imagine if Microsoft suddenly banned Windows users from installing software outside Microsoft. Imagine if Microsoft required developers to pay them 20% on all software sales
FUCK APPLE
Populists tend to reject political pluralism.
They claim they are the ONLY ONES representing the people™. The danger is they can start attacking the media, judges... claiming that the people™ are on their side.
Uncontrolled populism can lead to dictatorship. Even left-wing populism. Look at Venezuela.
Step 1. People are angry
Step 2. Some weirdo gets elected President
Step 3. He starts threatening judges who rule against him, urging his supporters to harass them
Step 4. He starts suing newspapers and journalists, calling them fake news
Step 5 Tells his supporters that black people eat pets and are part of a global plot to replace Tunisians
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/02/23/tunisia-kais-saied-racism-migrants-black-tunisians/
Step 6. Calls the opposition is the enemy from within. Says the opposition supports terrorists and must be stopped/jailed
Step 7 . One night, he sends thugs to surround parliament and arrest the opposition
Step 8. His supporters are happy and defend him
Step 9. Dictatorship
Welcome to Tunisia.
Americans are at step 6. They just don't know it. They are deers in the headlights.
Let's hope Trump is too dumb to successfully pull that off.
I'm a simple man.
I see a newspaper owned by Rupert Murdoch. I downvote immediatly.