Ignorance is Bliss

 

Ignorance is Fear, by Keith Harding
Credit: artfinder.com

Thoughts prompted by listening to Rory Stewart's podcast called 'The Long History of Ignorance."

Ignorance, similar to other words such as anger, sadness and effeminate, trigger pejorative thoughts.

Stewart comes to the defence of ignorance using the ancient socratic notion that ignorance has a lot going for it.

I was interested in the idea put forward that ignorance can be a maladaptive coping strategy.  Stewart points to the sensational German film, 'Zone of Interest', which follows the fortunes of the commandant of Auschwitz's family during the Second World War.  Life has never been so good for them.  They are now able to live their dream, designing and constructing a beautiful garden.  The only problem is that on the other side of their wall, a terrible evil is taking place.  Their idyll is in exchange for a horror.  The film leaves the viewer conscious that this is not an isolated story; could I too be living my dream concomitant on the suffering of others?  In the film 'Ignorance is bliss', but no one is ignorant, and everyone in the family suffers the consequence of the evil going on, each in their own subtle way.

Stewart links this with the 'White' ignorance of the West's past exploitation of mainly African people over hundreds of years, and the fact that the current status of African countries and peoples may still be affected by this.  Some people have 'woken up', and in response, mainstream culture does it's best to put them back to sleep.

I think now of the ignorance of the ruling classes (and that include me).  A wonderful colleague from my early social work days had many stories to tell.  One was the occasion she visited an elderly couple to meet with their children and discuss their care needs.  Judith could see when she met them that something significant had recently occur.  The couple were like young lovers, smiling and giggling.  She enquired why this might be.  The couple confessed that they had just got married.  Judith knew that this was extremely unusual for people from their background, and enquired why it had taken them so long.  The wife explained in hushed tones that when she was just young, she had had problems down below, and visited her doctor.  The doctor had been explained in serious tones that the situation was risky, and that it would be better for her if she 'never got married'.  The couple looked at each other, and sighed. The husband said "We figure that we are so old now that we can take our chance."

I am sure that that advice-giving doctor will have been shocked to observe the power vested in their wise and kindly words.  Powerful people are often ignorant of the degree of power society crowns them with, though salaries might give a good clue.

Ignorance is also freedom.  I recall Joanna coming back from an 'A'level philosophy and ethics class.  The teacher had asked the class to raise their hand if they were prepared to allow what they studied over the coming year to affect what they believed in.  Joanna thought about it, and raised her hand.  She explained that she was a seeker of the truth, and with the presence of God with her, she could safely explore belief.  Is this different for the poster my mother saw outside the Unitarian Church in Hampstead which said "This church does not undertake to believe today what it might believe tomorrow"?  I guess it's a question of motives and motivation. We all have our own beliefs, and relationship with the 'infinite', and as Stewart notes, our own perspectives are riddled with ignorance and prejudice.

Stewart is a Buddhist, and links with  Anthony Gormley, who may also describe himself as a Buddhist.  I am not against meditation, but I did wonder about the use of meditation to cope with the thought that we may never 'know' meaning in life. "Meaningless, Meaningless." If we conclude that meaning in life is unfathomable, are we like the fish in the fishbowl who conclude that 'water' around them is unknowable? (All about me, therefore ironically difficult to see.) Those who claim to have a close (personal) relationship with the Creator perhaps are starting from a different position.  "Given that I stand on this rock, my world looks like this."  

This is where 'not knowing' and belief meet. Stewart visits this are in the past episode. 

We are ignorant, to a large extent, of what the future holds. We have probability and prophecy to guide us.  The Creator has seen it all.  The story of life on earth is like a well worn video tape (disney's Frozen, or the Sound of Music' say).  It has a beginning middle and end.  We are stuck looking at it from the limitations presented by time.

I have been grateful to have been ignorant beforehand of many things that have happened in my life.

As Stewart points out, ignorance is a many splendored thing. 

    

 

Advent Advert

 

Le Berceau, by Berthe Morisot - Muse d'Orsey -Paris.
Credit: Wikimedia.org

Dear Reader,

As is my habit - I am composing an advent story pointing towards Christmas.  The theme will be 'relationships in the bible', with an analysis on the nature of these relationships.

Christmas is the day we celebrate the ignition of a flame, that went on to develop into a forest fire.  This fire has not gone out, but has engulfed the whole world.  The flame is the spirit of truth, and love, offering redemption to all humanity.  It seeks to restore the relationship between the Creator, all humanity and the world itself.  It is the fundamental core of my life.

Each advent window will contain a picture, a passage, a pithy thought and a pray.   

May it bless the Lord, you and me. 

Cybernetics

Credit: The King's Fund

The King's Fund published this diagram to explain the complexity that has been created in the NHS.  There is a risk that, just like the many plumbers who visit our houses and stare in disbelief at previous work, our NHS is at risk of strangling itself through ever circular systems of complexity and inept planning.

This blog is a scratch pad to record passing thoughts.  (These came to me at the traffic lights.)

I imagine that I would very much have enjoyed attending the Macy Conferences that took place in New York between the dates of 1941 and 1960.  Here, representatives from different academic disciplines gathered to share their work and perspectives on their subject.  This collaboration allowed common themes to develop, often promoting novel ideas and approaches to be explored through the cross fertilisation of very different ideas and experiences.  The reason I know about this is because the field of Family Therapy was greatly influenced by   the work of Norbert Weiner, an American Mathematician and Engineer, who attended the Macey Conferences, and collaborated with Margaret Mead, and others to create a holist framework to understand the complexity of human interactions and wellbeing.  Chemical Engineering spoke to Sociology (called anthropology at the time.)

The link I made at the changing of the lights was between economic models of understand the world, and and that of the inner world of the child, in particular, how we learn to regulate our emotions.  

The story goes like this. 

Young babies are born with the greatest capacity to develop in any direction they will ever have.  From day one, this is reduced by their environment until the child is set on ever limiting course of expectations.  For example, little children have the potential to speak any language perfectly.  Adults will struggle to do this.  To communicate audibly, young babies just cry.  Their cry is set to be very disonat, requiring attention, as with a house or car alarm.  The parent is left wondering what the cry means.  Is it serious, or trivial?  Consult the doctor, or Health Visitor.  Over time the child learns that it is useful to adjust the crying from Red, to Amber to Green.  The parent lead as they become experts in assessing risk.  The collaboration  reassures both parties, this helps the  child to self regulate.  For me, the most exciting thing to come out of Solihull (other than my great grandmother) is the Solihull Approach, which says to the professional - "start by containing yourself".  This will help contain those around you.  "Panic" is not likely to be helpful, though sometimes we do have to act quickly and urgently.

In a similar way, children learn to control their bladder.  At the beginning it's complete guess work, like flicking the switches on a fuse box in the dark, watching to see which is the most effective. Eventually the child works out what they have to do in their brain to control the bladder, and with a few mistakes, the skill is mastered.  In the same way we learn to manage our emotional state so that it does not spill out at awkward moments.

And world economics?  Economics is likewise a very complex affair with many factors at play, some with in our control, some our influence, and some beyond our reach.  Control over emotions has a complex array of influences, and we learn that we tamper with the controls and influences at our disposal.  For children up to the age of about eleven, that control is not very strong.  We accept this, and children are only regarded to be responsible in law for their action only when they have reached their eleventh birthday.  This is why counselling young children is controversial, because it is important that they do not get the message that we expect them to be in control.  Indeed, we take preventative action all about children, removing hazards as they haphazardly wonder through their lives. 

PS - Keir Starmer said recently that the NHS must "Reform of Die".  

I say (though it matters little) The NHS requires commitment to the cause of providing an excellent health service to the rich and poor alike.  This means common sense principles that we have not seen for many years.  In my book (blog) these are:-

1) Share Health and Social Care budgets.  The money comes from the same place, and needs to be unified and rationalised.  My CEO (of Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust) once told me that he has a Sunday morning call with the other NHS CEO in the area to discuss the current conundrum.  Ambulances late to attend vulnerable patients because eight of them are clogged up at A&E, with no room to transfer patients because others cannot be discharged because the care they need is waiting for social work and OT assessments (Local authority budget).  Where do we find the incentive to crack this crazy problem?

2) Get rid of waiting lists.  Lots of social care systems do not work with waiting lists including Ambulances, A&E, the police, the fire service and social services.  Long waiting list are a sign of very poor management, like someone living on their overdraft limit.

3) Prioritise how funds are to be spent, and maximise the efficiency of the system so that maximum treatment can be offered.  At the moment long waiting lists and dysfunctional poor coordination cost 15-20% of the overall budget.  When the system is working well, people are more confident, less ill, and the staff have greater pride in their work, and so work harder.

Starmer speaks as if the NHS is a naughty child that must reform or die.  The responsibility is with the Government to steer the system into better ways.  If it dies, it is because it likely to be homicide, or murder.

, 

What happend?

 

What Happened at Grenfell?

The Grenfell Tower was named after the road where it is to be found, which in turn was named after the 1^st Baron Field Marshal Francis Grenfell, a war hero of the Sudanese and Boar wars.

On the 14^th June 2017 seventy two people died when a fire broke out on the fourth of twenty four floors in the tower.  It was thought to have caused by an electrical fault in a refrigerator.  Seventy other people were injured and two hundred and twenty-three people escaped the fire.

The tower was designed in 1967 by Clifford Weardon and Associates in the brutalist (or strong) style.  The design was praised for been adaptable and enduring. It was said to have had a projected lifespan of 100 years.  Each floor had six generously proportioned flats.  It quickly became known as the Moroccan Tower, because it appeared to be adopted by the local Moroccan residents of Kensington and Chelsea.  In 1974 when it opened, each floor had six flats, with 120 flats in total.

What went wrong?

The first issue was the cladding, fitted to the tower in 2016.  It was designed to fulfil the UK government requirement to reduce harmful climate affecting emissions. Cladding was sourced from an American company called Arconic.  It was a polyethylene and aluminium ply.  Before the cladding was fitted, it can be argued that a fire in this massive concrete tower block would have been quite easily contained.

The cladding appears to have passed fire safety standards by the lax building and fire regulatory systems at the time.  At £8.6 million pounds, a close eye will have been kept on the public expenditure involved.  Ironically, the subsequent fire will have turned this cost into pocket money.

Who are the protagonists?

The Government.

The Government is responsible for setting the building regulations and agreeing acceptable levels of risk.  In times of austerity, corners are often cut.  The acceptable level of risk for people in highly congested public housing appears to be significantly lower than anything that would be allowed for the wealthier residents of the borough.  Successive governments have encouraged the building industry to set their own standards, to avoid the cheapest product always winning contracts, irrespective of safety.  This did not happen, and the inevitable consequence of capitalism prevailed where the cheapest and most irresponsible product was chosen.  It can be argued that ethical building contractors could not exist in this climate.

The Building Contractors and Suppliers.

Arconics has become the villain of the piece.  They argued that they played no part in the decision making of what was put on tower.  “Nothing to do with me mate.”  As has been pointed out, some buildings are clad in wood.  Here the risks are very clear to see.  Would a tower block clad in wood be allowed?  What would the supplier of tons of wood cladding say to an inquiry?  “More fool you?”

The Architects and Planners.

Architects and Planners should put the needs of the residents of the tower block, and the borough, at the heart of all decisions.  Fire testing is conducted by the industry itself.  Architects and planners are able to choose the materials they are working with and should be clear about what is in the best interest of the residents.  The voice of the residents appears to be a muted whisper.  These people are not likely to be stupid.  They will know about the risks posed by aluminium and polyethylene.

The Fire Brigade.

One of the roles of the fire brigade it to prevent fires.  This is why electrical items in public places are PAT tested.  Should tower block residents have their appliances regularly tested?  This would certainly reassure neighbours of their communal safety.

Fire in London has a horrific history. In 1666 the ‘Great Fire of London’ destroyed most of the then city.  However, Grenfell’s horror far exceeds the estimates of death in 1666 with only 6 recorded deaths at the time.  Why did so many people die?  One answer is because the fire brigade gave outdated advice for people to stay in their flats until rescued by the fire fighters.  Fire doors are said to offer protecting for 30 minutes.  There was an idea that the block could be evacuated in a systematic way with sufficient time for people to be escorted from their flats.   This was not the case, because at high temperatures created by burning aluminium and the ferocity of the fire.  Also the cladding created a hazard in itself as it fell off the exterior walls, coated in highly flammable and toxic polyethylene, onto the firefighters below. 

Why did the System go wrong?

Systems are as good as the people who create them.  Where there is power, there is also abuse of power.  Systems need to be held to account by non-profiteering parties.  These parties need to have substantial power.

When things go wrong, it can be observed that time appears to slow down…. considerably.  One mechanism of obfuscation used by the system is to inject what appears to achingly slow processes.  The Grenfell report was concluded last week, seven years after the incident occurred.  Currently, we are told, 4000 building in the UK still have similar dangerous cladding.  One of the reasons for this is that people who have bought their flats have been told that they have to pay to have the cladding removed and replaced.  Often these are some of the poorest people in our society.  They have become victims to the system.

The enquiry drew a picture of responsibility for the fire at Grenfell as describing a perfect circle of blame.  One participant pointed to the next and so on, much like the Flanders and Swan song called “T’was on a Monday Morning”, where tradesmen create work for each other in a never ending relay.

Ultimately Government must fix things.  Government will pick up all the major parts of the bill.  This will be in legal fees, demolition and recompense to victims.  Government will have to work out how this tragedy does not happen again.

The citizens of the UK will pay the bill. 

What is to be done?

The best way to prevent tragedy is to construct systems that monitor and balance the selfish inclinations of the powerful parties involved. Each will have it’s own vested (and often secret) agenda.  The key is for a commonly help charter of standards to be formulated and agreed by all parties.  These agreements can happen at a national level, and a local level.  They will require a legal backbone, and not act as guidelines.  The obvious bottom line will be that the living conditions of the tenants in any tower blocks need to be those with which the vast majority of the population would be able to agree. 

Political mess-ups of our time.

Housing:  The Office of National Statistics says that 8% of homes in London are vacant.  Of these 8% are second homes.  That is 87,700 empty homes.  The London Mayor says 66,000 new homes need to be built right now.  Does anyone want to try to put these two things together?

Water:  My understanding is that The EU was cracking down on water quality around the coastline of all EU countries.  Funny how the UK's seas become polluted again after the UK leaves the EU.  The government is in a cosy relationship with the water companies.  They pay fines for breaching pollution targets, and everyone's happy.  The companies themselves have very little interest in improving their environmental rating.

Pensions and Health:  We all know that the longer people live for, the state's greatest expense will just increase.  It's a vicious circle because the older people live, the less likely they are to be able to contribute to the economy.   Also the Health service grows larger and larger.

Health:  another part of the health problem is the inability to define limits.  Need is infinite.  If demand exceeds capacity, waiting lists grown there are certain factors that moderate the waiting lists, but they grow to some natural limit which might be 2 years or 4 years, depending on the situation.  People on long waiting lists either go private, which in itself reinforces the long waits, because with is just paying to jump the waiting list.  Or people have a crisis, and become urgent.  Or they grow out of one list and onto another- or die.

Alcohol and Drugs:  It has long been known that 20% of all hospital admissions have alcohol as a component. Drugs are used in society to pacify certain populations.  In the West, Alcohol and Drugs are part of the culture, and it is almost too difficult to extricate society for this problem.  In Scotland this is more of a priority with minimum alcohol pricing laws.  

Petrol and Coal:  We all know that our society must move over to electric power.  But the shift is so slow.  National government could do so much through incentives, but none exist at the moment.  Part of the problem is not only that the oil companies have such significant power over our lives, but that the electric only infrastructure may yet prove a disaster.  The weight of electric vehicles is considerably more than petrol vehicles.  There is talk of multi-story car parks falling down and bridges having to be rebuilt.

 Travel:  In order to reduce congestion and pollutants, we all need to travel less, and use public transport more.  Public transport must be significantly cheaper that uses private cars.  People must stop flying so much.  Trips into space are unsustainable.  We have seen this with the increase in wealth across certains parts of the world leading to a dramatic increase in air flights. This cannot go on indefinitely.  The individual is not likely to have the will-power to create the change needed.

Memories of a Live saving Uncle

 

Upside down photography 
credit: PetaPixel.com

The Pinetum is on the edge of Kent near Hedgebury.  I remember visiting it a few times with my Strood grandparents.  On one occasion Peter and I joined our young uncles, Dave and Adrian, for an adventure and a picnic. We set up camp by a brick header-tank which fed a small stream.

The thin-walled dam provide an inviting vantage point to examine the deep water for something yet invisible.  I tried to push past David to get to the waterfall, where the excess water over-topped the barrier to plunge into the stream.  Predictably I lost my balance and fell headlong into the water.

This was an amazing and unforgettable experience.

In an istastance I was transported into another world.  Sound switch off. Bright light shone beneath my feet. and large bubbles of air gently meandering downwards.  

Time stood still, I felt peaceful, mesmerised; in another state. 

David reached down and grabbed the protruding ankle of the small nephew.  He pulled me up out of the water like an exhibit.  The world returned to its regular form.  I felt an intense sense of being cold, and then fear followed. I was wrapped in the picnic blanket along with muted concern.  Next I remember the warm bath back in Strood, with the familiar objects about me.  The plastic soap holder full of the remnants of old soap cakes, confusingly rough to the skin.

And my uncle, quietly but profoundly present in my life.  Now deceased. Rest in Peace, in that other world.

The Politics of Gender

Credit to https://mujeresalfrente.org/en/women-artists/ 

John Burnham (a famous family therapist) coined the term “Social GRACES”.  This is a short-hand to itemise the different social identifiers or 'lens', that define the complexity of difference in all societies. 

GRACES is an acronym for Gender, Geography, Race, Religion, Ability, Appearance, Culture, Class/Caste, Education, Employment, Ethnicity, Spirituality, Sexuality, Sexual Orientation.

Each of these labels signifies an aspect of ourselves, and each other, that is affected by the sliding scale of ‘power’.  Power is observable in nature.  We know about ‘bulls’, and we see dogs negotiate the ‘pack hierarchy’.  Our pets even do it with us.  Within human groups this becomes more complex.  With power comes the abuse of power; a sad fact of life. The issue of morality and ethics inherent in power differences differentiates us for the animal world.

Pearce and Pearce 1970 introduced the acronym LUUUTT to describe a way of understanding how power is defined in society.  They posit that our lives are full of stories.  Some stories are dominate/ ‘official’, and others are proscribed.  Oft repeated stories from powerful sources become reinforced in society and soon become ‘highways for travel and thought’.  Over time we cease to even be aware that they are only stories.  They become established as  'given'.  

Other stories are quieter or suppressed.  To get to a full and honest picture of what is going on about us, which may enable to see more clearly and address the difficulties within human relationship, we have to find ways  that all stories can be heard. 

Their acronym categorises stories into:-

“Lived Stories, Untold stories, Unknown Stories, Unheard Stories, Told Stories  and Stories in the Telling.”

Families are full of stories. The most infamous stories are taboos, where much distress is created when the rules around these stories are broken.  Freud is famously quoted saying ‘we never forget anything; we just repress it.’

This also happens nationally, and internationally.  For example, I think of the gypsy being evicted from the Lord of the Manors’ land, who looks back and says,

  “You did not invite us to the meeting where you devised your laws on land ownership.  

We would have come and disagreed.”

My thoughts are prompted by a discussion yesterday with friends, about their criteria for choosing the person they voted for.  We discussed ‘family values’, and in particular, attitudes to ‘gender’.

I thought I would write myself a short essay on the subject.

Gender.  The idea here is that we need to know "What is your gender?"  People who present as gender ambivalent creates agitation in us.  I see this as goes back to primitive biology.  Subconsciously we clock gender within milli seconds of seeing someone.  Does this relate to a primitive mating instinct?   Slim women are favoured.  They clearly are no pregnant.  Big breasts indicates ability to feed babies.  For men it’s strength and virility.  It’s all very primordial.

When people do not fit with the biological pattern of expected behaviour a dissonance is created.  We are compelled to resolve the dissonance.  

The political argument is that to digress from the ‘pre ordained pattern’ is to threaten the stability of the family.  There is a concern that without clear moral guidelines, our society will risk ‘unravelling’.  Last year during a day of self-defence and de-escalation training, I was paired with a person who told me about her ‘three-way marriage’.  She said it caused great confusion when they stayed in hotels and requested a ‘triple’ bed. 

The fear might be that threesome weddings may become the norm.  People may be given the right to require ‘triple beds’.  In reality, polygamy is as old as the hills.  So are large beds, though mainly found outside Europe.  

A lot of the politics involved with gender involves fear of the ‘what if’.  In reality difference from the norm is rare.  Most people actually prefer the norm.  A lot of the distress people confront in themselves is about facing up to their difference. and coping with how this impacts on the people around them. 

When my flatmate told me he was gay, he assumed I would want nothing to do with him.  My take on this was that he was protecting himself from rejection by assuming that I would reject him.  It did not work the other way round.  I did not fear that he would reject me.  I had no choice but to sort out my attitudes to him, and his partner, very quickly.  The mental images of intimacy with the gender you are not attracted to also create ‘disgust’.  The risk is that this ‘biological’ experience, is confused with a moral attitude.  The two must be unpicked.  For example, I might also experience this when a disabled person marries an able person.  Dissonance is automatically elicited.  What’s going on here?  It does not fit with biological norms. 

Queen Victoria famously said that lesbianism was acceptable, because she could not see how women could have sex with each other.  Her biological triggers were not being aroused (or she lacked imagination.) 

The ONS gives us the data about the UK population. 

0.5% of the Uk population reported that they were trans-gender (262,000, in a population from 67.6 million.)  89.4% of the UK population in the 2021 census described themselves at heterosexual.    3.2 % of people identified as gay or lesbian or bisexual. The others did not enter a result. The 'not reporting' obviously asks questions about the State's interest in the use of labels and statistics.  The Nazi government was interested in statistic, and ‘trust in the system’ is part of gender politics.

The point here is that the power in Gender politics rests with the overwhelming majority.   In the same way, a multi-ethnic Britain (82% of people in the UK identify as White.  The third biggest ethic category (after Indian) is mixed white, black/Asian).  The dominant, historical narrative and traditional culture in the UK is not going to change dramatically.  There will be no mass conversions.  People are not going to stop loving the monarchy.  In fact, it’s far more likely for minorities to be absorbed into the majority.  There is a gravitational force from me on the earth, it’s just the power of the earth seems to overwhelmingly call the shots.

Another new model that helps describe the complexity of ‘Power’ in called ‘The Wheel of Power and Privilege’, designed by Sylvia Duckworth.  This came from work done with the Canadian Council for Refugees, describing the new sociological subject of ‘intersectionality'.  Intersectionality is a bit like ordering a coffee from a New York coffees house. 

The website takeout.com reports the most complicated coffee ordered in starbucks was a…

“Venti Caramel Ribbon Crunch Frappuccino with five bananas, extra caramel drizzle, extra whipped cream, extra ice, extra Cinnamon Dolce Sprinkles, seven pumps of Dark Caramel Sauce, extra Caramel Crunch Topping, one pump Honey Blend, extra Salted Butter Topping, five pumps of Frappuccino Roast, and seven Frappuccino Chips, made with heavy cream and double-blended.”

Coffee is complex; and so are we.

 Here is a diagram that tries to catch the complexity of the ever changing state of power relations between us all.  Some power differences are natural, such as age and ability.  Others are imposed such as wealth and skin colour. Where do I fit in this complex web?  

In Summary, three observation I make are:-

1) People with power tend to minimise this, and not appreciate or recognise the power vested in them.  I am reminded on the coy elderly couple, surrounded by their grown up children, who told a social work colleague of mine, that they had just got married.  My colleague, surprised, ask they why it had taken them so long.  The wife, blushed and explained that when she was very young, she had been to see the doctor, who was concerned about her ‘down below’, and had advised her not to get married.  Looking sweetly at her husband, she said they were so old now, they thought they could risk it.

2) When people from minorities, or those with less power, voice their side of the story, this is invariably batted down and classified as ‘revisionist’, or denying history.   History is written by the victors.

3) The significance of gender has been transformed through universal human suffrage, which is now generally accepted across the world.  Also by mechanisation, where women can now compete as equals because muscular power is now overshadowed by the machine.  As the chief of Police in Kabul, a women, replied when asked how she controlled all these men, “I carry a gun” (yes- in bygone days).

    When an issue does not affect us directly, there is a risk that we can minimise, and challenge the experiences of others, seeing them as 'politically motivated'.  When the label affects us directly, it's another matter. It is difficult to understand 'the others'.  

     A challenge I have given myself is to try not to see Gender, or skin colour as holding much significance.  I do this by first recognising that I have, and then toning down the volume.

Department for the Environment

                        

The wellbeing of a country depends on its environment.  Let us start in school, where the study of the environment will have a significant place.  There are two major impacts on the environment.  The first is through mass exploitation.  The second is the after-effects of industry and domestic residence.  Mass exploitation includes mining and agriculture.  Industry and domestic residence impact on the environment incrementally.  This government will see it’s responsibility to the environment as an international problem requiring an international solution.  Cleaning up your own corner using profits from the exploitation of the rest of the world is not acceptable.  Steel for car manufacture comes from recycling, and iron ore removed from the Amazon basin.  Industries that follow the capitalist principle of the cheapest player wins, are likely to also be the dirties.  Just as multinationals appear to have no home to be responsible for, so environmental policy needs to be in neutral and in international hands.  Of course this is fraught with complications.  Where does one country get the steel it desires, to produce banned weapons?  Another country is desperate for precious metals, at any cost.  The international community must take charge, because individual countries are likely to fail.  We must not be 'the beautiful Switzerland’, while our neighbour's poison themselves to death.

The main environmental policy will be:-  

• The removal of greenhouse gases from the atmosphere.  We do this by making fossil fuels obsolete.  This policy ties in with the transport policy.  The petroleum that is created is to be used on vehicles that require this technology, such as aviation and heavy vehicles such as lorries and tractors. 
• The public transport system will be incentivised to such a point that private travel is considered ‘not necessary’, both financially and efficiency of time. 
• Localities will be organised with local elected committees to oversee not only rime and public order, but also how the environment is policed.  This will include safe streets and parks.  Also consider how local environment scan be made more attractive.  Less desirable areas will have professional support to transform the environment, changing the desirability of area, and increasing house prices, improving the value of assets.

The department For the Environment will link with planning policy to ensure that a third of the land is prioritised for wildlife.  A third will be exploited for food and a third will be given over to the functioning of as modern society including communication, power generation, urban development and industry. The two third not prioritised for nature will however still be environmental priorities.  

Environmental policy will also fit with immigration, ensuring that the movement of people fits with where people are needed, with the infrastructure they need provided.   

Just as the European Union has a macro-developmental perspective, so this country will need a wider perspective too.  The European Union is able to see that the financing of a bridge in Greece is in the interest of nationals as far away as the UK, because it will stimulate the commerce and growth needed to sustain the whole community.  Britain will need to join this perspective on the development of Europe as a functioning entity.

The Department for the Environment will work with Universities to attempt to find ways that natural diversity can be maintained and enhanced, involving as many people in the community as possible.  From an early age, responsibility for the environment will be engendered through education and practical service.  It will also be a part of pre-requisite training required of people wanting to settle in the UK.