This blog article comments on the reactions to Marco Sefcovic's suggestion that the UK as part of the negotiations to improve relations between the UK and the EU should consider joining the pan European Mediterranean convention (PEM); . Sefcovic is the commissioner responsible for trade. The rest of the article looks at HMG's lukewarm response and looks to explain what the PEM is. For more, press the button ...
The last week has signified the death knell of NATO. The ninety minute phone call between Trump and Putin signifies the road to a 21st century Hitler Stalin pact. The Trump administration's proposals that the USA and Russia make peace in Ukraine without Ukraine being present at the table and mandating European NATO to provide peacekeeping forces are a return great power politics unrestrained by the rule of law. For more press the button ....
In the USA, checks and balances are written into the US constitution and are designed to ensure the power is shared and controlled by the rule of law. One weakness in the constitution and the founders’ desire to control power is the development of the executive presidency and the growth in size of the United States. In order to win a presidential election one needs to put together a very large coalition, and when one takes into account that there is only one president, and the winner takes all nature of American politics, the checks and balances seem more translucent than expected as illustrated by the behaviour of the Trump presidency. …
I was pointed at an article on Trump's negotiating style, ,and was advised, that, "Everybody I know should read this accurate and enlightening piece...". It is probably the best, most cogent and elegantly simple explanation into the inexplicably destructive negotiating processes of the President, by Prof. David Honig of Indiana University. Fore the original article, use the "Read More" button ...
I attended a conference organised by democracy international called building bridges. It was held in Berlin in the year of the 35th anniversary of the fall of the wall. Here are my belated notes, ...
I wrote a Linkedin an article called an AI prosecutor. In it I say,
The problem with modern software is much of it is inference, and completely unsuitable for “beyond reasonable doubt”. It’s also opaque and likely to fail the tests around if it returns popular vs accurate and authoritative results. It’s often wrong and arguably a bullshitter. The EU’s GDPR introduced the right to freedom from profiling, which means a freedom from being processed automatically by computers. This is an important barrier.
This is my first written declaration that that the GDPR’s “freedom from profiling” is a crucial defence of humanity against the machines.
My alarm about the consultation was probably unnecessary. …
A note on the US regulation of its domestic media and internationally. I say, "Despite the US claiming the strongest free press rights in the world, rights granted in the US constitution belong to its citizens alone and are only enforceable within the United States. The US’s historic regulation of foreign media, much of which remains in place today, includes the licencing of foreign journalists and the statutory requirements the significant media organisations are owned by U.S. citizens. In fact, U.S. politics confuses the freedom of the press, with the right to platform. For more press the button ...
I wrote a piece of Mike Phipps, Labour Hub, called, Labour in crisis must change direction, published on 30 Dec. It was a comment on the More in Common poll run on behalf of the Times, reporting that if there were an election tomorrow, Labour would lose 200 seats including those of Angela Rayner, Yvette Cooper and Wes Streeting. The Independent reports that they would be joined by Ed Miliband, John Healey and Bridgit Phillipson.
The rest of this blog shows a chart as to how the Commons would look, highlights the false start, identifies real earnings as the true indicator of economic policy success, looks at the example of Germany, and the threat of Reform UK. I conclude, "The big problem Labour faces is it designed its manifesto to win the election, not run the country. It’s still triangulating and refuses to recognise that triangulation reinforces & legitimises the politics of their opponents. This is particularly so on the issue of immigration and racism." Some are suggesting that a change of leader is needed, what’s needed is a change of direction that genuinely puts the country first. It remains, “the economy stupid”, but the economy is real wages/incomes." For more use the Read More button ...
The “planet mingle” which drove my IO page, broke in Sept 23, and I have hidden the two pages hosting the public mingles that I had previously published. My bookmarks can now be viewed at “my diigo page” or directly at diigo.com – davelevy or as RSS. Other feeds and publications are documented at my linktr.ee page. …
One step forward, two steps back, or maybe not, for the EU. Iceland votes to consider joining, Turkey asks to revise its agreements to increase links, and demonstrators continue to protest in Georgia about the stolen election and the postponement of EU accession talks, and last month Moldova voted to change its constitution to permit accession talks to begin. Yet in the UK, the pall of stupidity and fear still envelopes the Labour Government. …