Kester Brewin

Election Thoughts [1] | Election Thoughts [2] In the previous two posts I’ve tried to set out a critique of the choice agenda that main parties are promoting, and also the ‘rights’ / devolved power agenda that is a central tenet of the Conservative Party manifesto. The key question that was rightly asked yesterday was [...]

In the previous post, I argued that the ‘choice’ agenda that all parties are keen to promote is actually something of a fallacy. Genuine choice of political representation in the kind of democracy we have is pretty much an illusion, and choice in delivery of services like health and education would actually require surplus capacity, [...]

One of the most-commonly words used in this election season is ‘choice.’ The whole of the democratic system relies on people having a genuine choice for who they vote for, but beyond that, the various parties – and the Conservative party in particular – are keen to promote a ‘choice’ agenda in their manifestos too [...]

I’m still very much enjoying Jaron Lanier’s You Are Not A Gadget manifesto and have been especially struck by his thesis that the philosophy of computationalism – the theory that everything can be coded – is actually flawed. A totally pixelated and bit-rated world would be a lesser world… but that doesn’t make this video [...]

So the General Election that we all knew was coming is finally out in the open. How should you vote? How should we decide how to vote? I think that there is a single issue that we should all be asking our prospective representatives about: income equality. If you get a chance to speak to [...]

I am both robbers right and left accusing and scheming pitying and arrogant, wanting him to save me, wondering why he didn’t save himself, empathising with the pain, mocking, frightened, pleading guilty, condemned, argumentative an innocent man somewhere lost in the middle of all this; dark days to follow, brighter days promised: ‘remember me’ all [...]