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The Money of Corporations
Written by SuenMike Sunday, 17 January 2010 09:24
Mike and I recently heard about the US Supreme Court decision to give companies the right to give political candidates unlimited funds. We understand that the main argument fuelling the opinion was that it would be unfair to corporations not to give them the right to support their candidates.
It’s very strange that a society that celebrates the individual and feels so strongly about individual rights is now promoting the collective entity called a corporation. It reminds me of my Ayn Rand days, although Rand was much more concerned about government power. Ayn Rand would not have stood for the bank bail-outs, as it isn’t pure capitalism. In a pure capitalist society, corporations would live by their wits and not by pity or blackmail.
I think Rand would be equally as disgusted with this recent decision. In her world, individuals reigned supreme: it is the individual who is the pinnacle player in society, not a collective. It is the individual who is the building block of society, not a collective. Some people saw this as mean-spirited or selfish but I always saw it as a celebration of human beings. The human spirit expresses itself in individual bodies; respecting ownership and property is an important element in the human scheme of things. Laws have been put in place so that these ideas are enforced, punishments created for perpetrators who disrespect others’ property, etc.
But laws can also be created not to enforce individual rights but collective ones – and this is the worrisome bit. By welcoming corporations into the political landscape, the concept of the individual and the concept of “corporate interests” will naturally fight it out. It’s like George Bailey versus Mr Potter. And you don’t have to watch “It’s a Wonderful Life” too many times to see how corporate money works in the human drama.
Add a commentWhen Good Allotments Go Bad
Last Updated (Sunday, 17 January 2010 09:32) Written by SuenMike Sunday, 17 January 2010 00:00
Allotments have a wonderful reputation in the UK. If you look at Kitchen Garden magazine or most of the press that allotments get, it’s like going back in time with the perfect picture of the nuclear family with 2.5 kids and a white picket fence around the house. All very perfect.
Most of it is well-deserved. Allotments usually are wonderful, and people work very hard to be neighbourly and good-natured. But let’s not forget that allotments are places where human dramas may unfold and things can get pretty nasty.
Allotments are small communities and communities are filled with human beings. Humans can be difficult at times. It doesn’t take a lot of people to start a gang and, in a small community, even a small gang can be very disruptive. People go to their allotments to plant a potato in the ground and naturally avoid getting involved in anything political. Allotments are supposed to be relaxing, a family, even. It’s hard to get involved even when there is obvious conflict.
Denial is also common. Not to see pain and suffering of other people is a strategy intended to maintain one’s innocence. The usual path is for the allotmenteer not to get involved with any conflict until it gets personal. Until one’s self is the victim.
And so one waits until the problem gets so big that there are enough people to be concerned. This may take a couple of years, and by this time, quite a bit of damage has been done to the good nature of the allotment or to the financial status of the organisation and a host of other problems. When people start hiring lawyers – that’s a sure sign that an allotment is going tits up.
Private allotments are particularly vulnerable to this, obviously. With a council-owned allotment, one can start ringing councillors, but with a private allotment, you have to rely on your wits. Hopefully one of your allotmenteers is a lawyer, or pretty comfortable with the law. Perhaps you can persuade a friend to give you free legal advice. Because there is no one to call; not even Ghostbusters.
By the time an extraordinary general meeting is called, everyone is foaming at the mouth and going loony-tunes. Many, many hoops have been leapt through by this time and people are sick about talking about the problem and yet, the final bell has not been heard. The problem is still there, like a noose hanging from a tree. It would be much easier to put the noose around one’s neck and leave the place, and yet one stays. Because you can’t just leave your plot, because you’ve come this far, because giving up would mean giving in. Because allotments are just one more place in the human scheme of things where one learns bravery, tenacity, the will to fight, the ability to carry on, despite it all.
Add a commentThe Greying of the Year
Last Updated (Sunday, 17 January 2010 09:32) Written by SuenMike Thursday, 17 December 2009 00:00
Eleven/eleven. A rainy day, today. And we are looking at the final days of gardening for the year.
We have a few more maintenance jobs to do; a couple of roses, raspberry and hellebore plants to put in. On our own allotments, some garlic bulbs. I also have plans to sort out a raspberry bed, but no pressure, I keep telling myself.
So amidst a greying backdrop, what does a gardener turn to to keep her/his spirits up? What else except to lose oneself in the glossy plant catalogues slipping through the front door!?!
Oh the seeds we’ll buy! The Thompson and Morgan catalogue reminds me of the Sears Roebuck Christmas catalogue I used to pour over as a kid. So many different new varieties. I'm also salivating over the plants on offer through Mr Fothergill’s and Sutton’s Seeds. It’s hard to sow seeds knowing that you can cheat and buy mini-plants, but I think you never really get to know a plant until you start it from seed.
I’m looking forward to buying the “Supaseeds” from Sutton’s. These are actually begonia seeds which I actually ordered last year but scoffed at them, after receiving a small plastic test-tube with dust in it. I later learnt that the dust was the actual seeds! Who’da thunk it? The Supaseed is a new way of coating the begonia seed so it can be seen by the human eye and handled by mere mortals.
As an allotment holder, I’m receiving a 40% off from T&M seeds so I am going wild. I’ve already put about 20 seeds down on order sheet, including lavender. I’ll include the full list when I’ve received them all.
Well, Flog It! is on. One can’t sit still when high-quality telly is on. Gotta go!
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