You're correct that any talk of an industrial strategy is pointless with our current combo of high energy prices and Deliveroo Britain. But my only question would be how do we get lower energy prices (in a reasonable time frame) without large state intervention? Its a question I am stuck with :3
Germany appears to have quite a productive smaller scale manufacturing capacity. One thing I understand they require is that all boards of a particular size have to have one employee representative and that this dissuades a Dyson-style move of moving production overseas. I also saw a chart recently (Twitter) on comparative numbers of robotic production levels by country. China - with relatively cheap labour costs anyway was miles ahead. The UK barely featured. This is also something that could benefit our productivity. Finally, I'd be interested in how Russia under heavy sanctions managed to massively increase its productive capacity and whether the chosen areas are producing very inferior products when considered on the global stage.
Lind might be right, although granted for the wrong reasons. The smart way to tackle wokeism is to use a non obvious way. A way that cannot be resisted because it does not directly confront. Direct confrontation is what the wokeists thrive on - it's playing their game. Have a think about this instead:
I posit that there is a strong correlation between extended low interest rate environments and loose/weak thinking (see also Japan for an example in a non Judeo Christian society). Many poorly conceived ideas get given life when money is cheap. Raising rates to where they should be (probably 6-8%) - an leaving them there for 5 - 10 years, would result huge amounts of malinvestment going bust.
How doe this relate to Wokeism? I say it's one of these poor ideas that has received investment because of cheap money. How? One huge sink of malinvestment is our university system - which also happens to be the the pipeline / source of pretty much all our woke friends. Watch as the whole university system implodes - and then suddenly we have a clean sheet and green fields on which to build new institutions.
Only once the woke tap has been turned off at source - the universities - is it worth doing the other more 'confronting' things like repealing legislation (quietly and without announcment) etc. Otherwise you are simply bailing out a leaking boat with a spoon. Cut off the head.
But then what about the economic chaos and loss of jobs I hear you cry! Well that's what an industrial strategy is for isn't it?
We would need both so called 'Keysian" and "monetarist" measures to get out of this mess. That's the beauty of the problem we are being posed - we have to start treating ideas like tools to be used as appropriate to each circumstance - instead of as identities we cling to.
Is what you're saying here that being pro-contraception, pro-gay marriage and pro-abortion are woke positions?
I see Wokeism as something much more recent, and those questions as settled in the UK. Questions of hormones for children, trans women in sports, that sort of thing are open questions. But being publicly against gay marriage or contraception in 2024 is going to do harm to any of your other causes.
Interesting! I'd love to respond in more detail, but I don't find it very persuasive.
I think you're using sort of pseudo-religious reasoning, even though you claim not to be religious.
What does it mean to say "the civilizational purpose of marriage is towards reproduction; not exclusively, but it is the reason why the institution exists."? If there's no religious beliefs being snuck in, then I can't make any sense of the idea of a civilisational purpose.
If you're not religious, then aren't we just monkeys on a rock in space, acting in accordance with evolutionary instincts? If one day some monkeys came up with marriage, and later some other monkeys came up with homosexual marriage, in what sense is the former in accordance with our civilisational purpose, but the latter isn't? How do you determine things that are correct or incorrect, without a God to decide our purpose?
If your appeal is just to time (marriage was exclusively heterosexual for a long time, so that must be right) then I'd put to you the many, many practices that existed for a long time but are now widely considered barbaric - like slavery, or human sacrifice.
That's an aside, though. The main thing I want to say is in response to your last point - "I don't care how popular it is; it must go".
I would say in return "I don't care how important you think it is - that question is settled". Get used to living in a world that didn't develop in the direction you wanted it to. Because that development has already happened. Very few people, anywhere in the Western world, want to re-open that battle.
"People like you are false allies, and to be honest, I hope you are made to feel as uncomfortable and as unwelcome as possible so you get out, and return to your natural home; the Woke left" - this is a pretty strong reaction to what I said, and you've offered nothing in response to the substance of what I said.
It seems like you've projected onto me, someone you know almost nothing about, a bunch of beliefs and motives that you don't like. But without understanding what those beliefs are, it's hard to disagree.
The motives are easier, though. You claim I'm trying to demoralise you, you think I'm trying to humiliate you, you think I'm trying to perform social signalling - but I have no idea who you are, and we're on a thread with ten total comments (eleven now), of which you and I have contributed seven. This isn't battle for the heart of the country, there is no crowd to signal to, and I have absolutely no motive to humiliate or demoralise you.
strong agree / great read.
You're correct that any talk of an industrial strategy is pointless with our current combo of high energy prices and Deliveroo Britain. But my only question would be how do we get lower energy prices (in a reasonable time frame) without large state intervention? Its a question I am stuck with :3
There’s no short-term fix: we in Europe have completely screwed things up. Certainly, it will require a high level of state intervention to solve.
Germany appears to have quite a productive smaller scale manufacturing capacity. One thing I understand they require is that all boards of a particular size have to have one employee representative and that this dissuades a Dyson-style move of moving production overseas. I also saw a chart recently (Twitter) on comparative numbers of robotic production levels by country. China - with relatively cheap labour costs anyway was miles ahead. The UK barely featured. This is also something that could benefit our productivity. Finally, I'd be interested in how Russia under heavy sanctions managed to massively increase its productive capacity and whether the chosen areas are producing very inferior products when considered on the global stage.
Lind might be right, although granted for the wrong reasons. The smart way to tackle wokeism is to use a non obvious way. A way that cannot be resisted because it does not directly confront. Direct confrontation is what the wokeists thrive on - it's playing their game. Have a think about this instead:
I posit that there is a strong correlation between extended low interest rate environments and loose/weak thinking (see also Japan for an example in a non Judeo Christian society). Many poorly conceived ideas get given life when money is cheap. Raising rates to where they should be (probably 6-8%) - an leaving them there for 5 - 10 years, would result huge amounts of malinvestment going bust.
How doe this relate to Wokeism? I say it's one of these poor ideas that has received investment because of cheap money. How? One huge sink of malinvestment is our university system - which also happens to be the the pipeline / source of pretty much all our woke friends. Watch as the whole university system implodes - and then suddenly we have a clean sheet and green fields on which to build new institutions.
Only once the woke tap has been turned off at source - the universities - is it worth doing the other more 'confronting' things like repealing legislation (quietly and without announcment) etc. Otherwise you are simply bailing out a leaking boat with a spoon. Cut off the head.
But then what about the economic chaos and loss of jobs I hear you cry! Well that's what an industrial strategy is for isn't it?
We would need both so called 'Keysian" and "monetarist" measures to get out of this mess. That's the beauty of the problem we are being posed - we have to start treating ideas like tools to be used as appropriate to each circumstance - instead of as identities we cling to.
Is what you're saying here that being pro-contraception, pro-gay marriage and pro-abortion are woke positions?
I see Wokeism as something much more recent, and those questions as settled in the UK. Questions of hormones for children, trans women in sports, that sort of thing are open questions. But being publicly against gay marriage or contraception in 2024 is going to do harm to any of your other causes.
Interesting! I'd love to respond in more detail, but I don't find it very persuasive.
I think you're using sort of pseudo-religious reasoning, even though you claim not to be religious.
What does it mean to say "the civilizational purpose of marriage is towards reproduction; not exclusively, but it is the reason why the institution exists."? If there's no religious beliefs being snuck in, then I can't make any sense of the idea of a civilisational purpose.
If you're not religious, then aren't we just monkeys on a rock in space, acting in accordance with evolutionary instincts? If one day some monkeys came up with marriage, and later some other monkeys came up with homosexual marriage, in what sense is the former in accordance with our civilisational purpose, but the latter isn't? How do you determine things that are correct or incorrect, without a God to decide our purpose?
If your appeal is just to time (marriage was exclusively heterosexual for a long time, so that must be right) then I'd put to you the many, many practices that existed for a long time but are now widely considered barbaric - like slavery, or human sacrifice.
That's an aside, though. The main thing I want to say is in response to your last point - "I don't care how popular it is; it must go".
I would say in return "I don't care how important you think it is - that question is settled". Get used to living in a world that didn't develop in the direction you wanted it to. Because that development has already happened. Very few people, anywhere in the Western world, want to re-open that battle.
"People like you are false allies, and to be honest, I hope you are made to feel as uncomfortable and as unwelcome as possible so you get out, and return to your natural home; the Woke left" - this is a pretty strong reaction to what I said, and you've offered nothing in response to the substance of what I said.
It seems like you've projected onto me, someone you know almost nothing about, a bunch of beliefs and motives that you don't like. But without understanding what those beliefs are, it's hard to disagree.
The motives are easier, though. You claim I'm trying to demoralise you, you think I'm trying to humiliate you, you think I'm trying to perform social signalling - but I have no idea who you are, and we're on a thread with ten total comments (eleven now), of which you and I have contributed seven. This isn't battle for the heart of the country, there is no crowd to signal to, and I have absolutely no motive to humiliate or demoralise you.