I've seen and heard many comments over the past few weeks in support of our government, and berating those that hold them to account. Comments such as:
"The government can't do right for wrong"
"The media should just let them get on with their job"
"This kind of crisis is unprecedented, there's no textbook"
"They are just doing their best"
Well, their best simply isn't good enough given the fact, that as one of the richest countries in the world, we are also worst affected. You only have to look at similar developed economies such as Germany,...
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has” I’ve been reflecting on this famous though underrated quote from anthropologist Margaret Mead in regard to recent events, including the General Election. One of the weaknesses in our embryonic democracy is that we seek to elect people to represent us but often let them get on with it until we are called to express our choices at the next round of voting. Most of us do not seem to engage with politicians for much of the time and effectively do not take our own...
After observing the unedifying General Election campaign nationally and being involved in several local Hustings, I have to honestly say I am feeling very uninspired and pretty low about the overall state of English politics. In my view, we face an unprecedented global ecological challenge and a menacing destabilisation of democracy. Together these two call for an intense campaign to de-carbonise as soon as possible on the one hand, and a profound and radical overhaul of our political and economic systems and structures on the other. This means we need to set out detailed programmes to...
Join artists Nicci Wonnacott & Catherine Cartwright for a FREE arts workshop, ‘My Fe-manifesto!’, inspired by the issues raised in Dreadnought South West's new play, The Orchard.
As we approach the general election, Dreadnought South West Association is going on the road with a new play - 'The Orchard'.
Part of the Rebellious Sounds project, which is looking at stories around women's activism across the South West, 'The Orchard' imagines a meeting between Millicent Fawcett and Emmeline Pankhurst, the moderate and the radical, and explores what happens when opposing political forces come together.
Dreadnought will host a series of unique ‘scratch’ performances of 'The Orchard' across the region. These scratch...
We seem to pride ourselves on our democracy – that we have occasional opportunities to influence the choice of our leaders, yet we are surely a long way from Abraham Lincoln’s definition of “government of the people, by the people, for the people.” At best we live in a representative democracy whereby we elect politicians at different levels and lend them our permission or power for a few years to represent our concerns at centres of governance, whether Town Hall, Whitehall or Strasbourg. But this is a limited political process and does not open itself readily to the more participative...
In a democratic society any government should be judged by both how it has deepened and enhanced democracy, and by the quality of life it leaves for future generations. On these two criteria our recent politicians do not have much to be proud of. In my view, they have been short-sighted, especially (though not exclusively) by the way they have failed to recognise and act urgently to address climate change, and by the way our (albeit immature) democratic processes have been eroded.
More and more powers have been removed from the English regions and from local authorities, at a time...
