I Also Wish...

"You're full of opinions, but with none of the solutions!"

It's probably been said many times, by many people, often at a particularly 'telling' point in a heated discussion or an argument. It's the sort of statement many of us wish we'd used, instead of the perhaps shouted jumble of expletives that unfortunately burst forth during our last strong disagreement. The aforementioned statement was used again, just the other day, by someone who I deeply admire, aimed forcefully at someone who I really don't. What's more, the comment hit the target, sent the bugger reeling, it did! But, I digress. Like I've already made clear, I wish I'd said it.

I often think that it's the sort of comment that might be levelled at many of my posts. A significant number of them are, after all, far more opinion than solution, the 'directionless' rantings of an angry soul! In my defence, many of my critiques are more than justified, the sentiments are indeed shared by many others, and are far beyond urgent in terms of needing to be addressed. I would also be prepared to concede that many of the issues about which I write may appear to have no obvious 'complete' solution. Some of them 'appear' to have no apparent solution whatsoever... or perhaps it would be fairer to write that stacked up against the clearer solutions are forces so damned powerful as to send shivers down the spine. David Kelly might have elaborated, were he not otherwise... dead! 

In order to even voice a counter-opinion to some of these issues we are first required to brave a vast acreage of thin ice. Vested interests will have us entirely and very much the wrong side of the glassy sheet before we have even drawn breath, starved of oxygen as it were. Remembrance Day and Children in Need are two such verboten issues. So steeped in partial mythology are they now that we are likely to be plunged into the waters before we have even placed both feet tentatively upon the ice.

So, here's another opinion (without a solution?). It was prompted by one Bono, having just emerged from his chauffeured lift, to the recording of another Band Aid song, thirty years on from the first. Upon exiting the vehicle Bono shared his wisdoms with the world. Thanks Bono!

The rock 'giant' was asked, "How do you feel about taking part in this today, of course, thirty years after you did the original Band Aid single?" And the self-important, tax-avoiding deity plastered on a thin veneer of 'sincerity,' before replying, "As I say, I wish we didn't have to do this, and there will come a time when we won't... " Unpalatable on oh-so-many levels!

It's at this point that the chastisement, "You're full of opinions, but with none of the solutions!" might be levelled. Undoubtedly the single will raise piles of money, some of which will undoubtedly find its way to its intended and deserving recipients, those tens of thousands of African Ebola victims. Certainly their situation will be better- some of their positions- with, rather than without another Band Aid single. This much, I do not doubt. Our 'uber-benign' government have even agreed to waive VAT, currently standing at 20%, on sales of the single... but ultimately this effort is entirely akin to Henry VIII having an oh-so-brief flirtation with salving his conscience, before he reverts entirely to type and snatches it all back with interest!

Sounds like the vast sweeping statement of someone, "full of opinions, but with none of the solutions!" And it sort of is, but only sort of, especially when you consider the interconnectedness of the wider global situation.

You see, the problem that I have with this state of affairs concerns a wider and far more real world, wider than the 'convenient' planet that Sir Bob et al like to pretend to themselves that they have opted into. Please permit me to contextualise; I'll be referencing two news items in order so to do.

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The first of these concerns modern-day slavery, as recently discussed on the BBC. It's another important and topical issue that absolutely demands airtime. In the UK alone, there was a 47% increase in known cases, from 2012 to 2013. 1,746 cases reported within UK borders! The global problem is absolutely immense, currently standing at almost 30 million slaves! Consider also, that slavery is, by necessity, an underground issue, thus the true scale is completely unknown!

The second news item (barely) concerns the four Russian war ships that were recently stationed off the Australian coast, but solely as a point of access. I have specifically chosen to pluck a single figure from the adjacent G20 Summit, near where the aforementioned war ships were 'anchored,' that of a '2.1% pledge of growth' amongst the 'represented nations.'

So, to meld the two points: in an increasingly international marketplace, upon a finite planet, the G20 leaders have pledged to grow their respective economies by 2.1%, thus- although this is, of course, left unstated- committing their respective workforces to competing, ever more robustly, upon an international stage. The workforces are therefore also committed to salary competition with countries where modern-day slavery is even more prevalent and is almost routinely used as a tool of the wealthy-but-morally-bankrupt.

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In the UK slavery is currently (and officially) frowned upon, but the zero-hours culture is established and thriving in the workplace, as is the stubborn refusal of huge multinationals like Amazon, to pay their workforce a living wage. And so the interconnectedness of all things looms, hopefully, into view! A wealthy-nations-dominated world, where downward pressure upon wages will indirectly bring about a proliferation of legally and morally questionable practices in the UK workplace...

... In a world where, interconnectedly, the gluttonous wealth of certain individuals directly affects the lack-thereof of millions of 'lesser' individuals, operating further down the ladder. Thus, 'boss chooses to take home 20% more' equates entirely to workers being expected to absorb this, either as a reduction in pay or as an increase in 'efficiency' for which they will be reaping no reward.

And if the market elects to create more money to compensate for such gluttony we will need to factor in the consequent impact upon the value of this money; create too much and we might conceivably be saddled with hyper-inflation. So Messrs Bono and Geldof, the fact that you have chosen to cut such a fat slice of the cake for yourselves will have a direct impact upon the slices that others may receive. It would of course be, at best naive, in Sir Bob's and Bono's case, disingenuous to attempt to deny the interconnectedness of relative wealth and relative health.

Very much part of the problem for 364 days, and yet but a very small part of the solution for merely part of a single day. Factor in that reluctance to accept taxation as one's fellow citizens do and the skewing is amplified. Sir Bob's response to this? "It's a load of bollocks!" always the refuge of the 'moral high'-grounders.

Here I am, full of opinions but with, perhaps, more than a hint at a viable solution?