Foreword – the political consensus needs challenging
Michael Giles, editor of ' One Nation, One World '
Over the economy the governing coalition and Labour opposition seek to stress their differences, with the Tories and Liberal Democrats focusing on austerity to reduce the budget deficit, while Labour emphasise the importance of growth in rebuilding the economy and creating jobs.
Yet with many other policies, there is widespread political consensus, regardless of its validity in the face of tangible evidence to the contrary.
We know, for example, that the number of prisoners reoffending is far too high, yet often prisons and the justice system can be a contributing factor towards this. Many of us are aware of the dangers of drug misuse, yet we have a system which actually advances the harms to users. There is consensus on the need to change the House of Lords, yet no agreement on what this should look like. Council tax is often considered unfair and expensive, yet no suitable alternative has been found and implemented.
These are the types of issues being considered in ' One Nation, One World ', the first pamphlet from revolutionise. it which was trailed on the excellent Speaker ' s Chair website during April and May this year up until launch day.
Wednesday 8 May marks the Tory-led Government ' s fourth Queens Speech since taking office in 2010. So far their programme has been tainted with u-turns, poor communication and most significantly, unfair and divisive policies.
Meanwhile, Labour has an ongoing review, led by Jon Cruddas MP, which is analysing a range of policy areas, with the final phase expected by party conference 2014.
The hope is that this pamphlet can feed into this political agenda, and bring forward some ideas which can be a part of the ' One Nation ' agenda, while remaining outward-looking to the rest of the world. revolutionise. it 3