Regular readers of the English Radical blog may recall a post made here recently (“ Clegg’s Green Mile”) highlighting the fact that the Lib-Dems were undertaking a taxpayer funded re-branding exercise in an attempt to reverse their well deserved pariah status which came with helping the Tories to power.

With this in mind, we cautiously welcome Nick Clegg’s apparent conversion to at least one aspect of English Radicalism, with his call for a Distributist “John Lewis” style economy, with greater employee participation, decision making and capital investment. This has been one of our core principles since we set up ERA in the summer of 2009, and is even written into our constitution.

We take a pragmatic view of this situation in ERA – when our website is full of good, practical policy ideas, it is perhaps asking too much of Oxbridge-educated politicians with no morals and no ideas of their own, not to steal ours. It's irksome when they steal our clothes off the washing line in this way, but we have the grim satisfaction of knowing that our ideas will reach a wider audience because of it, even if we do not get the credit for them.

As you've pinched one English Radical idea, Nick – why not have these other ones on us, and complete the set! Following the logic of encouraging greater worker participation and ownership in the businesses they help to run, why not allow corresponding voter participation and ownership in the political process? Just as a handful of supermarket chains dominate the retail sector to the detriment of smaller independent retailers, the centralised, all-powerful British government has even more of a monopoly in politics – so how about a change to devolved, localised decision making and tax raising powers?

How about allowing the EU inspired “Regions” of Britain to become a Confederation of equal partners along the lines of the German “Lander” system, who effectively control their national government, instead of the system we have of iron rule by Westminster? How about allowing binding public referendums over such issues as continued membership of the EU, the funding of £9 Billion of foreign aid every year, or our continuing involvement in Afghanistan? Most importantly, can we have a written constitution please, based on existing English Common Law, and not the awful Roman/Napoleonic laws of Europe?

So, Lords and Masters, we know you are still out there, lurking behind our shed, waiting to pilfer more underwear – but think on: it is one thing for a politician to call for fairer distribution of power and investment in the workplace, as it does not directly affect you, but unless you are willing to “walk the walk” and match these proposals with equal freedoms in the political arena, voters will see through your empty rhetoric. Steal our policies if you must, but you are opening Pandora’s laundry basket if you do – because once people get a taste of freedom again, they will want more.




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Mutual Benefit 03/13/2011
 
It's been an interesting week for economic news – those superstars of Distributism the John Lewis Partnership, a mutually owned retail group, has just announced that its 2010 profits rose 15% to £350 million, and its partners (employees) will share an increased bonus pot of £170 million - up from £151 million last year. This is a brilliant example of how successful the Distributist economic model can be: the company is well run but not owned by “fat cat” capitalists, so no bubbly for shareholders, all profit goes back into the business or is shared amongst the people who made the profits happen – the workforce!

In the same week, it was announced that taxpayer-subsidised Northern Rock bank would be paying out bonuses also - £13 million worth – despite making losses of £232 million! Guess whose pockets that came out of – yours! It took an idiot midwife of Gordon Brown's calibre to bring this unwanted baby into the world – fathered by greedy capitalist banks that go wrong with massive losses, and then mothered by the Labour government who decided socialism was the answer and lumbered taxpayers with the bill.

John Lewis is also raising £50 million through a retail bond issue aimed at customers. It has raised finance through bond markets before, but the "partnership" bond is the first time that it has let its customers invest. The bond will be available to 1.5 million cardholders and 70,000 staff, or "partners". The five-year fixed rate bond will be offered to qualifying individuals to invest a lump sum of between £1,000 and £10,000, in multiples of £1,000. It has a fixed annual return of 4.5% in cash with a further 2% paid in John Lewis Partnership gift vouchers. Once again this represents the fine practice of distributism. Where the British Government borrows money, John Lewis aims to issue bonds to raise capital for further growth. This even shows how we can reclaim the ‘family silver’ of the utilty companies, placing them back in the ownership of the people rather than fat cat directors.

The John Lewis partnership should not be looked at as an eccentric “one-off” business, but the model for all future business in England – businesses well run with pride by their partners, not taking a penny piece off the taxpayer, and not for sale to foreign corporations waving money under their noses. Doesn't all this make sense?

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