Archive for Notices and Announcements

Policy on the High School at Garth Olwg Community Campus

10 April 2012 jonathanbishop No comments

I have written on this issue in the past, on how I think it would be a good choice for the free school model introduced into Wales in order that the Welsh medium high school at the Garth Olwg Community Campus have the right to name itself. This policy may not happen in Wales, but I encourage the Head Teacher to examine whether it is possible for the school to opt-out of LEA control so it can officially change its name and decide its status as a sixth form.

What’s in a name?

I do however have a policy that could be implemented tomorrow. When I graduated with pride from Aberystwyth University in 2011 I had the choice over whether I had ‘University of Wales’ on my certificate or ‘Aberystwyth University’. I chose the latter.

I would like the pupils at this Welsh medium high school to have the same choice. This can be done through the school ‘reactivating’ the Ysgol Uwchradd Gymraeg oedd Ysgol Gyfun Rhydfelen ‘centre number’ and then when pupils take their exams they would write onto the examination paper the centre number for the school name they want on the certificate. This could be:

  • Ysgol Gyfun Rhydfelen
  • Ysgol Gyfun Garth Olwg

On my degree at Aberystwyth University I found that one value that united generations was choice. And I want the people attending the Welsh medium school at Garth Olwg Community Campus to have the same choice I did when I graduated from one of Wales’ oldest universities, regarded as highly as Ysgol Gyfun Rhydfelen was and could become again if my police is adopted.

Self -determination over sixth form status

If the Welsh Medium High School at Garth Olwg were to opt-out of LEA control, assuming that is possible in Wales like it is in England where New Labour gave people more choice, then it could decide its own status as a sixth form. When I was 14 I wanted to leave school and go to college – I had to wait until I was 16 to go to university. Even so, I think it should be students’ and parents’ choice where they study and that choice should be supported.

This is why I want to convince the local authority to adopt a ‘voucher’ policy. Anyone entitled to education in RCT would be sent a voucher in the post each academic year which they could take to any school or college in the borough to receive education tailored to them. That would mean those who enjoy the community of the Welsh Medium High School at Garth Olwg Community Campus would be able to be there between 11 and 18, and maybe beyond with the life long learning centre, if this is expanded.

Auto-Wiki, Election 2012, Notices and Announcements, Policies and Consultations

My belief and value system

26 February 2012 jonathanbishop No comments

My values, which I have derived through an empirical factor-analysis, are what I use to guide my choice of beliefs at any point in time. These are-

  • Equality in Opportunity
  • Equality in Understanding
  • Equality in Relevance
  • Freedom of Aspiration
  • Freedom of Choice
  • Freedom of Expression

In interacting with the world, one’s values will guide the way one responds to the beliefs expressed by others and considered by oneself. If one tries to assert both one’s values and associated beliefs onto others I call this morality, which has no place in a democracy. If however one tries to convince others of one’s beliefs while respecting their own values then this is what democracies are all about.

Take a look at some of the competing belief systems I wrestle with in trying to find the perfect ‘truth’.

The Literary belief set

My literary belief set are those beliefs I have developed from reading literature or examining other media texts from which I have constructed a social reality. The following are types of Literary belief:

  • Religious beliefs. There are those things I think Biblical texts say, those things I think people of certain faiths believe, and there are those which I think support my values and should form part of my religious identity.
  • Cultural beliefs. There are those that I think established media texts say, those that I think people of different protected characteristics generally hold, and there are those that I think reflect the way I see myself through my values and should therefore become part of my individual cultural identity.

The Experiential belief set

My experiential belief set are those beliefs I have developed through interacting with the world and the people in it, reflection on these, and verification of them with other sources such as research papers and philosophical books and texts. My experiential beliefs include:

  • Scientific beliefs. There are those that I think established scientific texts and my own empirical and theoretical evidence says, those I think people of different scientific philosophies believe, and there are those which I think can help realise my values when used in a particular way.
  • Political beliefs. There are those that I think established political texts say, those I think people of different political positions believe, and there are those which I think support my values and form part of my political identity.
  • Personal beliefs. There are those that I think my mind and body want be to believe, those that I think those in society would prefer me to believe, and there are those that I believe that support my values, which I need to train my mind and body to believe  – one could call this my ‘soul’.

The role of my website

  • My weblog and blog aim to reconcile my personal beliefs with all the others.
  • My letters and op-eds aim to create debate in the public sphere around these discussions
  • My notice board and policies aim to present my best reconciliation that supports my values and beliefs while recognising and allowing others as well.
  • My publications aim to present a theoretical grounding of my understanding of the world, and evidence to inform the development of my ever changing and developing set of beliefs.
An lonely on-looker's diary - The world through the eyes of an Aspie, Auto-Wiki, Faith & Religion: Mixed - Anglican Solomonite and Gnostic Scientist, Notices and Announcements, Rules and Procedures

Policy on Media Ratings and Vulnerable Person Protection

4 February 2012 jonathanbishop No comments

I have expressed various concerns in the past on the nature of televisual material, such as music videos, with a lot of sexualised content. Being a man over the age of majority this is quite appealing to me, but as a supporter of the NSPCC I am concerned about the sexualisation of childhood. Also, as an egalitarian, believing in treating people as individuals and not based on arbitory criteria which may not apply to them, I have now pretty much finalised my policy on media ratings and the protection of children and other vulnerable persons.

A standardised media rating system

Instead of age-based ratings there would be the following, regardless of media type (e.g. DVD/website/TV-channel):

  • Universal – All exempt media and those currently suitable for all ages
  • Parental Advisory – All media currently rated PG and 12-15. Parental in this context could refer to a legal guardian in the case of vulnerable adults.
  • Explicit – All media currently rated 18 or X-Rated.

A national media rating authority

The Video Recording Act is administered by the British Board of Film Classification. I would like their remit to be extended to all media, from advertising to music videos, from video games to websites (and other hypermedia systems).

In terms of video and advertising they should have to rate them in advance, and this would be the case for software and video games to that fall within the definition of the VRA as needed to be pre-authorised. In terms of websites and other more immediate consumer-generated media sources, the BBFC would only rate following a complaint. This could be referred to them by the Advertising Authority for instance. In other cases, standard anti-virus software could runs scripts that rate the content and block any content as appropriate based on the parental control settings.

Enforceability

Each media outlet would be responsible in the short term for setting its own policy to determine who they deem as appropriate to view the specific media. This could be based on age-discrimination in the short term. They would be legally responsible for any psychiatric injury.

In the future, media outlets would have to use pre-screening technology where they could “reasonably foresee” that a particular person would not be suitable for a particular rating. Such as a child for an Explicit movie. This person would then have to watch a short video clip and then depending on how much this distresses them, measured by emotion recognition technology, then that would determine which media rating they are suitable to.

In terms of home-based media, parents/guardians would be responsible for maintaining the parental controls. It would be their choice about whether they let their children or vulnerable dependent see explicit content or not, but the child protection authorities could intervene if they thought this was having an adverse affect on the welling being of the vulnerable person.

Any media outlet that did not put proper protection in place, including websites like chatrooms/messageboards, would be criminally liable. Such offences could including making sexualised or violent context available to vulnerable persons without their parent/guardians consent. This may include sexual jokes one would not want one’s children to see, but others do not show discretion in relaying.

Auto-Wiki, Notices and Announcements, Policies and Consultations

My position on ‘Christmas’

24 December 2011 jonathanbishop 20 comments

I have declared my religion as Solomonite Scientist. This means I regard King Solomon to be the Messiah – the anointed one of God. I therefore regard Jesus (who I will still call Christ) and Mohammed to be equal prophets of God, as they are descendants of King Solomon.

As a Scientific Solomonite, unlike say an Anglican Solomonite, I will not be willing to recognise any particular day in the year as being Christ’s actual birthday without strong proof.

On this basis I will not be celebrating Christmas for religious purposes. I will only celebrate in when in the presence of children, for who I think the fantasy of Christmas should be an important part of the innocence of childhood. Therefore I will only be sending Christmas Cards and Presents to children, such as my nieces and nephews, and my own children eventually.

Any presents I’m given for Christmas when I’m not in the company of children I will open on New Years’ day, which is more significant to me. I tend to keep all my New Year resolutions, and as the person I judge myself against and compete is myself in the previous year(s). For example, 2008 was a rubbish year compared to 2007, as in 2007 I became an LLM and Chartered IT Professional and other than gaining public office, nothing much happened in 2008. 2010 was a good year, I got my first paper on law, and I became a Fellow of BCS. 2011 was reasonable, getting my MScEcon from Aberystwyth. I hope 2012 will be even better, where I aim to complete a doctorate, become a Chartered Scientist and gain Chartership of CILIP, among others.

I don’t mind people sending me Christmas Cards and Presents or saying ‘Happy Christmas’ or any translation into their own language – I’m not too keen on ‘Merry Christmas’, because Solomon was a King and should therefore not have drank because he could lose track of his responsibilities and obligations.  I will however respond to these cards with New Year Cards, and open the presents on New Years’ Eve, so they can be used in the New Year. Anyone I buy presents for that isn’t a child will receive their present in the New Year.

An lonely on-looker's diary - The world through the eyes of an Aspie, Auto-Wiki, Faith & Religion: Mixed - Anglican Solomonite and Gnostic Scientist, Notices and Announcements

Policy on tax and welfare

11 December 2011 jonathanbishop No comments

I think the market has a lot of virtues. For instance, competition drives up innovation and improves standards in customer service. But one thing is certain about the market, and that is, without intervention from the government it will fail to provide for everyone’s needs on the basis of equality opportunity. I therefore think that in order to have an equitable Adam Smith like market we need a Keynesian like tax system, but not just with macroeconomic intervention in the form of business and income taxes, but microeconomic as well, in the form of vouchers funded out of taxation for instance.

Ask any economist and they will agree that they will never agree on tax policy. So therefore as the market changes so will my ideas of what needs to be done with tax, but I will set out the basic premises of my tax ideas:

  • All people, whether rich or poor, will seek to maximise income and minimise tax burden;
  • The rich will be more effective at this through tax avoidance of direct taxes like income tax
  • In order that the poor do not face a disproportionate tax burden, then indirect taxes like VAT, Fuel tax and pensions tax should be used to make the rich pay their fair share of tax so it can be redistributed to the poor. Indirect taxes like VAT if made variable could also be used for fiscal management, such as to control supply/demand/inflation.
  • Progressive income tax and means-tested benefits discourage their poor from earning more as the risk of going from benefits to work and that work not working out so losing entitlement is often too high. Therefore health and education should be free at the point of ‘special need’, so when it is needed it is free and tailored to a person’s specific needs. This can be achieved through vouchers and greater access to medical records between health and education providers for instance.
  • Welfare benefits should be a safety-net not an alternative to work. They should take the form of loans (e.g. like student loans) and income tax should be levied on them at a higher rate than when it work, which should be used to pay the loan off when on welfare benefits.
  • Behaviour tax arrangements, like green taxes, speeding fines, alcohol/cigarette taxes should be more about encouraging responsible behaviour than raising revenue. So anything that ‘entraps’ tax payers into paying the tax should be outlawed, such as speed cameras put in places where people will naturally have difficulty slowing down or speeding up.
  • Employers take big risks taking on unskilled workers which many welfare claimants are. They should therefore be offered wage subsides to mitigate this risk. There should also be less obligations such as a tax free period for taking on long-term unemployed.
  • Welfare to work programmes should be about transferring disadvantaged people like those who are disabled people from out-of-work benefits to in-work-benefits. People who are disabled need more help when in work and not less.

 

Bestowal, Boundlessness, Consciousness, Economic, Notices and Announcements, Socio-legal

Policy on abortion

11 December 2011 jonathanbishop One comment

The European Convention on Human Rights grants men/women the right to found a family. This includes the right not to found a family. Therefore I regard that abortion should be legal in all countries signed up to the ECHR.

I regard the ‘choice’ to abort to apply to not just women, but the men whose DNA is part of the embryo also. So in essence if one partner or the other wants to abort their potential child then it should happen otherwise they are being denied their human rights to not found a family.

Is science the solution to the long running debate of abortion?

Equally, the ECHR says everyone has the right to life, so I think if there is someone willing to adopt the child being aborted, then we should be working to a future where this would be possible. I suggest that scientists be funded to develop an artificial incubator that can grow foetuses as if they were in a woman’s womb.

Boundlessness, Notices and Announcements, Socio-legal

Policy on cannabis and other recreational drugs

14 November 2011 jonathanbishop 3 comments

My position on the manufacture and supply of cannabis and other unregulated ‘street drugs’ is now pretty simple. If we are going to allow them to be lawfully used, then regulation and not decriminalisation is the only course of action I’m willing to support.

Decriminalisation of cannabis is, in my opinion, a charter for legalising organised crime, including forced prostitution, organised paedophilia, human trafficking, etc.

Regulation would be the only realistic option, as the manufacture and distribution could be ensured to be made up of lawful activity only and could have the benefit of driving the organised criminals out of the market.

But my fourth way question is – why legalise a millennia old drug like cannabis, which has well documented risks from long-term use, when there is potential profit to be made by the pharmaceuticals designing and patenting new and safe recreational drugs? This could drive up innovation in the economy, and mean that the checks and balances in place for medical drugs could be in place for recreational drugs.

So my policy on recreational drugs is that their design, manufacture and distribution should regulated and they should only be available for sale if they pass what I call the ‘safe sex pill test’. That is, if the risks to the person using them are easily as understandable as the contraceptive pill, and pose no more harm to them than that potentially can do, then it should be available in licenced premises  for recreational use.

 

Application, Auto-Wiki, Bestowal, Consciousness, Economic, Info-scientific, Law, Notices and Announcements

Policy on European Union Referenda and Parliamentary Sovereignty

30 October 2011 jonathanbishop No comments

My policies on ‘transfer of powers’ to the EU and the role of UK legislatures are as follows:

1. Any EU measure that would change the fabric of the UK’s culture and identity should require a referendum. This would include:

  • The euro, which would change our currency;
  • Weights and measures, which would change the way that people order things like alcohol;
  • Entry or exit of the EU, which would affect the rights we enjoy to trade with and visit the EU; and
  • Anything else of a ‘constitutional character’.

2. Any EU measure that would change the fabric of law and order in the UK would require a resolution to be passed in each UK legislature before being adopted formally. This would include;

  • EU Directives, which require ‘transposition’ and would need to be repealed if the UK left the EU; and
  • EU Court (CJEU) Judgements, which would change the Common Law.

3. The following types of EU law should be used in preference of those in 2:

  • EU Court (CJEU) Decisions, which affect only the parties involved in the hearing; and
  • EU Regulations, which apply to everyone in the EU, and are separate from and preserve national law.

Conclusion
The essences of my policy are:

  • ‘We should work better in Europe and get more out of Europe‘.
  • ‘We should be in Europe and running Europe‘
Notices and Announcements, Policies and Consultations

My primary religious beliefs (premises)

24 September 2011 jonathanbishop No comments

Any question the Church and Politicians can’t answer today Scientists will be able to answer tomorrow.

Any advancement towards peace among individuals, families, communities and nations today, will have been envisaged by those Prophets and Disciples who wrote the Bible yesterday.

Those who make scientific theories that can’t be proven today are the Prophets who may be proven right tomorrow. For instance, the Charles Darwin is being proven right in many of the claims he made which couldn’t be refuted at the time. One who considers the Bible to have legitimacy should only do so in so far as science has not proved to to be false. Equally, any scientific texts should be considered true only in so far as they are falsifiable by other scientific texts or processes.

Everlasting life comes after death by being in the minds of the people of the future, whether in memes such as through literary works or in physical presence, such as via cryogenic restoration.

God exists in the minds of those who know of the concept, just as Robin Hood does. Science will one day be able to measure the existence of God. Until then Go should be assumed to refer to all the knowledge there is possible to be known that science does not know.

This list is not complete and may be extended.

Auto-Wiki, Faith & Religion: Mixed - Anglican Solomonite and Gnostic Scientist, Notices and Announcements

Policy on United Kingdom Membership of the euro

21 September 2011 jonathanbishop No comments

I believe in principle that every country that is part of the European Union should be working towards full economic convergence while being independent politically and culturally unique whilst dependent on one another.

I would only support the UK joining the euro if the following applied:

1. The interest rate set by the Bank of England was the same as the European Central Bank for a sustained period;

2. The exchange rate between Sterling and the euro was stable for a sustained period before being locked to the euro; and

3. This exchange rate reflected over that sustained period convergence in goods prices and wages between the Eurozone and the UK.

I believe that if Wales had complete independence from the rest of the UK in terms of political and economic control then these criteria would be easier to meet as it would manage its own fiscal policy and its economy would not be driven by the South East of England, which since the 1980s has always grown at a different rate from the rest of the EU and indeed the UK.

Euro-membership could be sped up even with this criteria if the EU was to agree to wage subsidies so on membership to bring wages in line with goods prices, in order to avoid a repeat of what happened in Greece, which people like myself knew was going to happen before it did.

Auto-Wiki, Consideration, Economic, Law, Notices and Announcements, Policies and Consultations, Socio-legal
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