Thursday, February 16, 2006
Historical revisionism in the modern age
"Ideas are more powerful than guns. We would not let our enemies have guns, why should we let them have ideas."Often we are told to condemn the ills of the Soviet Union or the People's Republic of China, in particular the extraordinary careers of Joseph Stalin and Chairman Mao, but both made several important contributions to society that we as modern British citizens could learn many lessons from.
When I was a lad at Kirkcaldy High School I dreamed a dream of a more controlled, more orderly, more socially responsible society, and felt that one day this dream could be realised through the Fabian and Marxist ideals of New Labour's spiritual fathers.
Later, whilst at Edinburgh University studying for my doctorate, I became truly enamoured by the works of Joseph Stalin and wrote several essays and gave seminars on the progressive policies of Stalin as well as Mao Zedong and their important and lasting contributions to the world we live in. I still have a deep admiration for Uncle Jo today.
In the West, we tend to place far too much emphasis on the bad, and misunderstand the essential lessons of old, but whilst striving for the greater good we can learn much from such historical lights as Stalin, Mao and others who enriched their societies and delivered equality and the guiding hand of the state to their people in the modern age.
My dear friend and former adviser, Charlie Whelan, used to keep the collected writings of Stalin prominently on his bookshelf, and was a proud scholar of the third-way Uncle Jo doctrine which we often used to discuss, along with sharing tales of the glories of the past. The Guardian once likened my comprehensive spending review to Stalin which I took as a great honour and enormous privilege.
While we are no longer a manufacturing nation, and already run a predominantly service and government-driven economy with private partnerships, the huge jump in fuel prices will mean the inevitable restraining of consumption and along with the unstoppable pace of globalisation, Britain must adapt to the economic and social challenges of the 21st century.
More so than ever before, the goal of a socially responsible economically-just society under a stable rule-based world order is vital, and we owe a responsibility to our veterans and war heroes to continue to find ways to expand government and the role of the state in line with these projections.
We in government believe that poverty, injustice and disadvantage are a blight on all of our lives. That is why we have been modernising our policies towards the concept of inequality, and through the biometric ID scheme we can level out the problems of society by the orderly disbandment of the middle class. Furthermore, the state must now be the new parents to our offspring and education remains vital in teaching our children to respect the beacon of government and our common shared values of responsibility.
By changing the way social and educational services are delivered across the country using biometric ID cards linked into the government information database, we can ensure an orderly and progressive system of new citizenship monitoring, guidance and compliance for the challenges of tommorow.
Tighter regulation of our media is vital if we are to cohere around our shared values for governance, and stronger laws over our TV, newspapers and internet are neccessary and proportionate so that extremists may not stand in the way of these essential betterments for all.
We as British, must not be afraid to embrace the kind of bold economic and public reforms inspired by Stalin and Chairman Mao as we now look towards China as the new social and economic model for the world to follow. Going forward, into the new millenium, we simply can't ignore the Chinese fiscal and labour market strategies that are delivering growth, stability and globalisation unprecidented in a generation.
Already we are making the kinds of reforms to the UK necessary to protect our investments in the future. These include an increased and consistent military presence abroad, increased spending on the military and it's Carlyle Group-owned research facilities, and I've just announced a new expansion in proud young army cadets which will form a modern framework for conscription, necessary in the 21st century to fight multiple theatre wars on different fronts wherever extremists may be. This, along with the remarkable contributions to a modern EU army to be made by our young British troops will ensure we can keep order globally and fight extremism effectively. Additionally, we are building special rest and relocation camps for citizens in the event that extremist dissidents may try to attack us.
We are spending more on government as a whole and providing essential jobs to our economy such a diversity training officers, council tax inspectors and local government CCTV operators, vital roles in the modern age we live in. And this is just the beginnining as we try to eventually move away from the outdated concepts that have held Britain back in the past into ones of communal understanding and mutual respect as citizens.
Britain must be prepared and be equipped as long-term stability is secured only if we grasp the opportunities now.
For me, this is why I am looking forward to the privilege of completing the smooth transition and being given the opportunity to lead the United Kingdom into the 21st century, building on Tony Blair's legacy of third way Fabian incrementalist values to take the people of Britain into the next level of this new era for the decade to come.
Right Honorable Gordon Brown MP
Gordon Brown Stalin Chairman Mao economic reforms social reforms
Wednesday, February 15, 2006
Britain's security in the 21st century
You might have heard my moving speech about security in modern Britiain prior to the ID cards vote on Monday. In the modern world of the 21st century it is vital that the UK be as secure as possible from the scourge of terrorism that so continually threatens our freedoms and way of life. The risk of terrorism and extremism is with us constantly and one of the biggest threats to our security and world instability is the rejection of globalisation. A team of European and City of London bankers, industrialists, venture capitalists and notable philanthropists who have contributed so much to the UK and who so kindly gave their time to advise on my speech have asked me personally that we work together to secure the vital interests of Britain and tackle the unique challenges of the modern world we find ourselves in.
We must defend our freedoms by starting to move Britain to a cashless society free from fraud and the hassles of a paper currency, securing our identities, transactions and lives on a government database, assisting our allies in tracking down extremists across the world and working with our friends for the liberation of rogue states such as Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Syria and others that threaten our world order and Israel with weapons of mass destruction, unacceptable cartoons and threats to destabilize the international oil market. Additionally we must redefine what we mean by torture in the 21st century, so that our security services have the neccessary intelligence gathering techniques to ensure the protection of our rights.
At home, we agreed, it's vital that the ID register keep safe as much information as possible about our citizens so that our diligent security forces that serve our country so professionally to stop terrorism, may be alerted immediately to any extremist potential to society. I believe this is a fair balance and it's right and proper we listen to the settled will of the British people who accept the notion that privacy is an outdated concept for the modern age we find ourselves in, and we must move towards to a more open and centralised form of governance where all of our transactions and lifestyle choices are protected on a government database. Soon the ID database will store our internet surfing and medical records as well as bank details to provide our police and intelligence services with the vital tools they need to fight modern crime and terrorism. And it's right that we share our ID database with our European intelligence allies.
In the near future we will all have RFID chips in everything we own, from the clothes we wear, to the food we eat. These are the incredible opportunities of the modern world and I believe it is essential for enterprise and government to exploit these opportunities and put Britain at the cutting edge of these new freedoms.
IBM say we will all have implanted RFID chips under our skin, tied into a global identification database so that we may instantly know who the terrorists are and maintain order in our society, in doing so we will be ensuring our freedom to be safe from fear. Additionally all of our car journeys will be logged and monitored via our CCTV systems to assist the police in tracking down terrorists who use cars. Soon our cars will all have EU satellite tracking devices to protect us from global warming. Freedom with social responsibility and accountability is the most British of concepts.
These things are vital to Britains's economy and competitiveness, as well as our security and it is crucial that we deliver globalisation and take advantage of the opportunities of the 21st century.
We all agreed, that China will soon be the new America, and China's economy and growth is leading the world and fast becoming the model to follow. However there is still a place for national awareness in contemporary society, and that is why I am initiating a Britishness day to celebrate the diversity offered by globalisation and the sacrifices of the brave British men and women who have died protecting our precious freedoms against terrorists in Iraq, secured our most vital assests, freed the Iraqi people from terrorists, and perhaps most significantly, have laid down their lives for the security of Israel by removing Iraq's weapons of mass destruction making the world a better place for us all.
When the Twin towers were reduced to clouds of dust so horrifically on September the 11th 2001 we knew extremists had attacked the US and in doing so, us too. We knew in that terrible moment, the world had changed. Later that afternoon, 350 feet away from the towers, when we thought the assault was over, WTC Seven was attacked by these same extremists and collapsed in on itself into a pile of rubble. The world was devastated.
Today, it is more important than ever that we stand shoulder to shoulder with our allies, taking on the challenges of the modern world, and in doing so securing our freedom against these extremists who wish to attack our way of life and take our freedoms away.
Right Honorable Gordon Brown MP
Gordon Brown speech security
We must defend our freedoms by starting to move Britain to a cashless society free from fraud and the hassles of a paper currency, securing our identities, transactions and lives on a government database, assisting our allies in tracking down extremists across the world and working with our friends for the liberation of rogue states such as Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Syria and others that threaten our world order and Israel with weapons of mass destruction, unacceptable cartoons and threats to destabilize the international oil market. Additionally we must redefine what we mean by torture in the 21st century, so that our security services have the neccessary intelligence gathering techniques to ensure the protection of our rights.
At home, we agreed, it's vital that the ID register keep safe as much information as possible about our citizens so that our diligent security forces that serve our country so professionally to stop terrorism, may be alerted immediately to any extremist potential to society. I believe this is a fair balance and it's right and proper we listen to the settled will of the British people who accept the notion that privacy is an outdated concept for the modern age we find ourselves in, and we must move towards to a more open and centralised form of governance where all of our transactions and lifestyle choices are protected on a government database. Soon the ID database will store our internet surfing and medical records as well as bank details to provide our police and intelligence services with the vital tools they need to fight modern crime and terrorism. And it's right that we share our ID database with our European intelligence allies.
In the near future we will all have RFID chips in everything we own, from the clothes we wear, to the food we eat. These are the incredible opportunities of the modern world and I believe it is essential for enterprise and government to exploit these opportunities and put Britain at the cutting edge of these new freedoms.
IBM say we will all have implanted RFID chips under our skin, tied into a global identification database so that we may instantly know who the terrorists are and maintain order in our society, in doing so we will be ensuring our freedom to be safe from fear. Additionally all of our car journeys will be logged and monitored via our CCTV systems to assist the police in tracking down terrorists who use cars. Soon our cars will all have EU satellite tracking devices to protect us from global warming. Freedom with social responsibility and accountability is the most British of concepts.
These things are vital to Britains's economy and competitiveness, as well as our security and it is crucial that we deliver globalisation and take advantage of the opportunities of the 21st century.
We all agreed, that China will soon be the new America, and China's economy and growth is leading the world and fast becoming the model to follow. However there is still a place for national awareness in contemporary society, and that is why I am initiating a Britishness day to celebrate the diversity offered by globalisation and the sacrifices of the brave British men and women who have died protecting our precious freedoms against terrorists in Iraq, secured our most vital assests, freed the Iraqi people from terrorists, and perhaps most significantly, have laid down their lives for the security of Israel by removing Iraq's weapons of mass destruction making the world a better place for us all.
When the Twin towers were reduced to clouds of dust so horrifically on September the 11th 2001 we knew extremists had attacked the US and in doing so, us too. We knew in that terrible moment, the world had changed. Later that afternoon, 350 feet away from the towers, when we thought the assault was over, WTC Seven was attacked by these same extremists and collapsed in on itself into a pile of rubble. The world was devastated.
Today, it is more important than ever that we stand shoulder to shoulder with our allies, taking on the challenges of the modern world, and in doing so securing our freedom against these extremists who wish to attack our way of life and take our freedoms away.
Right Honorable Gordon Brown MP
Gordon Brown speech security
