Vox Polis

On the 100th Anniversary of the election of the Liberal government (1906-1914), I thought it would be interesting to note how bloody similar they were to New Labour’s term in office. It’s like living in a time warp, when its always 1908 (what a great year that was).

What’s similar is the policy areas they both decided to concentrate on, for example:

• Both won after the citizens got tired of an incompetent Tory government. In the Liberal’s case it wasnt economic just the Tories ran an incompentent war (the major controversy was over detainment camps used in Boer war- and many people still say Hitler invented them! Nope it was British!)
• The national wage
• Pensions (well New Labour hasn’t quite solved this one yet)
• House of Lords reform- The famous Liberal budget crisis and 1911 Parliament act that put those Lords in thier place, shame New Labour havent quite got this one sorted out yet.
• War- Both governments took us to into a war that split Europe (ok one of them was a World War, the other one’s not quite there yet).
• Sick pay and Labour Exchange were created- Labour’s done a lot in this area, forcing the sick to work etc.
• Trade Unions- whereas the Liberals strengthened and protected them (1906 Trade Disputes Act) Labour have reduced them to crying babies.

I’d live in the 1900s any day!

So Cameron’s launched another “taskforce,” this time to look at democracy. He’s even got that well known “workaholic” Ken Clarke to chair it. Well just in case Clarke can be bothered to read it, here’s Vox Polis’ roadmap to Democracy.

Cameron is correct that powers, such as declaring war, do need to be transferred to Paliament. Now all he needs to do is get MPs to turn up. Maybe he should start with his own attendance that has been running at 43% (i know he’s been busy running leadership campaigns but still!). Also Dave if you’re reading this please make PMQs more interesting again!!

Vox Polis’ Democratic list

Parliament

• Bring Democracy to the House of Lords
• Introduce Proportional Representation
• Strengthen the EU Scrutiny Committee
• Link MPs attendance in Parliament to pay (hey it works for secondary schools)
• Pass legislation making it compulsory for every adult to stand at least once for public office

Oh dear…poor old Kelly…she’s really not having a good time at the moment! At least she hasnt had an Ewina Curry moment yet (im not talking about the one with John Major).

Well at least if Tony sacks her she can get a part in this now!

The announcement this week that Vertigo Films (those responsible for The Business, Human Traffic, the Football factory) were going to finance their next film Outlaw via the Internet at first made me more excited than Archimedes on bath day. However even the discovery of displacement couldn’t really subdue my usual doubt and cynicism especially when I remembered the other unsuccessful internet money raising schemes that have been concocted in recent years.

Remember when Stephen King promised to revolutionise the way we bought books? He had a novel idea (apologies for the pun) and put the first chapter of The Plant on his site and promised only to write more if people paid him money. Of course the book industry went nuts fearing King would single handedly destroy their multi-million dollar business. (Un)fortunately King stopped writing half way through the novel through lack of interest (and money).

Recently Star Trek fans have attempted to raise money to fund another series of Enterprise (why..of why?!). Unfortunately they fell short of the $30 million demanded by the film networks (they managed 10% of that). Both failed because they forgot how greedy people are. People will only pay for exclusiveness, and not even those wishing to live in the utopian world of Star Trek can usurp their instinct to only pay for things that only they can receive. It’s what economists call the free rider problem. Why pay Stephen King for his book when I can read it for free? Why pay to get Enterprise back? (yeah why indeed?) If it’s back on TV I get to watch it for free, if not I can watch the thousands of hours of endless repeats on TV for free. This is why recent Star Trek fan films have been successful. They enable groups of fans to get together and write, direct and produce a film. The latest one even had Sulu in it. The freerider problem is an issue Vertigo have attempted to surpass by offering contributors an opportunity to appear in the movie and have a credit as a producer. Lets hope this is a big enough of an incentive.

However the real challenge Vertigo faces is that people do not know what they are buying. With King’s book, you can read the first chapter and if you think its good enough then you can help pay for the rest. Star Trek fans know what Enterprise is about and know what another series is going to be about (in fact some of the fans are so infatuated they would watch any crap with the Star Trek name on it). Vertigo’s new film carries greater risk than the other projects. Yes it has a reputation of producing quality films, but I don’t believe this is enough. Films are hugely risky because of the cost of producing them. You can not stop half way through and still have something to sell like with TV series; it’s either all or nothing. Films usually only have one opportunity to make a good impression and that’s at the cinema. If it fails then its tossed unceremoniously into the bin of cut priced DVDs at your local HMV.

These are some of the challenges Vertigo and others face. The internet promises so much but often delivers so little. Maybe Vertigo will get it right

The All Party Parliamentary Internet Group met today to hear oral evidence to help it prepare a report into Digital Rights Management.

I don’t have high hopes for this mainly because the government don’t have a very good record on understanding technical issues or standing up to big business. The report in April should be interesting reading at least.

More at The Register.