The TE&M Association 7th Forum – Friday 17th of September
The objective of this Forum was to review the 8 possible subjects for debate (please see below) and to select one of them as the main topic for a forthcoming (physical) Forum. The intention will be to create the opportunity for a wide range of members to meet and exchange ideas.
………………… Notes by Dennis King (Chairman TEAM)
The subjects for discussion at the 7th Forum are listed after the meeting notes with some initial perspectives which were offered to attendees, to stimulate debate.
MEETING NOTES
Comments Made:
Big Government is necessary for:
- Foreign Policy & Defence
- Centralised Planning of Infrastructure
- General Taxation
- The Legal Framework
Other Points:
- There should be less government intervention in local policy. E.g. Planning
- There should be less interference in private affairs, unless criminal.
- There is ever reducing tolerance of others in modern society.
- There is too much influence exercised by minority groups.
- There is not enough emphasis on personal responsibility.
- The lack of adequate debate leads to poor choices.
- Genuine scientific debate and real data plays very little part in modern thinking.
- The environmental debate is confused and inadequate.
- We need to be developing solutions for less rich countries, if being carbon neutral is a credible option.
- We need to consider the unintended consequences of high level policies and targets.
- We need to spend more time understanding the issues relevant to other peoples of the world.
In conclusion:
The general consensus was that item 1 below (Big Government or Little Government?) was the preferred subject for the next Forum.
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- Do we want BIG Government or Little Government?
With the Covid experience we have gone through a period where behaviours have been prescribed like never before.
Normally, widespread social management happens in extreme left wing and extreme right wing societies. I think that as conservatives we would naturally believe in personal freedoms within a democratic system. Therefore the current situation is likely to be anathema to us.
We are also now experiencing a greater level of legal constraint over free expression, particularly with relating to ever tighter laws around group and individual identity.
The scope for discussion is with regard to what we think should happen now?
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- Do facts matter less in modern political thinking?
a) Is the most common process that today that people select an ideology that attracts them, then they seek out a group that they can identify with and which becomes their adopted family. Then they collectively espouse a strategy without the need to resort to intelligent debate or the recourse to facts?
b) Funding of social care.
Shouldn’t we have a clearer definition of the problem and exactly what we are trying to fix?
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- Are we aware of the financial and the social implications of the current Climate Change Strategy?
Do we know and accept how our lives and those of others will need to change dramatically, if the current policies are implemented?
Would people accept this if they did?
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- Are we aware of the consequences of the Climate Change Strategy on less developed countries and their citizens?
Jordan Petersen – a Canadian academic and clinician.
In a developed system the ability to improve things is considerably less than the probability of failure. On that basis it is more important that we understand what the consequences are if and when things go wrong. Also, we should consider and accept the nature of the unintended consequences? Do we ever do this analysis?
E.g. The UN IPCC says that if all the climate change measures are implemented successfully we may alter the average temperature of the planet by up to minus 0.5 degrees by the end of the century.
We cost of the current policies will be many trillions of dollars across the developed world and impossible to the developing world. Have we considered the opportunity costs of the good those funds could do and the misery to many from the lack of cheap energy?
Have we had an open debate and carried out a credible cost benefit analysis?
Alan Epstein – The moral case for fossil fuels.
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- Has there been a balanced debate around the so called consensus on the extent of anthropogenic climate change?
The better term is natural and non-natural climate variability.
Was there a valid consensus based on the question asked and the problem that is socialised?
I could explain why the question posed was vague and erroneous. Hence why it was not answered by most scientists. Those that answered became the “97% of all”. This statistic and what it implied has since been distorted and used for political ends.
I could run through a list of IPCC acknowledged scientists and climatologists and institutions that disagree with the complete basis for the declared emergency. Nevertheless, declaring a global emergency has become like a fashion statement with no knowledge of the subject required.
Professor Richard Lindzen
Professor Judith Curry
The Hartlake Institute
Nigel Lawson’s GWPCC
Have you heard of these people or groups?
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- Is the rising intolerance in society weakening the democratic model?
Refer to all of the above..
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- How should we use our Foreign Aid Budget?
Is it for friends?
Is it for where we get the most benefit?
Is it for the most needy?
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- Who drives government policy, politicians, citizens, civil service or the media?
Or pressure groups?