If I ruled the world? First things first, I’d stop Brexit

Charity begins at home. But my goal would be to create a united, rational world

by AC Grayling / September 8, 2017 / Leave a comment

AC Grayling explains what he’d do if he ruled the world. Photo: PA

Before tackling the world at large I’d start with sorting out the UK (“charity begins at home”), by immediately stopping the madness of Brexit, introducing proportional representation, restricting the Party whipping system so that only votes on manifesto pledges can be whipped, giving the electoral commission serious powers, limiting spending on elections, and requiring complete transparency on political funding. These measures would go a long way to fixing our currently hijacked democracy.

I would substantially increase spending on health and school education, using the money saved from the first of my world-wide initiatives (see below); would tackle the income inequalities which are so corrosive in our society; and would address the question of regional deprivation—but not at the expense of London, which, until the poison of Brexit began its work, was the goose that lays the country’s golden eggs; and could easily be so again if it remains the EU’s financial and cultural capital. It would be done by serious regional investment incentives for new businesses, on the model of the ‘special economic zones’ that have worked so well for China.

YOU'VE HIT THE LIMIT

You have now reached your limit of 3 free articles in the last 30 days.
But don't worry! You can get another 7 articles absolutely free, si mply by entering your email address in the box below.

When you register we'll also send you a free e-book—Writing with punch—which includes some of the finest writing from our archive of 22 years. And we'll also send you a weekly newsletter with the best new ideas in politics and philosophy of culture, which you can of course unsubscribe from at any time

Prospect takes your privacy seriously. We promise never to rent or sell your e-mail address to any third party.
You can unsubscribe from the Prospect e-mail newsletter at any time.

DEBUG messsage: regular

Tactical voting’s time has come

Gina Miller / April 26, 2017

Vote for MPs who will hold the government to account on Brexit

Britain voted for a “clean Brexit”—now let’s stay the course

Jamie Martin / June 21, 2017

Since the shock election result, there has been increasing talk that Britain could...

Comments

JimmyMack
September 10, 2017 at 12:51
AC, you and your kind DO rule the world, at least the part we call 'The West'. Even while, in the 1980s, the political right was celebrating its success at the ballot box, folk like you were stealthily taking over the institutions: the universities, the quangos, the law, local government, the charities. Cameron was the final capitulation; the Tory whose Toryism was indistinguishable from your social left liberalism. Yes, you also made some concessions along the way. You accepted that capitalism was here to stay. But this wasn't as big a concession in practice as it might have seemed. People like you were doing OK, and you could always ease your conscience by talking a bit about fairness and 'equality' -redefined to mean between competing identity groups. Besides, your real project was the remodelling of Britain's middle class since the mid 19th century. And it is because of this - your sense of entitlement to tell others what to do and how to think - that the vote to leave (and Trump) has come as such a bitter shock to you and your kind. Oh dear, why were these deplorables allowed to vote in the first place? It's called democracy, AC. Best get used to it.
Reply
Michael J.
September 19, 2017 at 16:10
At least AC has a vision + his background shouldn't be used to nullify this. It's easy to condemn; braver to evolve and broadcast what you believe to be a better world. The article stimulates debate and while idealistic - why not? Some of those ideas could materialise is one shape or another. We grow up being told to aim high, rather than safely achieve less. I'm all for a demonstrably more caring and less conflictual world. We think too short term and rely far too much on the future being fabricated by short term politicians.
Reply

You can log in to post a comment under your subscriber name.