Power Dynamics

Analysis of the dynamics of power in social groups and macro-economic organisation.

Media, Propaganda and Free Speech

Migration Myth Busting: by Neil Gardner    (24/07/2010)

It looks like the globalist growth lobby has been busy copying and pasting its Migration Myths all over government-sponsored Websites and many run by spurious NGOs. Hint if someone is providing information free of charge in a glossy format, it's probably ... more (516 words) »

You're just a customer!!: by Neil Gardner    (24/05/2010)

Many of us have been so beguiled by corporate speak encroaching on everyday conversations that we have failed to notice how previous categories of people such as travellers, passengers, users, taxpayers, citizens or just plain people have morphed into ... more (576 words) »

The Keynsian Dream is Over: by Neil Gardner    (23/05/2010)

None of the major parties in the UK have had the courage to tell the electorate the unpalatable truth. They act as mere middle managers or public relations officers, somewhere between their masters in global banking, energy cartels and military-industrial ... more (762 words) »

Metamorphosis of the Labour Party: by Neil Gardner    (09/05/2010)

How the Party of workers came to represent a bunch of non-productive consumers Little divided the main political parties in the run-up to the 2010 UK General Election. They all support the supremacy of transnational corporations, the banking cartel and the ... more (1600 words) »

Oil Discovered Off the Falkland Islands?: by Neil Gardner    (10/02/2010)

Are all wars ultimately motivated by Greed? How very convenient, by mere coincidence around 60 billion barrels of oil has been discovered within 150 miles of the Falkland Islands. Before you conclude this will save our economy from the effects of peak oil ... more (349 words) »

The Daily Motorist Mindset: by Neil Gardner    (10/01/2010)

The recent cold snap over much Western Europe with temperature lows not seen since infamous winter of 1963 has prompted Daily Mail columnists and their avid readers to deny any human effects on our eco-system. Yep, just because we are gripped by Arctic ... more (214 words) »

Reality Denial: by Neil Gardner    (20/07/2008)

When do we let our political judgements be swayed not by a rational analysis of the facts, but by self-interest, wishful thinking, superstition or just plain irrational prejudices? Whether rapid climate change is taking place and is caused by human ... more (3048 words) »

Breeding Hatred: by Neil Gardner    (06/07/2008)

One of the biggest dilemmas for environmental realists is striking the right balance between the potential infringement of human rights required to power down to a more sustainable society on one hand, and the inevitable threat to human rights if we don ... more (2287 words) »

Knee Jerk Hysteria: by Neil Gardner    (01/12/2007)

Most Sudanese citizens of all religious affiliations are desperately poor. As in most other African countries early deaths through malnutrition and disease are so rife that many just count themselves lucky to be alive, let alone benefit from the wonders of ... more (912 words) »

Blaming the Messenger: by Neil Gardner    (23/11/2007)

Spiked Online are at it again, jumping at the chance to blame common atrocities on the spectre of green fascists. To the likes of Frank Füredi and Brendan O'Neill a green fascist is anyone who doesn't believe in their technocratic vision of unlimited ... more (3533 words) »

The Persuasion Industry: by Neil Gardner    (16/11/2007)

In one way or another a growing percentage of workers in the UK are engaged in various sectors of the persuasion industry. Call it new media, education, publishing, marketing, sales, customer relations, call centres, advertising, entertainment, legal ... more (704 words) »

Blair concedes Iraq Lies: by Neil Gardner    (15/11/2007)

Information Clearing House recently republished extracts from the late Robin Cook's diaries, in which Blair concedes that Iraq could not strike the West or even nearby Israel with weapons of mass destruction. It also reveals how the initial scepticism of ... more (348 words) »

On the Wrong Track: by Neil Gardner    (15/11/2007)

A good way to dispel concern about an emerging trend is to set up a phoney debate pitting the views of social conservatives rejecting cultural change against progressive change enthusiasts, e.g. only paranoid Daily Mail readers could possibly oppose the ... more (1151 words) »

A Numerical Paradox: by Neil Gardner    (01/11/2007)

If we want to strike a sensible balance between individual freedom, self-realisation, social cohesion, democracy and good community relations, we should be aware these noble aims can only coexist and thrive in optimal socio-environmental conditions that ... more (4336 words) »

Straight from the Horse's Mouth: by Neil Gardner    (16/09/2007)

"I am saddened that it is politically inconvenient to acknowledge what everyone knows: the Iraq war is largely about oil." Alan Greenspan in his memoirs. Why did the US and UK invade Iraq? Theories abound, but here are the top four: To get rid of weapons ... more (2091 words) »

Rewriting History: by Neil Gardner    (01/09/2007)

A few months after Coalition forces successfully secured control of Baghdad and toppled a statue of Saddam Hussein in Fardus Square before the world’s media, Tony Blair referred to way future historians will remember the liberation of Iraq. It is certainly ... more (1135 words) »

Combatting Extremism: by Neil Gardner    (27/08/2007)

Years of conditioning have led us to believe our benevolent leaders and entrepreneurs want to protect us from all sorts of political extremists, commonly defined on the outmoded left-right spectrum or in terms of religious fundamentalism. That our leaders ... more (1878 words) »

Get ready for the Big Corporate Takeover of the Web: by Neil Gardner    (10/06/2007)

The Internet is not going to disappear any time soon, at least short of a nuclear holocaust or a world-wide power outage. Big business has simply invested too much money in it to let that happen. What's at stake is the pioneering concept of a free and open ... more (1573 words) »

It's official, Dissent is a Mental Illness: by Neil Gardner    (02/06/2007)

If you obsess with or consider stalking political celebrities, personally I think your fixations and potential actions are both ill-advised and in all likelihood counterproductive. Politicians not only thrive on publicity, the media would be quick to whip ... more (1342 words) »

The Brown Broadcasting Corporation: by Neil Gardner    (01/06/2007)

Call me a cynic, but the BBC seems to have transitioned magnificently from its role as a covet apologist for the Blair regime to a smooth public relations operation for the emerging Brown leadership. Such a transition requires no change in logo, editorial ... more (686 words) »

New Labour's Legacy: by Neil Gardner    (25/05/2007)

Results from recent regional and local elections should bring a few cheers to those, like me, who have long distrusted New Labour. While the letters in Tony Blair nearly form an anagram for Tory Plan B (if we replace i with p), David Cameron certainly ... more (1055 words) »

Letter to The Guardian exposing Corporate Agenda behind its Science Coverage : by Neil Gardner    (03/01/2007)

I read with interest your report about celebrity endorsement of alternative diets and treatments (The truth about celebrity health claims, Wed 03/01/07) . While I agree the media disseminates a multitude of disinformation and scare stories that may lead ... more (195 words) »

Blair's Big Brother Binge: by Neil Gardner    (23/11/2006)

Blair's Big Brother Binge If you thought genuine concerns over security and welfare motivated the deceptively named bills in Tony Blair's final Queen's speech, in all likelihood you believed him when he reassured us of his noble aims to rid the world of ... more (894 words) »

Managing Public Opinion: by Neil Gardner    (06/02/2006)

The Strange Case of Twelve Islamophobic Cartoons Over the last week the publication of a cartoon portraying the prophet Mohamed as a terrorist has dominated the Western European media sparking a phoney debate about freedom of expression from the very ... more (1458 words) »

Multiculturalism would be a good idea: by Neil Gardner    (12/05/2005)

To paraphrase Gandhi "Multiculturalism would be a good idea".Cultural diversity is a wonderful idea and as a speaker of 5 languages with bilingual kids, as someone who's been the sole white guy in a provincial Zambian town, the sole non-Indian in a ... more (430 words) »

Dear Tony: by Neil Gardner    (11/05/2004)

In all honesty, hand on heart, do you seriously believe the main motivations of the US administration behind the occupation of Iraq were to rid the world of weapons of mass destruction, overthrow a tyrant, combat terrorism or spread democracy? On these ... more (308 words) »

Dear Blairite MP,: by Neil Gardner    (11/05/2004)

Dear Ms Rachel Squire, The record shows that you have consistently supported the government on matters of war. In my humble opinion, all recent military interventions have directly inflicted death and destruction and sown the seeds of more interethnic ... more (866 words) »

By persuasion if we can, but by coercion if we must!: by Neil Gardner    (09/05/2004)

The liberal media's reaction to reports of widespread abuse and torture of Iraqi detainees by US and UK military personnal marks a psychological turning point in the current phase in the sole superpower's war for total global domination. Recent ... more (653 words) »

False alarms over BNP distract us from main threat: by Neil Gardner    (09/05/2004)

As mainstream politicians justify acts of mass murder in the name of bogus democracy and US control of the world's oil supplies, Joan McAlpine ("Be wary when fascists try to hide behind racist poison" Herald 29/04/04) asks us to focus our attention on a ... more (350 words) »

Free Speech and Hate Speech: by Neil Gardner    (20/11/2001)

False and ridiculous charges are no real problem. It is the unconscionable critics who reveal unwanted truths from whom society must be protected" Noam Chomsky in Deterring Democracy A False Sense of Self-Righteousness Intellectuals in the public eye ... more (7655 words) »

Denying the Effects of Violent Video Games: by Neil Gardner    (15/11/2001)

As a result of the Anti-Terrorism Crime and Security Act the UK government has recently given the police new powers to monitor e-mails and web sites. The pretext is to fight terrorism, political extremism and Internet paedophilia as sensationalised in the ... more (2527 words) »

Trendy Lefties - The No-Logo Generation: by Neil Gardner    (19/05/2001)

Over the last 30 years middle-class students have embraced a series of cultural fads, some pure commercialism and others worthwhile causes, which later sold out to commercialism. Beatlemania, anti-Vietnam War protests, Punk Rock, Rock Against Racism gigs, ... more (897 words) »

Environmental Sciences

Two add Two equals Five because Four is a Racist Number: by Neil Gardner    (25/08/2006)

Racism, or more correctly in most cases xenophobia, is matter of ethics. It seems fair to conclude that racism has no place in any caring society because nobody benefits from being victims of prejudice based on arbitrary ethnic distinctions. In the real ... more (1448 words) »

Globalitis: Why Economic Migration is not always Good News: by Neil Gardner    (31/07/2006)

This Wednesday's Independent (UK edition, 26/07/06) ran a front page story spilling over to page two under the heading “Outstanding: Official Verdict on school that shows the success of immigration”. It featured a fabulous inner London primary ... more (1713 words) »

Technocracy and Science: by Neil Gardner    (11/05/2004)

Science Study of the physical world and its manifestations through empirical observation of natural phenomena and monitoring of systematic experimentation. Technology the study, development, and application of devices, machines, and techniques for ... more (470 words) »

The Population Factor: by Neil Gardner    (11/05/2004)

"The modern plague of overpopulation is solvable by means we have discovered and with resources we possess. What is lacking is not the sufficient knowledge of the solution, but the universal consciousness of the gravity of the problem for billions of ... more (6097 words) »

Empiricism and Idealism: by Neil Gardner    (11/05/2004)

Our species has evolved a curious form of opportunistic altruism, in short the notion that we benefit by caring for one another, while each individual strives insofar as possible to enhance his or her own social status, personal security, wealth and power ... more (414 words) »