Here’s an article which imagines utopia. Personally, I like the idea of a Utopian society!
Rutger Bregman is reimagining utopia. The 28-year-old Dutch historian and author says we have all the ideas we need, including the 15-hour work week, open borders and a universal basic income
as a Social Crediter, i have no problem with a BUI, or a 15 hour working week! (my argument is why work so hard and produce so much toxic crap just to earn a few bucks when money is actually the easiest thing to produce) I am not so sure about open borders….
Did you get back into the DHB Andrew?
Hi Tracy,
No, I didn’t get back on the DHB board.
I had decided months ago that I wouldn’t be seeking re-election. Two days before close of nominations, a friend persuaded me to run. I was way behind in any effort at campaigning! I was putting up my posters the week prior to opening of voting. I missed the deadline for the newspaper inserts of the first voting weekend.
Also, I suffered injury in May last year and have had very little contact with the voting public. I hadn’t though lost contact with the people who have a finger on the pulse of individual and community health. My efforts were too little, too late!
I believe that the DHBs are very much controlled in what they can do – boards can’t do much about policies and must deliver the service which is funded by central government. We don’t just get the funding and have an opportunity to make fundamental changes. The fundamental changes I believe are needed are too revolutionary for the present system! We have a medical-care system, not a health-care system. With my preferred model, the medical staff, along with osteopaths, naturopaths, etc., would be there to moderate symptoms while other professionals such as ergonomists, motivators, designers, psychologists, counselors, etc advised on the changes necessary to deal with individual and collective problems, not just suppress symptoms.
Individuals and communities need to be aware of the causes of their problems and what to do about them. Symptom-suppressing medication may be necessary to keep people safe from further harm – eg blood pressure medication to prevent a stroke – while another model deals with the cause, then people can safely go back off their medication, having solved the underlying cause. The present model of DHBs has, I believe, very poor practical connection between cause and effect. We see stats which tell the same story, year after year, of high numbers of people suffering from “avoidable and preventable” illness such as cardio-vascular problems, obesity and diabetes, emotional problems, addictions, etc. Therefore, we have predicted stats of increasing illness over the coming years and decades. That problem of poor connection between cause and effect couldn’t be tolerated in any other arena. There was little indication of fundamental change on the DHB horizon so not being re-elected was not a major disappointment, from the perspective of success in the care of the health of individuals and communities.
Anyway, power to the people! Power comes from knowledge and resilience. People must be aware that raised blood pressure is not a “disease” but a symptom – a symptom perhaps of the chronic stress of work-issues, of making ends meet on a week-to-week basis, of rearing teenagers through difficult challenges, etc. There are many potential causes of raised blood pressure and medication is necessary to keep people safe but will not address the underlying cause!
Thanks for keeping in touch as we all do our best for our present generation and our descendants.
Carpe Diem.
Andrew