Michael Bassey

I did not buy this book... and no, I am not a shoplifter; it was acquired legally, as a reward for joining a magazine's subscription list. It is a book which I probably wouldn't have shelled out my impecunious funds to own and, that would have been a mistake. This book looks at the idea of convivial policies for a world in which oil is no longer the power.

I would not say that every word agrees with my belief as to where we are headed. Mr Bassey thinks that bicycles will become the norm in terms of transportation whilst I am sure that electric, hydrogen, or some power source of which I am yet to become aware, will fill the gap.

In other areas too, it is difficult to see how transition would be made from an acquisition based society to a convivial one. Ownership has been the driving force behind societies improvements, as well as some of its worst traits. Having said this, however, there is much to commend some movement in this direction: the current British government seems to operate on a system that knows the cost of everything but the value of nothing. Large corporations seem to have control over the path that the future will take without being concerned beyond today's profit. We know that burning all the oil reserves of which we are currently aware, would cause temperature increase beyond the level at which the human race will be sustained and yet, the prospect of a big bonus payment today, wipes away the worries.

Michael Bassey has some great ideas as to how our political system should be organised and about balancing media bias. He has some superb ideas about how we should be educating our children. The main thing missing, is any idea as to how we get from here to there. I am convinced that Mr Bassey's is a better world than this, but the establishment only attracts, and never releases power, without a fight, which seems to have been sapped from the average voter.

You will see from the above, that I am sadly unconvinced that these changes will come about, but I challenge any sane reader to find fault with the desire.… (mais)