Alf on Politics

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By early 2011, I had become rather disenchanted with many political leaders, their sponsors and the vast bureaucracies of central, local and European government administration. For me, political leaders seemed increasingly long on words and short on action. Despite enormous political, social and economic challenges, it was hard to see demonstrable leadership, with politicians of all colours putting their sponsors first and frequently blocking rational political decisions. I was especially passionate about the austerity debate, and favoured Keynesian interventions to stimulate investment.

Reflecting back over my life, when I was younger, in say my twenties, I really struggled to understand politics, especially in the United States. Four decades later, with experience of life, and far greater access to political analysis – especially on blogs and micro blogs (like Twitter), I have developed a passionate interest in politics.

2011 was a watershed for me in many ways. For the first time in my life I got so angry with politicians that I started to share my own views on the political stories of the time. Twitter helped me keep on top of the political news and I was able to use my weekly blog to share my two cents worth of analysis.

As I reflect, let me try to capture in a few words some of my political beliefs:

Libertarian, rather than authoritarian
Internationalist and Pro-Europe
Right of centre , favouring strongly individualism compared to state
Strongly anti-bureaucracy, favouring small government
Pro democracy
Anti corruption
Pro Keynesian and anti monetarist (I favour a belt & braces approach with sound monetary policy, good fiscal discipline but leaving room for state intervention where necessary)
Pro Monarchist