Although it will take this book to explore the mechanisms of this system, which I have named Juristical Democracy, in some detail, the essence of the system is simplicity itself, which is that the jury system that we already use to decide the guilt or innocence of individuals or corporate bodies should be applied to the lawmaking machinery of government itself. As we now put people and corporations on trial we should also put legislation on trial. The bills and legislation that are now decided by elected bodies should instead be put before a jury and be found worthy to be enacted into law or not, sent back to the sponsor to be modified or completely scrapped. The process that we now use in criminal trials of calling witnesses, or in this system, advocates, if you want to call them that, for the prosecution and defence, of cross-examination and rebuttal, with expert testimony on both sides, would be applied to the interrogation of the proposed bill or challenge to an existing law. This would, of course, profoundly alter the power dynamics of society in ways too numerous to fully predict and would be a risky leap into an uncertain future; but the future is uncertain now, is it not?
At this point in the history of the West it is becoming increasingly obvious that democracy has become a bit of a sham. Its main justification for existing, that government reflects the will of the majority of the people, is not borne out in reality, for as poll after poll and survey after survey show, there is an often great gulf between what the majority of the people want and what the people are in fact getting. After over two hundred years of practice too many interested parties have become far too skilled at bypassing the will of the majority and imposing their own vision on an often disagreeable populace who feel powerless to stop this process even when it is obvious to them. The present political landscape is a clown-car kabuki show of bad actors, con-men and a conflicting mass of interest groups trying to bribe or intimidate politicians into doing their bidding. The media has betrayed its historical mission of informing the public and has, with very few exceptions, thrown its lot in with the left-wing statists and corporate globalists. Our political class, indeed our elites in general, seem to increasingly be taking an openly hostile stance against their fellow citizens, actively seeming to favor citizens of other countries over the citizens of their own countries who have put them into office. They seem to take a perverse pride in coddling active enemies of their own countries and spitting in the faces of the people who have elected them. The media has become a threat to the very process of democracy itself, indulging in the with-holding of information that they have decided the people should not see. Our representatives cannot be trusted to do what they say and representative democracy selects for the greedy and power hungry. Juristical Democracy is designed to cut through all of these layers of obfuscation and bad-faith actors and return the decision making apparatus to ordinary people. It would bring the decision making processes out of the corporate boardrooms and the smoke-filled rooms of party-based politics down to the street level which is where the spirit of a proper democracy should live.
Shallow Seas are the most biologically rich and productive areas of the world ocean. This latest New Naturalist volume provides a natural history of this environment and its biological communities. The margins of the continents, especially broad in the North Atlantic region, are drowned by shallow seas, creating a sea floor environment which is part of the wider and deepening benthic realm the ecological region at the lowest level of a body of water such as an ocean or a lake, including the sediment surface and some sub-surface layers. These shelf seas are the most biologically rich and productive areas of the world ocean. In his latest New Naturalist volume, Peter Hayward addresses some aspects of the natural history of the benthic environment of the shelf seas of northwest Europe and its biological communities. Away from rocky coastlines the seafloor is rather flat, often muddy, beneath turbid water with low or no visibility. Benthic faunas mostly live within the sediment of the seafloor, or are sparsely and patchily distributed upon it, and if at all motile are likely to withdraw into burrows or move quickly away on disturbance. Yet, dredges and grabs reveal an often extraordinary diversity and density of animals, suggestive of complex interacting communities. This is not a textbook of marine benthic ecology, nor is it a comprehensive review of the benthic communities of the northwest European shelf seas. Rather, it describes the natural history of some benthic habitats and associations characteristic of our region.
Flora Y Fauna De Las Costas De España Y De Europa Chris Shields; Peter Hayward; Tony Nelson-Smith Guía de identificación que abarca las costas del Mediterráneo y del Atlántico, desde el cabo Norte hasta Gibraltar. Describe todas las especies de plantas y animales, con excepcion de las aves, que viven en las costas, desde las pleamares mas altas hasta cinco metros bajo el nivel del mar. Ideal para los aficionados al estudio de la vida en las costas.
Specifically designed for people with a diagnosis of schizophrenia, their care-givers, friends and family, Coping with Schizophrenia is an empowering book that sensitively combines factual information with advice and encouragement. Drawing on the very latest research as well as their own extensive clinical experience, doctors Jones and Hayward present the facts of the condition, including definitions and symptoms, the truth (or not) behind common myths, advice on dealing with professionals, medication and its effectiveness, the benefits of cognitive therapy, and much, much more. The result is a uniquely informative and positive book that covers an enormous range of issues and offers those living with schizophrenia the opportunity to play a decisive role in managing and maintaining their own well-being.