Author name: Christopher

Christopher Titmuss, a former Buddhist monk in Thailand and India, teaches Awakening and Insight Meditation around the world. He is the founder and director of the Dharma Facilitators Programme and the Living Dharma programme, an online mentor programme for Dharma practitioners. He gives retreats, participates in pilgrimages (yatras) and leads Dharma gatherings. Christopher has been teaching annual retreats in Bodh Gaya, India since 1975 and leads an annual Dharma Gathering in Sarnath since 1999. A senior Dharma teacher in the West, he is the author of numerous books including Light on Enlightenment, An Awakened Life and Transforming Our Terror. A campaigner for peace and other global issues, Christopher is a member of the international advisory council of the Buddhist Peace Fellowship. . Poet and writer, he is the co-founder of Gaia House, an international retreat centre in Devon, England. He lives in Totnes, Devon, England.

Democracy. Democracy. Where are Art Thou? Parliament needs levelling up

UK often boasts of its commitment to fair play. Fair play has become a claim of our national psyche.  Democracy and the election process seems far removed from fair play. Parliament stands as one of our oldest institutions.

Like other institutions, Parliament prefers living in the past rather than the present.

What’s fair about living under the control of a two-party state?

  • The Conservative Party received 13.9 million votes with 365 seats in the 2019 general election.
  • The Liberal-Democrat Party received 3.7 million votes and have 13 seats.
  • This means that the Conservative Party has 28 times as many seats as the Liberal Democrats while only getting four times as many votes.
  • The Labour Party received 10.2 million votes with 202 seats.
  • The Green Party received 860,000 votes in the last general election and have a single seat in Parliament.
  • This means the Labour received 12 times as many votes as the Green Party but have 202 times as many seats.
  • Green Party devotes its policies in its manifesto to a sustainable world for people, creatures and the environment.
  • The Green Party MP needs to be in the Cabinet and have an important voice in Parliament.

 Information on the British Parliamentary System for those who live outside the UK

The Prime Minister is the leader of the Government. He or she is the leader of the party that wins the most seats at a general election. After a general election, the Queen calls upon the leader of the largest party to form the Government. The Prime Minister, whose residence and offices at 10 Downing Street, chooses 22 Ministers from his Party to run the Government.

The Party Leader achieves his office as head of the government after winning most seats at the general election out of the 650 Parliamentary seats available.

British politics lives under the control of two parties with other parties in the British Parliament marginalised. This system of control takes place through the refusal of the two main Parties to reject proportional representation of number of MPs roughly parallel to the number of votes given to a party with a minimum of 5% votes from the electorate to win a seat.

Will the system change?

Odds are 200-1 against change.

Democracy. Democracy. Where are Art Thou? Parliament needs levelling up Read More »

The Personality/Psychology of Boris Johnson. Does he show signs of being traumatised? Is he a victim of domestic violence? An Analysis

Background to this analysis. In recent weeks, I watched Prime Minister’s Question Time on BBC television or YouTube. I felt an increasing concern for Boris Johnson. I witnessed his agitated reactions to Sir Keir Starmer, the Leader of the Opposition, a lawyer and former head of the Crown Prosecution Service. …

The Personality/Psychology of Boris Johnson. Does he show signs of being traumatised? Is he a victim of domestic violence? An Analysis Read More »

‘It’s so stressful not knowing anything about what will happen and its creating anxiety in my system.’ Six Signs of Stress. Six Short-Term Steps and Six Long-Term Steps to take. A Mindful Application

‘It’s so stressful not knowing anything about what will happen and its creating anxiety in my system.’ Six Signs of Stress. Six Short-Term Steps and Six Long-Term Steps to take. A Mindful Application Read More »

Tom Petty. American singer. ‘I’m Learning to Fly, but I Ain’t got Wings.’ Oh Yes.

I experienced a lovely reminder of experience without choice in December 2021. A song of the late Tom Petty (October 1950 – October 2017), an American singer and songwriter resonated deeply. I did not experience a choice for it to resonate deeply. …

Tom Petty. American singer. ‘I’m Learning to Fly, but I Ain’t got Wings.’ Oh Yes. Read More »

Mindfulness of the Sacred. Ten Examples of Contact with the Sacred

We can experience a sense of the sacred in various times and places through the application of a dedicated mindfulness.

Mindfulness of the sacred offers much nourishment and joy to our daily life. …

Mindfulness of the Sacred. Ten Examples of Contact with the Sacred Read More »

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