Sometimes our ‘saints’ need to be disrobed. 

Gunter Grass, awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1999, has recently admitted to serving in the Waffen-SS during the last days of World War Two.  This story is being dressed up as exposing Grass as a hypocrite.  I argue that the story is does nothing of the sort.  But it does contain the spectacle of another, similarly moustachioed Central European 20^th Century living ‘saint’ inadvertently flashing the gallery the some of the more vulgar parts of his character.  This post is not about the revelations volunteered by Grass, but the reaction of Lech Walesa to this stone being ploughed to the surface.

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I approach the question of the Monarchy from the following position; [1] if the Queen has no power, then, when we adopt a republican political system there is no pressing constitutional need to replace her.  Or; [2] if the Queen has power, then our primary democratic duty is to republicanise Britain.

I am angled to incline towards [1] being the case.  And for me, under the conditions of [1], I still feel the need to remove the powerless Queen. 

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Efficiency is a relative measure.  What is efficient differs depending on position and ontology; what objects are considered inputs and outputs, and how are these weighted in the judgement of efficiency.  

Regardless, we do tend to regard efficiency as an objective, unarguable good.  Who can argue against an increase in efficiency?  This is the rhetorical question that is asked whenever workers oppose measures to increase their productivity.  But the efficiency being considered here is organisational efficiency, investor efficiency or proprietor efficiency.  These are not, necessarily the same as worker efficiency.  Superficially, it does appear that we are discussing worker efficiency in these disputes.  But that demands that we understand workers as being mere tools, machines without subjective position, and such would be a totalitarian understanding.   

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