Hello there, my name is Paul Booker. Thank you for visiting my website.

I'm interested in left-wing politics and am currently exploring what could go into a left-wing manifesto in the next general election.

I would be interested in manifesto commitments that would allow all working families to live a good life free from the worry of losing their home, free from the worry of sending their children to bed hungry, cold, etc. etc. To this end, I would like to see a [lot] more money available year-on-year to spend locally, raised by a tax on the extreme wealth of millionaires [*] and billionaires (like the Duke of Westminster) and the dismantling of the Death Star that is the Department for Work and Pensions (Basic income?). All student debt [**] should be null and void and any money collected on the debt given back to the student or their family. Lastly, all cremations and burials [**] should be provided by the state for free.

[*] If you have one million pounds of wealth, that could create a passive income of £50,000 ! I think most working people would consider that to be enough wealth. That's enough wealth to never work again and to live comfortably anywhere in the country. I would be advocating for a wealth tax of 100% for wealth over a billion pounds and a wealth tax of over 90% for any wealth over a million pounds, on a sliding scale.

[**] These are both effectively a tax on working families.

THIS IS YOUR PARTY

I'm currently an unemployed 50 something. If you would like to employ me to do something that you think would be a good use of my time, please get in touch at [email protected].

[Last revised: August 2025]

THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT - PLEASE WATCH

Interesting things I have watched or listened to recently:

Simon Schama’s Story of Us | A lot of interesting material covered including: Empire Windrush & The Beatles, "Going, Going" by Philip Larkin and the funny (but sinister) The Cheviot the Stag and the Black Black Oil.

Here are my thoughts on climate breakdown and the future of work (May, 2023)

Where we are now

It is no longer possible to reverse the damage that is now being done to the climate of our only home — planet Earth. Even if we all stopped burning fossil fuels today, it wouldn't make any difference. It is no longer possible to do something that will prevent runaway climate breakdown and the 6th mass extinction of life on Earth! This civilization is now finished!! The amount of carbon dioxide we are putting into the atmosphere today is still increasing. It has been increasing since the industrial revolution. Over the last 30 years, it has not just been increasing, we have been putting carbon dioxide (and other greenhouse gases) into the atmosphere at a faster and faster and faster rate!!! This is now resulting in the irreversible heating of our planet from positive feedback loops like the melting of snow and ice in the polar regions [*] and the abrupt thawing of permafrost in the Arctic [**]. These and other irreversible changes to our climate (which are happening now) will ensure that our planet will now only ever get hotter and hotter and hotter for the lifetime of people alive today. The UK reached 40C last year in some parts of the country for the first time in recorded history (probably for the first time in millions of years). This year it is going to be hotter than last year. We already have the hottest June on record! (There may be other records broken since June) Next year it will be hotter again. It has been getting hotter year after year (after year) for the last 20 years!

Food shortages are coming soon, followed by the breakdown of law and order. More people will be on the move around the world looking for food, water and safety for their families. We will then probably enter a long period of instability with wars between nation states and nation states breaking down followed by ..

What we should do as individuals

At a minimum, all working people should have the right to direct their labor towards making their local communities more resilient for the future, i.e. growing food, planting trees, recycling, etc. If you are currently in a job that is directly contributing to climate and ecological breakdown (which definitely does not help your family or local communities), you should decide whether you should remove your labor (or have your labor removed) or actively work against tasks that are performed while carrying out your job that are impacting the environment.

What we should do as a society

Ideally, it would be good if everyone who wanted to could remove their labor on the grounds of not wanting to do harm to the environment. If you can’t do good for your local community, you should at the very least be able to do no harm. There should be a basic income for all that want to remove their labour, which should be paid for by a tax on wealth created from (or associated with) the burning of fossil fuels, wealth that was made from destroying our planet.

What I am going to do

In the not-too-distant future (if we don't go immediately to nuclear Armageddon), I hope to eventually find work that will be of value to my local community, that could be helping with growing food, planting trees, etc. In the era of (accelerating) climate breakdown, there should be full employment with everyone working to make their local community self-sufficient. I hope to find opportunities to talk about these ideas with other people in my community, and investigate how to get more involved with climate activism.

I would like to suggest that we should all consider the following when thinking about work:

The breakdown of our climate and the destruction of the natural world was not caused by ordinary working people.
Removing your labor can be a moral response to climate and ecological breakdown.
A basic income should be provided for anyone who wants to remove their labor as a moral response to climate and ecological breakdown. This should be paid for by a tax on wealth created from (or benefiting from) the burning of fossil fuels.

UPDATE

I believe we only have a few years before there is a breakdown of society.

In the future, I may decide to participate in nonviolent civil resistance to demand the UK Government stop licensing new oil, gas and coal projects.

UPDATE

Global levels of carbon dioxide risen at their quickest rate in 2024 [BBC (17th January 2025)]

[*] with less snow and ice in the polar regions, less radiation (heat) from the sun is reflected into space, and more radiation is absorbed by our oceans

[**] releasing more greenhouse gases (including methane) into the atmosphere, capturing more heat from the sun

Here are my thoughts on raising taxes (money) for public services. [3rd draft|NOT FINISHED|GROWING WEALTH INEQUALITY?]

The way we should raise money for public services is to first determine what public services we all need and then raise the money for these services through taxes where citizens with the most wealth contribute the most (on a sliding scale). We should not decide how much in taxes should be raised and then decide how to spend the money, as we would always raise too little money and then have to waste a lot of time and energy deciding how to spend the money.

The next thing to consider is that money is a convenient fiction that we have created. Money is not "real". You are real. Your family are real. Your community is real. Our planet Earth and everything living on this planet is real. Money is not real. When we say we want to raise money to fund the public services that we all need, all we are really saying is that we want to organize our society so that power and resources are redistributed so that the public services that we all need are available to everyone. When Hitler was invading Europe, our country didn't say, "We can't resist Hitler because we don't have the money". We just decided as a country to resist, and reorganized our industries and priorities so that the nation's resources were directed to the singular aim of resisting. Again, after the war, our country didn't say, "We can't rebuild our towns and cities because we don't have the money". We just decided as a country to rebuild. We could do the same in managing all of our public services, and in transitioning away from fossil fuels, etc.

In this way of thinking, there is still room for individuals to acquire power and resources. It is just that personal wealth cannot be acquired to the detriment of anyone and everyone.

Money is not subject to immutable physical laws like gravity, it is just an elaborate game we have created subject to arbitrary rules that people can change. It is just a game. A game of power and resources.

When talking about our public services, we need to stop talking about money and talk about power and resources. We can build a society with all the public services everyone needs. There is nothing stopping us, certainly not money!