Dear Sir/Madam,

The real blame for the Potters Bar rail accident lies not with any particular individual or company, but with values and attitudes that we all share and are so much a part modern British society and its economy that we take them for granted. Thus, their corruptness is not recognised, even when pointed out by someone, like myself, with a little more "uncommon sense" than most (Errors, not vandals, blamed for disaster in damning report, 30 May 2003).

We live in a society in which the dominant idea of "success" is to make a lot of money, to become a celebrity of one sort or another (a film or sports star, or a best-selling author, perhaps), to inherit a fortune, or to win the lottery jackpot. Anyone actually having to work for their money by making an essential contribution to society (policemen, nurses and railway maintenance workers, for example,), must do so for a relative pittance which, consciously or not, must make them feel and appear to others more-or-less as social failures. The media is much to blame, of course, for the way they cultivate and disseminate these rotten values and attitudes, but they are there already, in all of us, a part of our primitive, more animal than human nature.

Considering the lack of credit (except as lip service) given to such vital jobs as railway maintenance, the Potters Bar rail accident is hardly surprising. On the contrary, it is symptomatic of a society breaking down even as it develops, because so many of the values and attitudes on which it is based are rotten. The Tube, of course, and the railways in general, are other obvious examples, as is the general state of our country. And not just our country. It's the whole damned world! And damned it is, if it will not learn a little "uncommon sense" from those with some to offer.

I sent you an email on the 20th May about the need for a "maximum wage" (in response to an article on fat cat payouts), but I suppose it got lost amongst all your other mail. Rather than repeat in detail what I wrote, here is a link to it: The need for a "maximum wage".

We must, if we care about today's children and coming generations, create a radically different society (and economy) to what we have at present, and be quick about it. Which means REVOLUTION!

The Marxist approach to revolution was terribly misconceived, and what a price our parents, grandparents and great grandparents paid . . . ! John Lennon had the right idea, but as far as I know he didn't elaborate on it. Saying (or singing) "all you need is love", unfortunately, is not enough. We have to know what to DO, and what NOT to do, and why, and how to go about it.

No ONE can save the world, because what each of us does (or does not do) is just a tiny drop in the proverbial ocean, but if some of us start to ACT as if we could, others might follow our example and - who knows? - eventually it may prove enough to actually save the world. I know it is often said jokingly, but the world really does need saving - from US! From what we are doing to it, plundering it and disrupting its climate and life-supporting ecosystems. We have got ourselves into such a mess that very few people are able or prepared to face up to it. And the worse things look, the deeper we are inclined to bury our heads in the sand. 

But personally, even if I cannot do anything to prevent the approaching catastrophe, I'd rather die with my head out of the sand. And maybe, just maybe, by facing up to it ourselves, others will be encouraged to do the same, perhaps enough to avert the catastrophe, or at least to reduce its impact and improve our (or our descendents) chances of survival and recovery.

Obviously, for those who persist, knowingly or unknowingly, on keeping their heads in the sand (which in the modern world might take on a million different forms and look very different, perhaps the very opposite, to what it actually is), I am wasting my breath, but for those with ears not completely clogged with sand, I have some important things to say, on my homepage at www.spaceship-earth.org.