If you could influence.............

Societal inequalities & the distribution of wealth?

(Dreamer, you're nothing but a dreamer...).

G

Global warming and a clean water supply for all.

Well if Germany does decide to influence international issues more I rather hope it uses more benign tactics than it did in the previous century.

Back to the question, I'd go for

(i) tackling religious hatred: a source of too many wars and conflicts and

(ii) greater protection for threatened species: they have as much right to this planet as we do  

Well, I'd like to see your Cameron's and your Obama's of this world STOP trying to influence international issues.

Hi Don -

If I was being being objective, and thinking globally about the two biggest problems we face as a species, it would have to be 1) climate change (pollution, deforestation, rising sea levels, etc.), and 2) social inequalities (leading to poverty, war, religious fanaticism, epidemics, etc.).

But since you emphasized the word "you", I think more about causes that tug at my personal heart strings, or fire my own imagination. So how about one of each...

First, I would end the abuse of children and helpless animals. Second, I would reinvest heavily in space exploration. Is there any doubt we are going to need to colonize another planet in order to ensure the survival of the species?

ATB.

Hook

If there were two things that I would like to see reduced it would be the human pollution, - with all expedition but not by euthanasia - and countries like the UK and the USA assuming that they have the slightest capacity to improve World Affairs by Military Intervention ...

The Second is humanly possible, but the first will only be achieved naturally and with incredibly tragic consequences.

ATB from George

 I would make walking around town wearing shorts, sandals, a rugby shirt with the collar turned up and sunglasses perched on the head a capital offence. This would of course reduce or eliminate the UK population of braying yahoos.

I would force all advocates of neoliberal exonomics, be they politicians, business people, commentators or thinktankers into the stocks, there to sit and be pelted with rotten fruit by the public for a period of at least six months. The benefits here should be obvious.

My reserve options, should one or both of these prove impractical, would be the return of compulsory Latin in schools; and the banning of all supehero and elf films, with restraining orders put on Peter Jackson, James Cameron, Michael Bay and Guy Ritchie to prevent them making more "movies". The benefit here is that the standard of cinema would rise by many orders of magnitude.

As well as that, a law to prevent men removing their tops other than on the beach or at a swimming pool would be a big step forward. Such a law would not be needed in France or Italy, as they know the meaning of appropriate dress.

In the UK, once the temperature gets above 25 degrees, men take their shirts off all over town (and sometimes jump into fountains). It is bloody disgusting. When I asked why, the only answer I was given was that it doesn't get warm very often. A truly strange answer. I've never seen this behaviour anywhere else.

1) Access to education for all, and ideally this should be run by the stat not by religious organisations (I have never understood why schools have religious affiliations).

Broader access to education will liberate the developing world in future generations. It is education that will lead to popultaion control, better economies and democracy.

2) Access for all developing nations to systematic childhood vaccinations programmes-and as a spin off a network of community health worker clinics to deliver them. Such networks could have intervened in the Ebola crisis at village level for example to disseminate information and enact good practice.

Small change - 5p,10p,1p what have you, and in any currency has been with us since money as a medium has been used. I hate small change and always feel like I am using something from a bygone age when handing over a bag of pennies to change up in a bank. So 1. Change all money to a totally virtual medium. This would help developing 3rd world countries by introducing a stable technological standard and maybe help the distribution of wealth in our capitalist cultures.

Esoteric rites of passage, baptism of denomination,weddings and funerals and other forms of personal and state religious artefacts all seem to exist in a murky mushroom.  So 2.  A logical and understanding approach to demystifying the tenuous link that people have with religion without discrediting its influence ,Would be beneficial. !