[BA] - Home Affairs Manifesto
Day 1,839, 13:48
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Published in United Kingdom 
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by
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by BigAnt
[BA] - Home Affairs Manifesto
Greetings again eUK, today I will be outlining my second article for my candidacy. This article further expands my idea and vision for our future Home Affairs Department, NHS, IRC, Forums, Economy and CS system. Below are my previous articles:
[BigAnt] Country Presidency Campaign
So moving on - UKPP/NE and WRP have now officially backed me in game, so I want to firstly thank them for this support. We all share the same view of new direction and I hope to send the eUK in the correct direction over the coming month.
I want to remind you all that Minister positions are OPEN so please apply if interested. Mail Me Direct to apply(bottom are positions open)
Home Affairs:
The Home Affairs department has been very quiet this month and that's natural after such a good month. But I want to install some new motivation into the department for the coming month and get back that active presence we once had.
So to break it down I plan a few things for this department under my tenure these are the following:
More Competitions on Forums/In Game: We have had successful and unsuccessful games on the forums. But never in game? why not 90% of the population don't bother using the forums and we are missing the mass audience here. I plan to set-up more games and competitions within game, with equally handsome prizes and rewards for those that take part.
Financial Guides: OK, we have hammered the nation with copy & paste guides and advice. Now I want some real time financial information available for the population. What companies to invest in? When is the best time? What sort of return will you see on investments etc.
Podcast: I was so impressed by the recent Podcast that I want to promote the continued use of it. But also promote it more often, even making a weekly section for regular listeners.
These changes I feel will boost activity in game and get more two-clickers involved and maybe even pull them onto IRC etc. This is the future for us, we are a small unit growing stronger - now we just need increase our numbers and be massive
NHS - The Ministry of Health
NHS is a difficult and very demanding job to do, I've been and got the t-shirt and spent countless hours supplying and mailing trying to keep new players happy and informed. However the current system we use, which is split into two makes the job even harder and more time consuming.
I plan to cut the NHS MU completely. In my eyes now its a dead MU - no activity no real communication. New players joining need to join active MU's with supplies and a place to chat and ask questions and get answers the current system fails to achieve this.
Cutting NHS MU will mean..
New players join existing MU's
- They receive more supplies/weapons.
- A Fair system for all MU's to recruit new players.
- They can see active players talking, giving advice.
- They have a sense of real pride fighting amongst strong hitters.
- They aspire to become "God of War".
HOWEVER the NHS WILL REMAIN
It will be a source for players under level 29 to continue receiving additional support and it will be sent from a Gdoc system which means these players claiming can join any MU, any Party and still receive 500 wellness daily, but also we can monitor it easier.
IRC/Forums
The current Forums and IRC are promoted as being "official" for the eUK, this is only the case because existing and current CP's support it. Now I don't want to turn my back on these locations of communication but I, like many others are very worried at the way they are run on a daily basis. For example I received this mail 1hr before writing this article...
The #eUK should be a free room for anyone, with any opinion (freedom of speech) to be able to speak their opinions. However at times this is not the case. I plan to sit down with those who run the Forums and IRC and thrash a deal to make them a more open and fair place to chat. If not, then we will be forced to start a fresh - but I must stress I would want to avoid that and I hope those running the IRC and Forums share my feelings that these must remain "Official" but also Fair and open at all costs.
Minster of Finance:
I will echo it again Carlini is doing a fantastic job and is arguably the best MoF I've ever seen. Fishing for Gold in the MM is are only other source of real income other then taxes and I would continue this format to help fund further projects within the UK. I want to also improve guides for people wanting to invest in their own companies and futures. What are the best options for you? These questions need to be addressed.
Taxes: I touched on this in my first article so here is the depth behind my thinking.
Currently our tax percentages for both Food and Weapons are as follows:
VAT 10% - Weapons (REDUCE to 7
VAT 10% - Food (REDUCE to 7
Income Tax 5% - Weapons (REDUCE to 1
Income Tax 5% - Food (REDUCE to 1
Income taxis completely pointless and raises very little so why cause more pain of our young workers? I want to reduce this to 1% So our population who are already hurting from the poor economy module can take a little more home.
VAT, However does raise cash for the government, but again our daily income is so low we are hurting those who want invest in companies etc. They is a careful balance here and so the reduce I want is small but a step in the right direction.
CS System
The system of granting people access to the eUK has changed recently and the congress have the power of how it is run. But we must ensure the system works and works well. Failure to do so will result in the eUK becoming a PTO target for our enemies, so the system must achieve several basic laws of being accountability So my MoLA will be posting a weekly article about which citizens have been accepted/rejected into the country.
This achieves a number of things:
Accountability - We can show which Congressman are giving out CS passes and the population can judge for themselves if certain individuals/parties are respecting the common law of eUK, Keep us safe.
Transparency - The nation can see how the system is working, who we are accepting and we can monitor the actions of new citizens to prevent future PTO risks.
tl;dr Version
Home Affairs: - More Games/Competitions (in game) - Financial Guides for those wanting to invest - Podcast - Continue Mentoring.
NHS: - Cut NHS MU - promote new players to existing active MU's for better supplies - Continue Supplying under 29's with Gdoc system.
IRC/Forums: - Either Change current system or make a new one - More balance of moderators - Freedom of speech in IRC channel #eUk!
MoF: - Help MoHA with new guides - Continue MM Fishing - Reduce Taxes!
CS System: have MoLA set-up a new article to give more accountability and transparency for those congress letting new citizens in eUK.
- Sorry its long, But I offer some real changes for the UK. If you STILL disagree with that.. Well you are in the minority of people who want everything to remain the same.
Thanks For Reading
BigAnt
Option of change.
Greetings again eUK, today I will be outlining my second article for my candidacy. This article further expands my idea and vision for our future Home Affairs Department, NHS, IRC, Forums, Economy and CS system. Below are my previous articles:
[BigAnt] Country Presidency Campaign
So moving on - UKPP/NE and WRP have now officially backed me in game, so I want to firstly thank them for this support. We all share the same view of new direction and I hope to send the eUK in the correct direction over the coming month.
I want to remind you all that Minister positions are OPEN so please apply if interested. Mail Me Direct to apply(bottom are positions open)
Home Affairs:
The Home Affairs department has been very quiet this month and that's natural after such a good month. But I want to install some new motivation into the department for the coming month and get back that active presence we once had.
So to break it down I plan a few things for this department under my tenure these are the following:
More Competitions on Forums/In Game: We have had successful and unsuccessful games on the forums. But never in game? why not 90% of the population don't bother using the forums and we are missing the mass audience here. I plan to set-up more games and competitions within game, with equally handsome prizes and rewards for those that take part.
Financial Guides: OK, we have hammered the nation with copy & paste guides and advice. Now I want some real time financial information available for the population. What companies to invest in? When is the best time? What sort of return will you see on investments etc.
Podcast: I was so impressed by the recent Podcast that I want to promote the continued use of it. But also promote it more often, even making a weekly section for regular listeners.
These changes I feel will boost activity in game and get more two-clickers involved and maybe even pull them onto IRC etc. This is the future for us, we are a small unit growing stronger - now we just need increase our numbers and be massive
😃
NHS - The Ministry of Health
NHS is a difficult and very demanding job to do, I've been and got the t-shirt and spent countless hours supplying and mailing trying to keep new players happy and informed. However the current system we use, which is split into two makes the job even harder and more time consuming.
I plan to cut the NHS MU completely. In my eyes now its a dead MU - no activity no real communication. New players joining need to join active MU's with supplies and a place to chat and ask questions and get answers the current system fails to achieve this.
Cutting NHS MU will mean..
New players join existing MU's
- They receive more supplies/weapons.
- A Fair system for all MU's to recruit new players.
- They can see active players talking, giving advice.
- They have a sense of real pride fighting amongst strong hitters.
- They aspire to become "God of War".
HOWEVER the NHS WILL REMAIN
🙂
It will be a source for players under level 29 to continue receiving additional support and it will be sent from a Gdoc system which means these players claiming can join any MU, any Party and still receive 500 wellness daily, but also we can monitor it easier.
IRC/Forums
The current Forums and IRC are promoted as being "official" for the eUK, this is only the case because existing and current CP's support it. Now I don't want to turn my back on these locations of communication but I, like many others are very worried at the way they are run on a daily basis. For example I received this mail 1hr before writing this article...
The #eUK should be a free room for anyone, with any opinion (freedom of speech) to be able to speak their opinions. However at times this is not the case. I plan to sit down with those who run the Forums and IRC and thrash a deal to make them a more open and fair place to chat. If not, then we will be forced to start a fresh - but I must stress I would want to avoid that and I hope those running the IRC and Forums share my feelings that these must remain "Official" but also Fair and open at all costs.
Minster of Finance:
I will echo it again Carlini is doing a fantastic job and is arguably the best MoF I've ever seen. Fishing for Gold in the MM is are only other source of real income other then taxes and I would continue this format to help fund further projects within the UK. I want to also improve guides for people wanting to invest in their own companies and futures. What are the best options for you? These questions need to be addressed.
Taxes: I touched on this in my first article so here is the depth behind my thinking.
Currently our tax percentages for both Food and Weapons are as follows:
VAT 10% - Weapons (REDUCE to 7
😵
VAT 10% - Food (REDUCE to 7
😵
Income Tax 5% - Weapons (REDUCE to 1
😵
Income Tax 5% - Food (REDUCE to 1
😵
Income taxis completely pointless and raises very little so why cause more pain of our young workers? I want to reduce this to 1% So our population who are already hurting from the poor economy module can take a little more home.
VAT, However does raise cash for the government, but again our daily income is so low we are hurting those who want invest in companies etc. They is a careful balance here and so the reduce I want is small but a step in the right direction.
CS System
The system of granting people access to the eUK has changed recently and the congress have the power of how it is run. But we must ensure the system works and works well. Failure to do so will result in the eUK becoming a PTO target for our enemies, so the system must achieve several basic laws of being accountability So my MoLA will be posting a weekly article about which citizens have been accepted/rejected into the country.
This achieves a number of things:
Accountability - We can show which Congressman are giving out CS passes and the population can judge for themselves if certain individuals/parties are respecting the common law of eUK, Keep us safe.
Transparency - The nation can see how the system is working, who we are accepting and we can monitor the actions of new citizens to prevent future PTO risks.
tl;dr Version
Home Affairs: - More Games/Competitions (in game) - Financial Guides for those wanting to invest - Podcast - Continue Mentoring.
NHS: - Cut NHS MU - promote new players to existing active MU's for better supplies - Continue Supplying under 29's with Gdoc system.
IRC/Forums: - Either Change current system or make a new one - More balance of moderators - Freedom of speech in IRC channel #eUk!
MoF: - Help MoHA with new guides - Continue MM Fishing - Reduce Taxes!
CS System: have MoLA set-up a new article to give more accountability and transparency for those congress letting new citizens in eUK.
- Sorry its long, But I offer some real changes for the UK. If you STILL disagree with that.. Well you are in the minority of people who want everything to remain the same.
Thanks For Reading
BigAnt
Option of change.
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Comments
BA 4 CP
4 Real Change
BA 4 CP
4 Real Change x2
UKPP \o/
Bang Tidy!
I am glad you support 1% income tax which is currently in the UKPP policy. I personally think that VAT should be reduced down to 5%, but perhaps, in that case we'd remain without MPPs 🙂
Whoa, VAT decrease? Good luck with everything else buddy, but I'll do all I can to fight that. I've worked hard to secure our financial future but that would put us on a downward spiral with costs outstripping revenue.
BA 4 CP
4 real change
1. You can't seriously expect to lower taxes when we're already running a deficit on MPPs alone?
2. The problem of citizenship has never been that articles aren't released in game (you can already see who was let in ingame if you're genuinely interested), rather, that congressmen can't be asked reading the statute book or simply asking if an application can be let in. It's either ignorance or laziness
BA 4 CP
4 Real Change x4
You have my vote already in the bag Big Ant
3. Summoning the forum admins over an unrecorded incident on IRC and berating them because of a nameless message; with some idea that you're going to carve out a new method of communication from it, is outrageous. Sure, I'd welcome the opportunity to have a process of discussion about how we should run things as a community - but you can't seriously expect to completely restructure everything on the back of 'power abuse' that hasn't even been assessed
4. I think more financial guides can only be a good thing, but I'm sure this isn't a unique policy. Coupled with tax decreases it sounds out a very confused economic message
5. What do you mean by 'balance of moderators?' Are you going to try executively appointing a few of your own?
6. Cutting the NHS MU and turning them away to private militias takes away the guaranteed safety net that has kept the NHS strong since I founded it. What we need to do is face up to the reality that we can't afford it, and cut it to at least level 25. Supplies should be reduced to the original 400/day - we should face up to the reality that we can barely afford our MPPs, let alone the NHS (and this will only get worse with tax cuts)
7. More forum games would be fun, cheers. Prolly the best thing in there, but it's no 'New Era'
I want to know if the current citizenship committee will continue personally, it's only been a few days but so far we've been organised and efficient. What are your plans regarding this? I do like the idea of a MoLA article once a week but have to agree with MI and Talon on VAT
BA 4 CP
4 Real Change x5
wow ... didn't take long for a 'irc/forum fossil' to try and take your policies apart, did it?
http://www.erepublik.com/en/citizen/profile/2925455, the incident is not "unrecorded" and neither is it anonymous. I gave big ant permission to use my mail to him and he witheld my name out of decency. What I find "outrageous" is that less than 24 hours ago you were plying me with freebies to get me onside and now that I fell foul of what can only be described as an appalling behaviour by children who should not be trusted with the responsibility, you automatically poo-poo it. Way to go "buddy"
Minecrafting instead - if you genuinely believe that the current irc system is how you think the uk should be represented in erep then you must be used to a completely different definition of "professional" than the rest of us and I have no qualms in saying - as a new player - it's crap. You may disagree but I respectfully discount your opinion because you have - thus far - demonstrated a complete lack of objectivity.
Lol not long at all Neil 😃
and 5butjam - I like the current system and will give it time to breath - if it works great, if not im not afraid to make further changes
@Appleby - Making Financial Guides and Decreasing Tax? Why is that confusing - Im not playing no power card, that's why we have congress. And cutting the NHS MU is a must now, sorry but alot of new players are missing out daily.
Hello. Do you seriously think any of your policies will work?
I send anyone who messages me starting out on the game with freebies, I'm not trying to coerce you into anything and I haven't even seen you on IRC yet
You haven't spoken to the admins or other moderators about what happened and haven't allowed the correct mechanism for this sort of thing to come into play. Politicising the event is a recipe for polarising the matter rather than trying to resolve it
Unfortunately this game is not professional and neither is the UK government reflecting it.
IRC is used because of it's universal accessibility and easiness. Discrediting the method itself is missing the actual point.
BigAnt- Making guides on financial sensibility whilst cutting taxes on a budget that's already on a chronic deficit sends out a very mixed message. Namely, if the government can't hope to balance it's books - how can it expect people to take it seriously when it tries to tell them how to balance theirs?
On the NHS - I agree it's fundamentally needed to help new players start out on the game, that's why I made it. However, we can only divert resources up to a point, and heavily subsiding it on a non-existent fund is simply condemning latter generations to an empty Bank of England.
Our responsibility to new players exists in the long term as well as the short term. I hope you haven't forgotten this
Rather bemused at the VAT cut.
The current Gov is losing money..... Most do
Its people pumping money in that keeps boat afloat (Keers)
And you cannot lecture me on accounts, I was CP AND MoF for my term to start and had to clear the debts we had then.
If you accept the government is loosing money then how could you possibly defend tax cuts and increased NHS spending?
We can't as a nation rely on donators. I've donated around 250k in the past 6 months alone, and I'm running out of money. An empty Bank of England not only condemns the new players you claim to be supporting but also the entire nation as a hole.
Claiming your experience as CP and MoF as a defense of your economic policy, w/o addressing the points, is not a useful debate.
I would argue that the several MoFs and CPs here that have raised questions over your financial policies would outweigh your own ability and experience in this area of the game completely. It is demonstrated by the fact we haven't heard a single logical argument in their defence
When did I say I would increase sending on NHS? Please read the article.
My point is the current Gov is over spending but I see no points raised against them? Why is that?
I haven't mentioned it in the "Home Affairs" but I would consider dropping a few MPPs to counter helping our population over wasted MPP's
Honestly, It's because the government isn't overspending. If you don't believe me go look at the last MoF report which has all the numbers.
There is roughly 50k CC/week additional revenue after you count MPP costs. If you want to cut taxes to 1% Income 7% VAT we can because current and previous administrations have manged our money well. But we probably won't increase our reserves to much while we're at those. Or be able to fund anything else except through donation or using our reserves.
Voted. Good luck!
Those rates aren't pie in the sky in other words.
We could probably do 1% Income 5% VAT and come out okay, but we'd be gradually losing money rather than making it. Assuming Plato doesn't change things.
Id hesitate to cut taxes. Plato has gone on record to say big changes are being finalised. Wait until this anniversary event/meet is over and the changes outlined. Then we'll be in a much better position to know what, if anything, we can afford to cut.
Thanks Emergy, Like I said this changes are small and will benefit those struggling currently in our country. Jamesw I respect what you have said and the changes are not going to be instant.
I hope you don't think all mod's are childish! Some of us try to just do our job.
Also, I don't like to say this BA but isn't the tax% a congress decision to make? I know it's fine to say you'll support a change but ultimately it's a congress issue and it'd be wrong to try to dictate that as CP as you're powerless over it. (Plus what James said 😛)
Again though good luck man this should be in interesting election!
Well you'd assume NE and UKPP would back BA in congress meaning they'd only need 2 more congressmen to swing their way on the tax issue.
As the income cut is primarily directed to ease the load on the average worker (private and commune) you'd think PCP would probably go for it.
That's true Alfa, I just don't want BA to take the flack over something that isn't his responsibility - if congress want these tax changes they should be discussing it already regardless of who is CP, I hope we're not implying that congress will only make changes they think benefit the national effort if the CP they want wins?
I suppose it is like CD;s plans for a war with Belgium. Obviously a NE bonus will be involved which has to pass through Congress yet CD has said we will have a war...if its down to a vote in Congress then surely that also is a Congress issue when you look at it logically?
Also tax cuts...get in. I can afford more tanks for Christmas now \o/
It would be very interesting if you could elaborate on the method you plan to utilise in order to "rebalance" the forums. Over the last few weeks I have had some very good conversations with members of our community who oppose the direction the forums have taken. They were able to provide me with some constructive ideas.
If you have the time then I would honestly love to see you elaborate on what you think is specifically wrong with the forums, and how you think this should be fixed...
(cont.) Because obviously just calling power abuse by TUP does not really compute if you honestly want to fix stuff. If you wish to convince kumnaa of this new direction a plan would be necessary, anyway.
I would echo what Jamesw has said there. This meet is a BIG thing for the admins. They have advertised it massively (at least for them). They are putting people up in 5 star hotels. Surely something big is coming. I would urge against any big changes until we know the results of that meet. That is mainly aimed at people themselves. If you are planning on doing something big with your accounts, CC or Gold, just wait a few days to see if anything is on its way!
MoHA has been anything but "very quiet". Either you're not paying attention or you've been confused by its change of name to the Ministry of Education.
Freedom of speech is not absolute, insults and swearing get you banned there the same way as they do here.
Not if your friends with the mods.
Insults = Critising someone running for election when they are unsuitable.
Swearing = Someone swears at you so you get banned.
In my experience.
Wonder if I would have been attacked in the same way. It don't sound to dissimilar to my ideas...
xD
Except for the vat taxes decrease as there is no real reason to encourage spending at this time it actually sounds a good article.
Me actually talking about politics in erep what have i become 🙁
Wayne - Wonder if I would have been attacked in the same way. It don't sound to dissimilar to my ideas...
No. Mainly because there has always been a personal vendetta by some against Wayne to be honest The Kieth Lemon avatar doesnt help though : D
I was in #euk all the way through that misterspoons incident and the only kicks were automatic ones for badwords-ie swearing or racism
Ps there's nothing more radical about this than any other manifesto. Pretty status quo really apart from the moaning about moderation
http://www.erepublik.com/en/article/new-era-backs-big-ant-2169273/1/20
NEW ERA BACKS BIG ANT