March 30, 2006, 2:16 p.m. (Message 44921, in reply to message 44914)
Andrew wrote...... > Among other things, it appears to grant future responsibility for > future Constitutions, to a newly shrunk Management Board. > I'm uncomfortable with that in principle. > Fundamentally, if the members don't control the constitution they > don't control anything. OK, asking the membership to change it is an > effort and an expense, but it shouldn't need changing very often. That is not my reading of the draft new Constitution. The Constitution can only be changed by the Society in General Meeting, and indeed requires a two-thirds majority of those delegates present (para 49), which is quite a hurdle. There is no change from the present Constitution in this regard. What has changed and is mildly troubling is that the Management Board (MB) is reduced to half the number of ordinary elected members, because, it is murmured, the present MB is too unwieldy. Having a smaller board, plus the new powers of the MB to appoint outsiders such as "Directors" and "Executives" ...well if you are going to persuade some folk to work for nothing at least give them a grand title :-) , and giving these appointees voting powers AND trusteeship, does appear to somewhat erode the democratic nature of the Society. Some will of course say that democracy can be inefficient, but history students and others (like Anselm) can tell us the cure is worse than the disease. William Whyte