Phillip Blond

 “Something is seriously wrong with Britain. This is an intuition that everybody, whatever their politics, shares.” Such ‘broken Britain’ grumbling runs throughout Blond’s book and can distract from any larger argument. When Blond discusses Britain’s individualism, in which people are obsessed with free choice but not moral values, he refers to those in favour of free choice on abortion but who still think fox hunting is cruel. Such offensive comparisons are hard to ignore, but there are some interesting ideas here.

Society, Blond says, was eroded by creating a post-war welfare state that relied too heavily on central government. Local power vanished. Liberal individualism of 60s hippies and free-market individualism of 80s yuppies followed. Moral decay ensued. Now we no longer join community groups or political parties, but only enjoy mass zombie-like consumption. Without social institutions within local communities, authoritarian government has taken place.

Blond offers vague ideas for solving this problem before ending on God. Apparently the best way to hold society together and stop selfish individualism is through a ‘transcendent God’. Such a view ignores today’s diverse and mainly secular Britain. Blond mourns a ‘golden age’ of strong morals where communities acted as one voice. Perhaps he should remind himself individualism also meant diversity and freedom from uniformity and this should be praised, not criticised.

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