Broken Britain?

For

5 votes so far

After one month of 2010, Britain faces the largest budget deficit of any major economy and our national debt continues to grow up to a daunting £1.5 trillion. There has also been the largest bank bailout in the world and last week we learnt that one in five young people can’t find work. The social situation isn’t much better either, with violent crime steadily increasing over the last decade and our Maths and English results slipping down the world league tables, largely as a result of class truancy having risen by more that a third. This is of course bad, but I am, admittedly, trying to make a point. In light if these basic failings, whilst the term ‘Broken Britain’ is both annoying and somewhat misleading, I think to ignore it altogether would be actively harmful.

Don’t get me wrong; I very much understand the mentality behind those who try to downplay the extent to which Britain isn’t working. There is something tangibly difficult about admitting social failings. The British have never really had the same levels of patriotism that is felt so strongly in the United States, but we do become rather indignant when we are told we are doing something wrong. It may be acceptable to suggest though that it is this very attitude that is indicative of the ‘Broken Britain’ perception. Society’s unwillingness to accept the problems may in fact be a contributing factor to their growth. For instance, there is a tendency to shift blame or put an emphasis on causes beyond our control. Such is the case with law and order, environmental policy and economics. Each of which apparently find their cause with a problematic youth, bigger countries and globalization respectively. I am not saying that there is no validity to these claims (in many instances they ring true) but our avoidance of any other factors leads to a situation where problems are allowed to stagnate due to a societal feeling of hopelessness.  It is this that must be noted and counter-acted when considering Broken Britain, something I doubt my opposition will have done.

This is not intended to breed pessimism and ruin your day. This is also not intended to propagate the rather annoying and unfounded view that Britain has ‘gone to hell in a hand-basket’.  There are significant problems, but this does not nullify the significant achievements of British society. In fact I would go as far as to concede that the problems we face are of little magnitude, relative to those faced by most other countries. It may even be without tact to moan about our issues and claim we are broken when so many are faced with life-threatening challenges everyday. One may find people saying that, if anything, ‘we have it lucky’. All of that is true in relative terms, but one should question the motivation behind those comments, because in acknowledging our own failings we do not add to the problems of other countries, nor does it really detract from individual awareness- to think otherwise is to vastly underestimate our capacity for empathy. No, the real reason is to marginalize those who recognize faults, and this is perhaps the most dangerous thing that can be done.

If the individuals who say Britain is broken are cast aside, so too is the problem they are presenting, often because it is inconvenient timing in an election cycle or it doesn’t fit with the media’s current story arc. Essentially what this does is allows individuals to ignore the aspects that should be given the most attention. Articles like those written by the opposition encourage an ‘if it ain’t broken, don’t fix it’ mentality. The reason this is so massively harmful is that those who can see, and are affected by ‘Broken Britain’ are the most vulnerable members of society; those who most require our assistance, as they are incapable of helping themselves. The pension crisis affects the old. The lack of educational resources affects the young. The stagnation of housing development affects the poor. I personally could not sit comfortably while saying that these are not real problems because they don’t feature in my insular environment. Britain may not be broken for us, but that doesn’t mean that other people aren’t desperately in need of some fixes.

Against

16 votes so far

The Britain of popular imagination is a place that I don’t want to live in. Criminals are lurking at every corner, council house youths are shanking each other indiscriminately, and law abiding citizens are getting their tyres slashed and their front doors pissed on every Friday night. Everything has gone to the dogs. Everywhere you walk, you are knee deep in vomit, used Johnnies and HIV-infected needles. Society has just disintegrated into a rabble of broken families; in every street there is a crack-smoking, abusive dad who makes life a nightmare for passive diazepam-fiend Mum. Unmarried dysfunctional parents like these are failing to provide any guidance to their sexually promiscuous, morally bankrupt and feral children- who kick to death OAPs in subways while they film it on their camera phones.    

That last bit was stolen from Harry Brown, a recent movie starring Michael Caine and Plan B that plays on the fears of so many Britons. But it is not only a sensationalist media and Mr. Caine’s convincing performance that fuels this collective paranoia, it is politicians too. The Tories, in preparation for the upcoming election, are talking about Britain in a way that almost makes you want to never leave the house unless you are tooled up with mace spray, rape alarms and a stab-proof vest. After more than a decade of disaster under Labour, they pledge that, once elected, the Conservatives are going to set about mending this broken society that we live in, so we can be free from persecution and fear once more. Before anyone gets too excited about this emancipation from evil, I think it is important to mention a few things. Maybe it is time to separate truth from the fiction spooned to us to appease the right wing Daily Mail readers and the armchair vigilantes.       

Mr Cameron has recently referred to an awful incident in South Yorkshire where two boys assaulted and sexually abused two younger boys as evidence of a social recession of the same magnitude as the economic one. Actually, child homicide is down two-thirds since the 1970’s. Domestic violence is down 70% since 1995, burglary and car theft are down by half since then too and overall crime is down by about 45%. Teenage pregancy has dropped nearly a sixth since the 60’s as well.  

Whilst official statistics are not totally reliable, and horrific incidents like the one in Yorkshire still happen, it’s not constructive to proselytise about a broken society. Sadistic acts are terrible, but we should not point to these isolated events and chastise the whole nation for it—history is littered with similar cases despite the indignation and self righteous crusades of numerous generations of politicians. 

We may also get fucked on the weekend harder than European nations, but then again we are still being badly educated and, with the waning of manufacturing jobs, a whole generation of young males don’t know what to do with themselves. We Brits have always liked to fight and binge drink, but part of this drug taking self-destruction these days is due to the perception that maybe we are not worth much in this globalised and technological era. Some communities are plagued by violence, but many others are safe, instead of bleating about a national crisis it may be helpful to offer more effective assistance to the areas which really do need help.   

It is these things that the parties must focus on in the upcoming election. I don’t want to be led by people who are ashamed to be British. Demonising teenagers and perpetuating ASBO culture should not continue. Hooded lads have always unnerved people, but decades ago this nuisance would never be considered to be something that parties can campaign on.  We have plenty of social problems, but to wallow in the mire of post-imperial decay and tell us that our country is a basket case, is not only a really pompous way of looking at politics, but it is also a dangerous misdiagnosis that clouds the real issues that desperately need addressing.