The Britain I love – an outward-looking country that is tolerant, good-humoured, fair-minded and generous, and which, with some reforms, could become one of the most dynamic places to live in Europe..
---W. Hutton.
Will Hutton is a really sensible writer (his book, Us and Them is a fantastic survey of ideas relating to fairness and why they're crucially important to our understanding of what constitutes a good society).
When you think of English political writers of the old school, solid, not fussy, pragmatic and practical with some knowledge of how the real world works (as opposed to possessing a merely theoretical and highly speculative mind) then Hutton fits the bill. So, it is quite alarming to read the comment above (and over the last few weeks he's said the same kind of thing, perhaps his new book is an elaboration of this theme?).
What worries you is not the characterization of Britain-which may well be true (though it does sound like a lot of wishful thinking, based on the nostalgia of a middle-aged man). Rather, it's the apparent sweeping aside of what seems to me to be an equally true feature of modern Britain (in particular, post -Thatcher). In many respects it has become a nastier, more mean-spirited place.
"Outward-looking"?!
That left me speechless. Apart from colonialism, when has Britain been outward-looking? The people are incredibly insular and self-absorbed (perhaps befitting of an island race..Adam Nicolson's point, not mine). And in recent years there has been a nasty undercurrent of racism and xenophobia developing, stoked by the Daily Mail and the BNP/UKIP/EDL.
But here's the incredible bit: "with some reforms". As if to say, the structure of society, with all its deep-rooted inequalities and its underlying culture which emphasizes the self, instantaneous gratification, and mindless subservience could all be rectified with the brief swish of a policy wand.
In short, is Hutton on his way to becoming delusional, an old fuddy duddy? (In a similar vein, at the heart of K. Clark's magisterial Civilisation was this kind of naivete-picked up by C. Booker in his The seventies).
I think Marquand is much more realistic.
---W. Hutton.
Will Hutton is a really sensible writer (his book, Us and Them is a fantastic survey of ideas relating to fairness and why they're crucially important to our understanding of what constitutes a good society).
When you think of English political writers of the old school, solid, not fussy, pragmatic and practical with some knowledge of how the real world works (as opposed to possessing a merely theoretical and highly speculative mind) then Hutton fits the bill. So, it is quite alarming to read the comment above (and over the last few weeks he's said the same kind of thing, perhaps his new book is an elaboration of this theme?).
What worries you is not the characterization of Britain-which may well be true (though it does sound like a lot of wishful thinking, based on the nostalgia of a middle-aged man). Rather, it's the apparent sweeping aside of what seems to me to be an equally true feature of modern Britain (in particular, post -Thatcher). In many respects it has become a nastier, more mean-spirited place.
"Outward-looking"?!
That left me speechless. Apart from colonialism, when has Britain been outward-looking? The people are incredibly insular and self-absorbed (perhaps befitting of an island race..Adam Nicolson's point, not mine). And in recent years there has been a nasty undercurrent of racism and xenophobia developing, stoked by the Daily Mail and the BNP/UKIP/EDL.
But here's the incredible bit: "with some reforms". As if to say, the structure of society, with all its deep-rooted inequalities and its underlying culture which emphasizes the self, instantaneous gratification, and mindless subservience could all be rectified with the brief swish of a policy wand.
In short, is Hutton on his way to becoming delusional, an old fuddy duddy? (In a similar vein, at the heart of K. Clark's magisterial Civilisation was this kind of naivete-picked up by C. Booker in his The seventies).
I think Marquand is much more realistic.
2 comments:
it seems that others too disagree:
Right now I feel ashamed to be English. Ashamed to belong to a country that has clearly identified itself as insular, self-absorbed and apparently caring so little for the most vulnerable people among us. Why did a million people visiting food banks make such a minimal difference? Did we just vote for our own narrow concerns and sod the rest? Maybe that’s why the pollsters got it so badly wrong: we are not so much a nation of shy voters as of ashamed voters, people who want to present to the nice polling man as socially inclusive, but who, in the privacy of the booth, tick the box of our own self-interest.
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2015/may/08/democracy-a-religion-that-has-failed-the-poor
Giles Fraser, right?
didn't read it and don't usually read him but will now. Ta!
This is supposedly one of the richest countries in the world so to see those levels of inequality and unconcern for the poor and marginalized is disturbing (as is the rise of UKIP).
And that is England gone? (Larkin).
an Indian friend from London wrote: say good bye to the NHS and hello to the bonus boys. I think it's going to get uglier. Let's see.
orr?
and how are you?
b.
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