Only system change can heal our society

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/oct/10/only-system-change-can-heal-our-society

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Your important editorial on Boris Johnson (10 October) presumes that we have experienced good governance until now. Surely this view is neither borne out by recent UK governments’ behaviour and results, nor by internal party schisms and resignations? A counter-claim is that current major fissures, raised passions and felt disparities serve only to signify our governing system’s ongoing inability to solve a complex muddle of societal, economic and regional policy problems.

Alas, conventional political parties care more about gaining power to deliver their policies than they do about devising the nation’s best possible governing system and constitution. These must now be specified to sustain engagement and encourage feedback from citizens with leading-edge contributions.

Planning of major innovation to trigger tomorrow’s growth and heal society is key. To my mind this means that gatekeepers, in the path-breaking role of improving our democratic ecosystem, have to move from opposing parties to a unifying governance institute with porous boundaries. Skilful pluralist inputs and new era-defining paradigm shifts are what spark change.

This alternate dynamic demands a vital new constitutional specification and pluralist project team. Fulfilment of its evolutionary role needs a practical mix of, say, engineering, scientific, structural, ethical, legal and societal knowledge creators and system designers.

This crucial team must be brilliantly selected and trained, if it is to be fit for its modern-day governing system refit and redesign task. Its leadership might provide a better framework within which to assess the disruptive performance of Johnson’s mean, mandate-seeking dream machine. For only improving future outcomes can justify present meandering mendacity.Norman StraussAdviser to Margaret Thatcher, 1976-82; co-author of Stepping Stones (1977) with John Hoskyns

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