The Observer view on Britain today
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Version 0 of 1. Hope is alive but insecurity hovers and sharp divisions exist not only geographically but also between the generations. That is a glimpse of the country revealed in Britain Uncovered, the major new survey published in the Observer today. Though a third of us live in fear of redundancy, we have twice the faith in the monarchy as in the trade union movement. A staggering 17% of the population believes that more than half of us are migrants (based on the last UK census, 13% of the population was born outside the UK). It’s possible that, in austerity, and in spite of the main political narratives that are often negative, altruism and civic engagement and collaboration between the generations are in evidence, if too rarely in the public spotlight. The non-partisan community organisation, Citizens UK, for instance, is celebrating its 25th anniversary, and featured on other pages today. It has a growing number of members from more than 350 organisations, faith groups, schools and colleges. It testifies to the willingness of ordinary women and men, of all ages, to give their time and energy for causes such as an end to detention of migrants without a time limit. “For too many people,” says its founder, Neil Jameson, “politics is what you watch on television, not what you do.” Again, last week, came another story of a better Britain. Fred Morgan, 94, and his 72-year-old wife, Vivian, are an extraordinary couple who, three years ago, while running their own business, turned their 10-bedroom home in Warwickshire into a school for bullied children. It now has 19 pupils, half of whom have in the past tried to take their own lives. Mrs Morgan says: “Many come to us in despair but they leave us as happy normal teenagers and go on to do amazing things.” As David Cameron acknowledges, the wellbeing of a nation matters. Space has to be made in the public arena to identify and praise those taking active steps to encourage the flourishing of civic health. |