British society

Over the past week I've been considering what to say about the state of British society. Is it really as bad as the UNICEF report and recent spate of gangland murders in London would have us believe?

It's fair to say that not all is right. If the Thatcher years taught us materialism, the Blair years are undoubtedly preaching from the same hymn-book. Both Premierships have followed in the footsteps of the American model of doing things which in my mind is a mistake. This leads us down the path of long hours, high stress and, material assets aside, a lower standard of living through diminished free time with family and for yourself.

During the year I lived in Germany I was based in a small town not bigger than my own, but home to a number of organisations, clubs and places for young people. In contrast my town in northern England has one youth club which just about keeps its head above water. In general the Germans seem to have a better grasp of community as all over there are clubs and societies for people to join and socialise within. On one cycle ride into the countryside I even came across a model aircraft club complete with a club house and an acre or two of land for the landing strip and parking. I get the feeling that something like that would really struggle in the UK. Even if set-up by an enthusiast with a bit of land I am sure the Health and Safety, planning and finally insurance people would all rally together to ensure that it was priced out of existence before it even got off the ground.

Although several of the youth groups in Germany were backed by church organisations, which isn't something I'm necessarily in favour of, the Blair government seems hell bent on stripping out any element of community which might still be clinging on. The free market may be good for some things, but as far as serving local communities goes there's scarcely anything worse. Massive transport companies often seem to run the minimum service they can get away with, giving regard only to their profit margins; once local radio station play the same syndicated dirge as dozens of other stations controlled by a single PC on the other side of the country; Post Office closures, well don't get me started on those.

There is also the attitude of people towards community and it's one that has been progressively deteriorating over the years until now we seem to have reached the point where apathy, suspicion and self-centredness rule the day. Many people may long for a greater feeling of society but they may not feel sufficiently integrated within it or trusting of those around them to actually do anything about it. I suspect these same feelings have filtered down to the children to produce such negative results in the UNICEF report.

The British attitude can't be ignored however. Although children in each country were asked the same question, I do wonder if subtleties of language and culture might exact different responses. In Britain we've long held a rebellious edge that's the key to our self-deprecating humour and an attitude that sees being dishevelled and anti-establishment as being cool. The Blur album 'Modern Life is Rubbish' is fine example of this. Our ideas and directions can be magnetic opposites to those of Germany where keeping on the straight and narrow is very much the in thing. I'd fully expect British kids to dis school a lot more than their German counterparts but that doesn't mean they necessarily value it less or work less hard than their continental counterparts.

Although getting shot of our government would be a good start and vote in a party that has some ideas about the values that hold communities together would be a good start, I wouldn't say that life is so bad here. It could do with a kick start and some common sense to better support and engage young people, but the things we do and the way we do things aren't at all bad. There is a risk of running out of control headlong down the American paved road of ultra-materialism and this is certainly something that needs to be avoided. Re-introduce an education of wider community would be a good start.