I found a fascinating and informative article by Phillip Blond in the February online edition of Prospect . It's a bit mind bending in places and I'm not sure I understood the whole thing. I think that the gist of his argument is that the conventional politics of the UK since the last war, have made the working classes poorer and made society more divided and alienated. What he says about returning power to local people and institutions is thought provoking. If his ideas gain any traction, then there is an opportunity for Christians to get involved in shaping their local communities in a way that is perhaps not possible at present.
The quotes below will give you a taste of his argument.
"Insofar as both the Tories and Labour have been contaminated by liberalism, the true left-right legacy of the postwar period is, unsurprisingly, a centralised authoritarian state and a fragmented and disassociative society. "
"The erosion of our society extends way beyond the dysfunction of the underclass. A study last year by Danny Dorling showed how normal anomie has become, concluding that "even the weakest communities in 1971 were stronger than any community now." This is, indeed, a broken society. "
"Insofar as both the Tories and Labour have been contaminated by liberalism, the true left-right legacy of the postwar period is, unsurprisingly, a centralised authoritarian state and a fragmented and disassociative society. "
"The erosion of our society extends way beyond the dysfunction of the underclass. A study last year by Danny Dorling showed how normal anomie has become, concluding that "even the weakest communities in 1971 were stronger than any community now." This is, indeed, a broken society. "
I have to admit that the combination of thoses icons of the right and left, Lady Thatcher and Che Guevara, made we want to read - and write something on this blog!
The whole Prospect Article can be found here
For a taste of the Danny Dorling quoted above, here's a quote from an interview he gave to the Guardian in 2006:
"Ask people [of my generation] to imagine their grandchildren's lives," he suggests. "Grandchildren who by 18 will have 100 times less wealth than [some] other 18 year olds. That is where we are heading, and very quickly." You can read the whole thing here
For a taste of the Danny Dorling quoted above, here's a quote from an interview he gave to the Guardian in 2006:
"Ask people [of my generation] to imagine their grandchildren's lives," he suggests. "Grandchildren who by 18 will have 100 times less wealth than [some] other 18 year olds. That is where we are heading, and very quickly." You can read the whole thing here
No comments:
Post a Comment