Long faces and short tempers
Journalists enjoy nothing more than looking under stones to see what wickedness lurks in the slime below.
If one can draw any meaningful insight from the events of one year just past, I would venture that 2009 saw people grubbing about under some of the foundation stones of our society, burrowing beneath the pillars of British life and extracting core substance which now threatens to undermine their stability.
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What made those grim discoveries so potentially devastating is that they exposed institutional rather than merely individual improbity.
The scandal of MPs' expenses was all the more outrageous because it went beyond dishonourable members to reveal how Parliament itself had apparently systemised the abuses...to protect itself.
The revelations that oozed from the banking crisis were all the more troubling for revealing how, as greedy individuals took ludicrous risks with other people's money, the City stayed largely silent...to protect itself.
It was not abusive Irish priests that made last year's revelations about the Catholic Church so shocking, but the way in which the institution had covered up those vile activities...to protect itself.
Yes, in different ways, the actions of individual priests, politicians and financiers were appalling. But the real damage was done, I suspect, by the discovery that institutional structures regarded as bastions of our society conspired to keep dirty secrets.
The response has been apologies and promises of transparency. This is a high risk (if necessary) response, at least in the short term: 2009 may come to be seen as the start of a process which continues to undermine rather than rebuild public trust in institutions.
Over centuries, church, state and commerce have employed many tricks to add credibility to their claims of honour and fidelity. Tradition and ceremony grant mystique to the mundane. Ermine and gilt act as camouflage. Exclusivity keeps a lid on indiscretion. The aim is enigma.
That is why allowing illumination of your dark corners may prove problematic. You cannot be enigmatic under floodlights.
Remember how the embarrassing exposure of Royal impropriety brought the House of Windsor close to disaster in the 80s and 90s.
The consequence was greater transparency when it came to the royal expense account but, to start with, the publication of the household's "annual financial report" served only to inflame the debate about whether we need a monarchy at all. Even now, there are those who argue the accounts are not detailed enough.
What adds to the combustibility of the current situation is that the promises of transparency (and the likely prospect of further expose) come as Britain endures a period of austerity. The "establishment" is blamed for the hardship faced by ordinary citizens and there is little forgiveness left in the locker.
Last year, I think, might be entitled "Apocalypse Postponed". We were warned that we could face the worst flu epidemic and the worst economic crisis since the First World War. The implication was that we might have to endure medical and financial carnage.
And yet, here we are in January 2010 and we have escaped, not unharmed, but still in one piece. The flu bug proved to be far less virulent than feared: officials warned of up to 65,000 victims, there have been 300 to date.
The impact of the credit crunch on the real economy was dissipated by a stimulus package which delayed the worst anguish until after an election.
So, looking ahead to the next 12 months, I think the question is how much resilience British society possesses.
The currency of resilience, troublingly, is trust in each other and in institutions - presently in short supply. When things get tricky, we will need to draw on the strength of our communities to see us through.
The changed narrative, from growth and investment to cuts and retrenchment, propels a generation of young Brits into uncharted territory.
The first half of the year's news agenda will be dominated by two competitive events: the general election and the football World Cup. But whatever the outcomes, there will be a running story of how a society which has become used to getting inexorably richer is now adapting to getting poorer.
There is still simmering anger at the bankers and the politicians, resentment which could spill over if the pain is poorly managed. There will be protests and demonstrations, strikes and direct action. Common sense will not always rule the day.
Whichever politicians win to run the country and whatever decisions they take, they must expect deep hostility from many quarters. It will be a year of long faces and short tempers.
I'm 
~RS~q~RS~~RS~z~RS~50~RS~)
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Corruption in high places has been the norm for centuries. It's not that which annoys people, but rather the self-righteous hypocrisy which usually accompanies it. Caledonian Comment
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An interestng discussion, Mark.
I feel that in 2009 many people in the country experienced a sense of shock. Having discovered how badly the country had been managed they were in disbelief. Almost denial.
In 2010 once the dust from the Christmas holidays has settled I think that people will begin to reflect and start looking for solutions from the government and the financial institutions. We all know that the tax-payer had to bail out the financial community simply to keep the banking industry alive. The tax-payer will now be looking for results. Having paid one bill, must they now continue paying for other people's mistakes?
I fear that there will be social unrest, mainly from within the public sector. If a general election comes early in the year then perhaps the people will adopt a 'wait and see' attitude. If not, then it will look like the current government is afraid to go to the electorate.
Th British people are patient, but there is a limit to their patience.
It is now time to 'pay the piper'.
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I think 2009 was the first year were wide spread Internet use and news has allowed the outrages to develop from mear news reports to full blown voicing of public opinion, it has allowed us to see how the other half live so to speak how personal attitude towards uncomfortable subjects has made our government look both backward and authoritarian. Take Drugs cannabis as the main World wide the state has taken control of this plant to aid in recovery to bring about huge reductions in crime and expenses. Some places in the USA and Canada its totally legal now not just medically. Each state earns huge revenues from it. However its called lethal by our leaders that it has no place in society while we head into mass addiction through alcohol and a whole new range of complications through poor policies that now have synthetic drugs the norm.
I'm looking forward to 2010 or the tentacles as some want it called :) The public is waking up seeing the lies of politics the veil being pulled over their eyes in order to maintain this illusion of a powerless public.
Keep digging under the pillars the house of cards will fall.
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I agree with #1.
Even when wholesale corruption was revealed in 2009, the denial mechanisms went into overdrive, and red-handed became "just the colour of my gloves". These days it is always "the system" as if it has a mind of its own and had never entertained human interactivity to develop and maintain it.
Even the law has now entered this category as one new law encroaches on another encroaching on yet another and so on... We even get a "new" court which is just the old one in a slightly different guise. Of course it will not change the "bad" decisions....
The elite will always be okay because they never have to face the "real world" they have given to the rest. And what really chokes is that the system has ordinary people attacking other ordinary people; they never turn on their masters; I wonder why?
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Agree with #1. It#s the hypocracy that really offends. Nothing wrong with corruption, as long as we can all play. Sadly, it's one legal system for the wealthy and famous and a different one for the rest of us.
Simple, but real, example; The recent move to protect elected councillors and MPs home addresses (which they have to declare in their nomination papers anyway) would stop me from finding out how many of them in my local area live in roads that have suddenly become traffic free through road blocks and other "traffic calming" measures, nowhere near a school or other noramlly reasonable excuse... Odd that only after the administration changed a year or two ago again that at least one road block was replaced with much more sensible width restrictions. Draw your own conclusions.
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This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.
Human beings have tolerated bad and corrupt government from the beginning of social organizations. Occasionally, when the corruption becomes too great, like now, there are changes(reforms or revolutions). The pitiful part is that people seem to never learn that power corrupts and concepts such has "industry over-sight" is nothing more than an opportunity to steal. Politicians like to believe that people trust them, although they have never given them a reason to. The wealthy exercise great influence to the detriment of the people, wars continue and human beings have yet to figure out how to get along. We have some nice toys and half the world goes to bed hungry. Basically, we are about a half-step out of the cave and for that we seem overly proud. We are creating a cultureless world that identifies everyone as a consumer, steamrolls over cultures and traditions and creates an "emptiness" greater than any Buddhist concept could have imagined. 5,000 years of civilization and 250,000 - 1 million years in a more violent state. As slow learners our progress has had difficulties in shedding our past.
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I realised about 10 years ago how "the system" works and how it is perpetuated at all levels by peoples' behaviour. It isn't only at the higher echelons; it's everywhere. For instance people who do a bad job are often promoted instead of sacked so that they won't become trouble-makers. Or those who get to know dirty tricks/secrets and who if they had integrity would become whistle-blowers are promoted to keep them quiet. I changed jobs a number of times hoping to find somewhere where I could always work according to my conscience but never found anywhere in any sector: financial services companies; civil service; charities etc etc. There is a lot of disillusionment out there as people begin to realise what's going on.
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Good article Mark. I've suspected for quite some time these people breathe a different air to the rest of us. It's about time all animals were equal, not more equal than others, isn't it?
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Of course we know what is going on we're taxpayers we pay tax we don't receive it and taxpayers money isn't ours. It's common knowledge I grew up listening to people whining about their pensions and their social insecurity didn't you watch bread we've seen it all before it's a repeat a re run on the telly WE KNOW.
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Agree with # 1,5,6 and 10. I left UK in the mid 80s because I couldn't stand the hypocrisy and the lack of professional responsibility. Now in a mediterranean country it's live and let live.
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A good, and shrewd, piece by Mark Easton.
But the key is his sentence: "The currency of resilience, troublingly, is trust in each other and in institutions - presently in short supply." Of course it is in short supply when we are governed by people elected, in effect, by less than a sixth of the population, and then not properly. Electoral reform would be a first step, making us feel that we have governance that does represent us and to which we all have some joint loyalty. More reforms should follow, but that is the key one and it's desperately urgent.
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Oh well I don't agree with anyone. You can be raped stolen and murdered abroad just as well as you can be raped stolen and murdered here.
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Good work Mark! And now I'm wondering, as Americans rip their hair out over the latest near security disaster if the government occasionally lets these breaches occur as a way to seize even more control of people's freedoms. The security Czars get the bulletins and updates but somehow always seem to just miss it and manage not to connect the dots. I mean how utterly stupid can one be? Curiouser and curiouser it gets.
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If the underpants bombing incident is just another scam to get money out of taxpayers, 165 million for one corporation. it makes sense why the
bomber was allowed to 'lawyer up' and his case judicated in a civil rather than military court. Is this yet another government attempt to protect so called terrorists? Would Mossad, CIA and RAW be behind it? What's the real story? Inquiring minds wish to know.
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I agree with 1# 5# , what is so annoying is that in a few months it will be back to business as usual for the mp`s all the scams forgotten ( they hope ) but the problem of honest people in power is they are dragged down to the lowest level by having to toe the party line !! why do they have to do that ? we voted them into office , they should be working for us and speaking out for us, this is what seems to have changed in politics . we need strong local mps who call a spade a spade , I don`t mean the guy who makes comments when hes on camera , just to show his constituents hes a thorn in the side of government ! yeah right ,.
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17. At 05:42am on 06 Jan 2010, clamdip lobster claws
Is there any data on the percentage of failed terrorist bombs and the real source of the dud components?
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As so often an excellent and thought provoking article by Mark Easton.
What has struck me so forcibly during the last year is the sheer venom in so many comments about our institutions especially the government.
I think most of us forget that those institutions are organized and maintained by more or less ordinary people like ourselves - in other words they are fallible in all sorts of ways. This is not to excuse wrongdoing but to understand why our institutions are imperfect.
They will always be so. It has always been so.
In the end it is the level of corruption that really matters and let's face it, it is really an unintelligent response to think that today's Britain is a very corrupt place. Anyone can look up a table of nations comparative corruption and Britain does pretty well!Germany or France or Japan or Canada or wherever you may think are less corrupt than us do, in fact, have very similar problems in their institutions.
That's not to say we can't do better but we need a sense of proportion otherwise we'll be sliding down a slippery slope, as Mark suggests, towards civil breakdown and and increasingly difficult country to govern. And that could mean a breakdown in the kind of democracy that is today's Britain.
It is important we sort out the expenses issue within the goverment, it is important we somehow persuade the banking community to be a lot less hubristic and the same again with the likes of the cover up in the Irish catholic church but we musn't think that all MPs, bankers and priests are corrupt - most of them are decent hard working people! Just like you and me!
Contemporary Britain is not a 'great' place even if it ever was but it is a good, even a very good place to live in - and we need to look after it. We all need to help our institutions to be better and not fall into the simplistic trap of always seeing a case of them and us - they are us too!
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We can look around today and think that perhaps we would have been served better by our MP's, state and church - but wasn't it ever thus ?
The Companies ACt of 1844 was brought in to make company dealings more open, the Railway boom of the 19th C was similar in nature to the dot.com bubble of 1999/2000 - millions lost their money on this
And guess what ? MP's were implicated in the banking scandals and trainline building of the 19th C just as much as they are implicated today in the expenses problems. And why was no legislation passed then - because it was not in MP's interests
So while I like the idea of a bright light in dark places it does not seem very new - we've always been subject to fraud, we have a convulsion and then we get in with it again - tulip bulb anyone ?
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I think the constant media message of 'you cant trust your government/institutions' can have interesting, unforeseen consequences.
We have had an unremitting diet of Blair is a liar, Bush is an idiot, the MPs are corrupt, the scientists are in the pocket of big business, the corporations are pulling the strings etc etc That has been the media message for years.
The funny thing has been when the same media elite suddenly wanted us all to believe a government message - global warming.
The BBC is desperate to push the global warming message. But 60% of the population won't believe it!!!
On global warming, it's the media trying to get us to believe the official doctrine without question. The people are saying things like - 'the government is lying to get more tax' 'the scientists are lying to get more grants' 'the corporations are funding the lies as an excuse to hyke up prices'
What goes around comes around. You can't constantly sell us a message that everyone is lying to us then suddenly expect us to believe everything you say when it is a message you are pushing.
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#10
If only it were true that whistle-blowers were promoted as a sweetener. I think you'll find that corruption has ensured that that particular remedy is long past it's sell by date. Employers simply invoke the marginalise, stitch-up and dismiss paradigm. As I said earlier, even the law is corrupt as hell, because if you can afford it you can get away with all manner of law breaking.
No, the problem really is down to the apathy of the ordinary person who sees life as a game to get their family a better start.
Life is much more complex than that and that is what the ruling classes really fear; knowledge of just what "success" actually means. #9 makes a neat effort at outlining the issues, perhaps cynical but nicely summing up our failure to understand what is important and what isn't. As long as ordinary people are swept along but what is around them, in all senses of the phrase, they do not have to look within themselves. When we know what it is to look within, honestly, then we begin to understand why the "without us" is such a sorry travesty of the meaning of life.
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Hewitt and Hoon call for Brown leadership ballot
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8443769.stm
about time..
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EDITED 4#
Posting:
Hmmmmmm old but interesting.
http://psychiatricnews.wordpress.com/2009/09/08/gordon-brown-on-antidepressants-unfit-for-office/
Mark have you heard of such things?
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The English people have a chance to rid themselves of the socialists who have steadily eroded the country for the past 12 years.It is time for the UK to pull out of the EU and establish it's independence once again.How much money has the UK flushed down the toilet on this hideous institution and what has it got in return ?
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"When things get tricky, we will need to draw on the strength of our communities to see us through. "
Never a truer word written.
25. At 2:23pm on 06 Jan 2010, CommunityCriminal
I'm afraid much as I would like to suggest Gordon is unfit for the job - those types of story about ill health and mental stability have been imported from the US. They are baseless and confusing for the public - designed to create a knee jerk reaction forcing the public to make a bad decisions at the polls.
Remember the US NHS debate? From the outside it was plain to see the mis-information and misleading evidence that was presented by opposition - from their point of view it was impossible.
This type of story we can do without - there are a million (or rather 850 Billion) reasons why Gordon has failed - but his mental health is ceertainly not one of them (it's like handing an accused murderer an insanity plea).
However, I would be concerned that Gordon actually appears to be 'the best option available' - which doesn't say much about the rest of them. I mean when it comes down to this type of choice you know we must be in real trouble.
Cameron is a funny bloke though - the other day he said that 2010 would be a 'year of change' - well duh!
Oh it will be a year of change alright, but not by his hand - he will be about as useful as the captain on the Titanic issuing free sherry to the lords and ladies as the ship goes down...
26. At 2:38pm on 06 Jan 2010, crash
....yes and resume our colonialist ways with our huge Navy and massive armed forces - because simply removing ourselves from Europe will solve nothing and will certainly not repair our deficit nor make investors think sterling is any more stable.
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writingsonthewall LOL what can I say just going with the flow of the blog
"Journalists enjoy nothing more than looking under stones to see what wickedness lurks in the slime below"
I may not be a journalist but I do like looking under stones .;)
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Dear Kit Green,
I emailed the CIA as to your query but haven't yet received a reply. I can think of two but certainly there's probably more.
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Good article. But hasn't it always been the case that the establishment tells us to do as they say and not as they do. The whole system of government in this country stinks to high heaven. We need a total change in the way we are governed.
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Its a sad fact that we cannot look at an mp or minister etc without thinking how much are they on the take , trouble is they don`t care anymore that we know ..
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Yes, it was very much a year of postponed apocalypse. I agree with mark that post-election there will be a very bumpy ride. I do, however, derive some glimmers of hope from the fact that it was still possible for the abuses and failures of the system that Mark lists to be exposed rather than suppressed. A sophisticated establishment needs a counterbalancing force to keep it in check, and call it to account where possible: The UK media largely supplies that need.
I personally think that the media, corporately, does some thoroughly reprehensible things, often for some reprehensible reasons. However, whilst the media is always there, probing, stalking, grubbing around for the dirty little secrets of the rich and the powerful and trying to bring them to light, then I think there is hope for our future.
Therefore, for me, the most worrying thing about the financial crisis was NOT the failures of governance of the financial markets, or Parliamentary expenses or the complicity of so many other bodies in those scams: What retrospectively disturbs me is why our media felt itself unable (or unwilling) for so long to systematically highlight the abuses - and scale of abuses - before their effects became impossible to hide any more.
That proved only one of two things: Either, the media was complicit in allowing a rotten system to continue to the point of disaster, OR the system was so good at obscuring the abuses that even our probing, questing, investigating media could not connect the dots and see the scale of it. I hope, for the sake of our future it was the former of these causes.
Alan T
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Ooops, I meant, "...future it WASN'T the former of these causes."
Red face, coughs, goes away to make coffee...... 8-(
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Our peers have destoyed everything that was justice /law and fair ,
would i vote for this scum NO.
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Ministers + mp,S +bankers all ripping off everything they can ,and they are privilaged to information about the economy long before any of us ,
And now we hear that greece cant or wont pay their commitment banks are on the edge and it sounds like something big and bad is comming our way,
Am i the only one who thinks like this ?:
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the government took away peoples pistols that were leagaly owned and killed off an entire industrie of sporting gun shops costing the country billions in profit and tax ,then they changed the law on sporting shotguns making it more dificult to own one ,now they have their sights trained on the air riffle industrie ,if you choose to buy one on line they cant post one to you because the gov/police have either made it illeagle or put them under pressure,as i tried to buy one and was told i would have to drive the 55 miles to pick it up ,its not illeagle to buy one so why cant they post it ?
what do the government/police know that we dont ?
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well due to building companies going broke we can all have an allotment
on these sites as there is nothing happening and it stops the people
thinking about all those millions the councils lost in another private /public partnership ,and it fits in well with the comming food shortages ,and you might be classed as self empoyed doing all that digging
therefor saving all those benifits
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They lied about the weather/planet warming/mp,s/ministers expences/a nuclear weapons inspector/the real state of the nations finances/
the figures for crime/imigrants/for jobs/and education,
AND THEN THEY SAID THAT I COULD VOTE FOR THEM :
I CANT WAIT !
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£100,000 SALARY plus all the expences you can steal all the and a promise
That you in no way will be prosicuted for anything, sounds to good to be true ,
No it,s not just sign up to be an mp,and when the power and the money get to you that feeling ,the one that says you are invincible and it does not matter what the small people think ,even if somthing catastrofic happens
you have enough money to do what you want where you want so it dont matter:
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Yet again we have failed the children in many countries of this world by not protecting them from these Roman Catholic clothed abusers. The situation appears ever more exasperating as we seem to continue to protect the perpetrators by not recognizing and pursuing these criminals in open courts.
If the Roman Catholic Church was any other type of business it would have been closed down and put out of business by now. How long are we going to continue to close our eyes to this...
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