In the final volume of A.N. Wilson’s “History of Britain “series, the reader is presented with a depressing but perhaps unsurprising conclusion: “Britannia has ceased to exist”. Quite what constitutes Britannia is difficult to discern, but the inference is clear, Britain is dead.
To many progressives, this is nothing new; the view that this country is somehow dead, or at least, no longer existent in her previously recognisable form, has been expressed before and no doubt will be again in the future. The challenge for progressives is to prove wrong the view that Britain is a tired and weary nation hobbling along in search of a final resting place, as the conservative romantics would have us believe. Many of the long-term challenges facing Britain now relate to issue of the environment and sustainability. In the 19th and 20th centuries, the country found its calling in advancing social and political reform and built the foundations of our present system of the welfare state and governance. In the 21st century, the country can find its calling in making the huge improvements in living standards across society seen in the last 200 years: something that is sustainable and able to be maintained and increased for future generations.
All of this can be achieved, but will require time, effort and also the willingness to look to unconventional methods for achieving the joint aim of protecting the environment and continuing to increase living standards. At the next election, the Labour government has an opportunity to put forward a positive vision for Britain in which meeting the challenges of the environment and sustainability are key to realising that vision.
The notion that the 21st century is going to be a progressive century has taken off considerably as an idea, even to the extent that conservatives in Britain feel the need to style themselves as progressive conservatives. However, despite the Tories best attempts so far this century, it is the Labour party and truly progressive thinkers such as the Fabians and co-operators who are setting the future agenda. However, in alliance with genuine progressives, the British people themselves should be made the authors of this new progressive century along with members of the established political class. How can this be done? It starts with a recognition of some of the main challenges, namely the need to make our presently unsustainable lifestyle a sustainable (and consequently environmentally sound) one, whilst maintaining and actually increasing living standards for all in society; and the need for a more modern, sustainable transport infrastructure to be established, that allows the public to travel from A to B without ruining the environment and without turning regular train travel into a pursuit only open to the very wealthy. These are just two of many, but with both the public can be engaged with government in meeting them. Such a possibility exists because amongst the total population of these islands, there is an overabundance of some of the world’s finest and most eminent experts in their various fields: scientists, inventors, engineers, to name but a few.
The government could instigate a series of national challenges in which they would set a task for the talents of Britain; for instance, to develop a new environmentally friendly mode of freight transport. Engineers and innovators could then submit their entries to a panel who could select a winning design. The government would then provide the financial support and resources to make this project work and see it rolled out. This should be done in a very open and public way, so that the public feel engaged in the process. If this succeeds, there is always the added benefit of seeing home-grown initiatives and technologies being exported around the world, with the resulting jobs and economic benefits being seen in the home country of that invention; something our ancestors, the Victorians, were quite used to.
The purpose of these national challenges would be twofold. It would demonstrate that for all the pessimism about Britain in the 21st century, it can, through the talents of its people, meet the biggest challenge of our age- the protection of the environment, which would create a sense of national pride and demonstrate to the conservative romantics that whilst this country is a different place to its past incarnations it still serves a purpose. Secondly, it would provide a definite platform for the talents of this country on which to project their ideas. Presently, common sense tells us that science and modern engineering can deliver almost all that the human race asks of it. Yet the politics of the market means that scientists and engineers have their creativity throttled by the pressures of what is financially viable and profitable. This problem, it seems, is exacerbated by the current distaste of banks for lending money for the purposes of scientific development. It seems, perhaps, that the result of this is that, whilst perfectly sound scientific progress could deliver real benefits for humanity, this is overlooked as the market constrains and determines what benefits humans see from science and technology, not the actual practicalities of science itself. The national challenges concept would allow talented individuals to put forward ideas and creations that might not meet the strict demands of the market but can be of real use to humanity.
These challenges set by the government to this nation’s talents would bring considerable economic benefits and also a net increase in human knowledge – even if any of these projects were not to be as successful as hoped, there is still a net gain with an increase in human scientific knowledge. Equally importantly, this idea also has the potential to excite the minds of the public and make people realise that the challenges we face are not insurmountable. With a government willing to listen and a population with so many talents crossing the length and breadth of society, meeting the challenges, proving the conservative romantics wrong and embracing the future can be done and, in this way, the vision of a progressive century can be realised by all in society.