SUMMER 2020 INTERVIEW COMMENT CLIMATE by Anticipations

By Anticipations

INTERVIEW COMMENT CLIMATE SUMMER James Graham, The bright future of UBI Cities post-pandemic 2020 Playwright p.2 p.14 p.5 & 8 “ NOW IS THE TIME FOR ONE FINAL PUSH TO KNOCK DOWN THE DOOR TO A MORE SUSTAINABLE FUTURE. ”

JACK PARKER, P10 CONTENTS ADAM ALLNUTT IN THIS ISSUE FROM THE CHAIR

elcome to the summer edition improved the culture in the Young Fabians Editor’s Column P1 Wof our new look Anticipations – creating a decentralised productive James Graham on the future of theatre P2 Magazine. environment where activists feel P4 Our reach this year has been empowered to produce brilliant pieces of The parasite and the virus phenomenal. We’ve sent several work. The Young Fabians and Fabianism New horizons P5 delegations to events across Europe and is in the ascendancy with open discussion, P6 hosted the Young European Socialist debate and thought leadership at its core. Education after lockdown Bureau. We’re launching the Young I cannot thank each and every member Our international future P7 Scottish Fabians, Young Welsh Fabians enough for the effort you have put in to P8 and regional groups across England. We create an atmosphere that people want to Forging the path will be launching a complete YF re-brand join. Beyond ‘Big Society’ P9 across the society, the networks, the As we look to an uncertain future I nations and the regions. We were early am filled with confidence that the next Pushing open the door to a green future P10 adopters of Zoom events and have hosted generation of leaders are developing their A National Care Service P11 over 100 virtual events across a wide skills here. We follow in the footsteps of range of subjects - including 30 members giants and as young members my rallying Defined Chaos P12 of the Shadow Labour Team - and we’re cry to you is step up - we need you. The future’s bright, the future’s UBI P14 planning a virtual alternative conference. Whether it’s on social justice, the climate We have nine active policy pamphlets crisis, inequality or any other wrong you or reports underway, have co-opted five see, it is on us to step up and be the new incredible committee members, and change we want to see. Maybe then we our blog is more active than ever. We are can have the utopian future we all crave. looking at establishing a patrons board Thank you for reading, I look forward to with a mentoring programme, and we’ve working with you. 

HENNA SHAH FROM THE EDITOR

elcome to the summer special some of the brilliant writing we see here, Wedition of Anticipations. with (sometimes utopian) visions of the As we emerge, bleary eyed, from future on everything from education to lockdown, many of us within the Labour international relations, culture to care. movement are thinking about what the Politics should be about action. I am future might hold for our country and its delighted that Anticipations is a space place in the world. Comparisons to 1945 where we can have a conversation about are rife, but the truth is we might be the kind of society we want, and where standing over an even greater precipice young members in particular can share than we did then. We are not embarking their experiences, expertise, and passion on a programme of reconstruction in a with other progressives. world that’s shaped by the values we hold Of course, this happens all year round dear as a society and. In fact, it often feels in our excellent blog, and I am excited to that our polity has no unifying values at all. show you some of the best writing that’s EDITORIAL TEAM It’s not all doom and gloom, though. appeared in it over the past few months. While we have seen fractures in our Thank you to Amber Khan, who is an Henna Shah Anticipations Editor society over the past few months, we incredibly talented editor and, of course, Carolina Saludes Creative Supervisor have also seen displays of mutual to you, the Young Fabians, for being Robin Wilde Graphic Designer support and care that before seemed enthusiastic and prolific in your writing. Adam Allnutt Content Supervisor more within the realm of nostalgia than Enjoy the issue!  Amber Khan Anticipations Sub-Editor social reality. This instinctive tendency towards mutual cooperation is reflected in

CAROLINA SALUDES JAMES GRAHAM ON THE FUTURE OF THEATRE

ames Graham isn’t just a very ing towns, the ways for people to laugh, liamentary proceedings that inadvertently Jaccomplished playwright. The cry, and just feel together, seem to be cul- teaches us about our country’s political soft-spoken author of This House, Labour turally split. ‘Metropolitan elites’ pay £10 for history. of Love and the somewhat controversial, a glass of wine at a swish West End foyer, For the price of a single Marvel film, Brexit: The Uncivil War, is everything a pro- and everyone else is much more comforta- the Government (although Graham is also gressive could want in a political writer. ble with a football match and a pint. Except open for enforcing contributions from He’s working class, didn’t go to Oxbridge, this doesn’t fully reflect our reality, espe- Netflix and other media conglomerates) and learned about theatre through panto cially that of theatre. could guarantee the survival of the Arts, and school plays. Yet he’s had multiple Today, polarisation dictates our lives. one that ‘creates £5 in value for every £1 plays on Broadway and is currently work- Sometimes bubbles are pierced, and un- invested’. It would be, he says, ‘econom- ing on a project with a certain Elton John. lawful trips to Durham or the plight of black ically illiterate to decide that the majority But that’s not why he’s here. James is on communities burst through, demanding of theatres should be mothballed and left a mission to save theatre - both from this that we all pay attention. But we’ve not to die for what is such a small amount of catastrophic pandemic, and from itself. The been given the tools, especially emotion- money to them. There is a direct link be- UK Arts sector now has a £600m hole to tween the theatre above a pub and Star fill. Since losing some 40% of public subsi- Wars films, and it makes no sense to let dies in the last decade, it has become very THEATRES SHOULD it go.’ He’s signed a plea for theatres to, exposed to further ticket and catering sales BE DEFENDED amongst other things, postpone rather losses. Arts Council England has replaced AND CHAMPIONED than cancel plays, to pay fair royalties to its usual Arts grants with a welcome, but writers for plays now streaming online, and insufficient, £160m Covid-19 fund. Per- AS CREATORS OF to improve protections for freelance crew. formance spaces, which were the first to COMMUNITY. These aren’t just nice-to-haves, they’re life- close, will be the last to open. They need lines for many. an Emergency Relief Fund and logistical We also know, however, that theatre has guidance, and they need it now, James al, to process this flurry of data, to make become elitist, some of it for financial rea- says. But that’s not enough: ‘we also need us less angry and more understanding. As sons. No business rate relief (prior to the a reset’, a change in how the sector has we have painfully realised through a lock- pandemic anyway), no contractual con- operated. down that has kept us apart, no online ex- tributions from streaming companies that To chart this new direction (and in keep- perience can replace a hug, a busy pub, benefit from the theatre talent pool, and ing with the theme of this special edition), the communal laughter at a comedy gig. insufficient revenue from digital distribu- we need to understand what theatre is for. Graham’s point is that artists and creative tion, translate into wafer-thin margins that If it seems counterintuitive to defend Arts spaces don’t just exist in the slot between lead to unfair practices. Underpaid stage spending during a public health crisis, Gra- the curtain rising and falling, they’re a key actors, precarious freelance contracts, and ham offers a compelling argument. Thea- part of their communities and of British life. a dearth of grants and apprenticeships tres are a vehicle for community-building They may be the theatre company that follow, requiring young starters to have a where other forms of collective socialisa- has partnered with local schools to pro- family to house them for free or the bank tion have disappeared. vide educational resources, or the writing of mum and dad to support them. All this Just like the debate in Labour of Love grant scheme for young creatives or the also exacerbates ‘risk-aversion’, and hence over winning University towns vs. ex-min- streamed play about the minutiae of Par- a lack of any push towards gender and

2 INTERVIEW

ethnic diversity in the development and ble characters in empathetic ways (even his deliciously funny ITV drama Quiz, about programming of plays. Graham points out the likes of Dominic Cummings or Rupert the Charles Ingram scandal) but they can that Natasha Gordon’s ‘Nine night’ play last Murdoch), a humanistic approach that has feel ‘disposable’. ‘TikTok is great’, but ‘be- year was the first-ever (!) West End hit writ- much to teach our current political class. ing in a room with a set of characters for ten by a black woman, and that only 24% ‘The intention is to create a public space two hours, engaging with them, functions of staged UK plays are written by women. where everyone feels welcome, for right or in a fundamentally different, more pro- This won’t change on its own, says Graham, wrong; the best way to hold people to ac- found way’. ‘the flow of habit has to be changed’. That count is to give them a defence first.’ James Graham is right. Theatre doesn’t will include more saying ‘no’ to people that In This House, the young MP Ann Taylor just need to be preserved because it’s look like him. But he also advises against (later Chief Whip Baroness Taylor), tries to pleasurable, or even because it makes universal quotas, since a 12% diversity make a mark by being ‘more like the oth- financial sense to do so. It should be de- requirement may be so high as to be un- ers, like the men’ but as his boss tells her, fended and championed, along with our achievable in Scotland, but be completely ‘I don’t want you to change, I want them wider Arts sector, as creators of commu- unfit for purpose in multicultural London, to be more like you’. Graham’s characters nity. They’re integral parts of the public where 55% of the population is BAME. force the audience to find nuance, both sphere, builders of a communal and com- Diversity, both of background and in their beliefs and their biases, and he passionate reality, empathy factories. The worldviews, is key to this future-proof- argues theatre is unique in being able to cost of that can’t be, and isn’t, too high.  ing of theatre. Graham demonstrates this do so. Online streaming is great and brings himself through his portrayal of unlikea- entertainment to people’s homes (such as

3 COMMENT CHARLOTTE TOSTI

HOW THE MAFIA The PROFITS FROM COVID-19 IN Parasite ITALY AND THE VIRUS

taly is now one of the worst-affected on. but highly dangerous, business partners. Iby the Covid-19 pandemic. But Prime Unlike the more affluent, industrial These acts of ‘benevolence’ only add to Minister Conte’s pleas for civilians to reject northern provinces, the south of Italy the wider anti-establishment sentiment felt the Mafia are somewhat less convincing, remains agricultural, and derives much by many in Italy, drawing individuals away since these organisations could be their of its income from seasonal tourism. from the civil obedience that is desperately only way of putting food on the table. With Covid-19 robbing the south of the required to prevent the spread of the virus. The composition of the labour market in usual influx of summer holidaymakers The Mafia, which threads itself in and the south of Italy goes some way to explain with plenty of cash to throw at hotels, out of Italian life, has a constitution of its why the Mafiosi are able to capitalise on restaurants and local leisure providers, own, one built upon conventions of apathy the Covid-19 crisis. There are some 3 the incomes of many businesses are set and fear. The extent to which it capitalises million workers in Italy who work off the to dry up. Whilst the northern provinces upon the financial hardship people will books, paid cash-in-hand. Over a million of with higher population densities have had face in this crisis partially depends on the these workers live in the south. Like other higher numbers of Covid-19 deaths, it is resistance of already vulnerable people. countries in the European Union, Italy the regions in the south who will face the The Italian crisis shows that tax evasion announced its own series of economic strongest blow to their income in the long leaves you in a no-man’s-land, where the support packages for individuals and term. help of the state is far away when you most businesses. For these people who work in It is precisely this predictable slump need it. But this still remains an attractive the shadows, it is much harder to secure in consumption that will draw many option for many people in the south, support from the government. businesses towards support from the where job opportunities are few and far An underlying lack of trust in the Mafia. The financial hardship faced by between. The conviction among some EU capacity for the state to ‘efficiently’ spend Italians in the south is already grave. countries that giving EU ‘Corona bonds’ the taxpayers’ money, fuelled by right-wing There are reports of families having to live to Italy is synonymous with dishing cash populists like Matteo Salvini, has led to a off their elderly relatives’ pensions. The out to the Mafia is mistaken. Whilst Conte widespread culture of tax evasion. This journalist Roberto Saviano reported that should act quickly to prevent predictable is often backed up by the notion that the in Naples, it is the clans who are providing Mafia infiltration into business recovery Italian state taxes ‘too highly’- even though ‘welfare’: they deliver families food parcels. during the crisis, without re-distributing the rate of corporate income tax in Italy is Saviano also anticipates that in the future, wealth, protecting workers and investing actually lower than in France, Germany and companies re-emerging will need injections in businesses in Italy’s most deprived Portugal (2019). Receipts are in fact a rarity of capital to help resume their activities. provinces, the Mafiosi will only continue to in the south of Italy. It is not uncommon to It is not unlikely that many of these will profiteer from the poverty of others. visit a bar in an Italian coastal town during receive tempting offers of cash from the The Mafia is like a parasite, thriving on the summer, and be asked if you ‘don’t Mafia. However, these acts are merely part the blood of anti-establishment sentiment. mind’ if you don’t get a receipt, or fail to be of a campaign to control economic life. If To kill it, Conte must start showing people given one at all. You nod, hope they didn’t businesses accept the help of the Mafia, that the Italian state can really deliver the make you a bitter espresso, and life goes they effectively bring them in as unofficial, goods.  4 COMMENT EDMUND FRONDIGOUN NEW HORIZONS

CORONAVIRUS WILL IRREVOCABLY RESHAPE OUR CITIES. WILL PUBLIC POLICY MATCH IT?

iving in locked-down central Lon- So our cities, our parks, schools, and and pooling arrangements don’t make Ldon has afforded me the opportu- services start to slide into decay. And, sense when people work remotely but nity to observe the surreal silence in topping that, after having spent months interdependently up and down the country. the city; surreal because many busi- cramped in a small flat with no outdoor Finding a practical and fair way to collect nesses here are continuing on with space, will those that can leave the city do and distribute these funds in a way that is their employees dispersed at home. so? Is there value in buying a city centre indicative of need is necessary; growing Cloud software and video conferences flat when a house with a garden costs the the local tax base simply does not make have recreated almost all the necessary same? And what of the economic damage sense in a decentralised world. functions of the office. caused by millions no longer commuting in More broadly, a shift in our country’s I originally wrote this before Twitter to work? economic geography provides a allowed staff to work from home Local authorities are already being forced welcome opportunity to redefine our use permanently, and it seems likely that even to contemplate the most severe spending of space- with no need for businesses after the COVID-19 threat has passed many cuts stemming from our socially-distanced to locate centrally, or for people to live could choose not to return to the office. economy. But we cannot hope to return near their workplace, our regional deficit Would they be able to if they even wanted to how things were before March, for our in investment and opportunity can be to? As the country adjusts to the privations social economy has already fundamentally rebalanced. We can redesign our cities of a post-viral economy, businesses may changed. For right or wrong, technology to recognise that homes and commercial conclude that whilst communications marches on. It is no more possible or property are no longer mutually exclusive. software is a necessity, a permanent office practical to halt this decentralisation of We can develop planning Frameworks is obsolete. Working from home becomes work than it would have been to save and building regulations that build smart, the new normal; in the fourth industrial the mines or the mills half a century ago. energy efficient homes with space for revolution, the line between personal and As socialists and democrats, we should work and leisure. We can offer city living private space is irrevocably blurred. instead adapt to this change, proactively desirable and affordable for all. How this will affect the city is staggering. mitigate its worst effects, and ensure the This is all of course still speculative. Yet Scores of offices, particularly in newly- wealth and opportunity stemming from it who in the Labour party of 1945 could have regenerated areas, become surplus are available to all. There are already a few imagined that less than a century later the to requirement. As do adjacent shops, obvious adaptations to halt a catastrophic industrial social and economic fabric of restaurants, and bars. Doing the same decline of our cities. the country would have fundamentally amount of work in less space causes Reforming business rates is an urgent changed? Regardless, it did, and the failure business rates revenue to nose dive. A priority. In a decentralised, Uberized of policy and politicians to accept and adapt new retail park or redeveloped warehouse world, where the house is a node of has caused much of the inequality we have becomes a less engaging investment, economic activity, and corporate offices a today. Another fundamental change is and so development funding for the local relic, it is obsolete to levy a charge based now upon us; it is on our generation to do community is no longer forthcoming. solely on floor space. Current retention differently. 

5 COMMENT

CHRIS SMITH EDUCATION AFTER LOCKDOWN

ever let a good crisis go to are dispassionate and anonymous; All these organisations draft vast Nwaste’– despite the chaos of the standardised thus fair; creating results that amounts of literature telling teachers how current crisis, teachers are using this are easily understood and, critically, enable to do their jobs, but written by people with period to challenge accepted norms teachers to be held accountable to. This is little to no teaching experience themselves. and bring us closer to an education why politicians are loathe to lose them –it Many teachers then mark exam papers system that truly values learning. would shift the balance of power in favour in a manner prescribed almost entirely to The earliest Covid-19 revelation was of classroom professionals. remove professional judgment. While this about who the real key workers are. I am not proposing a system of no is not a scientific study of the economics Teachers, despite the reinforcement examinations but rather a system created, of exams, the costs of compensating of teaching’s status as a ‘Cinderella administered, assessed and peer teachers through higher salaries to take Profession’, were included in this. reviewed by serving teachers. To those on these roles would undoubtedly be less Politicians regularly cite teachers as unfamiliar with how current ‘standardised’ than the sums spent on this outsourcing professionals akin to doctors when making to professional agencies. Any pay rises demands but when it comes to heeding BRITISH STUDENTS ARE would be minimal as all teachers would their professional advice they are happy to SOME OF THE MOST prize the increased professional autonomy deny them any such standing, leading to and status derived from being the true disastrous consequences for teachers and TESTED IN EUROPE, gatekeepers of educational standards students. Many will be familiar with how WITH INCREASING above financial changes to contracts. unattractive a career teaching is through RATES OF POOR Many will dismiss this as utopian which headlines of the numbers leaving due to is understandable, given Britain makes workload and stress, which derives from MENTAL HEALTH. no effort to present teachers as expert the undercutting of professional status. professionals. What the current crisis As a teacher of eight years, I survived the proves, however, is that teachers are key first milestone of five years (after which a examinations work, they are hardly fair or workers. You can take away the exams reported 30 – 40 per cent quit). However, effective. British students are some of the and bureaucracy, as has been done, I am now contemplating leaving before most tested in Europe, with increasing and teachers will still deliver learning the ten year milestone, by which time half rates of poor mental health and suicide opportunities for students to progress of teachers will leave, due to the huge linked to exam overload at the end of to the next stage of their lives. Take the disparity between what teaching should be two years of ‘cramming’. The schooling teachers out of this equation and that does and what it is. This is why I am excited by of too many is an exam factory, where not happen. Therefore, is it really utopian the potential for a brave new world beyond all efforts are geared towards passing to suggest freeing teachers to exercise exams – with even The Telegraph recently narrowly focused tests. The process of full professional agency? Teachers’ questioning quite how necessary they are. creating and then assessing exams is a working conditions are children’s learning If exams can be forgone this summer and bureaucratic labyrinth comprising multiple conditions and taking the opportunity to students still progress into employment, ‘competing’ exam boards which comprise enhance these and provide teachers with apprenticeships or university, and it is ‘edubusinesses’, charities and quangos true autonomy is surely necessary to a just certain that they will, then why return sustained by inadequate education education system.  to them? The case for exams is: they budgets.

6 COMMENT SAM ECCLES

efore the outbreak of the corona- after the beginning of this crisis, the internal in its influential medical compendium. Bvirus, the world was an incredibly retreat by countries in our ‘leaderless Organisations like the WHO are for the divided place – perhaps at a level we world’ to tackle this virus on their own was world’s benefit, not one country’s individual have not seen since the Cold War. a grave mistake. The vacuum left by the gain, and all countries need to respect that. Russia’s sustained vetoing of UN Security lack of a globally coordinated effort to deal Meanwhile, the stalemate at the UN Council resolutions for peace in Syria, the with the virus has sadly led to a death rate Security Council, of which the UK is a UK’s exit from the European Union, and the that could have been avoided, had action permanent member, has prompted a President of the United States threatening been taken earlier. potential rethink on how the UK can to withdraw from NATO and ending its One leader who has been vocal on this implement its foreign policy more participation in the WHO, are all ex- issue however is Emmanuel Macron. In an effectively. One solution proposed amples of the global rise of isola- interview in April, the French President by Tony Blair’s former chief tionism. This has been deeply highlighted that issues that can only be of staff and one of the key damaging for nations, and solved unilaterally by governments are architects of the Good individuals, across the becoming much rarer, whilst issues that can Friday Agreement, OUR INTERNATIONAL

globe. FUTUREonly be solved multilaterally are becoming Jonathan Covid-19 has more common and more damaging. He Powell, is to not only shown that also warned that if the world does not ‘wake establish a new the world’s nations up to our interdependence’, populism and Beveridge Commission can cooperate in times nationalism will win. He’s not wrong. to reassess both the of crisis, but that they must But if we are to champion and utilise our domestic and international if we are to effectively tackle global institutions for our collective benefit, landscape. our shared challenges. It is now we must also be honest and highlight Keir Starmer and his team must the turn of our current world leaders where their endeavours can be improved. recognise that if we are to tackle both to meet our new challenges and form a For example, whilst regular updates were Covid-19 and the key issues of this new new understanding of our globalised and provided in the lead up to the crisis, the decade post-Brexit: climate change, cyber- interconnected world. WHO has been criticised for failing to call security and widening global inequality, There have been examples of global the coronavirus a pandemic until as late as then a renewed understanding of the cooperation since the spread of the virus, March 11. importance of global cooperation must from data-sharing, PPE donations and In addition, there have also been be at the heart of their policy platform. We medical equipment loans. However, in the concerns China has used the WHO cannot do it alone. Whether the channels same way these examples have shown as a soft-power instrument for greater used are the UN, G7, G20 or international the benefits of international cooperation, influence on the global stage; for example, treaties such as the Paris Climate the silence from world leaders has been by successfully pressuring the WHO into Agreement, international conversations deafening. As Gordon Brown wrote soon including traditional Chinese medicine matter. 

7 COMMENT

LAURA HALL FORGING THE PATH TRANSFORMING UK TOWN AND CITY SPACES WITH A ‘GREEN RECOVERY’ IN THE WAKE OF COVID-19

cross the UK, towns and cities local authorities to change the layout of at a record high. This means that tempo- A are being re-shaped as global streets and introduce more active travel rary behavioural change is not enough to leaders and urban planners are im- measures to get people back into town reduce emissions – we need long-term plementing changes such as wider centres, but in a way where they can so- solutions and increased investment in re- pavements, traffic restrictions and cial distance safely. Re-assessing what our silience to make the ways we live, work increased infrastructure specifical- towns and cities look like and if the existing and travel (and the spaces we use to do ly tailored towards pedestrians and infrastructure in place is fit for purpose has so) more sustainable. cyclists. This re-structuring of our spaces therefore led to significant spatial changes. As we look to be spending more time is motivated by a variety of factors – the The principle that unites all of these exam- outdoors due to the higher degree of ven- greater need for social distancing due to ples of spatial re-structuring is this – safe, tilation and reduced likelihood of passing the impact of COVID-19, relieving pressure generous and accessible common space on COVID-19, further investment will also on stretched transport networks, wider is fundamental to our public life. be required in public realm improvements, public health benefits and most signifi- More than ever before, it has become such as tree-planting and through protect- cantly from an environmental perspective, evident that public health is interlinked to ing parks. We need to prioritise the green improvement of air quality. the health of our environment. Airborne spaces that have been a lifeline to commu- Labour has been at the forefront of particulate matter and other forms of air nities during this pandemic. Our leaders re-shaping cities in the UK, with mayors pollution, worsened by diesel and petrol need to adapt and climate-proof our public Sadiq Khan and Andy Burnham oversee- vehicles, are closely tied to respiratory dis- spaces to enable the ‘green recovery’ and ing advancements in both London and ease and cardiovascular problems. Some action the rescue of the post-COVID-19 Manchester to widen roads, roll out safer studies have suggested that these medi- economy. cycling routes and pedestrianize areas to cal issues can be exacerbated further by With even the Conservatives now em- reduce air pollution and carbon emissions. COVID-19. Consequently, it is vital that our bracing the rhetoric of ‘green recovery’, London’s new ‘Streetspace’ scheme will transport systems and spaces are re-de- following calls from businesses, environ- transform central parts of the capital into signed to prevent further congestion and mental organisations and youth leaders, it one of the largest car-free zones in the toxic pollution. is to be hoped that positive progress can world. In Wales, the First Even during a time when the majority continue to be made across the political Minister, Labour’s Mark of the world has been in some form spectrum to re-shape our spaces for the Drakeford, has estab- of lockdown, recently released better. However, in order to clear the path lished funding for figures suggest thattowards the green recovery, more needs global carbon di- to be done and faster to contribute to a cli- oxide levels mate-safe and healthier future for UK com- are still munities. 

8 COMMENT

EMMA STEVENSON BEYOND ‘BIG SOCIETY’ e need to create communities continued to be stimulated by the ever-ex- challenges the country faces. Voluntary or- Wwith oomph.’ This is how David panding welfare state, and overlooked by ganisations, like social enterprises, have Cameron described one of the drivers new institutions, voluntary organisations networks in communities that many other behind his vision of a ‘Big Society’. These sought to innovate and press for effective organisations and service providers, cen- newly-‘oomphed’ communities would be state action. Notably, in 1946, the charity tral and local government often struggle to ‘in charge of their own destiny’, and would now known as Mind was founded to push reach. Social value is at the heart of vol- feel that if they ‘club together and get in- for mental health services in the new Na- untary action, and social value must align volved’ they would be able to ‘shape the tional Health Service. with local people’s needs in order to create world around them.’ This ‘Big Society’ was This unique hybrid function of voluntary meaningful buy-in from communities. The pitched in contrast to the ‘Big State’ that action, described by Beveridge as ‘private combination of this pursuit of social justice New Labour had supposedly advanced, by action for public purpose’, enshrines vol- and social value, with knowledge of the seeking to reduce state centralisation in untary action as a ‘buffer zone’ between community means voluntary organisations parallel with ‘an organic communitarianism’ the state and the markets, and therefore a are uniquely placed to create more inclu- through the growth of local responsibility great potential resource in fuelling social sive and accessible systems of participa- and self-governing communities. Amongst innovation without the need for consumer tion, offering greater capacity for person- other things, ‘Big Society’ was an endorse- demand. LSE scholar Dr Jonathan Roberts alisation and a human touch. ment of the role that voluntary action and has observed a current loss of faith in the There still remains a commonplace on social enterprise could play in promoting state and markets to solve problems, and the Left, that voluntary organisations are social inclusion and empowering citizens. therefore identifies voluntary action as a symptomatic of a state that is failing its Yet, the very essence of the term ‘Big So- potential key to finding new ways of solv- citizens. However, we need a state that ciety’ failed to grasp the fundamental truth ing social problems. is committed to creating an environment that ‘society’ is neither homogenous nor ‘Big Society’ left voluntary action not where volunteering can thrive. Volunteer- simple, and citizens can never be ‘big’ if strengthened but weakened, leaving the ing not only aids the building of social structural barriers and inequalities prevent often disadvantaged and marginalised cohesion but has been shown to reduce them from fully participating in public life. communities they support even more vul- exclusion and isolation in communities. Cameron’s vision was doomed to fail. nerable. This truth was one which Labour Volunteering benefits not only those who Whether it coincided with or was a front readily addressed in their 2019 strategy receive help but the volunteers as well – for austerity, the drive for cuts and deficit for civil society, From Paternalism to Partic- volunteers themselves can gain personal reduction made communal action untena- ipation. Voluntary organisations and cam- fulfilment, the experience of responsibility ble. In tandem with a predilection for priva- paign groups form a central part of their and commitment, and even the acquisition tisation and the depoliticising of voluntary solution for participation, by acting as ‘ad- of transferable skills. Within Keir Starmer’s organisations as service providers, most vocates’ for the ‘voiceless’ and by making vision for a ‘just and more equal society’ notably through the Lobbying Act (2014), sure ‘they always have a voice when deci- he asserts that ‘Public policy must seek to Cameron’s ‘Big Society’ externalised the sions that affect them are taken.’ Within the prevent problems from happening in peo- state’s responsibility for service delivery same report, and again in their 2019 Gen- ple’s lives, rather than seeking to manage and passed on the burden of failure. eral Election manifesto, Labour called for a them once they’ve happened.’ The volun- We need only look to William Bever- review into strengthening the Social Value tary sector needs to be fully involved in the idge’s lesser-known report, Voluntary Ac- Act (2012), in order to make sure ‘public policy-making process and in the delivery tion (1948), to identify the complex relation- decision-making benefits local communi- of these policies, and citizens need to be ship between the state and the voluntary ties, including by involving more co-oper- encouraged to participate in voluntary ac- sector. Beveridge recognised the need atives and social enterprises in delivering tion, in order for such a society to be re- for voluntary action alongside an active public services.’ alised. welfare state in eradicating the five ‘giant Voluntary organisations are a willing ally Whilst the ‘Big Society’ and now the evils’: want, disease, ignorance, squalor, in this mission, and being advocates for the COVID-19 crisis have left the voluntary sec- and idleness. Under Clement Attlee, the communities they support is an essential tor weakened, we must not give up on it foundation of the welfare state witnessed part of their purpose. However, voluntary now. Instead, we should be building on it the transfer of welfare provision from vol- organisations not only tackle the symp- to create the ‘Good Society’ we all wish to untary organisations to the state. Even so, toms of social problems but are an integral live in.  in Beveridge’s lifetime, voluntary action force in the fight to tackle the causes of the 9 COMMENT

JACK PARKER PUSHING OPEN THE DOOR TO A GREEN FUTURE

ast your mind back to colourful ment too difficult to win. In fact, it is now, printing trillions more. Interest rates have C tents occupying streets around in this period of global disruption, when collapsed and will stay close to zero for the world, Extinction Rebellion activ- change is most likely. the foreseeable future, reducing the total ists glued to bridges, the ascension of UK unemployment is predicted to sky- cost for public and private borrowing for Greta Thunberg and the motivating rocket to above 10%, a level not seen since job creation and infrastructure spending. voice of David Attenborough. These the early 1990s. In the United States, un- The political picture has also changed. We were the icons of 2019 and the burgeoning employment is already above 13%. Those now live in a world in which a Conserva- environmental movement, memories that affected will not just be young retail assis- tive government has directly covered the feel grey and distant now that coronavirus tants and hotel managers, but also highly wages of millions of workers for months. has invaded every aspect of our lives. qualified engineers from the collapsing oil This is a level of state intervention that has It may seem logical, when health and and gas sector, finance professionals from smashed the political narrative. economic crises serve more urgent prob- the struggling airline industry and many Businesses are also more open to lems, for climate change, air pollution and more in between. change than ever before. They recognise deforestation to be kicked down the road. Meanwhile, there are green jobs to be that for many people, the experience of Surely, we should focus all our efforts on a done. People are needed to design the lockdown has been a time of reflection. vaccine, reopening businesses and getting next generation energy grid and manufac- Their customers will emerge from it with GDP back up. Then we can worry about ture electric vehicles. Homes need to be new priorities and an evolved appetite for sustainability when things return to normal, refitted with vast quantities of insulation. different products and services. They have right? Trees need to be planted. Studies suggest enabled staff to work from home, adapted Wrong. that across the world as many as 30 mil- entire business models. When push comes to shove, humans lion green jobs need to be created to limit The world has been thrown into chaos. are creatures of comfort. We prefer stabil- temperatures to a maximum of 1.5 degrees Millions of people and trillions of pounds ity over disruption, certainty over chaos. above pre-industrial levels. In normal times, are floating in the air, waiting for a new pur- After the threat of coronavirus has faded, it would be impossible to find enough peo- pose. This is the key that the environmen- and the economy slowly returns to health, ple willing to do the work. Now there are tal movement has needed. Now is the time convincing the people of the world to en- more people willing to retrain than there for one final push to knock down the door gage in yet another chapter of change, to have been for decades. to a more sustainable future. If we don’t do decarbonise entire industries, to change Governments around the world are in- it now, we probably never will.  their method of transport, to ask them to vesting trillions of pounds into keeping change the food they eat, may be an argu- the economy afloat, and central banks are

10 COMMENT

HASNAIN KHAN

A NATIONAL CARE SERVICE

he Adult Social Care System nowhere near enough to do these essen- sion of service use of social care homes Tshould show dignity and respect tial tasks if you need support.’ should be run by the well-established 84 to those who have worked tirelessly Currently, the Care Quality Commission NHS Foundation Trusts and, based on re- and contributed to our society. How- Quality (CQC) monitors the quality of social views by the CQC, Foundation Trusts could ever, over the past decade, Tory austerity care homes. However, with private own- provide services to care homes based on has stripped away the liberties of our el- ership of the majority of care home beds quality, not by price. This would create a derly population, leaving our current sys- (83.6%), there has been no clear leadership market where the quality of care is incen- tem unfit for purpose. With some pension- to adapt and develop social care policy to tivised. The Local Government Association ers forced to sell their homes, and others meet the needs of our changing society. also believes an integrated system could not receiving the care they need, a new Adult social care services are fragment- lead to efficiency savings of as much as proposal needs to address the system and ed, leading to greater incidences of abuse £1bn a year. give them the independence and care they and neglect. Efforts to join the two systems Health care is a right, social care should deserve. have been difficult with an NHS, free at the be too. And evidence shows that reform of The social care budget has been cut by point of use, yet a means-tested social care social care is possible. Evidence from the over £700 million since Labour was last in system. A lack of coordination has led to devolved nations shows that investment office. It’s clear that this has had a knock poorer outcomes and greater inefficiency. in aspects of social care, free at the point on effect on NHS services, for example in The Labour Party should champion a of need, has been achieved. Since 2002, A&E. 2015/16 saw a 27 per cent of over 65s system that looks to promote the values Scotland has operated a needs-tested visiting A&E once a year, in comparison to established by Attlee by creating a Nation- model for people aged over 65 with dom- 23% in 2009/10. This stretched emergen- al Care System, providing social care free iciliary care provided for free. People who cy services and could have been avoided at the point of use. This would involve a require care in a residential setting receive with proper social care. combined budget for the NHS and social a flat rate from local government and an Public concern stretches beyond fund- care funding at both a national and local additional amount of money invested if ing to the quality of care. Neil Heslop, CEO level. nursing care is required. We have seen of the Leonard Cheshire disability charity With 381,524 of the 456,546 care home the recent boom of investment to protect highlighted his frustration that ‘disabled beds owned by private companies, a Na- workers through the government furlough and older people are still having to endure tional Care Service will require a significant scheme. Government can be transforma- the indignity and disrespect of receiving investment, but the infrastructure to make tive, and a National Care Service should flying personal care visits, … 15 minutes is it a success is already in place. Commis- be one of the first systems it transforms. 

11 COMMENT

KYALO BURT-FULCHER, FIA DEFINED CHAOS THE UK PENSIONS SYSTEM, AND HOW WE COULD REMAKE IT

he UK pension system is re- ployers had to hand over much larger sums risory. On the other hand, the retiree who Tnowned for being the most com- than they’d ever envisaged (contribution doesn’t annuitise, is faced with the dilem- plex in the world. Decades of tam- rates of 50%+ of salaries are not unheard ma of how quickly to “drawdown” their pot. pering and incremental reform have of). Consequently, over the last two dec- Too slowly, and they die without properly created a bewildering array of regu- ades, almost all private sector employers enjoying the fruits of a life’s saving; too lations, structures and products. This have closed their DB schemes and instead quickly, and they could run out of money might be acceptable if it led to better enrolled employees into protagonist no. 2, and end up on state benefits alone. outcomes in retirement, but instead Defined Contribution (DC) schemes. As ever, millennials have it best of all (I’m we have wildly uneven coverage and, In DC schemes employee and employer joking, obviously). While we’ve been re- by many measures, one of the higher contributions are paid into separate funds ceiving often measly DC contributions and rates of pensioner poverty in Europe. for each employee, invested in a variety of lacking real term pay increases for most To understand why, and what we might assets, and at retirement each individual of the last decade, our employers were do about it, let’s quickly run through the can use their specific pot as they please. probably compelled to make large contri- main protagonists. First, there’s Defined Unlike in DB, the contributions, not the butions to legacy DB schemes (yes, even Benefit (DB), née Final Salary, schemes. benefits, are predetermined - and prede- though they already closed them) that we These guarantee an income based on termined such that employers contribute weren’t ever members of, to make up the length of service and salary, and over a much less than they’ve inadvertently end- shortfall relating to benefits that were pre- typical career might end up equating to a ed up paying into DB schemes. This may viously accrued by our older colleagues. comfortable annual pension of around half or may not result in an adequate income in Yes, the same older colleagues who start- of an employee’s final or average salary. retirement (the investment and life expec- ed their careers before the financial crisis To back the pension promise, a portfolio of tancy risks lie with the member, so there and have probably owned houses since assets is held in trust - separate from the can be no guarantee that it will), but if it they were 25. Fantastic. sponsoring employer - which the employer doesn’t, that’s the individual’s problem. Of course, occupational pension ar- must replenish should its value dip too low. Moreover, despite “gold-plated” DB rangements aren’t supposed to stand A predictable, comfortable, and secure in- schemes universally being seen as more entirely by themselves. They are comple- come for retirees then. Of course, there is expensive, they actually provide more mented by our aforementioned protag- a catch... bang for your buck than DC schemes do. onist no.3, the State Pension. Post-2015 The problem was that members started If a retiring DC scheme member wants a retirees who’ve paid national insurance for living much longer than expected, invest- guaranteed income for the rest of their life long enough (or just don’t have any other ments performed less well than hoped, (as a DB member would receive), they will income) will receive £175 a week on top and a series of well-meaning government need to use their pension pot to purchase of any private provision. By internation- reforms from the mid-80s onwards led to an annuity. Unfortunately, the regulations al standards this is not high, but it’s what both an onerous administrative burden, under which insurance companies operate around 1/3rd of people were faced with liv- and also required schemes to grant much require them to back this benefit with so ing off, because until recently this was the higher benefits than employers had ever much capital that, even for large DC pots, proportion of the workforce that surveys intended. The upshot of this was that em- the resulting annual pension can seem de- found made no private provision at all. 12 COMMENT

New Labour’s solution to this “time Parliament, are rules to define a potential fortable retirement for anyone (and their bomb”, implemented by subsequent gov- 5th protagonist - Collective Defined Con- spouse) who stays in employment for ernments, is our final protagonist - Auto- tribution (CDC), or Defined Ambition. This around forty years, the current minimum matic Enrollment. Employees must now be represents a hybrid between DB and DC, contributions might need to approximate- “auto-enrolled” into a qualifying pension based on the internationally admired Dutch ly double. That said, there is a tightrope to scheme (almost always DC) when they join model, where risk is shared more optimal- be walked in setting the level of required a new employer, and at least every three ly between employers and employees to contributions between being high enough years subsequently. While they retain the produce potentially higher benefits for any to provide an adequate pension, and low ability to opt-out before making any contri- given level of contributions. CDC schemes enough that mass opt-outs don’t leave butions, in reality the vast majority of em- could represent a good long-term solution workers without any private pensions sav- ployees just stay put. This has significantly for the UK, but they are not without their ings at all. Alternatively, the government increased overall scheme membership. political challenges (benefits can go down could just make employers pay the whole Unfortunately, the minimum (and hence as well as up, and pensioners really don’t thing... Certainly utopian - although a prag- most common) contribution level for qual- like it when this happens). Moreover, it is matist might reasonably worry about the ifying schemes is 8% of salary, of which unclear that the incentives will ever exist to impact of (in the short term) pushing em- only 3% has to come from the employer. tempt more than a handful of employers to ployers under water, and (in the longer By a very rough rule of thumb, a careers’ adopt them. term) depression of salaries as companies worth of 8% contributions might buy an an- Perhaps the state should just take on seek to rectify their overall wage bills. nual pension of c.20% of your final salary. the full burden itself, as happens to (some- Even if we can square the circle on con- Alongside the State Pension it’s probably times) good effect in many European coun- tribution rates, DC schemes still leave re- enough to live on, but not well, and this tries? Were we starting from scratch, this tirees the Hobsons choice between a low assumes you’ve kept making both private could be the most efficient and equitable annuity income and the risk of running pension and NI contributions your whole model. However, it would require signif- out of money before you die. To solve working lifetime. icant tax increases or spending cuts to that, we’d actually need to get radical. In other budgets to make it affordable, and exchange for their pension pots, the state would have a limited (perhaps even regres- could deliver pensioners a far better an- *** sive) redistributive impact. We would likely nuity income than any insurance company be paying significant amounts of money to could, while still (in all likelihood) running But what to do? An all-encompassing people who have already put away large the program at a profit. utopian solution is not immediately at private pension savings under the current There would be clear political risks. hand. DB schemes will not be making a system for many decades. Would prudent annuity rates be maintained comeback in the private sector anytime It’s hardly revolutionary, but the ultimate under political pressure to increase bene- soon, but nor can the legacy schemes be solution might well end up being increasing fits? Might the government be tempted to fully rolled up until their last members have the minimum contribution rates required spend the capital (rather than invest it), died in 50+ years’ time. In any case, almost for auto-enrollment. This would be ex- and later be left with the infamous “black every public sector employee is still accru- tremely simple to do, and since the contri- hole”? Perhaps the same lack of foresight ing DB benefits and likely to be doing so for butions come from savers and employers, and expertise that has led us where we many years to come. Significant inequality the cost to the exchequer would “only” be are now, would also undo such a system. in pension provision will therefore contin- the lost tax due to the exemptions on pen- But would we really be Fabians if we didn’t ue unless we can replace DC schemes or sion contributions (admittedly this would think it was worth a try?  improve outcomes for their members. be substantial, but hardly the ruinous sums Set out in the Pensions Schemes Bill required to fund benefits directly). 2020 that is currently progressing through As a ballpark estimate, to afford a com- 13 COMMENT

INGRID ALLAN THE FUTURE’S BRIGHT, THE FUTURE’S UBI he origins of Universal Basic In- as a means to reduce welfare spending in the pilot. Though some groups within the Tcome (UBI) may lie in utopian the long term, the same scenario occurred study did see a positive effect on their em- idealism but, in light of the current and the scheme was scrapped before re- ployment there was no significant data to circumstances, perhaps we should searchers could come to a robust conclu- suggest it gave participants an incentive to consider it an entirely sensible way sion. work. In the eyes of the global press, the forward. It is not a new concept, nor does Though it is one of the most unequal experiment was a failure. it require anywhere near the level of up- nations on earth, the United States de- Yet a closer look reveals results that heaval as that other paragon of near-in- serves credit for hosting more than its fair were invisible from a purely economic conceivable progress, a resource-based share of small UBI pilot schemes. Though perspective. Researchers expanding their global economy. it doesn’t fall within the definition of ‘basic focus beyond employment later revealed Though there is understandably a heavy income’ Alaska holds the record for the that participants were significantly happi- focus on how such an idea might work on longest-running guaranteed citizens’ al- er, less anxious, more trusting and felt a a national scale, the first well-documented lowance. The scheme, known as the Per- greater sense of autonomy than those in UBI scheme took place in the small city of manent Fund Dividend (PFD), gives all res- the control group. A small but notable por- Dauphin in the Manitoba province of Can- idents a cheque of between $1000-2000 tion pursued new business ideas and ed- ada. The four-year experiment (1974-79) a year, was established in 1982. It has ucational opportunities. Many undertook dubbed ‘Mincome’ was either a tremen- since reduced poverty by up to 20% and voluntary work or used it as a safety net dous success or a perplexing curiosity extreme poverty is virtually non-existent while caring for family members. confined to local history books, depending despite high unemployment and a higher In the Britain of 2020, with thousands on who you ask. It saw monthly cheques cost of living. stuck in exploitative and poorly paid work delivered to a thousand of the city’s poor- From 1968-74, seven different states ran and many more people needing care than est households including those who were small-scale pilots, with only the slightest our over-stretched local authorities can retired or unable to work due to disability. reduction in hours worked by the partici- provide for, the time to have a serious dis- Contrary to the widely held belief that it pants. A 1997 scheme still running in North cussion about the merits of UBI is surely would dis-incentivise paid work, the only Carolina has significantly improved the now. Even before Coronavirus, automation participants who reduced their hours had lives of those living on a Cherokee reser- threatened many of our jobs. With Spain, young children or were still in education vation by paying them an annual dividend Kenya and possibly even Scotland plan- themselves. Grades improved and high- from a casino built on their land. The length ning to roll-out large-scale UBI pilots in the school graduation rates soared. The ex- of the project means the decreased rates next few years (while the Netherlands and periment might never have come to be at of crime and addiction, improved educa- Germany have already begun theirs) we’d all but for sympathetic left-leaning adminis- tion prospects and better mental health only be the latest on an ever-increasing trations at both a local and provincial level. are well-documented and available to any list.  When a new federal government came to with an interest in how UBI could help dis- power in 1979 the project was shelved and advantaged communities. no conclusive report, beyond the testimo- However, one UBI pilot stands out. Fin- ny of the participants, was ever published. land’s trial had several unique features The raw data was packed into storage box- which temporarily made this humble, es where it sat, abandoned for nearly 30 sparsely populated country global news. years. The 2000 participants were chosen A 2011 paper by Dr. Evelyn Forget, the specifically from the unemployed, first to examine the data, brought the sub- it was the first scheme backed by ject back into public scrutiny. A 2013 poll a national government, and the found that a majority 46% of Canadians payments were to be continued wanted UBI to replace other forms of state regardless of whether the partici- assistance with pilot-scheme in Ottowa pants found work. scheduled to begin in 2017. Despite UBI A documentary crew followed enjoying support among many of Cana- several of those involved until the da’s fiscal conservatives, who viewed it government decided not to extend 14

The Fabian Window, located in the Shaw Library at the London School of Economics, was designed by George Bernard Shaw in 1910 to commemorate the Fabian Society. The Fabian Turtle is the international symbol of the Fabian Society, with the motto “When I strike, I strike hard.”