Discussion about this post

User's avatar
Denis Oakley's avatar

Story. Even mythology.

You made a good point about the trade offs between rationality and short term stories. The French Revolution is a good example of the rationalists having the upper hand (reforming the calendar) and then it all collapsing.

What’s noticeable in UK politics at the moment is the lack of a good story arc. Who are we - where are we going?

Putin has created a rather horrible one in Russia - and is proceeding to undermine it.

An arc that captures the place of the British in the world, that allows for right and left wing interpretations, provides a useful home for the long term thinking you’ve been describing.

In my work with startups - making money (GDP growth) - doesn’t make a compelling vision for investors, staff or customers. It’s necessary. Not sufficient.

The Queen, god bless her, totally failed to articulate any answer to that. Bevan’s a land fit for heroes was time bound, and Thatcher’s vision caused atomism and anomie.

Empire is irrelevant, and as much as Truss still sees France as a Threat to the European balance of power - we are still more than an Island in a silver sea.

The challenge then with the long termism is to be able to articulate a story, one that isn’t too twee involving Arthur, armadas and agincourt, that reaches far beyond the individual.

That reaches back into our rich past and forward into a richer future.

With that vision the number crunching and rationality then provides structure and texture to the dream. Without them it’s pretty hollow, elitist and fruitless

And I want apples.

Expand full comment
Maggie Smales's avatar

I realise this is essentially a theoretical piece but was nonetheless surprised that you don’t mention the Welsh government’s Future Generations Act. Was this because you are unaware of it? I realise the legislation has had little concrete impact to date, especially given the limited powers of the Welsh government, but it provides the theoretical underpinning to opposition to the M4 relief road and the current move towards a 20 mile an hour speed limit in towns. It also helps explain the current cooperation in long term planning between Plaid Cymru and Labour, trying to move beyond always looking no further than the next election.

Expand full comment
10 more comments...

No posts