‘It took lock-down to remind policymakers of civil society’s worth.’ Photo: Mike Erskine on Unsplash.
‘In my professional life I see at first hand the damage wrought on our civil society.’
Civil servant: Antonia Swinson on her new appointment
Some years ago I was asked to write a book based on my experiences as a business journalist. Root of all Evil? How to make spiritual values count argued that when business values are divorced from our spiritual values, ordinary people are exploited, vested interests are enriched, and the biggest loss, which impoverishes us all, is not in cash but in trust.
At the time (2003) our national debt was a lamentable £900 billion (it’s now £2 trillion and rising) and the joys of Facebook, Brexit and Covid-19 lay ahead. But I retain this core belief and it has informed everything I have done, from becoming a Quaker to making the career move from journalist to social entrepreneur.
Recently, I was invited to join the technical panel of the Law Family Commission on Civil Society, set up by the Bank of England chief economist Andy Haldane and chaired by former head of the Civil Service, Gus O’Donnell. The ambition and scope of the Commission is considerable. It aims to make it received wisdom that the UK cannot succeed without a strong civil society. Further, it intends to construct a strong economic case for investment in that civil society. We will work on a range of proposals.
In my professional life I see at first hand the damage wrought on our civil society’s estate, organisation, and morale. Ironically, it took the lockdown to remind policymakers of the worth and effectiveness of this long-neglected mechanism. It is unclear how civil society can be healed and nurtured but only major systemic shifts, and strong political will, can create lasting change.
The Commission must concentrate on three systems that hamstring civil society: the tax system, which gives a free ride to owners of land and assets to benefit from community economic activity; public sector procurement, which still fails to factor-in community enterprises, including non-profits, which are required for healthy supplier chains and employment; and finally new ways of using of land and property, not least on the high street.
Never underestimate the power of self-interested altruism. To trade successfully, business needs the currency of trust: the priceless wealth of civil society, which is usually only counted when lost. Trust fuelled much Quaker business success, but a more recent example of its importance occurred when the Berlin Wall came down and corporations went into Eastern Europe. They soon realised that civil society infrastructure, long dismantled by communism, was non-existent, as was the trust built by cohesive civil society. Far-sighted businesses helped re-build civil society infrastructure, in partnership with EC money.
As we pick our way through the dregs and broken glass of too many years of unfettered capitalist partying, UK civil society needs re-rating and fast. I look forward to adding my mite to the balance sheet.
