Reasons to be cheerful – one, two, three

May 19, 2009 by
Filed under: Politics, The RSA 

We are told our society is ‘broken’, we know our economy is in recession and it feels like our democracy is falling apart at the seams. So, now is the time for me to point out some things that have got better. Not the kind of big ticket public service targets the Government will want to boast about, nor simply the consequence of increasing affluence, but more subtle changes that are worth celebrating partly because they make us feel better but also because they help us to understand how progress happens.

I spotted the first when running in the Great Manchester Run on Sunday. This year there were 33,000 runners, up from 31,000 last year and a high proportion were running for charity. There must have been at least twice that number out lining the course cheering on their relatives and friends.

I don’t know the exact history or statistics (although I’d love to hear from anyone who does) but my recollection is that these kinds of mass events only really started when the London Marathon kicked off popular distance running in 1981. Now, taking into account the Marathon, the Great North Run and all the other events like Manchester, there must be upwards of half a million people a year setting out to meet their own personal target bolstered by the efforts of fellow runners and spectators. And you can add to that the growing popularity of distance cycling, swimathons and, for the super fit, triathlons.

But it isn’t just running that we are doing more of together. We are just about to embark on the summer festival season. Hundreds of thousands of people of all ages will be getting out their wellington boots, tents and sun block. And for the more sedate and cerebral there is the explosion in public lectures and debates (a phenomenon of which the RSA can proudly feel part).

Finally, different but equally positive – go to almost any large town or city in the UK and they will be able to point you to young people involved in local decision making. There are local youth Parliaments, youth Mayors and the Youth Opportunity Fund, through which young people themselves decide how to spend grants for young people’s activities. Given what they are seeing in Westminster these young people may not decide to get involved in formal politics, but from very little happening a decade ago, there are now tens of thousands of young people up and down the UK involved in debate and real decision making.

Give people the opportunity to do stuff together, make it challenging, fun and purposeful and look what can happen. We spend so much time breast beating about the state of society, and having learned debates about civic capacity and social capital (yes, I know I can talk!) but meanwhile a new collective spirit is emerging in fun runs, country fields and youth councils.

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7 Comments on Reasons to be cheerful – one, two, three

  1. Gavin Lee on Tue, 19th May 2009 12:50 pm

    2. Not so sure about this one Matthew. While I agree festivals and general activities that involve large groups of people doing something fun/positive together are ‘reasons to be cheerful’, hasn’t it always been this way? There was an article in the Guardian a week or so ago which argued precisely that; festivals in particular were seen to be intrinsic to British culture.
    The more pertinent, and potentially important point, is about youth engagement and decision making. The organisation I work for, goes to considerable lengths to engage with young people and develop the sort of initiatives you’ve mentioned. The idea is a good one. However, they always result in the paid professions steering these discussions and decisions to such an extent that the young people have no meaningful input. The whole thing essentially becomes about an organisation being able to say that they involve young people and the community is at the heart of everything they do. It’s a box ticking exercise, local bureaucrats are told to develop these sorts of initiatives, so they do. Yet at the same time, these same officials are harnessed by central government targets by such an extent that there is very little decision making going on except for in Whitehall.
    I hate to be so cynical regarding such a positive post, but it’s true! If the same amount of resources, both officer time and financial input, was used to reinvigorate the local political system, councilors would have a much more prominent and important role to play.

  2. Tim Davies on Tue, 19th May 2009 2:58 pm

    3. Some good reasons indeed. Whilst Gavin is right to caution that some youth participation can be tokenistic – my experience is that there has been some great progress in handing real power to young people through decision making over budgets like the Youth Opportunity Fund.

    And more than just young people making contributions into formalised decision making structures – a large number are active as community change agents outside any formal participation initiatives – making a real difference to their peers and to communities.

  3. TimHood on Tue, 19th May 2009 11:45 pm

    4. Gavin, what you say about the hijacking of pro-social activities by a new breed of professional public sector managers may have some truth in it, but can we let Matthew run with this? It made me feel a bit better until your (excellent) comment brought me back down to earth!

    All three of the improvements Matthew mentions are good examples. Here’s another: a relatively poorly compensated group of community first responders now exist in most small rural towns, meaning your chances of dying from a heart attack or serious accident in the home have been dramatically reduced.

    I wonder if we can come up with twenty concrete improvements to communities? Three doesn’t seem many- and if not on this blog, then where?

  4. Joan Keating on Wed, 20th May 2009 12:18 pm

    5. We live in Stratford and my three children are involved in a local ‘children’s forum’ which sets out to engage children in E15 in developments around the Olympics and the big new Westfield shopping centre, Stratford City. They spend most school holidays at some connected event, visiting the Olympic site, flash architects offices, parts of London they aren’t familiar with. The planners ask for their input on building designs, street names and in particular on public spaces, I feel pretty confident that there won’t, as a result, be a new street in Stratford called ‘Rocket Ship Way’ or slides coming out of Olympic buildings as in the recent Tate Modern exhibition. I’m sure there is a large element of tick boxing in their involvement. However, what I am equally sure about is that my lot and their friends in the forum (many of whom come from backgrounds where they rarely leave E15), have, through meeting architects and planners and all sorts of professionals, gained a confidence about their place in the world. Certainly when I was growing up in E1 I never met such people and had very narrow horizons as a result.

  5. Gavin Lee on Wed, 20th May 2009 3:12 pm

    6. Good point Joan – I agree it is a good opportunity for young people to be engaged irrespective of whether or not their input influences the outcome. Although maybe this sets people up to be disengaged, if after being involved, their involvement yeilds no results????? I’m not sure, just thinking through…

  6. matthewtaylor on Wed, 20th May 2009 3:53 pm

    7. Thanks Gavin – as you can see form other comments, other people have more positive experiences of youth engagement. I guess it’s inevitable that commitment and practice varies.

  7. matthewtaylor on Wed, 20th May 2009 3:55 pm

    8. Thanks Tim. I would like to do some work on this – raising the profile of experimentation and success in this area over the last decade. So perhaps I’ll be in touch

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