John Nickson - Our Common Good: If the State Provides Less Who Will Provide More?

W e live in paradise. So said my doctor when I gave her a copy of my first book, Giving Is Good for You. Her practice is in Londons poorest ward. One might ask: paradise for whom?

We live in a paradox. The world has never been richer and billions have been lifted out of extreme poverty. A new middle class has been created in the developing world, transforming the global economy. Inequality between nations has decreased but inequality within some nations has increased greatly. The world is better connected than ever but many feel disconnected from society. Britain has emerged from the recent recession with a notable ability to create jobs, yet many of our fellow citizens are in receipt of benefits despite being in work.

Many in other countries regard Britain as paradise and want to live here. According to the United Nations Refugee Agency, we live in an age of unprecedented mass displacement. The UN estimates that in 2015, one in every 122 people in the world was a refugee, internally displaced or seeking political asylum. The total number is estimated to be a record 65.3 million people, equivalent to the population of the UK and 60 per cent more than ten years ago.

More than a million refugees and migrants arrived in Europe in 2015, fleeing the destruction of their societies, challenging our notion of what society means, our sense of responsibility towards others, and our humanity.

There is evidence of rising xenophobia, racism, discontent, intolerance and anger in the so-called developed world, expressed in the rise of populism and parties of the extreme left and right. The politics of fear and blame are symptomatic of failure.

The disappointed and disaffected do not wish to consider the rights and needs of other people who come to be seen as less than human, to be excluded, expelled or worse. This is a dangerous road and we know where it leads.

Britain is divided between north and south, between Scotland and England, between metropolitan and non-metropolitan, between London and everywhere else, between pro- and anti-Brexit and between the 1 per cent and the 99 per cent.

As social bonds weaken, the role of the state is changing. The state is redefining its role and providing less. This is already increasing demand upon the voluntary sector, which is much smaller than the public and private sectors.

If the state provides less, who will provide more?

Being conscious of the debt of gratitude that my generation of baby boomers owes to previous generations who fought two world wars to defend our liberty, I am concerned about what we will bequeath to the young. Will they inherit a mountain of debt to add to the cost of their higher education in addition to the escalating cost of finding somewhere to live and of looking after my generation in old age? This will have profound implications for the future of our society because they will also inherit an increasingly unequal world where, according to Credit Suisse, 1 per cent of the worlds population already owns almost half of global wealth. Will democracy become plutocracy?

My aim is to cast light upon a subject that is of fundamental importance to us all. Civil society, the voluntary sector and the philanthropy that funds it are not part of public discourse or a political priority. And yet, contemporary Britain is defined by the generosity of our predecessors. Our hospitals and hospices, social housing, medical and scientific research, museums, galleries, theatres, concert halls, public parks, many of our schools, universities and conservatoires were made possible and are sustained by philanthropy as well as the state. Much of the social progress achieved in the past 250 years, such as the abolition of slavery, votes for women, the decriminalisation of homosexuality and the preservation of our rural and cultural heritage would not have happened without campaigning charities funded by personal donations. Given a state that will provide less, we shall need more people to be more generous in future.