We are
familiar with the more obvious manifestations of the devastation to the public
realm caused by a government obsessed by currying favour with the electorate
with tax cuts: potholes in the roads, lengthening waiting-lists in the NHS, crumbling schools
and other public buildings, families in destitution.
Three less obvious ones have recently been
highlighted.
FLOODS: Expenditure on flood defences has been cut
back sharply since 2010. I think I’ve
seen the figure of 40% but can’t verify this.
However, we’ve all seen the consequences in the pictures on our
televisions over the past few weeks.
After clearing up the physical consequences many households are now
discovering their homes are uninsurable and their re-sale values have plummeted.
Over the
much longer term a town-planning cousine of mine who works in Canada has
expressed disgust that the UK still has a single drainage system for both
sewage from our lavatories and rainfall run-off. Most developed countries, including Canada,
have separate systems, so when there is excess rainfall at least the floodwater
is relatively pure. Not in the UK
COURTS: One reason for the wholesale amnesty for the victims of the Post Office/Horizon scandal is that the
judicial system simply does not have the capacity to deal with the cases on an individual
basis without further inordinate delay. There simply aren’t enough judges,
lawyers and other staff, and court-rooms.
There is already a serious backlog of other cases, which for those
concerned are often as serious and distressing as the waiting lists in the NHS.
It may seem
arcane, but for the legislature, on the instructions of the executive, to
over-rule decisions of the courts sets a dangerous precedent. If they can do it for one, albeit popular, cause they may
be tempted to try in a more questionable
area (eg the legality of deporting asylum seekers to Rwanda.)
The ARTS: Protestors are in the news for objecting to cultural
institutions accepting sponsorship from fossil fuel extractors such as BP. Quite right too, in my view. But if government funding is cut, from where
else are these institutions to gain the necessary funding?
The US juror
Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr famously defined taxation as “the price we pay for
civilisation.” With the Tories promising
tax cuts and Labour afraid to offer any
alternative, our society is becoming less civilised, and in ways that affect far
more than just the poor, the disabled and unloved. It is time for the rest of us to wake up.
