During World War Two the Beveridge Review identified what it described as the five evils that threatened the social security of the UK. They were:
- Want (caused by poverty)
- Ignorance (caused by a lack of education)
- Squalor (caused by poor housing)
- Idleness (caused by a lack of jobs, or the ability to gain employment)
- Disease (caused by inadequate health care provision)
There is no doubt that many in the UK are vastly materially better off now than they were when Beveridge wrote. Despite that it is easy to identify issues around all theses themes that remain of concern. But would they be my five evils now? I am not sure. The Hancock affair has made me think about this.
It's my belief that the greater evil now is that there is widespread political belief that these issues are no longer important. That seems to me to be a greater threat to tackling them in their modern incarnations than the issues themselves.
What then are the modern evils that threaten social well-being in the UK, it's constituent nations and , of course, elsewhere? I tentatively (because I think this list by no means definitive) suggest the following:
- Populist politics, for undermining the principle of truth in politics, and so threatening political narratives of progress;
- Press barons who control the political agenda and the messaging many people receive in ways that distort political truth;
- Police not willing to hold politicians to account for their breaches of the law, making them believe any abuse acceptable, so undermining democracy;
- Political patronage that seeks to control and limit those from amongst whom the appointments to positions of influence in public offices are made, so undermining any vestige of impartiality in their operation;
- Public underfunding fed by a narrative of austerity that seeks to deny opportunity.
I am interested in other's opinions on this issue. And suggestions do not need to start with P: that happened by chance.
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Two suggestions might be
1. The excessive ‘speculation’ for want of a better word of modern life – making money out of money,
2. In particular in Housing, and
3. The failure of modern economies to provide jobs that pay a wage that will support a family
My choice for the five would be:-
1. Lies, misinformation, distortion etc. – truth and honesty just do not seem to matter to those in power or many in the media
2. Inequality – there are some with just too much wealth, power and many with nowhere near enough
3. Populist politics/politicians – will keep coming up with ‘reasons’ for people’s problems and say ‘who is to blame’ but can never come up with solutions and are not actually interested in improving people’s lives
4. Quality of debate – this may have always been the case but it seems we’ve lost the ability to debate. It just seems to descend into name calling and abuse rather than an attempt to discuss the merits of an argument.
5. Corruption – those in power are lining their pockets or the pockets of relatives, friends, acquaintances etc. and it appears to be accepted by many.
I agree that there are many and there will likely between them. The overriding one would be the world is not in a good place and needs to do better, much better.
Regards,
Craig
Sorry, it should have said ‘there will be overlap between them’
Craig
Thanks
Many of your examples can be tagged under the single heading “corruption”. Corruption erodes the process of Politics within society and renders policy aimed at combatting the social issues impacting the many inadequate or non-existent. Instead government becomes the tool of the powerful to enrich themselves and leads to a stagnation of change as incumbents attempt to ensure they remain in power over long periods.
I’m not convinced we have entirely solved Beveridge’s five evils. We still have problems with poverty, inadequate education, poor housing, unemployment, and threats to the NHS (which even so does not always function perfectly well). Perhaps these will always be with us.
At another level of abstraction, you could start with Roosevelt’s four freedoms – freedom of speech, freedom of worship (which nowadays I’d gloss as freedom of conscience and/or freedom of association), freedom from want, freedom from fear. I’d probably add the rule of law as a basic underpinning, but even that is threatened by the corrupt chumocracy of the present government.
I agree we are not free from the five evils
The four freedoms are being threatened
I was seeking to understand why
But that does not mean I don’t agree with you
In many ways, Beveridge’s ‘5 Giants’ are still with us – I feel that we are living under a reversal of the desire to combat them. We are going backwards – much faster now from 2010. They are still relevant.
Although I agree with all the comments above, stuff like corruption, agnotology, under-taxed wealth etc., are all drivers or causal elements of the same 5 Giants.
The 5 Giants to me at least were outcomes – undesirable ones.
Increased automation will bar people from jobs – another causal driver of idleness. Ignorance is a result of agnotological practice – lying, online propaganda, Neo-liberalism.
I think there is however a distinct 6th Giant making itself known in line with Richard’s 4th bullet point and that is ‘Powerlessness’ or a lack of democratic representation that is emerging for the majority – a trend that can only make the condition of ‘ordinary’ working people worse. This is very worrying because the rich are being allowed to decouple from society and then fund politicians to keep things that way.
The causal elements of that are also set above but we must also add what we have seen happen to our Parliament – it has been abused – we need a new constitution and new rules for our democracy because we are heading towards a form of capitalist totalitarianism (not the much feared and over egged socialist version) that has its roots in Fascism.
Much to fear. Much to ponder. Much to do!
@Pilgrim Slight Return
Agree with you and (almost all) the others in the very interesting discussion launched by Professor Murphy.
But on a point of pure pedantry, I had supposed that ‘agnotology’ was the study of ignorance, and of how it comes about / is induced, &c. I wonder of there is a construction ‘agnophily’ ? Freud’s ‘agnosia’, for loss of perception, might also be extended to cover the point I think you are making
The five big evils that came to mind almost immediately are.
Poverty. Not only is it still with us, but its extent in the UK is too great, growing and should shame everyone. If I had been asked to draw up the same list 15 years ago, this would not have been on my list, never mind top of it. IMO, the growth of poverty did not happen by accident.
Hopelessness. The narrative about politics and politicians – Why bother Voting?; They’re all the same! – has become institutionalised in the minds of many and helps to shore up the bits of the status quo that the wealthy and well connected wish to preserve. It’s a narrative where feelings take precedence over facts. Apart from Covid-19, a country whose current/recent politicial experience includes Brexit, Corbynism and the rise of Celtic Nationalism is not a place where all politicians are the same.
Financialisation. Or an economy where making money takes precedence over making things. 10 years ago, my public sector Trade Union had a 1 day conference at which the keynote speaker was Andrew Fisher (the future drafter of the 2017 Labour Manifesto). He mentioned that in 1979, 6 million people worked in Manufacturing and 2 million in Finance. 30 years later, it was 2 million in Manufacturing and 6 million in Finance.
Individualism. I make a distinction between this and Conscience. Conscience comes with the recognition that its exercise often comes at a cost. Individualism is indignant at the very notion that it should incur a penalty for “being free to do what I want to do”.
Physical Isolation from wider society and the risks of social media. You cannot disinvent Facebook, Twitter or even blogs, but treat them as communities of [largely] like-minded companions and if some become valued friends in real life, good.
Thanks….
Richard, I drafted a longer version but forgot to submit!
The 5 big evils that sprang to mind.
Poverty. Had I drawn up this list 15 years ago, poverty would not have appeared never mind been top of the list. Its growth and extent in the UK did not happen by accident.
Hopelessness. The enduring power of a narrative “Why Vote? They’re all the same!” in a country that Covid-19 aside has recently experienced Brexit, the rise (and fall?) of Corbynism and the growth of Celtic Nationalism.
Financialisation. The making of money gains primacy, facilitated by changes in the economy. What has stuck in my mind was being told by the keynote speaker at a conference that in 1979 the UK had 6 million people in Manufacturing and 2 million people in Finance. 30 years later the converse applied.
Individualism. I draw a distinction between this and Conscience. A person who exercises their conscience often realises that this comes with a cost attached. An individualist bristles at the the notion that they should suffer any loss or penalty for exercising “my right to do what I want to do”.
Isolation. You cannot disinvent Facebook, Twitter or blogs, but have the sense to realise that these are communities of [largely] like minded companions and if a few of them become friends IRL that’s a bonus. And like many other evils, this impacts on those already most vulnerable.
I would add down the list the rhetoric of the far left which has made labour unelectable and made it easy for the Tories to control Westminster
I leave it to others to comment
You’re not supposed to say things like that. Don’t you know that capitalism is always and everywhere evil?
The ‘Far Left’?
Where? How?
The Far Left are now part of the contrarian politics that brought us BREXIT, and are aligned with the Far Right.
And it is BREXIT that won the last election – I thought we all knew that now.
No – the problem with Labour is that it is too Right Wing as to be almost indiscernible from the Tories.
I’d suggest that the fifth ‘modern evil’ should be expanded to include the misunderstanding of money.
As a result of this ignorance people do not understand the power of government and that it can use its power to create money to get rid of all the Beveridge evils. Many of the modern ones would never come into existence if people knew that government was there – by definition – for them.
The fact that they don’t believe this leads to a failure of democratic engagement and a complete lack of ‘felt understanding’ (as they say) such that people feel semi-detached from society.
Whereas coherent understanding would promote cohesiveness.
Peter,
How very right. The late Stephen Zarlenga, author of “The Lost Science of Money”, and the founder of The American Monetary Institute, was of the opinion that American civics education should explain that there were not just 3 arms of Government, as classically stated – Legislative, Executive and Judicial – but 4, the 4th being the control of money, its creation and management.
His, and the AMI’s motto was the following:
Over time, whoever controls the money system, controls the nation.”
– Stephen Zarlenga (1941 — 2017)
and though I’m unsure whether he fully latched on to MMT, as he wrote his book in 2001, as MMT was emerging into the public realm, but he certainly saw the reality of money, as Chapter 1 of his book, entitled “The Origins of Money Systems”, has the following epigraph from Aristotle’s Ethics:
“Money exists not by nature, but by law”
and so he clearly recognised the created, and fictive, nature of money, and so I imagine he was pretty well signed up to MMT by the time he died.
That being so, it remains a strange fact that the Fed, the USA’s money creator on behalf of the Government, is actually I believe, (and you, and/or Richard can set me and the record straight on this), actually a private shareholding and share issuing company, even though its relationship to the US government is parallel with, though not identical to, that of the BoE to the UK government.
So, I think the Fed still has to agree to what the US government asks it to do, but is much closer to being truly independent than the BoE. I’d welcome illumination on this point from you and Richard. Thanks
The Fed is notionally less under state control, as you note, than the BoE, and includes more diffuse representation
But in reality it is almost totally aligned to government policy
Meanwhile, the BoE, with only a sham veneer of independence, claims otherwise
Hmmmm…………….
Ignorance is the Giant that needs slaying – a lack of knowledge about money is the same as a lack of knowledge about the environment or the benefits of being in the EU.
I’m hearing a lot of symptoms being described as key evils. I’d argue that their not – they are symptoms of Beveridge’s Giants – they were right then and they’re right now.
If I was Labour or the Greens I’d bring back the 5 Giants plus the one about lack of representation or power and point out to the electorate that thanks to the Tories they’re making a come back.
It is interesting that a narrative like this has animated people today …..
I find that encouraging. It suggests a framing fir discussion
Resource depleting consumer Capitalism. It eats up planetary resources (It sees as free), abuses the Labour available unless it can get away with slavery and genocide, places all externalities off the balance sheet (ecological and systems degradation and pollution) and is above an beyond our government set laws.
How about:
Pampering the greedy, short-sighted, economic rent-capturing, house, property and other asset-owning capitalists who appear to make up a majority of the electorate and provide the core support for the Tories.
Public privileges* for private credit creation, ie. for “the banks”, is the root of many evils, eg. debt and wage slavery.
Also, no limits to the concentration of land ownership is another root of many evils, eg. rent slavery.
*eg. government guarantees of private liabilities, including privately created(!) liabilities (eg private bank deposits).
I would add to the list
1) Individualism, the elevation of the self above concern for ones place in the greater web of life on this planet
2) Technophilia, the belief that we can find an invention to save us, whether that be a way to travel off this planet and start our miserable project on another floating rock or that something will be able to reverse the bad effects of out past decisions
3) Religion, not necessarily a belief in god but a system which has “enlightened people” passing special knowledge from old sources supposedly with the keys to life and promises of salvation to believers
I really like Greg Bickley’s addition to the excellent lists started by Richard and added to by others: technophilia.
It’s already crept in and taken over vital services. I have had a computer for nearly 30 years and have been online since 1996, but have not found ‘online’ banking, ‘online help,’ ‘online applications,’ etc to be very workable.
Many people still don’t own reliable computers. Others struggle with smartphones (both to use and to pay for the contracts to use them), and also struggle to maintain online connections, either through the locations where they live or simply because they can’t afford to maintain up-to-date equipment.
There are privacy issues to doing everything online , and there is a growing disconnect between people and their vital services–such as access to energy providers, access to their own money, etc. Shit, even the census taking is shifting subtly to online. Good luck getting a problem solved if your ‘problem’ doesn’t fit with the options the ‘helplines’ give you to work with. It can take a half hour just to get to a real person via the telephone …and sometimes they are just working to a script as well. Online? Well, good luck getting help at all.
And there is a special panic we feel, if/when our internet connection goes down, or our devices don’t work (or get lost.) It’s like losing a lifeline.
And whatever the feelings are about our online life, one thing stands out. Jobs are disappearing. It’s cheaper for a company to set up digital helplines than pay actual wages to actual people who will actually help customers actually solve problems.
Unquestioning technophilia is a juggernaut that’s getting out of control. Questioning it makes me a luddite. Yet it’s already creating quite a mess–socially, environmentally, and financially. I think it definitely needs to be on the Problems list.
Interesting – not least as I am aware that this is so key to me
Ignorance, as in a lack of awareness, especially about our indoctrination. Most people don’t recognise their indoctrination around money and so they never question where it comes from nor why we live our lives in perpetual debt. They never ask themselves why they think the thoughts they think. Also especially notice the indoctrination about our ‘democracies’. What definition of democracy includes the presence of hunger, homelessness, poverty, and inequality? Mere voting does not a democracy make. Most can’t see that we live in capitalist states with an obvious absence of democracy. They accept capitalism as natural when in reality it’s imposed upon us by the power elite and they never consider that things could be completely different. If only there was a way to make people aware of elite rule and the debt-based money system, things would change rapidly.
Ignorance and indoctrination. People generally are unaware of the deliberate indoctrination that has them believing in fantasies. Like the perception that we live in ‘democracies’. What definition of democracy includes the presence of hunger, homelessness, poverty, and inequality? Voting does not a democracy make. We live in capitalist states with a blatant absence of democracy. And the ignorance about the debt-based money system is truly our downfall. We are indoctrinated to never question where money comes from nor ask why we live in perpetual debt. People think capitalism and debt are natural, not recognising that these are imposed upon us by the power elite and things could be completely different.
Thanks Richard, keep up the good work.
This has been such an enlightening read. I can add little but I would put “Ignorance and the rejection of knowledge” in the list. Education lifts people up but we now have a cultural rejection of learning and some loss of the idea that whatever your education, gaining knowledge is a powerful thing.
My thoughts, for a contribution, perhaps:
‘Two nationism’ – the division between those who matter, and those who don’t, perhaps more than between rich and poor
‘Entitleism’ – feeling entitled, perhaps otherwise expressed as ‘Jackism’ – as in ‘I’m all right, Jack’ or ‘Bullingdonism’ – doesn’t matter if a place gets trashed, we can pay to fix it, or ‘Cakeism’ (in the Marie Antoinette sense) – we have it to eat, even if there’s no bread.
‘Dishonourable conduct’ – acting or communicating without honour, that sense of propriety or correctness needed for a successful society.
Evil should only be used as a noun in in fantasy fiction. The original list describes symptoms of wicked behaviours (wickedness being an arguably definable quantity as opposed to evil which can not – see Midgley) . Your list is a list of wicked behaviours which result in the symptoms of squalor and poverty etc.
The one evil that will soon dwarf all others (but which might come under the heading “ignorance” above but if so it’s wilful ignorance) is the enthusiasm with which almost every government around the world, almost always with the support of the governed, is accelerating the planet towards a climate chaos that will kill or displace billions of people.
I’m saddened that neither you nor any of the contributors above have even mentioned it.
My long thought out ‘carrot and stick’ approach to the five, carrot 1,2,4 and 5. Stick no 4. The gain has to be far greater in the mind of the electorate to have value, ie cognitive loss theory.
1) Neglect – Early child care, free at the point of need (Nordic Model).
2) Ignorance – Further Education, free at the point of need (pre Blair, Nordic Model).
3) Homelessness – Affordable on average incomes/de-commodified housing market, fair rent based on new housing market, especially for the under 35’s ( pre 1970’s UK, Nordic Model).
4) Inequality – Unemployment covered by government job schemes and average related unemployment payments. ( FDR New Deal, Nordic Model)
5) Destitution – Elderly care, free at the point of need, nationalised like the
original NHS (Nordic Model).
We need PR before anything like this can happen, as Labour are frightened of thier own shadow and are fearful of any accusation ( not actual) AS. Thus Labours press relapses are just management speak waffle, that dissolve into nothing, we need meant and 5 veg (or just more veg in my case ha ha )!
Thanks
I think that the 5 evils still exist. They only apparently decreased since 1947 because of the mitigation put into place by the welfare state, however take this net away and they will still be there. Very little political policy since 1947 and certainly this past decade has done anything to reduce the need for welfare.
All the indicators show that
poverty is rising
Education is not closing the inequality gap
Housing is in crises
Employment levels will reduce drastically over the next few years if as expected Brexit takes its grip
Disease – well enough said, but undoubtedly if the plans to privatise the NHS go ahead then public health will take a hit.
So no, the 5 evils have not gone away, but they are in fact under attack by the type of politics that has arisen in the U.K., particularly in the past few years.
These can then be listed as you have suggested.
But we are heading more and more towards a society where-
“The winner takes it all”