Governments do seem to put dealing with the future off to the future. And at times they do wallow in vitality when they respond loudly to an emergency, often an emergency from the past that just got put off to the future. Therefore they never take on board how much of what was once the future is buried in the current crisis.
So when I go on about prevention they always say “we love it and will one day get on with it. But not now”. In other words, don’t plan the future. Wait until it becomes an emergency.
Recently it has become apparent that the armed forces have been so scaled back that we are exposed to the well-armed of other countries. And that we could not defend ourselves in an attack. For decades the governments of various complexions have been told about this glaring issue but jack shit has been done about it. Each of our last 10 prime ministers has overseen a shrinking, so now there is an urgency to review the defence of our islands. An emergency is upon us and a costly re-equip will be called for.
That’s government-think. What on occasions I have called Westminsterism. An inability to think before the future is allowed to fester into today’s or tomorrow’s emergency.
That’s why we so welcome the idea of a new instrument of change like a new administration. Able, we hope, to embrace the future. To familiarise themselves with the future by planning for it.
Wales’s government has been planning for the future with its Wellbeing of Future Generations Act.
A far-sighted commitment to a future life that needs to be planned now. Of course, their emergency struggles with the Welsh health service cannot be ignored and hopefully they will be able to rectify falling behind the rest of the UK, but the bravery of facing up to what’s coming down the line and preventing the worst aspects as much as possible is highly commendable.
The future where seagulls can return to their traditional healthy diet will only come about if this government grabs this future with both hands and moves from its gauche and easily criticisable beginnings to create the sciences of prevention.
So much can be reduced down to a lack of sensible and thoughtful investment. Of spending to save.
The moment that Starmer came into office the headlines blared out that the prison crisis was worse than expected. And that upwards of 10,000 prisoners would have to be released after 40% of their sentence rather than 50%, with good behaviour.
Immediately I saw the headlines: more prisons to be built at lightning speed! And because yesterday the future wasn’t planned for, it’s today’s emergency again.
We have so many futures awaiting the kind hand of investment, each waiting in the queue behind yesterday’s untreated futures which become today’s emergencies.
Rome wasn’t built in a day, nor was its decline a one-day event. It took centuries to end up smelling like a rotting pilchard. A neglect of the future fed through to a rotting of the present.
It’s a cohesive response to emergency that is more likely to head off its recurrence. Good emergency work is commendable but it has to be supported with stability and curing.
So let’s encourage government to get its handling of emergencies right but also to take on the mantle of the future: don’t leave it to break down into tomorrow’s emergency.
John Bird is the founder and editor-in-chief of The Big Issue. Read more of his words here.
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