The stench of institutional decay is engulfing the UK. From the Met police via BBC bosses to NHS management, public institutions have lost their way. What, one might ask, is their point if they preside over scandals and merely manage decline? This process of self-erosion is reminiscent of a passage in Ernest Hemingway’s novel The Sun Also Rises in which a character called Mike is asked how he went bankrupt. “Two ways,” he answers. “Gradually, then suddenly.”
At a time of de-globalisation and the need for national renewal, the British state lacks the basic capacity to provide essential public services and invest in key areas such as transport infrastructure or housing. Whether it’s stopping crime, preventing sewage from being dumped into our rivers and seas or providing adequate health and social care – never mind functioning utilities like water – UK state capacity has been eroded for decades. As a country, we are getting poorer, unhealthier and unhappier – though this is far from inevitable. But as the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (where I work) has shown, it is especially true for the bottom half of the income distribution, while the top 20 per cent of households do disproportionately well.
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