First, let me clear the ground. I do not like the right wing attitudes that are suddenly (or suddenly to me) acceptable to spout in polite society. I do not wonder that people hold them, but I do wonder that these opinions are lauded and not seen as embarrassing. The policies that this climate is […]
Category archives: Civic Culture
First thoughts on Inclusion in the Civic Culture
Amartya Sen, somewhere in Development as Freedom, describes a ladder of inclusion in institutions. At the lowest levels are the excluded who are outcasts from the institution and cannot access it. The first level of inclusion is when you have access but nothing more. The second when you are informed about changes although you have […]
Meta- Institutions: Building Connection, Building Capacity
Jesus bids us shine with a clear, pure light, Like a little candle burning in the night; In this world of darkness, we must shine, You in your small corner, and I in mine Well, one candle does not give off much light and the further away it is from other candles the less the […]
Encouraging Engagement – Citizen’s UK
I am holding up Citizens UK as an example, not because it is exactly what is needed here but because it is an organisation that is dedicated to this task that I am exploring. It was launched in 1989 and it says its aim is to is to locate a much stronger and better organised […]
Imaging a Vibrant Civic Culture
There are two levels to this. The big level is the institutional one and the small level which is the individual. We need a model that sees these not as in opposition but as complimentary, Institutional Ecology Firstly let me deal with the fact that we have a limited understanding of institution largely formed by […]
There is work to do!
I have been holding back from writing this and will probably take a while to publish. People are hurt upset and angry and nobody likes someone telling them some home truths in that situation but there are some that need to be said. We need to become builders and, unfortunately, our house is in such […]
Current Symptoms of Poor Civic Culture
What I want to do this time is try and explain what the effect of having a poor civic culture is in wider terms and what it is producing in society today. So I am going to do it as several stages. First is to argue that have a strong civic culture thickens our network […]
Why we need to imagine the New Jerusalem
I did not think when I posted the previous the blog on a need for liberals to look forward that it was the start of a series. It was a one-off blog but I have since been fleshing things out a lot more. Let me start with the question “When did social progress occur?” There […]
and ends with a city of Gold
That title comes from a hymn whose first verse goes God has given us a book full of stories, Which was made for His people of old, It begins with the tale of a garden, And ends with the city of gold. The verse captures rather succinctly the breadth of the Bible from creation to […]