Britain's Broken Windows: A Crisis of Civility
Why politics should crack down on anti-social behaviour
On a crowded commuter train, most passengers are engrossed in their books or listening to podcasts or music on their headphones. The only exceptions are two passengers. One is loudly playing music through their phone loudspeakers. The other is shouting in a telephone conversation, which they insist on having on loudspeaker.
The other passengers are universally annoyed, but very English in their irritation. Nobody confronts the errant passengers.
Outside the station, a couple of passengers spit on the floor. One other walks past a bin and throws an empty sandwich packet on the floor, adding to a pile of rubbish and debris. Fly-tipping also scars nearby streets.
England 2025…
All of the above is fictional, but I’d imagine that almost every reader of this Substack recognises the scene.
The truth is that modern Britain has become blighted by everyday acts of anti-social incivility. They might seem trivial compared to grand economic theories or battles about “wokery”, but these acts of incivility dramatically reduce the quality of life for millions of people.
Combine this with the degradation of the public space (uncollected rubbish, neglected public areas) and reduced Police visibility that has become the norm with cross-party austerity. And add the impact of low-level crime, such as shoplifting, being all but decriminalised in many towns and cities.
It’s frankly astonishing that our politicians aren’t doing more to address these issues. Many people’s quality of life is being diminished on a daily basis and this is taking only a peripheral part in political discussion.
And these issues are even more alarming in those places that have been at the front line of the Realignment. Places that have suffered more than most with problems around substance abuse and social dislocation.
The Broken Windows theory might be a much repeated one, but that doesn’t make it any less right. If low level crime, nuisance and anti-social behaviour aren’t tackled early they are more likely to spiral into even more disruptive behaviour. Leading to a diminishing quality of life for the majority. And the truth is that politicians in recent years have failed to nip anti-social nuisance in the bud.
A front-rank politician hasn’t really addressed these issues since Tony Blair in his pomp. As Blair said in 2005, “People must live together and one of the basic tasks of government is to facilitate this living together, to ensure that the many can live without fear of the few.”
Since then, both Tories and Labour have been trapped by an outmoded civil libertarianism whilst communities have gradually been weakened. It’s well beyond time for today’s front-rank politicians to grasp the nettle and build a renewed politics of restored civility.
A Politics of Renewed Civility
A high-trust society, with strong social norms is the kind of society we should all aspire towards and politicians should be willing to champion.
Some of the politics of renewed civility is not, of course, a space for politicians at all. Restoring the importance of social norms has to be essential, such as the norm that you shouldn’t use your phone’s loudspeaker on a train and you shouldn’t spit on the pavement. But people need to feel empowered to speak out when social norms are being broken and not threatened when doing so.
A small number of people creating a public nuisance shouldn’t be allowed to create a public nightmare. And the law should be able to enforce these norms as well. Tony Blair was mocked in 2000 for his plan of “on the spot fines” for anti-social behaviour, with the concept that thugs would be “marched to a cashpoint” causing disdain amongst the chattering classes.
But you can almost guarantee that someone using their phone in an anti-social way now has the ability to pay a fine instantly. Technology can be a nuisance, but it can also be a route to enforcing social norms.
A properly funded Police force also matters, of course, when ensuring that people feel safe and is essential to deter the minority who are guilty of anti-social behaviour. It’s clear that decades of pulling Police Officers away from the beat has coincided with a surge of low-level crime and anti-social behaviour. Restoring Police presence, combined with measures to ensure that crimes like shoplifting are properly punished, should be a central plank of the politics of restored civility.
Such a political imperative wouldn’t just be good for the country and the quality of life of citizens, it would also be popular. Polling by JL Partners found that 81% of people thought that playing music without headphones was unreasonable and 85% thought it was rude. Almost two thirds thought that they couldn’t confront a person out of fear of being ignored or intimidated. An Ipsos poll found that 79% of voters thought that crime and anti-social behaviour was “a big problem” and over two-thirds think a greater Police presence would help tackle the problem.
Hopefully our politicians step back from being perpetually online and start focussing on these issues that have a real, everyday impact on people's lives.