The Natives are Restless… again

For more than 60 years it has been evident that something was profoundly wrong with British society – a series of reports, official and unofficial, have plotted public alienation, starting perhaps with the Labour Government of 1964 which commissioned a series of Royal Commissions covering most aspects of society – not least industrial relations, the civil service, local and regional government and social services. All aspects were put under a microscope and found wanting. 

So we should not be surprised that yesterday’s papers were full of an official 

report which claimed that social tensions in the country were ready to explode
The report in question was The State of Us commissioned by British Future (2025) 

which starts -

Communal life in Britain is under threat. Some of these threats are driven by long term 

trends that have undermined connection within our communities over many decades: 

the degradation of community infrastructure and institutions, weaker family units, growing 

inequality, declining trust in institutions and chronic neglect from policy makers. 
But there is another set of threats that are more recent and are turning the chronic crisis 

of social disconnection into an acute threat of social division: the mismanagement of 

immigration, cost of living pressures and social media driven extremism. 

These forces are converging into something altogether more dangerous - leaving the UK 

sitting on a tinderbox of disconnection and division.

The report comes with a 76 page Literature review which itemises such official 

reports as  
The Seebohm Report (on social services 1968)
Race Relations Act (to avoid indirect discrimination and establish Commission for Racial 
Equality 1976).
A Community of Communities and Citizens (the Parrekh report on racial equality 2000) 
The Cantle Report (on “community cohesion” 2001)
Our Shared Future (Commission on Integration and Cohesion 2007)
Casey review of Opportunity and Integration (2016)
Threats to Social Cohesion and Democratic Resilience (The Khan Review 2024)

Let alone the unofficial reports such as 

Born to Fail (NCB 1971) 
Shattered Britain (More in Common July 2025)
Perhaps the real problem is that such reports are dealing with a variety of 

very different issues – whether poverty, racial inequality and discrimination, 

“community cohesion” (whatever that means) and lack of democracy. 

Little wonder that the efforts were so unfocussed. And that action consisted of 

little more than terminology – words and reification.

And that action consisted of little more than terminology – words and reification.