...of civil society and the individuals within it. Perhaps this is a more hopeful way of addressing the current economic crisis than much of what we get through the mainstream media. If we listen more to the surviving members of the "make do and mend" generation that got through the 1930s, WWII and its bleak aftermath, maybe we can learn again not just self-sufficiency, but also a way of pulling together towards a common purpose?
But what is that common purpose? The fat years (for some) of the last decade or so seemed to be characterised by increasing isolation from one another, as we retreated inside both our traditional brick and our new digital fortresses, so who is now going to articulate a shared vision of what "getting better" can mean for society as a whole, as higher income alone clearly hasn't made everyone better thus far...