Sean O’Grady put into words what I have been feeling for some time. But it isn’t just our infrastructure which is failing. Our institutions are inadequate, with staff poorly trained and often reluctant to take responsibility. Royal Mail cannot deliver reliably, volume construction companies build poor-quality homes and water companies manipulate records.
And our normal levels of behaviour are slipping too. I find that drivers will park where they can, regardless of yellow lines and parking patrols; litter and dogs’ mess proliferate; shared housing and absentee landlords mean that no one keeps their front gardens and bins tidy; drug deals take place in broad daylight and teachers fear their pupils.
We have lived for too long confident that our established behaviours will enable our communities to function with negligible policing. Having seen Boris Johnson’s behaviour during Covid and his hesitant apologies this week, I wonder if we had another pandemic, would the nation lock down so obligingly again?
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