In praise of unsung heroes
RURAL communities are overwhelmingly dependent on volunteers. Whether it’s putting up the flags for the coronation, serving soup at the Cafod lunch or helping out when a local family is in trouble, there are few country places that can’t find some willing hands. It’s the spirit that animates localhistory societies, sports clubs, parochial church councils and poppy collectors. It’s a spirit that will be seen at its most impressive in the coming months at the county agricultural shows, which simply would not be possible without the hundreds of unpaid stewards and teams of organisers that put on these amazingly professional events.
parnticdularly Voluntarism is a British quality that we all too often take for granted. Only Scrooges and Marxists take exception—the one because they’re too lazy to join in, the other because they think that it limits the opportunities for paid jobs. Humbug is the proper description of both views. The decency and desire to serve is what keeps our countryside going and we should be much more ready to recognise its value.
However, we also need to realise that people are volunteering less and less. Covid had much to do with that, as they got out of the habit when restrictions stopped everyone getting together, but there are worrying changes happening in our society, which the liberal-minded don’t want to acknowledge. There is an enormous increase in the number of people who don’t have any intention of contributing to society. It’s not only that they don’t volunteer, they refuse to take a job. The Prime Minister’s recent speech on benefit reform highlights the extent of this problem: some 9.4 million people of working age are not working.
A chance conversation gave Agromenes a worrying insight recently. A decently brought up 18 year old who had not done very well at school was the only one of her friends who was genuinely looking for a job. She said they all thought that working was boring— you had to go to the same place every day and stay there until at least 5pm! They were all living on benefits: some were registered carers of younger siblings and others were signed off as unable to work because of stress.
These, of course, are young people whom the educational system has failed. They had left school only fitted for poorly paid, repetitive jobs. However, the schools had also failed in not ensuring that their pupils understood that we all have a two-way relationship with society: if we expect to be looked after when we need help, we have to contribute when we don’t.
Parents should be teaching these lessons, yet, so often, these are families where work is not the expected way of life. This is, therefore, a gap that schools have to fill. Government, too, must act. In celebrating our much more open attitude to mental health, we must simultaneously guard against a loose approach to ‘stress’. An ever-higher proportion of those of working age claiming to be too sick to work cite stress as the reason and the biggest proportional increase of ‘stress’ claimants has come from young people.
We should make better provision for mental illness, but we can’t allow ‘stress’ to become an easy way to opt out. For many, the cure is to get on with life, make a constructive contribution to society and, therefore, feel they are a valued member of the community. Of course, all of us have a part to play in recognising the value of work, even in the most humble of jobs, but we do no favours to hard-working Britons if we allow so many to swing the lead. Rishi Sunak is right to insist on radical change.
We do no favours to hard-working Britons if we allow so many to swing the lead