Muddling through won’t solve the problems of a changing demographic
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Version 0 of 1. Though it rambles here and there, a few firm philosophies underpin this column. One is that, for reasons of history and because of elements of the national psyche, Britain handles its diversity better than many comparable nations. But another is that, in the face of momentous change, we engage in too little thinking about what the changing demographic means. We assume we will muddle through. And one might say that, to date, we have muddled through with reasonable success. But with the prospect of greater diversity in greater numbers, the muddling-through model is running out of road. We already have the idea of reasonable accommodation, whereby sensible measures are put in place at work for people with particular cultural requirements – a prayer room perhaps – or requirements arising from a disability. That’s valuable. But there are all sorts of issues that will need deep thought. There is quite a squall in north London at the moment, for example, over burials, and whether the system can cope with the religious requirements of specific communities. Time is of the essence for most Jews and Muslims and some Catholics who lose loved ones. Ideally, burial should take place within the day. There are claims that the local coroner is failing to release bodies in good time, causing grieving families distress. Six thousand people have signed a petition to the local council and Peter Thornton QC, chief coroner of England and Wales. In turn, the local coroner claims some complaints have been intemperate and her staff have been bullied. She says she is alive to cultural concerns but the service is impacted by funding restraints. No one wins. The row threatens the quality of service for all groups. There may be a fix, for earlier this year, justice minister Simon Hughes asked local councils, which run the coroners’ service, to draw up proposals for more reactive services. This may entail round-the-clock facilities in areas of minority concentration, and greater reliance on non-invasive techniques that might address cultural concerns about the prevalence and practice of postmortem. They have until the end of the month to make the service appropriate to 21st-century Britain. We live together, we die together; we may as well make proper provision. One example of how muddling has brought us this far, but won’t take us much further. Now for the other 648. |