Britain Needs A Social Contract
Money does not just talk in 2025: it screeches and screams. When riches are not enough, those with money demand more attention. Among many life changing things, technological innovation has also given us social media platforms that venerate narcissism and reduce complexity and nuance to sound bites and responses for instant gratification. The noise levels being generated are deafening, and even before noise generated by such platforms began to threaten democracy, it was clear that Britain needs to define its own social contract.
By ‘social contract’ I mean a redefinition of rights and values, an agreement or understanding between a government and its people . An understanding that pays strong attention to the concerns of civil society, and draws in public and private business but critically also a sceptical, questioning, media. A media whose job it is to inform, explore and present information from a wide variety of sources , without bias - to the extent that ‘no agenda’ is possible. Read Fergus Mcintosh in The New Yorker, who recently explored that thought so well.
Such a “social contract” is unlikely to be drawn up, but a shift of thinking in this direction is critical. For what we have at the moment often looks to be a country hell-bent on blowing itself apart even further, almost nine years after the Brexit vote. Its divisions became apparent then to the world at large, making it a target for destabilisation. It would be hard for any government in power now to focus on the country’s economic growth and productivity, never mind climbing out of the hole of an appalling economic legacy even without the sharp rise in geo-political risk and a constant flow of negativity.
A social contract could mean giving the government a chance to rebuild rather than tearing apart its every move and recognising that an end goal contains multiple moving parts, including the attitude of its people. We need more informed awareness of the backdrop of the international environment and its role in making end goals harder. We need to stress what has been achieved as well as actively looking to and reporting on failure. All that does is add to discontent, encouraging the public to simply turn off established news channels, flinging them towards who can make the most noise.
As an important pillar in a democratic society, the media’s role - and it is a very powerful one - is to provide information to allow people to make their own decisions. But much of British media is now heady with a toxic mix of feverish reinvention to keep up with technology, and survive, and its sense of power is in danger of being in clearer focus than its role.. There is a huge gap between the longer, thoughtful, useful pieces of news and analysis hidden behind paywalls at publications and accessible only to the few and the the ‘quick entertainment’ news widely on offer.
A social contract would rely heavily on the input and experience of civil society, where not-for-profits are accustomed to moving slowly and steadily towards set goals against the flow in a difficult environment. It would look for public-private partnerships towards mutual goals. A few years ago the World Economic Forum visited this subject , outlining five core principles on which modern social contracts should be based. They were : stakeholder capitalism, skill development and career pathways, economic security and mobility, a just and inclusive transition to Net Zero and the responsible use of technology.
Britain could start with ‘a responsible sense of participation’ as well as ‘a responsible use of technology..’ If you are a politician of any hue, or a journalist of any leanings, you are in a public space. If you use your position primarily to focus on tearing down rather than building, you are contributing to a wider sense of disconnect and disillusion that takes nobody on this island any further towards a positive future.
Putting more context into news coverage can only enhance its value. Wildfires, flooding, extreme weather all carry human interest in their impact, their implications, their reach. But how much more useful - and empowering . In the early days of the Covid pandemic, when political journalists were sent to the press conferences, we gained very little apart from political spectacle while confusion, fear and misinformation spread. Things improved when the emphasis shifted to the scientists in the room, and science and health journalists asked the most useful questions. It was then that the human response - the community groups, the local gatherings, the people across civil society reached out to one another ro find solutions to their needs - providing strength and building resilience.
Business will recognise the notion of a social contract as a useful tool for strategic direction and building internal cohesion and resilience as it stares at the multiple uncertainties on the landscape at the start of 2025.. Amid the massive threat of disinformation, businesses need to find a way to relate to, engage, develop and manage their workforces to be open to innovation, to build that resilience.
If Britain is now to look to technological development and artificial intelligence (AI) as the rocket fuel for the momentum of economic growth, as Prime Minister Keir Starmer has said, and “AI…has the potential to transform the lives of working people”, then it is more important than ever that we define the human way in which we go about embracing its adoption. We can do this with clear principles and goals at every stage of investment and its role within a new, redefined social contract.
The Prime Minister made his announcement on Britain’s future and AI earlier this week from University College London (UCL), branded as “London’s global university”, consistently ranked among the world’s best universities, and ranked ‘University of The Year’ in 2024 in The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide.
Coincidentally, perhaps -anyone interested in exploring the powerful practical use of a ‘social contract’ should look at the UCL Institute of Innovation and Public Purpose and the work of Mariana Mazzucato who talks about governments adopting mission-oriented strategies and promoting innovation with “moonshot” thinking. Good growth, she says, is about specific goal-centred tracks of progress and about getting public-private partnerships right. On the UCL Institute’s landing page there is a link to an excellent interview with Martin Wolf of the Financial Times.and a link to the interview on the FT’s The Economics Show, where I first discovered it.
A social contract with ‘moonshot thinking’ at a time of crisis could be a good base to draw together all the critical players for such an approach to work best, for the country as a whole.
Main image: Jim Kalliglas @Unsplash
