I love my country. I love the society I grew up in, in which I live. I love the safety nets we have. Travelling around, experiencing life in other countries, and (without wishing to sound too over the top) it feels downright barbaric in some cases. Tiers of health care. Paying for critical services. Paying (or having to make “donations”) for schooling.
There are issues with the UK, no doubt. There are issues with the NHS. The OSA is a disaster. The rise of anti-immigration rhetoric to divert from real problems, and real inequality is damaging to us all.
So here is what I think. In my little corner of the internet – here are the policies I would enact if I were suddenly dictator of the UK.
Before getting to those, though – what are my motivations? Who am I? As a younger man I believed you work for what you get. If you were poor? That was your fault. As I grew up, I realised that just wasn’t the case. My own views were heavily skewed, and took absolutely no account of the incredible privileges I had when growing up:
- Loving family? Tick
- One parent at home? Tick
- Good education? Tick (even if you disagree when you spot my mistakes and typos!)
- Education from my family? Tick
- Foreign holidays? Tick
- Support in hobbies and developing myself? Tick, tick, tick.
As a teenager I:
- Played musical instruments
- Sailed
- Flew
- Played
- Travelled
This isn’t intended to brag, but just to set the scene and highlight the perspective that this comes from. To account for bias, it’s helpful to know what may have biased the writer.
I am motivated by compassion, and empathy. The freedom of life and its enjoyment. Silent safety – the ability to live your life with risks being handled in the background. No doubt that last one will set some eyes rolling. Health and safety gone mad! But it’s more about knowing that you can take risks and be protected. Risk your job and not starve. Climb that mountain, and be cared for when you hurt yourself. Stand up for yourself, and know that someone, somewhere, has your back.
Picture a street you can walk down, safe from violence. A shop you can buy food from, safe from disease. Air you can breathe, safe from pollution. And everyone else can too. Some may call this Utopia. I call it Society.
No total system of thought can possibly survive the real world, but given the motivations and the spirit, we can find a way to improve life for everyone, and handle the problems as they arise.
Hopefully you’ll find the rest of this more humorous, as well as informative. And finally:
One of the joys of democracy is that all opinions are welcome to debate their case. One of the tragedies of democracy is that all opinions are welcome to argue their case.
Thoughts on a better Britain 
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