Haus Curiosities – serie

Like so many of the postwar generation in Britain, Peter Hennessy climbed the ladders of opportunity set up by the 1944 Education Act designed to encourage a more meritocratic society. In this highly personal book, Hennessy examines the rise of meritocracy as a concept and the persistence of the shadowy notion of an establishment in Britain's institutions of state. He asks whether these elusive concepts still have any power to explain British society, and why they continue to fascinate us. To what extent are the ideas of meritocracy and the establishment simply imagined? And if a meritocracy rose in the years following 1945, has it now stalled?With its penetrating examination of the British school system and postwar trends, Establishment and Meritocracy is an important resource for those concerned about the link between education and later success, both for individuals and their societies.

The Westminster Parliament is worth closer scrutiny not just for the sake of democracy, but on intellectual grounds because the surprises it contains challenge our understanding of politics. Based on anthropological fieldwork between 1998-2000 in the House of Lords and 2011-2013 in the House of Commons and constituencies, this Curiosity explains how relationships within the two Houses are utterly different from their surface appearances. The high social status of peers in the House of Lords gives the impression of hierarchy and, more specifically, patriarchy. In contrast, the Commons conjures assumptions of equality and fairness between members of the lower House. But observation of the everyday relationships within the two Houses reveals the opposite: while the Lords has an egalitarian and co-operative ethos, and women thrive in the upper House, the competitive and aggressive Commons is a far less comfortable place for women. Paradoxically MPs have to be both an individual, serving their constituents, and a symbol of a collective, their political party.The inevitable messiness of representative politics, and the disappointment it brings, are both the virtue and weakness of parliamentary democracy. Emma Crewe looks beneath the surface and uncovers its surprises and secrets.

Is there any such thing as a European identity? Amidst all the kaleidoscopic variety what - if anything - do 28 members of the European Union have in common? The facts of history have created shared interests and cultural connections that are in the end more important than the differences. We know we are different from Asia; and we are more different from America than we - perhaps especially the British - think. So in a 21st century of globalisation and emerging great powers, Europe must discover and define that common identity. This is a challenge for all the big states of the EU.Europe clearly has something distinctive and vitally important to offer: it is the experience of a unique journey through centuries of exploration and conflict, errors and learnings, soul-searching and rebuilding. It is an experience of universal significance. One way or another, the world will have to learn these lessons, and it will certainly be the poorer if this European voice is not heard.

Into a year teeming with global volatility, David Cameron introduced another giant unknown, rolling the dice on Britain’s most important economic relationship: its 43-year-old membership of the EU. In European capitals this was seen as an existential threat to the entire European project, while Eurosceptics across the UK saw it as the perfect moment to pull up the drawbridge. The political establishment fired back with a barrage of government data, third-country endorsements and world bodies’ opinions, unsure whether these long-trusted political weapons weren’t firing blanks. Breaking Point explains where post-referendum Britain is heading, how we got here, and what lessons might be learned. It combines analysis of official and off-the- record meetings with senior politicians as well as with ordinary voters.

Invented to integrate conflicting nationalisms in an ‘ever more perfect union,’ in recent years Britain has succumbed to particular resurgent nationalisms in a curious reversal of fortune. The idea of Britain as a political entity sits awkwardly in the margins of this discussion, which considers some nationalists as suppressed minorities in need of attention, and others as bigoted throwbacks to a more divisive age.Making the case for ‘Great Britain’ from the perspective of the political mythology of the British state – with an emphasis on culture, ideas and narrative constructions – Ansari claims that Britain’s strength lies in its ability to shape the popular imagination, both at home and abroad. An excess of enthusiasm, he suggests, may yet do untold damage to the fabric of a state and society that has been carefully constructed, and will not be easily repaired.

British civil servants are unique figure, required to be independent custodians of propriety and dedicated to Ministers’ priorities, yet ready to recalibrate their focus overnight when a new Minister is appointed. Often mistreated as pen-pushers or scapegoats, they are duty-bound against defending themselves in public or acting on personal principle at the expense of the Civil Service Code.Peter Hennessy and David Normington bring personal insight to their illumination of the origins and purpose of this invaluable institution. Looking closely at the mechanics of government, they assess both the longstanding threats to civil servants’ political impartiality and the new challenges posed by Brexit, providing an essential introduction to life in the Civil Service.

Since 1957, the EU has developed to become an open and transparent system which is democratically accountable to more than 500 million European citizens. But after decades of misrepresentation, and in the absence of coherent explanation, the British people have little awareness of this.Reviewing Britain’s historic relationship with the EU, James Elles illustrates how a reluctance to consult the British people on multiple treaty changes led to a lack of understanding about Brussels; explains the EU functions that should have been made clear to the public; and assesses the trends and challenges that Britain could face in a post-Brexit future to 2030.From the disinterest of political leaders to the ambitions of emerging nations, Fiction, Fact and Future is not only a guide to why Britain failed to make the most of its EU membership, but also an optimistic message to a younger generation about how to help shape their future in the 21st century.

Good governance is one of the UK's fundamental values, and citizens are entitled to expect that public officials, both elected and non-elected, behave according to the highest standards of ethical behaviour. However, such lofty aspirations are not enough to root out corruption. If integrity in public life is to be maintained, the core principles behind it must be constantly sustained and strengthened. This new Haus Curiosities volume, published in collaboration with Westminster Abbey Institute, looks at the place and meaning of integrity in the individual public servant, in public service institutions, and in the wider public they purport to serve. It tries to answer the fundamental questions of what integrity means in public life, what lasting value it has, and why it has such a critical part to play in the constitution of Britain. The book also explores how people in public service institutions can cease to behave with humanity when those institutions deny the individual human spirit. On the other hand, the authors argue for the critical importance of institutions in upholding values when fallible humans forget them, as we have witnessed in the Civil Service's steadfast and stabilising response to the Brexit referendum and its uncertain aftermath. Integrity in Public Life provides a critique of and an essential guide to integrity, leaving the reader with some hope for its continued place in public life.

Democracy depends on consent. That means politicians have to argue their causes and win consensus. But democracy has its flaws, not least in the lack of efficiency in the decision-making process.In this book, two leading figures of the British political establishment share their thoughts on where democracy is heading and how it can survive in the 21st century. John Major outlines the qualities on which a healthy democracy depends, as he deplores the current trends in political exchange. Nick Clegg writes of the ways in which political language has always involved trading insults, and he argues that compromise is not betrayal but the very substance of our politics and our democracy.Based on contributions they made to the Westminster Abbey Institute’s democracy series, this authoritative analysis of the state of democracy in the UK is a clarion call to the electorate and politicians to nurture and protect the values on which that democracy depends.

How can we speak of truth in an era of lazy assertions and unstable facts? We must, these intelligent essays implore us. Discovering the truth and, indeed, telling it are vital if we are to enjoy a civilised society in which everyone is free to flourish.Vernon White shows that absolute truth exists and explains why and how it matters morally, while Stephen Lamport describes why truth is important to sustaining civilised society and argues that truth is central to other essential, human qualities. Finally, in her contribution, Claire Foster-Gilbert explores the challenges of truth-telling for public servants: for politicians, who are routinely not believed; for civil servants, whose ministers may only want to hear those facts tht support their policy ideas; for journalists, tempted to tell the story that is ‘too good to check’; and for judges, police officers – even us.

Recent years have seen a populist wave across the Western world, exposing the vulnerabilities of liberal democracy and driving the political agenda to the right.  In 2017 the far-right populist party, the Alternative for Germany (AfD), swept into the Bundestag, claiming to be the voice of the people against a corrupt liberal elite and making waves with a series of extremist statements and overturning the delicate post-war political consensus. ‘We are the People’ examines the sudden growth and radicalisation of the AfD, from Eurosceptic beginnings in 2013 to a far-right populist party with an influential extremist, ethno-pluralist wing.  The AfD’s use of inflammatory, xenophobic and even Nazi-era language has raised fears that, once again, Germany has a right-extremist party in parliament. Bochum lucidly explains the group's ideology and how their brand of populism is distinct and based on German experiences and history. Worldwide political and economic insecurity make it possible support for the AfD will grow in coming years and Bochum examines ways in which experiences both in Germany and the UK illustrate how the populist tide can be stemmed, warning against the adoption of populist policies by the political mainstream.

'It was only two days after I arrived that I realised I had actually joined MI5. It did not exactly throw the doors wide and welcome scrutiny. The existence of the service was avowed but very little else about it was. Who worked for it? Where were its offices? What was its budget? What did it do? What was its relationship with government? All of these were secret - and yet MI5 was the most open of the three intelligence services.'In this short book, former Director General of the British Security Service Jonathan Evans describes how the secret services dealt with the need for greater openness and transparency during his tenure, even as national security needs were heightened. He draws insightful similarities between investigative journalism and espionage - from following leads and checking information to protecting sources - and welcomes the benefits of a mature relationship between the security services and journalism. He explores differences and similarities between other security services around the world, especially those in the United States, and how Brexit might impact the UK's future collaboration with other European security services. Secret Service is a fascinating insight into the world of the security services and a reminder of the importance of actively attending to the moral health of both the institution itself and its operatives who, by their very nature, are its greatest strength and also its greatest weakness.

In 1939, with Europe on the brink of war, Peter Gumbel's grandparents fled Nazi Germany for England. In2019, appalled not only by the result of the Brexit referendum but by the ugliness it exposed in our politics and wider society, he became a citizen of Germany,the country that had persecuted his grandparents 80 years earlier. How had it come to this?Through the story of his family and their migration, Citizens of Everywhere explores identity and belonging in the wake of Brexit and the coronavirus. In doing so,it laments Britain's tragic slide from an open, pluralist haven to a country whose prejudices have led it to turn its back on the European project and engage in an ill-fated, isolationist struggle against an ever more interconnected world. As we enter the third decade of the 21st century, our increasingly layered identities are more complex than ever. The reactionary retreat away frompluralism and towards a nationalistic worldview is perhaps an inevitableresponse - and one that the political class seemed all too ready to exploit,without regard for the consequences. Gumbel's short book will speak to many as he describes how the Britain he knew and loved, that welcomed his ancestors so readily, has taken a wrong turn at the worst possible moment.

The United Kingdom has never had an easy relationship with its capital. Far and away the wealthiest and most populous city in the country, London is the political, financial and cultural centre of the UK and it is responsible for almost a quarter of its economic output. Yet the city's insatiable growth and perceived political dominance have caused national leaders grave concern for hundreds of years. This 'London as problem' perception has only increased as the city has become busier, dirtier and ever more powerful. The recent resurgence in anti-London sentiment and plans to rebalance power away from the capital should not be a surprise in a nation still feeling the effects of austerity. But will it be different this time? Will HS2 or the plan to move the House of Lords to northern England really redistribute power and wealth? Published on the eve of the delayed mayoral elections and in the wake of the greatest financial downturn in generations, London and the UK asks whether the capital's relentless growth and stranglehold on commerce and culture will ever leave room for other regions to compete.

The integrity of the UK is under threat. In fact, is it too late to save the Union? Not yet, write Stephen Green, Thomas Legg, and Martin Donnelly – but to so will require extensive reform, crucially of the UK’s constitution. And the national discussion must begin now. In Unwritten Rule, the authors add an authoritative voice to the conversation, identifying first the flaws in the UK’s constitution and second the opportunities we must seize if the Union is to remain a meaningful part of our identity and to serve its people effectively.

Is the self-trust that leaders need to rule borne out of a lack of self-knowledge? How can the virtues of honesty, humility, compassion, and competence help to rebuild trust in our institutions? Is trust in each other, between groups that make up 'the people', a choice?To trust is to risk, to become vulnerable, to place the centre of our universe somewhere other that ourselves. A loss of trust, particularly in public figures and institutions, is increasingly a feature of modern life. Together these essays provide deep reflections on the nature of trust in the context of public life, agreeing that it is endangered through real encounters, not in the abstract or by force. They offer guidance on how to make those encounters real, wether they be within oneself, between people, or between institutions and the people they serve.

The history of humanity is dominated by violence - it has oppressed and degraded us for centuries.Since Mahatma Gandhi's successful campaign for India's independence, nonviolence has been embraced by freedom fighters such as Martin Luther King Jr, Nelson Mandela, the Dalai Lama, and Václav Havel. Characterised by courage, love, and freedom, and the belief that no political act can be just or truthful unless it is morally legitimate, nonviolence is a strategy of dissent that uses many methods of civil disobedience - be it strikes, boycotts, or demonstrations - to put an end to the social and political evil that it seeks to resist.In his powerfully argued short book, Ramin Jahanbegloo contends that the time has come for humanity to renew its commitment - politically, economically, and culturally - to the idea of nonviolence.

"Since the UK's withdrawal from the EU, the constitutional position of Northern Ireland within the Union has endured an unusual level of attention. An effort to understand or explain 'Brexit's Northern Ireland problem', and its consequences, has seen Northern Ireland given greater prominence than normal. In Northern Ireland in the UK Constitution, Lisa Claire Whitten sets out a concise history of Northern Ireland through four pivotal moments - the 1920-72 Unionist led NI governments, the following 30 years of bitter conflicts, the 1998 Belfast/Good Friday Agreement, and the 2016 referendum on UK's membership of the EU. Considering each of the moments in the broader setting of UK constitutional norms and narratives, she addresses the exceptional constitutional characteristics of Northern Ireland and the ways in which these have often resulted in a 'blindspot' analyses of the Union. This short book also considers the implications of Brexit and the constitutional impacts and shifts it has brought to Northern Ireland, providing an overview of the unique post-Brexit position of Northern Ireland as the touching point between the internal markets of the EU and UK, and discussing the actual and potential constitutional repercussions this is likely to have. Written for a non-specialist audience, Northern Ireland in the UK Constitution is a comprehensive yet accessible introduction for those who want to understand Northern Ireland as a constitutional entity."

In July 1998, ten statues of martyrs of the twentieth century were unveiled surmounting the Great West Door of Westminster Abbey. Ten figures were identified from different continents and different churches: victims of Nazi and Bolshevik oppression, state-sponsored violence, and religious hatred, these images stand as a testimony to the bloodshed of the 20th century. Some, such as Oscar Romero and Martin Luther King, are famed across the world. Others are less known. On the 25th anniversary of the unveiling ceremony, The Nobel Army offers reflections on each of these ten lives and explores the questions surrounding their choices and tells some of the stories behind them. These statues were intended to represent all those millions of individuals who suffered for their faith in Christ in the twentieth century. In tribute to, and in solidarity with this contemporary reality, these ten reflections culminate in a chapter on the contemporary reality of Christian marginalisation and persecution, written by Archbishop Bashar Warda of Erbil, Iraq.

Does the UK’s constitution sufficiently protect our democracy from a rogue prime minister?In light of the resurgence of the far Right across Europe and some of the rhetoric of the 2024 General Election, which carried whiffs of political authoritarianism, Could It Happen Here? explores the possible consequences of a British prime minister refusing to leave office. Mapping out the processes which might occur after such an eventuality, the responsibilities of key players in the UK’s democratic system, and the integrity of that system after years of stress, Hennessy and Blick analyse the UK’s ‘unwritten’ constitution and provide a crucial recommendation for protecting and strengthening the resilience of our parliamentary democracy.

Defence and security policy lies at the heart of the British state, but can appear entirely untrammelled by the constitution. In fact, when political and military leaders exercise their executive powers, Parliament and the judiciary have limited oversight, let alone control, over their actions.Defence and the UK Constitution introduces key constitutional issues to a general audience and pinpoints the differences between the ‘legal constitution’ and the ‘political constitution’, with reference to the lack of accountability within modern British security structures. Professor Nigel White traces this imbalance back to the 1680 Bill of Rights and examines the evolution of war and emergency powers, placing them within the context of international law.Advocating for a rebalancing of the efficient and democratic, as well as the legal and political, elements of the constitution, this short work aims to address the inherent ‘defence paradox’ in the UK constitution and to indicate which constitutional changes are needed to safeguard our democratic principles and limit excessive uses of discretionary power.

A useful guide to thinking about the past and present condition of prophecy.Few people remember Ralph Wigram. If he is known at all, it is as the Foreign Office official who warned Winston Churchill of the Nazi threat with such persistence, conviction, and hard evidence that Churchill had the wherewithal to make his case to the British people.Prophets like Wigram are a fixture of a world without certainty. Oracles and fortune-tellers populate our myths and holy texts, and modern life is not short of forecasters, intelligence analysts, and threat-mongers. So how can we, and our leaders, know whose warnings to heed?Reducing the well-worn subject of predicting the future to its most essential aspects, Weisbrode revisits significant incidents of prophecy, from Stalin’s dismissal of the warnings of German invasion to those given to successive US presidents about the terrorist threat in the years preceding 9/11. This idiosyncratic guide considers the past and present condition of prophecy, uncovering patterns of fear, complacency, and neglect.

What does it mean to lead with compassion in a world riven by fear, at a time when the responses to forced displacement hold the power to reshape communities? How can institutions and individuals sustain solidarity amid rising division?This moving reflection of Filippo Grandi’s ten years as UN High Commissioner for Refugees and four decades spent working in humanitarian crises across the world addresses the growing complexity of forced displacement, its repercussions for international relations, and the challenges it poses for governments. Grandi calls for greater cooperation between nations and considers measures – along displacement routes and in host countries – which would provide life-saving assistance to refugees as well as preserve international cooperation and goodwill. He suggests a universal responsibility not to exacerbate division but to work diligently on the space between pragmatism and principle.Taking up this challenge, Catherine Ashton’s response to Grandi draws on her own distinguished leadership during some of the most important moments that have shaped contemporary diplomacy, and suggests how enduring principles can be retained within the realities of public life.

For most of human history, death was shaped by circumstance, custom, and human presence. Today, it is increasingly mediated by medicine, law, and the language of choice. Our expanding capacity to prolong life and manage dying has outstripped the moral habits that once helped us make sense of such moments. What confronts us now is not only the question of what may be done, or what is permitted, but also how moral responsibility is borne when knowledge is partial and responsibility is dispersed.Resisting moral certainty and procedural comfort, Stephanie O’Connor considers what is revealed and obscured when complex situations are reduced to questions of choice or rights alone. Considering dignity as a guiding moral concern at the limits of life, and drawing on healthcare ethics, case law, and contemporary debates – including those surrounding assisted dying and artificial intelligence – this book examines how decisions made under conditions of vulnerability are shaped not only by autonomy and consent, but by dependence, unequal power, and institutional practice.Acutely attentive to the tensions that exist between compassion and restraint, as well as personal agency and shared responsibility, O’Connor does not propose solutions or offer moral closure. Instead, she asks what is owed: to those whose lives are ending, to those who care for them, and to the fragile shared moral life that binds personal decisions to their public consequences.

A mob storms the United States Capitol. A Hungarian strongman hollows out courts, media, and civil society for sixteen years — then is voted out in a landslide. Brexit exposes the fragility of a constitution built on unwritten conventions. In Germany, one in five voters chooses a party classified by the state’s own security apparatus as a suspected threat to the democratic order. What is going on — and should it concern us?Drawing on evidence from the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Hungary, Poland, and the wider democratic world, Andreas Busch tells the story of liberal democracy’s rise, its erosion by elected leaders who dismantle institutions from within, and the defenses that hold. He traces how economic dislocation, digital disruption, and the polarization of political life have converged to put mature democracies under pressure they were assumed to have outgrown.At the heart of the book lies a deceptively simple argument: the procedural core of democracy — free and fair elections and the peaceful transfer of power — is the foundation on which everything else rests. Protect the mechanics, and everything else can be rebuilt. Lose them, and nothing can.

As Peter Hennessy prepares to bid farewell to public life, he has been surveying 80 years of his country’s political and constitutional journey. And he’s left with one thought: that the essential quality of decency needs to be placed – once again – back at the heart of public life and public discourse. But what does decency look like today, where does it spring from, and how might we all play a role in re-centring it in public life? In this book Peter Hennessy considers those questions as he discusses them with a group of people who might pick up this baton. He’s been inviting old friends, colleagues and those he has long-admired, along with younger voices from politics and public life, into his home for conversations about what decency means to them. And he’ll be reflecting on what they’ve shared with him. Hennessy’s interest in this question springs from a concern about constitutional proprieties, but these conversations range much further afield – from the constitution to service delivery, from schooling to social media. What he hears is both worrying and uplifting: a real sense that there is a problem, a real commitment to tackle it, and ideas for how that might be done, and what role all of us can play.

In a riveting scene in the film Wall Street, Gordon Gekko proclaims, 'Greed is good'. The great philosopher David Hume, on the contrary, describes greed as the most destructive of the vices. The banking debacle and the continuing row about bonuses has placed the controversial issue of greed at the very heart of how we view our society. Is Gekko's maxim merely in need of some moderation? After all, incentives are essential to achieve results. Or is it Hume who, uncharacteristically in this instance, lacks moderation? His claim be greed is 'directly destructive of society'. Can this be true? This example of Hume's reasoning illustrates very clearly his attachment to the idea of 'a science of man' rather than religion or sentiment as a basis for moral, social and political practice. Sutherland examines this science and questions its practical applications for the modern age.

In The Kingdom to Come, Peter Hennessy records the run-up to the Scottish Independence Referendum in September 2014, its immediate aftermath and describes the enormous constitutional building site opened up for the whole of the United Kingdom by the result. This fourth volume in the Haus Curiosities series includes Lord Hennessy's personal impressions of the time when the Act of Union, over 300-years-old, was called into question and when he, as the UK's foremost expert on our unwritten constitution and a Professor of Contemporary British History, became an important voice in what may happen next. The Kingdom to Come examines the possible agenda for the remaking of the constitution in the medium and long term.

Whatever the eventual outcome of the Brexit negotiations, the critical questions remain: what does the Referendum vote tell us about the sort of society we are?We have not been wholly honest with ourselves about our past and this has allowed us to ignore uncomfortable truths. It is time to acknowledge that underlying all the sound and fury of the Brexit debate was a question – whether or not fully recognised – about our identity.