What to do about what it is that threatens us?

Seeing the steel job losses in communities that can least afford to cope with them, I commend File on 4 on Radio 4 this last Sunday (25 January). They investigated the new bankruptcy laws that make it much easier to go into “administration” and pointed out that whilst jobs in the failed company might be saved, jobs in companies downstream – like Corus in this case – can be seriously affected. The programme made the argument that the new legislation actually generates unemployment.

With every new announcement of job losses, people ask themselves “Will I be next?” The media is no exception – newspapers in neo-meltdown, TV advertising disintegrating before our eyes. “Tough times for the next year,” Chancellor Darling told me on Friday.

One feels increasingly that no one has a clear idea of the true scale of what threatens our wellbeing. There must be the real danger that our own social cohesion will be threatened. And there doesn’t actually appear to be much anyone can do about it. Amid the talk about polls and elections, how long before someone calls for a “government of national unity”?