Keeping Calm and Carrying On

I haven't been posting lately as reiterations of previously expressed outrage would have been tedious to read and depressing to write. Government policies are still counterproductive, the coalition continues to dismantle public services, and the economic case for austerity continues to weaken. The Localism Bill is dragging itself through parliamentary processes, changed little by amendments. A storm of warning and protest about proposed NHS reforms from nearly every observer is largely being ignored by the PM. The only good news, that the Committee on Climate Change's carbon budget recommendation was accepted, shouldn't even be news. It only was because BIS and the Treasury were being reactionary about recommendations that should have been accepted as a matter of course. Moreover, the agreement to cut emissions by 50% will only be meaningful if actually achieved. That will require significant policy intervention, which is not yet forthcoming.

Rather than concentrate on national policy, I've been thinking about personal lessons from the past year.

Five ways to survive in a dying public sector organisation

1. Set aside a time (just after lunch on Friday is good) when everyone in the office can have a thorough bitch-in about the week's developments in government policy and their negative consequences. Sarcastically reading aloud recent CLG press releases will form part of this cathartic exercise. A current example: Pickles to cut red tape that stops the public from flying flags.
   
   (As an aside, I think it striking to compare the number of press releases from CLG about social care and flags. The former concerns the protection of abused children and vulnerable elderly people, arguably most critical task of local councils; the latter are pieces of fabric waving in the breeze. During April and May thus far, six seperate CLG press releases have been about flags. None have been about social care. See for yourself. What does this tell you about the department's priorities?)
   
   
2. Ensure that you have an exit strategy. Easy for me to say now, as I have a Masters place, but this is a huge source of anxiety for my colleagues. We now have less than five months left, and some are I think beginning to panic that come September they might be left adrift. Options being considered within the office, other than simply getting a similar job are: full-time study, setting up a as a self-employed consultant, charity work, and retraining as a teacher. However risky or speculative it might be, some plan for post-redundancy is essential, and ideally it should be something you feel good about. Rather than gloomily watching the organisation wither away around you, try and look on it as an opportunity for change and to move on with your career. Again, it's all very well for me to say that as I don't have kids or a mortgage. Still, the strange period of knowing your job will vanish is an ideal opportunity to consider what you need and want out of life in general, as well as your career.
   
   
3. Avoid regrets. There are a number of projects that I've put a great deal of time and effort into which will very likely be lost once my organisation has gone. I've had to make peace with this, in order to concentrate on the most important projects that really must continue elsewhere. These things need to be put in perspective. None of the reports that I've prepared or the emails I've sent will be of great interest to historians in a hundred years. They did what was needed at the time and provided me with useful experience, but if the paper copies are recycled and the word documents fossilise on a server somewhere, civilisation isn't going to fall. That does not mean that I wasted my time, just that the situation has changed. Regrets are a waste of energy that is better spent planning for the future.
   
   
4. Don't become isolated, either from your immediate colleagues or other organisations. Mutual support in my team is proving a really powerful thing. My colleagues and I are trying to support each other through hard times, and I consider that extremely important. As well as practical help (reading each other's CVs, sharing information about jobs, etc), we keep up with each other's progress, setbacks, and morale, wishing luck with interviews and providing tea for whoever is having a bad day. At times, three people in my team have all gone for the same job, but amazingly this hasn't caused distrust and excessive competitiveness. The atmosphere in the office is genuinely that of all being in this together. Moreover, the whole public sector is going through seismic changes, with redundancies at every organisation I work with. This certainly provides a heartfelt topic of conversation with any public servant I happen to meet.
   
   
5. Create some lunchtime escapism. Yes, it's all very depressing. The government is waging an ideological war on the public sector, there are far more people on the dole than there are job vacancies (the current ratio is five to one), and the future can seem bleak. It's important to avoid reading the news until it makes you cry with rage during your lunchbreak, and instead use the time for distraction. I tend to go for a walk, or read a bit of a book (novels and popular science, no current affairs or economics), or send a long email to a friend, or just talk to colleagues about something totally unrelated to work. Usually involving anecdotes about the wanton destructiveness of their children.

Even if you're not in the lovely situation of impending redundancy from the public sector, you will likely have some financial anxieties. Inflation is up to 4.5% and 42% of households expect to have less money to spend over the next year. You might notice some common themes in my pieces of advice to handle this: firstly, each would also reduce your carbon footprint, and secondly, each would be much easier to follow if you happen to be young, have no children, and live in an urban area. That would be my inherent bias as a twentisomething childless urban dweller, sorry.

Five ways to cope with the Age of Austerity

1. Get rid of your car, as they are a huge financial drag. Petrol prices are volatile and rising, road maintenance budgets are falling. Cycle or walk whenever possible, try not to rely on public transport. Bus and train fares are rising steeply whilst subsidies fall; frequency and reliability are thus deteriorating and will continue to. Given the quantity of sunk costs to car ownership; purchase, insurance, tax, maintenance; ditching the private vehicle rather than trying to use it less will make a much more significant saving. When bus, bike, train, or feet won't do, there are always taxis and car clubs. Moreover, the additional exercise will help with point two...
   
   
2. Stay as healthy as you can. Of course this is always a priority, but even more so when controversial and risky reforms to the NHS loom. During this kind of chaotic period of cuts and reorganisation, patient care is going to suffer, even with the best will in the world. This is not a good time to need a hospital or GP, at the very least you're likely to have to wait longer.
   
   
3. Shop around for food, buy only what you need, and don't waste it. Travelling on foot or by bike also helps with this, as you can't buy more than you can carry. Vegetarianism is cheaper than being a carnivore. Ready meals are an expensive source of calories. Special offers are only worth it if you would have bought the product anyway. Brands and special luxury ranges are generally a ripoff. It feels like I'm stating the massively obvious here, but these things add up and food is something that you can't buy second hand!
   
   
4. Think about your role in the Big Society. The government is radically changing the social contract and you must expect less from public services and more DIY. How would you cope if your local library, leisure centre, job centre, or Sure Start centre halved its opening times or closed altogether? Could you volunteer to help keep such a centre open? Which public services would you particularly notice reductions to? Which approach would make more sense if your preferred service is threatened: campaign against the cut, or volunteer to mitigate the effect? Do you know who your local councillor is, in case you need to put pressure on them?
   
   
5. Always look on the bright side of life. Happiness is threatened by redundancy and economic slump, but not precluded. Living within your means in the UK is likely to provide you with a good standard of living, even if your means are small. A little more frugality with regard to material goods wouldn't be a bad thing in the western world. There is great truth in the old saw that the best things in life are free. To wit, whenever I need cheering up, there are always pictures of baby animals.

More than five reasons why Cambridge is one of the best places to be in these harsh times

1. As it is 5 miles in diameter and flat, travel within Cambridge can effectively be cost-free. The vast majority of drivers expect and respect cyclists. Some roads do involve a measure of modal warfare, but there is usually an alternative and better route to be found. There are some glorious paths alongside the river Cam, as well as various quiet roads which form the cycling superhighways around the city.
   
   
2. Cambridge is highly aesthetically pleasing and has lots of green open spaces that it would be very difficult to start charging for access to. Admiring historic buildings and lazing on Parker's Piece will remain enjoyable, even if the parlous state of local government finances causes the latter to be mown less often.
   
   
3. Given the concentration of people in the city relative to the rest of the county, outlying villages will inevitably suffer the loss of libraries, leisure centres, and other services before the city itself, simply on the basis of usage. The student contingent (approximately 16,000 of the 130,000 total city population) help to keep the arts cinema and numerous lovely independent cafes viable.
   
   
4. Cambridge is a refuge for the left wing. There isn't a single Conservative on the City Council (whereas they run the County Council, a source of obvious political tension). Whereas the UK voted 68% No to AV, Cambridge voted 54% Yes. We also have a young and enthusiastic Lib Dem MP, Julian Huppert. Although I don't agree with everything he says and does, which is much more than anyone could expect from an MP anyway, he clearly has a lot of energy and interest in reflecting Cambridge's interests. I also admire his habit of communicating what he's doing and asking what he should be doing, for example canvassing twitter for questions he should ask in committees and parliament.
   
   
5. Although housing costs are painful and the rental market vicious, living costs in Cambridge are otherwise relatively low; I've already mentioned transport. There are lots of small independent food shops, which allow comparison shopping in a way that supermarkets simply do not. Obviously the city has supermarkets too, but if you hate them as much as I do you can avoid them. I find that fruit and veg are noticably cheaper from the local grocer than big box supermarkets. The charity shops are excellent for high quality second hand clothes and books.
   
   
6. It's a friendly, safe, pleasant environment that combines useful compactness and access to services with open space and a rural feel. My Suffolk-countyside dwelling family think it cosmopolitan, my London-dwelling friends consider me to be out in the sticks. Cambridge contains fields of cows and multiplex cinemas; truly the best of both worlds.

It has been almost exactly a year since the Coalition government came to power in a cloud of smug Eton bonhomie. I've survived the first year of austerity with my job intact, albeit doomed, and my home city relatively unscathed. This time next year, I expect to be an impoverished student and suspect that the cuts will feel a lot sharper. The important things are to keep calm, carry on, and take note of what may turn out to be a significant fact: since the student protests and March for the Alternative the government has completely lost the trust of the police.