Evilution

"Civilisation has greatly benefited from man's infinite capacity for research and invention: a capacity that is frequently harnessed for the destruction of others, the full horror of which can manifest itself at any time."

So writes Roy Ray, the artist behind the ongoing Evilution project, a project which is Ray's personal response as an artist to this evil phenomenon and its innocent victims in relation to the times in which he has lived, the people he has met and the events he has witnessed.

For this purpose, he is using constructions, collages, photographs and video together with writings which include those drawn from numerous childhood memories. The first phase of the project focusses on examples for which a single name is synonymous with the mass destruction of innocent lives by the corrupt use of science and technology.

Five panels from this first phase of the project, each measuring 5ft x 2ft, have been on display at Coventry Cathedral throughout 2010 and are "memorials to the millions of innocent men, women and children who became victims of conflict by the corrupt use of science and technology: many because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time or from the wrong country or wrong race." The panels have been exhibited as a group with the title 'Where their footsteps left no trace' and each panel represents a place, the name of which is synonymous with this evil phenomena:

"Every single one of those people meant something to someone and should not be forgotten ... The lowest part of each panel has the common denominator of ash and rubble common to each of these places of Evilution and symbolising the destruction of people and places."

The next phase of the project will deal with the Western Front during the 1914-18 War which destroyed a generation of young men who were the victims of innocence. Regular updates of the Evilution website will deal with future phases and other aspects of the Project, one which is likely to occupy Ray for the forseeable future.

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T Bone Burnett - Earlier Baghdad (The Bounce).

The Age of the Do-Gooders

Most reviewers of Ian Hislop’s Age of the Do-Gooders (Mondays, BBC2, 9.00pm) accepted the line that Hislop pursues in the series; that it’s curious how ‘do-gooder’ has become such a pejorative term (a euphemism for interfering busybody) when doing good is what we should all aspire to.

The series celebrates Victorian social reformers who tend to be regarded as pious laughing stocks in this enlightened age; Hislop’s aim being to rescue them from ridicule and illustrate their importance in the evolution of British society. As the Metro notes: “He argues that the moral revolution of the 19th century invented the wide-ranging concept of a caring, just society, and that, far from being interfering busybodies, reformers were pioneering mavericks whose dynamism is to be admired.”

The dynamic 19th-century figures that Hislop highlights took it upon themselves to fix the Victorian equivalent of “broken Britain”. They overturned the ruling class’s callousness and unconcern for the poor and restored its social conscience. The big question was: What can I do? Hislop calls it “the moral revolution”: “They took a lot of flak at the time. That’s what interests me about it. I’m split between seeing why people took the p--- and thinking that, actually, they were rather good news.”

Reviewers generally thought the first episode was an eloquently argued slice of social history that aimed to reveal what a sorry state we’d all be in were it not for a bunch of remarkable 19th-century revolutionaries. What they seem to have missed was Hislop’s argument, highlighted particularly when interviewing members of the public, that our contemporary individualism militates against the 21st century (at least in its beginning) becoming an age of do-gooding. As Hislop stated in The Telegraph:

“We tend to see do-gooders as interfering busybodies … Few people believe they can personally make a difference. But the achievements of enlightened characters like Robert Owen [founder a model mill town in New Lanark], Thomas Wakley [scourge of cronyism among surgeons], Octavia Hill [pioneer of social housing] and George Dawson [the Birmingham social reformer] may just have something to teach us in the 21st century.

Amongst those reviews that I read only John Crace, in The Guardian, had a critique of this first episode. Crace argued that Hislop is turning into a rather good TV social historian but would benefit from providing rather more context to his story:

“Because while philanthropy emerged out of a sense that the better-off had a duty of care towards the less well-off, it also had its limitations. It is a start towards social justice but it is not an end or sufficient in itself. That's why the welfare state was introduced. To have followed this argument would not just have made these Victorians part of a historical narrative rather than liberal curiosities; it would have highlighted the obvious flaws in the coalition's belief that Do-Gooding can replace the state.”

Hislop’s series looks likely to be valuable in rehabilitating the idea of doing good to others for our strongly individualistic age but needs to be balanced by the perception that philanthropy alone is not enough. What may be most significant about those whom Hislop highlights, is that theirs was not simply individual philanthropy but instead a search for social and political solutions to the poverty of their age.

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 Willie Nelson & Emmylou Harris - The Maker.

Contemporary Social Evils

This comes from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation:

Out now, a new book - Contemporary Social Evils - demonstrates the public hunger for a new way of living and general unease about how greed, consumerism and individualism have pervaded our way of life. The book was formally launched yesterday in central London and a podcast of the event is now available to download.

The book brings together the findings from a major consultation with leading thinkers, commentators, activists and members of the public, led by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. It summarises the findings so far, including new research with disadvantaged groups, and looks forward to a post-recession future. Contributors range across the political spectrum, from AC Grayling and Ferdinand Mount to Julia Neuberger, Matthew Taylor and Anthony Browne.

"This is a brave exploration of some of the fundamental assumptions around values and attitudes that we hold, written at an important moment. I commend this timely, intelligent and challenging book". (Clare Tickell, Chief Executive, Action for Children)

"A splendid series of thought-provoking studies on the social evils of our time, blessedly free of nostalgia, an essential contribution to a much-needed national debate on the society we seek to make for the sake of those who will come after us." (Chief Rabbi, Sir Jonathan Sacks)

For more information on the JRFs Social Evils project go to www.jrf.org.uk/socialevils.

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Broken Records - Until The Earth Begins To Part.

What are today's social evils?

What are today's social evils?

People feel a deep sense of unease about some of the changes shaping British society, according to the consultation on modern-day social evils carried out by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. Individualism, greed, a decline of community and a decline of values were among the social evils that worried participants most. In addition, people also identified:

• drugs and alcohol;
• poverty and inequality;
• decline of the family;
• immigration and responses to immigration;
• crime and violence;
• young people as victims or perpetrators.

More information, and the opportunity to share views, is available at www.socialevils.org.uk.

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Aztec Camera - Good Morning Britain.