What does economic success have in common with social justice? Let me start by saying they are two sides of the same coin. One cannot exist long term without the other.
As we emerge from Covid we need collaboration and consensus between private, public and third sectors. All
our decisions must be rooted in care and compassion whilst prioritising economic recovery. Division and partisan politics must be pushed aside for genuine partnerships to be formed with a common purpose. Business has a responsibility but must be respected, included in decisions and encouraged to a far greater extent. Ultimately, it is business success that pays all the bills.
We have a fantastic opportunity to rebuild and create communities and a country we can be proud of. I haven’t heard of or seen a sensible post Covid economic plan yet.
Surely there must be one being worked on. We have the institutions and individuals capable enough. If we fail to plan, we plan to fail.
With an actual plan for a better future, we can establish hope, the precursor to the required confidence. Covid has cost many all hope. However, hope can be found in an economically successful and social-justice driven plan for a better future. Confidence can build and flow into aspiration and with it a source of energy and commitment to overcome challenges along the way. Political division contributes nothing, but politicians can be a catalyst to create momentum and help deliver the changes we all need.
Economic prosperity alone creates the choice for us to be socially just and truly inclusive. We must develop
a sensible post-Covid economic plan that all elements of society have meaningfully contributed to. I know
at first-hand that social justice makes complete financial sense. There are huge pools of human talent that is constrained by poverty, written off by their postcodes and limited by their circumstances. Give them voice and the support they need and they will release huge social cost savings to be reinvested. Research soon to be published from MCR Pathways demonstrates that mentoring those experiencing the most disadvantage could save the country over £100 million in social costs per annum within 10 years.
We have the capacity, the skill and talent in our country, coupled with the energy and wisdom to make it happen. Relationship-based mentoring and organisations like MCR Pathways that can bring every community together on a simple and shared purpose to help young people experiencing disadvantage to realise their full potential. Mentoring breaks the cycle and creates a ripple effect for future generations. The rewards and benefits are immediate and shared by mentee, mentor and the mentor’s employer. Attainment, achievement, progression, purpose, staff engagement and productivity gains to name but a few independently verified. Care, compassion and an hour a week are the only ingredients required. Positive human relationships will drive and power progress and allow us to establish a world leading well-being economy. Imagine that.
Let’s stand in admiration, and not in judgment of those in the midst of and overcoming adversity daily. Let’s not isolate them but engage, inspire and learn from their lived experience. As
we approach elections give a platform to those that speak of and mean collaborative partnerships as the way out of the Covid chaos. Those that know economic success really matters and can be fused with social justice.
Condemnation, complaint and criticism cannot be allowed to dominate the agendas, column inches and airwaves. Time to move on, Scotland deserves better.
Iain MacRitchie is an entrepreneur, founder and chairman of MCR Pathways and a visiting professor at the University of Strathclyde. He is also an Oversight Board member of The Promise tasked with holding Scotland to account for
the delivery of The Care Review.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here