Uturn UK has been set up to be different.  Attempts to ‘categorise’ it may well be wide of the mark, because it is not intended to be like anything else there has been!

For all of us

This is not speaking from one section of society to the others – there is no ‘them and us'.  We are all, to a greater or lesser extent, children of the post-war era, who have grown up under the same influences, watched the same TV programmes and imbibed the same culture.  Now there is a growing sense that this culture is no longer working for us – that it is turning out to be destructive of much that is important to us in the long term.  We see around us so many casualties, with family breakdown, loneliness, addiction, depression, debt and disappointment taking an ever greater hold on our society – and so many of us are not just observers, but victims too.  Few of our families have escaped without taking some kind of a ‘hit’.  So this is a voice – not for a critical minority, but for a concerned and directly-affected majority.  And Street Associations are designed to include absolutely everyone in a strengthening expression of real community.

Positive

Uturn UK must be constructive, not merely critical of ‘what’s wrong’.   It is one thing to point out how much has stemmed from the loss of values that used to give structure and shape to people’s lives; but quite another (and it is our priority) to propose specific values that will fit the bill – and that will actually address the deep problems we face.   In particular, Street Associations are a positive answer to the loss of community; and a positive answer to the loss of values, too, because community needs values - and acts as an incubator for values as people learn again how to live together in a way that enhances life for all.

Uniting

This is not to be a divisive, let-alone angry, force – but a unifying and compassionate one.   In the 1960s, big changes started to come in.  Some people resisted, even hated, those changes; the result was that, as the barricades went up on both sides, there was less and less understanding between the different points of view and especially between the generations. There is a beautiful scripture that speaks of the desire to “turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers”. [1] We believe this is what is needed in Britain now.   Unity can come when there is understanding all round, and when we work together – with sympathy and compassion – to see afresh what our society actually needs - and even what our own street needs.   

Reasoned

Our conviction is that reasoned argument is a lot more attractive – and  effective – than blind assertion.  We therefore take a lot of time to look at different and complex issues, argue our points and invite comments and suggestions from our readers.  You may not agree with all that is said, be we hope you feel we make our points in a way that invites people to think and which turns a spotlight on important issues.  The key thing is to move forward from a tendency that is superficial, evasive and often in denial about many of our problems, to one that is openly able to face challenges and think through what will help us to move forward.  As a nation, we have some thinking to do!

Balanced

Some issues, such as our concern for the poor, and for the casualties of our commercially-driven age, may seem more ‘left’ wing.  Other issues, such as our regard for marriage or for our own history, may seem more ‘right’ wing.  In truth, anything that is for our nation as a whole has to be rooted in a deep concern for the welfare of ordinary citizens; and it also has to be realistic, understanding how people actually behave and how the kind of society we live in can either inspire the best or unleash the worst. 

Rooted

We do not want, or need, to start from scratch.  We have a national ‘story’, which is part of who we are.  Without identity, we all too easily lose purpose or direction. Part of the ‘uturn’ we need, in our view, is to re-acquaint ourselves with our underlying character and roots – and learn from values that have been part of our culture down the centuries, and from the Christian faith that produced and nurtured those values.  It is our historical values that will have the greatest resonance within us and between us; and it is these values that will have the greatest chance of enduring.  What we have to do is to decide that it is worth making a big effort to restore something of that is of big value. 

All-embracing…

We are not talking about isolated problems with isolated solutions.  We are talking about something that pervades our whole culture.  We therefore need to grapple with ‘big’ issues.  This is not about single-issue politics, nor indeed mainly about politics at all.  Politicians can only do so much.  Values concern how we all live, what we all value, indeed – and therefore set the tone for the way in which the media, business, education and politics, can and should behave.  This is big and, if it is to be effective, it must be challenging to every aspect of our national life.

…yet simple

The basic cry is this: we need a restoration of community and of positive communal values.  Without them, things spin out of control and our lives – free at first – become isolated, unhappy, damaged, directionless and lacking in hope, structure or purpose.   There is a growing recognition that this is the case.  With that new mood given a vibrant voice, we believe we can restore to this country the foundation of both community and of shared communal values that was normal for hundreds of years and that helped to make the United Kingdom one of the world’s most successful nations.  At the local level, a simple solution - bringing every street together in meaningful community - will be revolutionary, at the street, town and even national level. 

Mobilizing

Street Associations involve everybody and represent a big step forward that we can ourselves achieve, without, waiting for 'the Government' or some other 'them' to act!  They represent a huge opportunity to mobilise citizens by the thousand to shape their own destiny and improve their own neighbourhood.

At the national level, there have been many well-researched papers that point to the damage being done by our contemporary culture.  We quote some of their conclusions in this website.  But these can all to easily be ignored, especially when money is being made out of continuing things the way they are.  What is needed is a mobilization of opinion so that our deep problems are actually addressed.  And that mobilization needs to be combined with a mobilization of expertise, from all walks of life, to achieve widespread change in a spirit of co-operation.

Challenging

Britain is a country that has been able, at times of need, to come together and ‘raise its game’ to meet the pressing needs of the time.  The cultural change that is needed will not come easily – but nor did the monumental efforts during wartime or during other times of hardship or change.  We can rise to the challenge and – indeed – challenge does us good!  We have every confidence that many people, in all walks of life, will be more than willing to come together and work out what needs to be done in their street, locality, in their sector and in their area of influence and put in the effort to see it through.