Only connect

Recently I called out an electrician. While he was working he noticed my computer and asked me whether I play computer games online. I told him that I do. Our conversation up until this point had been mostly monosyllabic and, though polite, nothing more than superficial but the mention of online gaming brought out something in him.

Recently I called out an electrician. While he was working he noticed my computer and asked me whether I play computer games online. I told him that I do. Our conversation up until this point had been mostly monosyllabic and, though polite, nothing more than superficial but the mention of online gaming brought out something in him.

He started to explain how his best friend had moved to Cornwall several years previously. He said that he had always found it awkward to phone the friend to catch up but that this awkwardness disappeared when they were playing war games together on the internet.

He said that sometimes he and his friend find a quite spot in the game and just chat, with the bombs raining down all around them.

If war games can help us to re-connect with old friends then who knows what can help us to participate in politics

It made me think of the new ways which the internet allows people to connect to each other. But it also made me think about what might be a particularly English trait, a certain nervousness around being too direct.

For some time now there have been calls for a “more discursive and participatory, form of politics”. There are many barriers to realising this, but I think this cultural antipathy towards directness is one of them.

Many public bodies and charities up and down the country are committed to getting more people involved in civic life. But what, in practice, is the nature of the offer they are making to people? Is it “come to a meeting and express your views”? If it is then it is bound to be an unattractive offer for the vast majority of people.

Perhaps efforts to encourage civic involvement should be approached in a less direct way. John Kay argues in his book on Obliquity that some problems are so complex that they should not be approached directly. I think the same approach could help us with civic involvement. After all, if war games can help us to re-connect with old friends then who knows what can help us to participate in politics…