80 years ago, over 5 million British men and women were recruited into the armed forces and deployed across the world. Thursday, 8 May 1945, saw Germany’s formal unconditional surrender, marking the end of World War 2 in Europe. While street parties were organised across the UK, publicity outside of the country had to be curtailed, because so many were still serving to keep order in Europe, whilst others were in Southeast Asia and the Pacific fighting Japan. 

This year’s celebrations are entitled, “Lamplight of Peace,” referring to a tradition of lighting lamps, often ruby red, to commemorate significant anniversaries connected with past wars, D-Day and VE Day being two examples. The lights represent the “light of peace” emerging from the darkness of war and symbolise the sacrifices made during those conflicts. The red colour of the lamplights often signifies the ultimate sacrifice of those who fought in the war. The use of cmajor worldwides strange to me, as, growing up in the 1950s in London, I only recall a world of black and white, anthe COVID in the summer of 1967, when I was taking common entrance and scholarship exams aged 13, that I first saw colour TV, showing the Wimbledon tennis tournament!

Reprocessed photographs and film of the 1945 street parties abound in this year’s media, and honestly, they almost all could have been taken yesterday, so normal do they look in terms of humanity at play. The absence of men is obvious, and outward migration of women from communities who suffered many male casualties led to a diaspora south and into more affluent areas, in search of a future yet to be imagined.

In looking at the lessons to be learned from that major worldwide conflict, there seem to be quite a few that chime with the lessons we are now learning as we recover from the worldwide COVID pandemic. Of course, these could be coincidental, but as the son of two History graduates and married to a third, I know the importance of learning from the past!

1. Economic Disruption and the Need for Rebuilding

Post-WWII: Britain faced a severely damaged infrastructure, the need to retool industries for peacetime production, and significant national debt. Rationing and economic controls persisted for years.

Post-COVID: The pandemic caused a sharp economic downturn, business closures, supply chain disruptions, and a substantial increase in national debt due to support measures like furlough. Certain sectors, such as hospitality and tourism, faced prolonged difficulties.

2. Social and Psychological Impact

Post-WWII: the war led to immense loss of life, displacement, and trauma. Returning soldiers needed reintegration, and society had to adapt to a new demographic landscape, including the changing roles of women. There was a strong desire for a better future and a sense of collective experience.

Post-COVID: the pandemic also resulted in significant loss of life, widespread anxiety, isolation due to lockdowns, and mental health challenges. There’s a shared experience of navigating a global crisis and adapting to new ways of living and working.

3. The Role of the State and Public Services

Post-WWII: the war led to a greater acceptance of state intervention in the economy and society, culminating in the creation of the National Health Service (NHS) and the expansion of the welfare state. There was a strong emphasis on social solidarity and “building back better.”

Post-COVID: the pandemic highlighted the crucial role of public services, particularly the NHS. There are renewed debates about the size and scope of the state, social care provision, and addressing inequalities exposed by the crisis. Calls for a “new settlement” echoing the post-war era have emerged.

4. Shifts in Social Norms and Behaviour

Post-WWII: the war accelerated social changes, including shifts in gender roles and a greater awareness of social inequalities. There was a gradual move towards a more egalitarian society.

Post-COVID: the pandemic has also prompted changes in work patterns (rise of remote work), increased reliance on technology, and potentially a greater focus on local communities and personal well-being. The long-term impact on social interactions and community bonds is still unfolding.

5. National Identity and Purpose

Post-WWII: victory in the war fostered a strong sense of national unity and purpose, albeit one that had to adapt to Britain’s declining global power. The focus shifted towards domestic reconstruction and the creation of a fairer society.

Post-COVID: the pandemic has, at times, invoked a sense of national solidarity, particularly during the initial phases. However, it has also exposed divisions and challenges to national identity in a more complex and interconnected world.

After both events, the ‘winners’ have seen major political disruption, and in many ways, not for the better. Delighted as Roosevelt, Stalin and Churchill would have been to sit down to plan the end of the war in March 1945, within 2 years, the Cold War had broken out; the US, Britain and its allies had brought western influences to bear across Europe and Asia, whereas the USSR occupied eastern Europe and developed the ‘Iron Curtain’ to protect the countries newly within the Soviet bloc. Fueled by ideological differences (capitalism vs. communism) and geopolitical rivalries, the Cold War lasted for 46 years, until the collapse of the USSR in 1991.

Looking to the present, we see ideology dominant in both the UK and USA, in which both countries are governed by ‘leaders’ who suggest that their election victories permit them to impose changes to the ordered way of doing things, ungoverned by the usual rules of democracy and consent. The two ‘wars’ may have different durations, but as the nations emerged, the public was utterly fed up with being hoodwinked and failed by the political and economic classes in government beforehand. During the 1943 to 45 period, time was spent planning for the introduction of both universal healthcare and education, developed under the coalition, but enacted by the newly elected Labour government in July 1945. 

2024/25 feels very different. Despite the Labour party winning the election on the back of the public’s dislike of the chaotic behaviour of the previous, mainly Conservative administrations, what it hasn’t done is settle the country down and unite the public. My perspective is on Education, Health & Care, and no visionary policies are being unfolded as they were 80 years ago. A solution to the crisis in care provision has been kicked down the years for a future administration to resolve, the Health service remains a battlefield still to find a ceasefire yet alone peace, and Education has been broken in two ways by a Secretary of State hell bent on stating that those in private schools have never had it so good, so must be taxed for the privilege, but at the same time doing her best to undermine the more general successes won by the local decision making brought into state education over the past 30 years by seeking to renationalise and regulate.

Looking back some 13 years, Harold McMillan used hindsight to suggest that ‘Jaw-Jaw’ was always better than ‘War-War’, and I am utterly convinced society could be so much better if we stopped the posturing, lowered our defences and worked together to provide the improvements to British society all call for. Unlike the 1940s, we have some of the best advances in technology now in our hands, but we must work ‘new’ with ‘old’. A Change for the Better is always a contradiction in terms, and we can see that in the entrenched views of ‘Remainers & Brexiteers’ and all that they don’t have a positive story to tell us, about how collaboration and the rebuilding of our education, health, care, housing and public service systems can take place at pace and using the resources we havemore smartlyy. 

The technological capabilities and the role of media were vastly different in the post-war era compared to the digital age of our post-COVID period. The computer age was just starting and the Space race still ahead, whereas now we have all the advantages of vast processing power at our disposal and are back exploring the stars in so many ways. Examining the parallels offers valuable insights into how our society responds to large-scale crises, and the long-term social and economic consequences when we get them right or wrong. 

In Education terms, the Butler reforms in the Education Act 1944 aimed to build a en education to age 15 for everyone, not just those fortunate enough to be wealthy or win academic selection. It was a great story, long in the telling but by the close of the Labour government in 2010, we had managed to create a heterogeneous mix of state, private and special education that could meet the needs of the vast majority of the population. University expansion had taken place and whether for academic or vocational reasons, a breadth of pathways had been developed for the many to follow.

That story has been lost over the past 15 years, in which the treatment of children and teachers have been treated more like towels, to be used to soak up knowledge and work and then wrung out periodically for the purposes of assessment and performance management. As the academic curriculum in the state sector has been narrowed to reduce costs and restrict the need for diversity in teacher training and curricular provision, it’s become clear as it was in the 1930s and ‘40s  that private education offered advantages worth pursuing for reasons of choice and educational need. As I wrote last week, we need to see a return to the diversity of provision for everyone, and that can clearly come from the partnership of the willing that both private and academy schools offer to the government.

I suspect we need something a little brighter than a Lamplight to show our politicians the way, and lit by a more powerful fuel than dogma that only permits ‘might to be right’ rather than reason. As the months pass since the imposition of VAT in January and April’s increases in employer and other business costs, with teacher pay changes to come in the future, I remain deeply thankful that we have the opportunities provided by technology to broaden and enhance what we do in our schools. Another Labour Prime minister, Harold Wilson spoke powerfully in 1963 of the “white heat of technology” in his famous speech at the Labour Party Conference in Scarborough in 1963, one I saw on the black & white telly at home. Now we see what’s possible in technicolour – perhaps the orange smoke from the Vatican in Rome might offer some new insights after Pope Francis. What he got right of course we can all follow, which is ‘above all, be kind’.