Search results for ""Author Vernon White""

Good governance is one of the UK's fundamental values, and citizens are entitled to expect that public officials, both elected and non-elected, behave according to the highest standards of ethical behaviour. However, such lofty aspirations are not enough to root out corruption. If integrity in public life is to be maintained, the core principles behind it must be constantly sustained and strengthened. This new Haus Curiosities volume, published in collaboration with Westminster Abbey Institute, looks at the place and meaning of integrity in the individual public servant, in public service institutions, and in the wider public they purport to serve. It tries to answer the fundamental questions of what integrity means in public life, what lasting value it has, and why it has such a critical part to play in the constitution of Britain. The book also explores how people in public service institutions can cease to behave with humanity when those institutions deny the individual human spirit. On the other hand, the authors argue for the critical importance of institutions in upholding values when fallible humans forget them, as we have witnessed in the Civil Service's steadfast and stabilising response to the Brexit referendum and its uncertain aftermath. Integrity in Public Life provides a critique of and an essential guide to integrity, leaving the reader with some hope for its continued place in public life.

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Truth in Public Life explores the difficulty in defining truth, its critical importance in civilised society and the challenges and threats to telling the truth in different public service settings. Three leading experts reflect on subjects related to truth in public life. Vernon White, in his essay 'Truth Pursued, or Being Pursued by Truth', shows that absolute truth exists and explains why and how it matters morally. In 'Truth Sustained', Stephen Lamport describes why truth is important to sustaining civilised society and argues that truth is central to other essential qualities, such as objectivity, honesty, openness, leadership, selflessness, integrity and accountability. In her essay 'Truth Told', Claire Foster-Gilbert explores the challenge of truth-telling for public servants: for politicians, who are routinely not believed; for civil servants, whose ministers may only want to hear those facts that support their policy ideas; for journalists, tempted to tell the story that is 'too good to check'; for judges, who may suffer from unconscious bias; for police officers, who must win the trust of the public by believing accusers, without jeopardising justice for the alleged perpetrators. This short book is a potent reminder of how important truth is, even as it is threatened afresh.

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