1 - Introduction

Summary

Squalor simply defined: your habitat kills you. Squalor is inextricably bound to mortality and ever-increasing proximity to death caused by overcrowded quarters, damp abodes, polluted streets, and even petroleum-clad buildings. Some of these conditions are recognizably squalid and conjure conventional images of the poor and destitute. But some might surprise. For instance, consider the possibility that young professionals who stretch their budget to mortgage a leasehold in dangerously built apartment complexes are suffering from squalor. We know this giant from a hundred different books and films. We might not appreciate just how closely it stalks many of us.

Within squalor it is possible to find Beveridge’s other giants gestating – want, disease, ignorance and idleness. Yet squalor is distinct in so far as it is the only giant that does not directly reference human faculties or needs. Squalor, instead, is a condition of the built environment in which humans live. Etymologically, squalor derives from the Latin squalidus, meaning, “to be covered with dirt”. Squalor, then, intonates a covering over and defiling of humanity. The word has also come to imply a kind of osmosis between humans and their lived environment. Where the human ends and their habitat begins is unclear. For this reason, “good” homes and streets equals worthy humans, whereas “bad” homes and streets equals unworthy denizens.

The aim of this book is to provide a political history of squalor in Britain from the mid-nineteenth century to the present day. We are not interested in a past that is dead. Rather, we hope to provide a “history of the present”, that is, a history that helps to illuminate contemporary challenges. Crucial questions that will guide this illumination include: what elements of squalor persist over time, and how are they part of the bedrock of British politics? How has squalor changed its form? What should we name as squalor in our present day? And, when it comes to slaying the giant of squalor, what are the forces of continuity and who are the agents of change?

The objective of this book is to demonstrate that squalor in Britain has been consistently re-made by political elites, even as they have pursued policies to ameliorate squalid conditions.