To ask what you think your civic duties/responsibilities are?

[Oohooh]

There’s a LOT of threads about how crap the country is (totally accept that), how we should have more of everything, how it’s outrageous XY or Z isn’t free, and so on.

But never any mention of what we, the public, are individually responsible for in return for everything we demand.

What do you think our civic responsibilities are or should be?

That’s very broad! Off the top of my head:

Voting
Abide by the law
Follow highway code, countryside code etc
Respecting other people and the environment.

Is this the sort of thing you meant?

Being decent members of society

Not chucking rubbish on the floor!

Working and paying taxes if possible
Being honest, polite and respecting other people and the things around us.

Hmm...

Voting
Jury service (if called and eligible)
Consideration to others in public spaces
Making some sort of positive contribution to society

Paying taxes and abide by the law.
By the way Sunak was bad on both counts: he was fined for breaking coronavirus laws and his wife avoided paying taxes.

All of the above.

Asking ‘how can I contribute to the collective?’ Rather than ‘what can I take for myself?’

Voting

following laws as long as following the law does not hurt someone. Making thoughtful
decisions if following the law could hurt someone and accepting the consequences of my choices.

cleaning up after myself and generally not being a nuisance to the people around me.

jury duty - even though I believe it is a flawed system that should be replaced, until that time comes I will do my part.

I agree with all the above, apart from voting. I don’t think voting is a ‘responsibility’ as such, as we can use whatever process we want to choose who to vote for (we don’t have to have any rationale or clear thinking behind our choice).

Also, when parties release their manifestos before elections, they’re not bound to any kind of code of conduct or legal code to hold them to the promises made in their manifesto. Instead, they’re only accountable to us, the electorate. The parties aren’t really giving us a concrete choice to make, as such, because it’s rare that they deliver on many of their manifesto promises, so our vote can really count as a civic responsibility, as it won’t actually change much (sorry if that sounds very cynical!)

Agreed, having very central political views I don’t see voting as a duty. I will however abide by the majority

Jury service is an interesting one. My husband did it a few years ago and the case lasted 6 weeks. There was loads of wasted time and the allowance was low. It cost him money to attend and he wasn't working and didn't have any caring responsibilities. He correctly thought it was his civic duty to do it but I can understand why people can't do it.

What PPs have said, and I'd add intervening if I witness a crime or medical emergency. We're also responsible for doing a bit of a risk assessment so, for instance, intervening in a crime might mean calling for help. When I have intervened, I've often been quite shocked by other people's efforts to steer clear. They'd want someone to 'interfere' if it was them on the pavement.

Respect for property. I'm not that big on 'property' and I do like some graffiti, but things like vandalism and wrecking libraries just make everyone's life worse. Civic responsibility = making some improvement to your community/society, or at least not damaging it.

I believe France has laws which compel bystanders to intervene or at least call the emergency services if they witness a crime or serious accident - I think it came off the back of a few people watching somebody drown and do nothing to help them but I could be wrong.

Interesting most posters have equivalenced civic duties with mainly crime issues or voting rather than financial contributions.

DH and I both work in public sector despite being able to earn more in the private sector of our industries. We both believe in using our skills to serving and bettering public services.

Also, the cost of living is so expensive we've all no time to do any more

I would happily go and pick litter in my own street/plant up a box in the street (it's absolutely NOT that the council aren't doing their job! Our street cleaners are brilliant, they come round every few days)

But I'm working 2 jobs to pay for my bills so have zero spare time for contributing

Exactly this. I think everybody should stop even if it's to go into a shop and ask for an ambulance to be called or even to get a first aid kit.

My brother was out one evening and spotted a crowd of worried looking people, got closer and saw someone had hit the pavement and was unconscious. Nobody was doing anything just a lot of screaming and faffing. He muscled in to the front asked someone to call an ambulance and put the guy into the recovery position. Kept an eye on the guys airway and then when paramedics arrived he walked away. He didn't need any praise or instruction, he was just doing what he knew to be right. He's not medically trained or anything, just a guy in his 20's spotting someone who needed help.

Likewise I was on a weekend away with a group of children (volunteer role) and ahead of us we saw a middle aged lady go over. She'd caught her foot on the pavement and cut a lot of her face open. We ended up doing first aid on her in the middle of the street. Not one person stopped to see if they could offer assistance. There were three adults to six kids who were aged 7-9. She was bleeding quite heavily, which surprised me to why nobody else stopped.

I do think we also have a responsibility to respect the emergency services and NHS, by not wasting their time.

It is interesting. Surveys used to consistently show that Brits would be content to pay more tax/NI if necessary for better services, education, healthcare, etc. The affirmative proportion reduced as time went on, particularly post Thatcher, but was still around 60% in the 1990s.

I no longer get this info, but wouldn't be surprised if it's fallen well below half. Shoddy governance, Parliamentary corruption and blatant misuse of public funds have weakened the perceived connection between the money we pay and the public good. IIRC, a recent YouGov poll showed that people would pay more for a better NHS ... with riders, illustrating lack of faith in the institution's ability to use the money wisely.

It's a very sad shitshow.