The Banality of Evil

The Seven Principles of Public Life

Nolan Principles

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-7-principles-of-public-life/the-7-principles-of-public-life--2

Committee on Standards in Public Life

https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/the-committee-on-standards-in-public-life

Selflessness

Holders of public office should act solely in terms of the public interest.

Integrity

Holders of public office must avoid placing themselves under any obligation to people or organisations that might try inappropriately to influence them in their work.

They should not act or take decisions in order to gain financial or other material benefits for themselves, their family, or their friends. They must declare and resolve any interests and relationships.

Objectivity

Holders of public office must act and take decisions impartially, fairly and on merit, using the best evidence and without discrimination or bias.

Accountability

Holders of public office are accountable to the public for their decisions and actions and must submit themselves to the scrutiny necessary to ensure this.

Openness

Holders of public office should act and take decisions in an open and transparent manner. Information should not be withheld from the public unless there are clear and lawful reasons for so doing.

Honesty

Holders of public office should be truthful.

Leadership

Holders of public office should exhibit these principles in their own behaviour and treat others with respect. They should actively promote and robustly support the principles and challenge poor behaviour wherever it occurs.

Lord Michael Patrick Nolan

The Seven Principles of Public Life (also known as the Nolan Principles) apply to anyone who works as a public office-holder.

This includes all those who are elected or appointed to public office, nationally and locally,

and all people appointed to work in the Civil Service, local government, the police, courts and probation services, non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs),

and in the health, education, social and care services.

All public office-holders are both servants of the public and stewards of public resources.

The principles also apply to all those in other sectors delivering public services.

The Banality of Evil

Hannah Arendt, Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil, The New Yorker, 1963.

https://aeon.co/ideas/what-did-hannah-arendt-really-mean-by-the-banality-of-evil

C.S. Lewis, Preface to The Screwtape Letters, 1942

“The greatest evil is not now done in those sordid dens of crime that Dickens loved to paint.

It is not done even in concentration camps and labour camps. In those we see its final result.

But it is conceived and ordered (moved, seconded, carried, and minuted) in clean, carpeted, warmed and well-lighted offices,

by quiet men with white collars and cut fingernails and smooth-shaven cheeks who do not need to raise their voices.”

https://open.spotify.com/episode/5sxut2ugUdQwbAlGjQfZMC?si=UW3vWzp-R8ySYgMyUz-2Uw

Isaiah 5:20

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Isaiah%205%3A20&version=NIV

Woe to those who call evil good and good evil,

who put darkness for light and light for darkness,

who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.