"Big Society"

[Simster]

Good creative idea or crap underhand tactic to save money?

I'll be curious to see if the answer falls along the usual political lines on here.

 

[Tony Meolas Loan Spell]

Probably a bit of both!

 

[clippedgull]

Spot on quote

"Make no mistake, this plan is all about saving money," Dave Prentis, general secretary of Unison, said.

"The government is simply washing its hands of providing decent public services and using volunteers as a cut-price alternative."

 

[Common as Mook]

40,000 pages

 

[CHAPPERS]

Dunno. Yeah, not sure really.

 

[Simster]

Spot on quote

But is there anything wrong with using volunteers as long as the government is held accountable too?

 

[Tony Meolas Loan Spell]

In fact maybe they should get criminals doing their bit for the community. Plenty of free labour there.

 

[clippedgull]

But is there anything wrong with using volunteers as long as the government is held accountable too?

I think so.

If people are laid off and volunteers end up doing their jobs, then that would be wrong.

 

[keaton]

But is there anything wrong with using volunteers as long as the government is held accountable too?

Not really but the will there be the volunteers? They'll be less money going into the voluntary organisations while they expected to do more work?

 

[Simster]

I think so.

If people are laid off and volunteers end up doing their jobs, then that would be wrong.

Hard to argue against that, although there are various unelected bodies (qangos) that don't seem to add much value. I'm not having much sympathy for these pointless layers of bureaucracy being broken up.

 

[Tricky Dicky]

Certainly sounds like they are absolving themselves from some area of responsiblity they would normally be in charge of. Then again, you can't really win, can you ? You devolve powers from the govenment and you inevitibly end up with "Post-code lottery" in that some areas will manage their resources better than others, or you centralise, and you can't change anything, because it's like turnng an oil tanker, it's too big a deal to change course.

Slightly O/T, but with all these proposed government cuts, I have a slight conspiracy theory. We all remember the quote from the US treasury guy in the run up to our election who said "whoever wins this election, will be so unpopular, they won't get back in for a generation". Well, my feeling is that the coalition are going further in the cuts than they really need to, further than any commentators are saying is needed, and I think they are doing it so that in, say, 3 years time, things have improved and they will be able to deliver some good news in order to get re-elected again. Don't know if that hold water at all.

 

[The Spanish]

something to keep ian hislop in jokes for, for a bit. you can imagine the hignfy writers scribbling away unfunnily as we speak.

yet another doomed tedious initiative that will sink without trace apart from helping to assist in further disengagement of the electorate from politics.

hahaha what a surprise liverpool is on it. its like the afghanistan of urban renewal, no one will ever crack it. the only thing that has done anything to make that city half decent in 25 years is private, borrowed, money.

getting a few busybodies to plant some trees and get their picture in the paper is not going to transform british society.

 

[deletebeepbeepbeep]

Crap way to wash their hand of the poor and save money.

 

[Dick Knights Mumm]

It already happens doesn't it ? I don't know what will change - except the likliehood volunteering will become more regulated and people will be put off.

 

[keaton]

Hard to argue against that, although there are various unelected bodies (qangos) that don't seem to add much value. I'm not having much sympathy for these pointless layers of bureaucracy being broken up.

Things is though aren't all the groups set up in Big Society just quangoes?

 

[beorhthelm]

i think theres an genuine underlying belief that it would help, and it might do. in a small nation with a nice easy going public.

in reality, in the UK, its a load of unworkable cobblers.

as for the politics, the union guy above doesnt quite get it, they are determined to cut the size and scope of the state regardless. if you want to continue to see non-core services, then either volunteer or look to the private sector.

 

[Simster]

Probably, keaton.

This is a desperately half arsed attempt by my good self to attempt to remain impartial on the subject. I think it's a totally shit idea.

Indeed, several senior Tories didn't really understand what this was meant to be either, and some even blame its confused message for failing to secure an overall majority.

 

[mikeyjh]

It's an obvious attack on the less well off. The middle aged ladies of Bottomley on the Wold can have their WI meetings in the morning, then do their 2 hour weekly stint in the local Library and think if makes them Saint Henrietta. Meanwhile, back in the real world, the world where both parents are doing 60 hours a week, the Library closes and so it goes on.

 

[Pavilionaire]

I think that when you're trying to create a significant shift in social policy it makes sense to differentiate from what has gone before by giving it a title, i.e. "The Cultural Revolution", "Back To Basics". The title implies that you're doing more than tinkering but are creating something you want the public to buy into.

Clearly government cuts across the board can be spun positively as an opportunity for 'everybody to do their bit', ergo you frame it as "The Big Society".

Personally, I'm willing to cut the coalition some slack on this and to see where the concept goes. However, it's a fact Cameron played down this "Big Society" concept in his prime ministerial debates, so you wonder how much he REALLY believes in it as a tool for good, rather than a smokescreen for government cuts.

He needs some of his team to embrace the idea, make some changes and show what good it can do.

 

[CHAPPERS]

Dunno. Yeah, not sure really.

Actually, it's more likely that I just don't care more than I'm not sure.