"We are all in this together" (15)

The Big Society.

Success!

Welcome news this morning of a U turn on the forest sell-off farce. Thanks to 38 Degrees and all the Big Society people who signed the petition and for "Making it happen".

Windbag or saviour?

Mr Cameron's Big Society is under the spotlight again (Photo: Getty)

Back in the news is the Big Society. As a former communications man one would have thought that the Prime Minister would be able to put over his big idea with the utmost clarity but people still struggle with it. Could it be that it is all wind and no substance? I thought Cameron's interview with the BBC's political editor revealing in the sense that Nick Robinson asked tougher questions than usual suggesting that even he, a former President of the Oxford University Conservative Association, had doubts. The government were simply  washing their hands of responsibility by letting local councils take the flack after starving them of the funds needed to make the project work. 

People at the local level are being played off against each other as the Prime Minister claims that in a "grown up society" people have to make tough decisions but empowerment is not that simple. Ministers keep reminding us that it is going to be a tough year. The elderly have been hit particularly hard by inflation, shrinking pensions and erosion of savings but how much worse for the young unemployed with little or no prospect of work, fuelling fears of a lost generation. The current inflation rate of 4% is double that of the Bank of England's target rate of 2% making life even more difficult for many while the few carry on regardless. Barclay's today announced profits of £6.1 billion increasing pay packages by 20% despite reduced bonuses.

In his interview with Nick Robinson, the prime Minister let slip that it was not the previous government who dropped us in the mess but bankers. With an army of unemployed left roaming boarded-up streets in the Big (divided) Society there could there be big trouble ahead.  Oak trees from acorns grow.


Postscript


Thanks to Charon QC (see Blog list) I've just picked up this video of Francis Maude, the Minister responsible for pushing the Big Society, explaining his contribution. Brilliant! One comment suggested the the clip had been doctored so you can see a fuller version here. Well at least he goes to church.

"We are all in this together" (12)

Nat Wei, the man charged by the government with making the big society happen, is to cut down his government role from three days to two, because he needs more time to earn money, see his family and "have a life" after discovering that working for free three days a week is incompatible with "having a life".

FOR SALE

Back in 1985 Harold Macmillan likened Margaret Thatcher's policy of privatisation to selling the family silver. Much of Britain's infrastructure is already in foreign ownership and in 2010 the Office of Fair Trading set up its first UK stock-take to see who owns Britain. Now our ancient woodlands are under threat.

We are assured that protective measures will be put in place to protect woodland trees and guarantee public access leaving one to wonder why anyone would want to buy the woodlands if they are unable to profit from their investment. A YouGov poll found that 84% of people agreed the woods and forests should be kept in public ownership for future generations, while only 2% disagreed. The Big Society has spoken. Is the Government listening?  

"We are all in this together." (7)

Off Piste!

As the rubbish built up across Great Britain the Chancellor George Osborne left for a £11,000 ski break before welcoming his 'progressive' 20% VAT increase to help get us out of the mess the bankers dropped us in.  

We have yet to hear what the Minister's reaction will be to the Big Society's army of volunteers not having the stomach for stockpiling rotting refuse inside their own homes while he enjoyed the bonus of some fresh air. 

Take you pick

From Dictionary.com, a few definitions that may appear relevant

pledge:

–noun

1. a solemn promise or agreement to do or refrain from doing something

5. something given or regarded as a security.

8. Obsolete: a hostage. [Hmmm!]

–verb (used with object)

10. to promise solemnly: to pledge one's support.

12. to stake, as one's honour.

13. to secure by a pledge; give a pledge for.

No suggestion of lying there but in future the electorate should remember that a pledge is as worthless as the piece of paper it is written on. That apart, the Lib Dems in the coalition have decided they must do the honourable thing and support the Government measure they are jointly responsible for.

But Mr Cameron is not out of the woods. What of his Big Society Agenda?

"It's about liberation -the biggest, most dramatic redistribution of power from elites in Whitehall to the man and woman on the street."

The students demonstrating on the streets would like to think so.