Comments on: Can political parties deliver the big society?

By: Lorraine Maddams

Lorraine Maddams — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 18:21:05 +0000

I think that the notion of ‘the big society’ is more about ‘values’ than anything else – enterprise, voluntary or otherwise, being encouraged from the bottom up and not instituted from the top down. Top down efforts (however well intentioned) usually lead to power in the hands of the few and disempowerment of the many. So ‘the big society’ is (I think?) the government at the ‘top’ saying we want you – the people of this country- to generate the ideas, energy and enterprises with as little interference and as much help as we the government can give. The Taoists believed that as soon as you had to have a law or regulation about something,in essence the values of society had already failed. Perhaps the present government is trying to inspire a sense of self responsibility rather than regulation, encourage energy rather than dependence and maybe generate some pride in our own skills and abilities?

By: Frances Zammit

Frances Zammit — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 08:55:22 +0000

I recall hearing that when one of the countries in Asia was in financial trouble, many people turned up, out of their own initiative bringing their gold and jewellery to give to the government to help pay the national debt. Whether it is true or not I do not know, but what a Big Society that would be! Perhaps in our society, where many people are more than wealthy, and many are wealthy in relative terms, the government ought to give the opportunity to display this healthy type of love of country. I suspect it would be too much to ask the English, or Anglo-saxon psyche to use their own initiative to voluntarily offer part of their wealth to contribute to paying towards the national debt (perhaps I am wrong and some already have?), but to encourage initiative, why not set up an account and advertise it, where those who wish to can, voluntarily, contribute – who knows what response it might bring!

By: Robin

Robin — Mon, 03 May 2010 11:42:43 +0000

I worked in education for over 30 years. The (secondary) schools I worked in benefited from voluntary help by parents and others. Regrettably, the numbers were small, and declining.

Most of the voluntary work done in schools is done by teachers, followed by support staff offering to help (examples: school trips, clubs, mentoring). By most I mean 98% or so, with very little done by outside volunteers.. Since retirement I voluntarily run a club in a primary school and am willing to become a governor.

However, I do worry that my pension will be reduced under a Conservative government. If that happens, I will stop doing any voluntary work (and take a part-time job). Obviously my protest would, on its own, have no effect except for the 80 or so children I help. However, I will (via the internet) join with others in encouraging other workers whose pensions may be hit to withdraw their work too. Since I feel sure that teachers would withdraw from voluntary clubs en masse if their pay is affected, the Big Society would then not work in schools.

Perhaps I should explain that I do not in any way accept that my pension is unfairly high. All, and I really do mean all, my Cambridge University science comtempories earned more than I did, and I became a seconday headteacher.
The Big Society idea is valuable, but it needs to include and encourage those people who have volunteered for decades.

By: Big Society(1) : RSA Projects

Big Society(1) : RSA Projects — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 17:20:11 +0000

[...] Mathew Taylor has already indicated, walking the talk of this idea is not straightforward, and thus far the [...]

By: Big Society(1) : Connected Communities

Big Society(1) : Connected Communities — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 14:54:27 +0000

[...] Mathew Taylor has already indicated, walking the talk of this idea is not straightforward, and thus far the [...]