The Big Society

Although David Cameron is constantly pushing his "big idea" of the Big Society, he never seems to explain clearly what it may mean in practice. Let me have a go.

I think a reasonable definition of an organisation which promoted and encapsulated the Big Society would have several characteristics:

independent of local and national government: organising at local and national level for the common good; involving all interested parties in promoting common aims; self motivating; self financing; self organising: effectively representing your own group.

Any group meeting this definition would, IMO, be eligible for inclusion in Cameron's pantheon of concerned citizens acting independently of the state and for the common good.

I also think that is a reasonable defintion of a Trade Union. But the Tories, despite their devotion to The Big Society, seem to have trouble with Trades Unions, i.e. The Big Society in action. The Big Society in reality. The Big Society on the ground.

In fact the Tories hate the Unions, because they are independent of government and they do act in the common good. The Conservatives are always thinking up new ways to limit TU power and undermine the rights of workers. David Cameron hinted so at PMQs yesterday.

The latest is Boris, threatening the underground train drivers.

Now, I have no real knowledge of the Union's grievances in this case, and I have absolutely no opinion on the proposed industrial action. It just seems ironic to me that, at the very point when The Big Society manifests itself in action, the Conservatives do an about turn: they don't really want independent groups operating independently of government in the public good at all.

Either that or The Big Society is a fiction, a "we're all in it together" cynical joke on the public to try to fool us that the caring conservatism actually means something concrete, when it does no such thing.

Kosovarian ethnic cleansing....

Boris Johnson is quoted on the BBC as saying, in ref. to the Housing Benefits changes that George'n'Dave want to introduce, and which Labour claims will mean moving people out of their homes and even across the major cities like London,...

"What we will not see and we will not accept any kind of Kosovo-style social cleansing of London. "On my watch, you are not going to see thousands of families evicted from the place where they have been living and have put down roots."

Tory Ministers have been quick to jump on his Mayoral Bumblingness and a retraction of sorts has been issued by Boris...

"...taken out of context.. misquoted....didn't really mean it..."

Aye right. He meant it all right and Dave knows it's a shot across his bows. Boris means to get re-elected and the last thing he needs is homeless families being shuttled ftrom London borough to London burough looking for a home that is cheap enough to dump them in.

In any case other, less inhibited, Tories have accepted that the new policy will indeed mean evictions and misplaced internal refugees in our big cities. Mark Field, an inner London Tory MP said as much on Newsnight last night... see here  

Mr Field seems quite relaxed about forcing people out (what Boris calls "cleansing"). When asked if he expected a "migration out", he said "yes".

A lady called Theresa with 4 kids (2 in a very good local school) and a sick mother, who would have to move home and kids move school if her benefit was cut.
It's quite straightforward, quite open and quite disgusting.

Boris Breaks Cover....Redwood Agrees...Davis Dives In. Coalition Blues.

The first cracks in the Tory support for the ConDem Coalition have appeared and, surprise surprise, they come from the direction of Boris Johnson, John Redwood and David Davis.

Two of the attacks are about finance and taxation.

Johnson, the Tory Mayor of London, professional buffoon and Cameron's most obvious rival for the affections of their party, is enraged by the coalitions plans, not yet clearly defined, to somehow curtail the activities of banks and the City of London in the wake of the banking crisis and the resultant recession. Boris isn't just politely dismissive, he thinks it's "nuts"...

I think it is completely nuts for people to want, as a matter of public policy, to attack the financial sector.

John Redwood, convinced neo-con, comical mimer to Welsh anthems and serial  unreconcilable, has revealed that he has organised a group of Tory MPs and Peers to oppose the ConDem Coalition's Capital Gains Tax plans.

Redwood says that ...

...Conservatives and Lib-Dems had deeply differing views on tax. Deep in Lib-Dem DNA is the Robin Hood principle — tax the rich and give to the poor.... It is superficially popular, and gives believers a feeling of moral superiority. Deep in Conservative DNA is the belief that society and the economy work better if you allow people to be successful and to pay their own bills....

Davis takes a diferent angle, voicing his concern over the proposed 55% threshold for the dissolution of Parliament. In Davis's opinion ..

...we could have a government in parliament which could command 45 per cent, or 45 per cent plus one, of parliamentary votes, but no more, and therefore couldn’t deliver a budget, couldn’t deliver its manifesto, couldn’t deliver its normal legislation and yet couldn’t be thrown out either......a government in parliament which could command 45 per cent, or 45 per cent plus one, of parliamentary votes, but no more, and therefore couldn’t deliver a budget, couldn’t deliver its manifesto, couldn’t deliver its normal legislation and yet couldn’t be thrown out either.

It has been clear that many Conservative grass-roots activists are not happy at the Cameron/Clegg beterothal. So far they have been content to grumble in private and wait and see. But the emergence of such pointed criticism from the upper echelons of the party, so soon after the election and in the persons of such eminent and instantly recognisable Tory heavyweights might push the unease into the open.

It certainly cannot be helpful to Cameron/Clegg and their Conservative Coalition. It must rate as the shortest honeymoon period for any government in modern times.