Daily View: What is Big Society?
Commentators continue to mull over what exactly is meant by the term Big Society.
The New Statesman has collected its favourite definitions of Big Society published on Twitter.
Starting off with an earnest definition is Mark Dowe:
"Shrinking state, self-responsibility and duty"
Nick Drew suggests it involves blind optimism:
"Citizen activity expands to fill gap left by shrinking state; we're still not sure quite how. Maybe if we wish hard enough"
Steve Connor is more cynical:
"The less well off help each other and the super rich help themselves".
The First Post says the confusion over the definition of Big Society is a PR nightmare:
"Dave's slow-motion car crash this morning was painful to behold. It was encapsulated by a woman voluntary organiser in offender rehabilitation who, standing up to challenge the PM about his Big Society, described herself as 'Confused.com'.
"In doing so, she spoke for the nation and for most Conservatives who are confused not only about the Big Society, but also why Dave is so determined to inflict such damage on himself."
Rachel Sylvester says in the Times that the Big Society is "determinedly uncynical". That is why no-one in Westminster understands it:
"Just as Facebook seems pointless, or incomprehensible, to people brought up to communicate by letter or telephone, so the Big Society is hard to understand when viewed through the conventional political prism. There is an apparent internal contradiction within a central Downing Street initiative that is meant to devolve power down to local communities. There is a tension between the desire to present this as a new approach to government and the sense that it is a continuation of what has gone before, a reinterpretation of Burke's little platoons.
"Perhaps, more importantly, there seems to be a mismatch between the fundamentally optimistic philosophy on which the Big Society is based and the pessimistic times in which we live. It's not really a cover for cuts, it's about people taking responsibility for themselves."
The Times Cartoon reflects Rachel Sylvester's view that Big Society is misunderstood. It pictures David Cameron with a "DAFTA" award, underneath which is written "Best director in completely incomprehensible language, The Big Society".
In the Daily Mail Melanie Phillips defends the idea of Big Society but says it's in danger of becoming a "big flop":
"The Number Ten website tells us that the Big Society means a 'massive transfer of power from Whitehall' through 'existing public service reforms and encouraging people to get involved in their communities'.
"But getting involved by doing what, precisely? Well, taking responsibility. See what I mean? It's an explanation that seems to chase its own tail. Because it's all so vague, people think the Big Society is just spin to cover up the cuts in public spending.
"That particular charge, though, can't be right: Mr Cameron alighted upon this Big Society idea when he was still in opposition. But the reason he did so hardly offers much reassurance that his 'mission' rests on a solid base of thinking."
In Left Foot Forward Will Straw cites the Economist's Bagehot's Notebook in his five reasons not to trust the Big Society idea:
"[T]he public is mistrustful of any vision for Britain that blends altruism with the profit motive. And that is a big problem for the Big Society, which just does not add up if it does not include a dose of private enterprise."
