The Big Society......

The Big Society is easy to lampoon but I wonder….

When Thatcher was elected in 1979 privatisation did not figure for several years but gradually became a core policy. This happened partly because it raised handy billions but also because it acted as a clear policy principle: wherever possible people not the state should end up owning stuff.

Clearly there are echoes here for the Big Society. In times of recession the Big Society may – perhaps - be a way to reduce the bills by outsourcing services onto citizens. Dubious but possible.
More important though the idea of the Big Society may turn out to be the same kind of divining rod for this government as privatisation did for Thatcher. Faced with a policy dilemma both wings of the coalition may find it useful to ask ‘will this policy increase the power of the state or decrease it?’

It might seem counterintuitive for the politicians to give power away – but then it was counter-intuitive to many when Thatcher gave away the family silver in her privatisation fire sales.

But perhaps this credits politicians with more power and insight than they deserve. I think the real importance of the Big Society is not because it tells where Cameron will take us, but what he is following. He senses incoherently that the relationship between citizen and government has already changed and the Big Society is his way of trying to ride the change. He hopes that this will lead to a renewal of civic virtue – that people will flock to start schools, car pooling and recycling. Well that might or might not happen but what sure IS happening, and what is driving the change that Cameron transmutes into the Big Society, is people’s willingness to share their stories via social media. Without knowing it perhaps Patient Opinion is already part of the Big Society!