Posts Tagged: big society

B****cks or knitting? You choose…

A cartoon by Steve Bell a while ago showed a masked robber in the Big Society Bank being told that they didn’t have any money as such – only bollocks. “Put the bollocks in a bag, and hurry,” says the robber. The original of this cartoon was presented as a farewell gift yesterday to Nick… Read more »

Battling on with the big society

People who do not read Third Sector, or are unlikely to read the full contents of the Giving White Paper, will be under the impression that yesterday David Cameron’s slightly ambiguous big society concept was launched yet again. To name but a few, the Guardian published an article just before the launch event of the… Read more »

Big society fatigue sets in

It’s been hard to get away from the big society in the last couple of weeks. All the papers – including the Sun – have been on about it, and every second programme on radio and TV has been trying to get a handle on it. It’s been enough to make even current affairs addicts… Read more »

The tune has changed for the big society

Back in October, when I went to the Conservative Party Conference in Birmingham, the big society was everywhere. It would have been physically impossible for one person to go to every conference session that had the phrase in its title. It was the buzz phrase of the conference, and was being used in a universally… Read more »

The big society backlash

It’s surely not a coincidence that the Times, a Murdoch paper, has run a negative lead story on the big society a few days after Andy Coulson, former editor of another Murdoch paper, resigned from his job as the government’s communications director. After all, political commentators have noted that Coulson was never big on big… Read more »

Hazel Blears risks stepping on Roberta Blackman-Woods’ toes

Hazel Blears is back, and she’s set her sights on the voluntary sector. The fiery readhead (now with a toned-down auburn hairdo) has been keeping a close eye on the government’s big society agenda, which she says it has stolen from Labour. And now she’s trying to improve it. Blears has tabled a private members’… Read more »

Arise Sir Stephen – and honour is satisfied

For a long time it was a moot point whether Stuart Etherington, chief executive of the National Council for Voluntary Organisations, or Stephen Bubb, head of the Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations, would make it first on to the honours list. Etherington had length of service, gravitas, a longer track record and a… Read more »

Talking tough on Hard Talk

It’s the trademark of the BBC news channel’s Hard Talk to give its interviewees a good pummelling. And the gravel-voiced Stephen Sackur didn’t hold back when questioning Sir Stuart Etherington, of the National Council for Voluntary Organisations, about the big society at the weekend. Wasn’t Sir Stuart a bit complacent about the cuts that are… Read more »

Big society conference has a whiff of civil disobedience about it

On Tuesday I listened to people from the often-unheard community sector discuss the big society. There was no government speaker and hardly any suits or ties in the room. A rather hirsute man wearing jeans and a Jimi Hendrix t-shirt, and with a strong West Midlands accent, chaired the event. Very nearly half the 35… Read more »