Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Big Society - toxic brand or just lacking Big Citizens?
The BBC is today drawing attention to two think tank pamphlets arguing that David Cameron would do well to revive the ideas behind the Big Society.
Professor Anthony Seldon, master of Wellington College, who wrote a pamphlet for Policy Exchange, believes the Big Society concept should be resurrected with "more substance" and with a more "thoughtful" government and more "responsible" and "responsive" citizenry.
Chief executive of the RSA Matthew Taylor, who wrote their pamphlet, says the Big Society "needs big citizens", with people being more autonomous and responsible.
Amongst the ideas promoted by Policy Exchange for strengthening communities are:
- Every locality should encourage volunteering, and make it easier to link up would-be volunteers with where help is most needed. All schools to have compulsory volunteering afternoons: those children who volunteer when young are more likely to continue when older.
- Local communities to be encouraged to become more economically self-sufficient – e.g. by shopping, eating and going out locally, as in ‘transition towns’ such as Totnes in Devon.
- The arts to be encouraged more in each locality, with more local art exhibitions, lectures, concerts and theatre performances – local taxes and funds should be raised to subsidise local cultural events, e.g. a weekend of free local theatre each month.
- Greater impetus to be given to the physical appearance of each community – run down areas should be identified and addressed, with the community working together to ensure public spaces are safe and look attractive. Local volunteering should be encouraged, to remove graffiti and enhance the physical appearance of the community, for example normalising the local clean-up efforts that took place after the London riots, which showed the public’s appetite to improve their locality, given the leadership.
- Each community to make more of its own local history as a way of imparting pride and shared identity, nurturing curiosity and deepening an understanding of the past.
- Annual street parties to be instituted as a way encouraging collective action and rebuilding friendships with neighbours and streets.
- Non-political local representatives to be established, responsible for small ‘ward’ areas to act as a conduit between residents and councillors – they should enable residents to feel a personal investment in and engagement with their community.
- The elderly to be more purposefully involved in their communities – e.g. retired people should volunteer and continue to be actively involved in helping others in their communities. The focus should shift to asking how retired people can best help others.
- Communities should be encouraged to create or extend gardens or allotments – more green spaces should be made available for this purpose.
The piece on the Beeb's website has an interesting 5 minute snippet from an interview with Taylor and Seldon.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by John McMullan on
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Rupert Murdoch would never go for any of this and neither would our council.
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Permalink Reply by John D on
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We do most of this already. It looks like a mission statement for HOL :)
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Permalink Reply by Ruth Cherrington on
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Exactly what I was thinking! We seem to be way ahead of fish -oops, think tanks and the likes although of course there is always more to be done to bring more people in.
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Can an atheist be a bell ringer? Besides knowing the ropes and which strings to pull, are there any moral or dogmatic strings attached?
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That raises the question about whether priests, imams, rabbis etc having to be CRB checked. I guess not?
With regard to bells and ropes, no one wants to drop a clanger...
Intersting point. I love the sound of church bells just as I like carols and hymns but am not religious.
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Interesting... but I think the on-line 'fast track' CRB option is not applicable across the board... only if you are a volunteer/ employee attached to a group that is deemed big enough to apply for CRBs, and it does so on your behalf?
If you are setting up on your own, for example as a small socially-minded social enterprise (along the kind of lines that the Big Society was supposed to encourage..) it is more complicated - only certain size orgs can do applications for CRBs, or you have to locate an umbrella organisation who will do it for you, for a fee..
To get back to the article Hugh flagged up, it's discouraging - it seems very focussed on encouraging people to do things for nothing. Which is great - but not practical for everyone. Big Society had the potential to be quite a progressive idea and encourage socially minded enterprise to move services out of huge institutions (which are being slashed to bits anyway) - didn't it?
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Permalink Reply by Andy H on
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really? the Scouts reject athiest volunteers?
but a religious zealot who adheres to homophobic, sexist, doctrine is ok?
oh dear.
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That's a bit harsh accusing VR of being lazy to do online CRB check. Where I work, it has to be done the long way through the official body and can't be done online. Same in many places/charities/institutions. THere has been some speeding up but it can still be a lengthy process and yes, it can put people off volunteering- I found that when working on trying to recruit local residents for a volunteering initiative last year for Age UK.
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Permalink Reply by Liz on
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There's always The Woodcraft Folk
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Have been meaning to get in touch with the WCF for some time for my 8yr old and myself. Have just had a look at the web site and there appears to be a group in Hornsey but I wasn't able to find contact details - would you or anyone you know be able to point me in the right direction?
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Hi Steve, I'm not involved WCF, but I know someone who might still be. I'll try and contact him and get back to you (unless there is a Woodcrafter who reads and answers this before I can, of course)
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