The Big Society, Whatever It Is
February 20, 2011
Another failure of a week at the Jobcentre, and I was finally bumped up against one of those stories in the news that has never really been anything to do with me.
“Has anyone spoken to you about this?” said my ‘advisor’. He handed me a sheet of paper and I said wearily, “No. No one’s told me anything.”
“Well, this is part of a volunteering scheme that…”
I interrupted him. “Is this Cameron’s Big Society thing?”
“Er … yes.”
Effectively, what I’m being asked to do here is go off and offer my services to a library or a care home, but quite how I am supposed to live on the grand total of £0.00 a week for that, I fail to understand.
So, the Big Society! What is it?
Um, well, I’m not sure really. See, the thing is, none of us seem completely clear on what the Big Society involves. As far as I can tell, it is mostly about Cameron selling off the post offices, libraries, care homes and other public services to the public themselves. That way, the government no longer has to pay for them, or indeed deal with any complaints about how they are run.
But let’s be honest, are any of you going to have a whip round with me so we can buy a library? No, of course you aren’t. And even if you are, it is only because you have more money than sense, or at least have somehow found a job that requires little of you for a lot of money, so you can spend the rest of the time running the library. You can’t live off the wage of a volunteer.
Politicians. There are some people who get a lot of money for doing very little. We’re here facing one of the worst recessions in history and yet all of these politicians have somehow got the time to write newspaper columns, churn out books about economic collapse, make television appearances, go on endless holidays to sunnier climes and even appear on Strictly Come Dancing. Well, at least that last one wasn’t the Business Secretary or someone we need working all the time!
Oh, no, wait…
I really cannot understand the cuts and taxes the government are implementing to save the country, as everything they do just seems to be done from the wrong angle. It helps them, but not us, the people they are supposed to be helping.
Take tuition fees, for example. They’ve raised them now to a maximum of £9000 a year, and in the next breath, Cameron turned round and said he wanted more people from lower-income families to attend university. But why? Universities are already turning people away, so surely you don’t need any more people going, especially those who will struggle even more with the enormous debt behind them. Where is the logic in any of this?
I believe that politicians are going into the job for the wrong reasons, and the primary reason is – kerching – money! If they really cared about helping everyone, making a difference, doing good for the country and saving the economy, why don’t they all take, say, a fifty per cent pay cut? Maybe even seventy per cent. Or maybe they should be paid on what they actually achieve. Remove all their bonuses and expenses and they can live on a smaller wage.
Or if they are going to be paid such huge amounts, then they must be forced to attend parliament, since whenever you see Prime Minister’s Questions, there’s only ever about five of them in there. We should be able to hold them to account if they go against their word on something. Once they start helping us like they keep telling us they want to, then we might actually be some help as well. And standing on a podium and telling us that they understand the hardships is not good enough, because they don’t.
I know that no one knows how to run the world, but those in government seem to think they’ve got some idea, so it’s about time they proved it. And the Big Society is not the way forward.
Now do not kill me for this, but I like the idea of volunteer work being promoted in job centres, (as long as paid jobs are still the priority). I can see a point in it, as it shows potential employers that you are a conscientious worker and builds up work experience. On top of that the unpaid work may lead to a job offer if you have impressed the employer and a vacancy opens. To me this is just an extension of the thirteen week deal that was explained to me when I was in a similar position, yet due to more dire times help is being offered earlier.
My problem is with the vagueness of the ‘Big Society’ concept, I want to know set objectives with explanations on how to achieve them, not targets/words thrown about.
Ha, ha, yes, I am fully behind you on the contradictory nature of policies towards universities. The problem with cutting politicians’ wages is that they are the ones making the decisions on this. :/ They have taken up the European gravy-train and applied it national politics too. Your penultimate paragraph it probably the way changes would be made.
You go and do some volunteer work then, but some of us don’t have the luxury of full-time employment or the money to fall back on.
Neither did I have money or employment when I was offered the 13 weeks a few years back, and I was under the impression that you would still get your J.S.A. In my case of unemployment after university I was able to continue with a Saturday job that showed my willingness to work and they reduced my J.S.A. accordingly, so for working 6+ hours I made only £5 extra per week, which mostly went on travel.
My family does not have a lot of money, I have been fortunate enough to have been in work for three years and have been able to build up something. I am grateful for that luck and do not think that automatically makes my opinion irrelevant or out of touch.
The Big Society, pah! The big society was already in place before the Tory’s got back in to power. 13.5 million people volunteer at least once a month. The problem is that 40% of voluntary groups rely on public funds to operate. Most of that funding comes from local councils, rather then central government. With grants to local councils being slashed (particularly in poor areas which rely on the kind of services volunteer groups offer) the number of people volunteering will go down not up. It’s all spin and no substance, who would have thought it that Cameron’s only real (non political) job was for a PR firm….