Religion & Spirituality1 min ago
Are you about to become a member of the "Big Society"?
A nice gentle blog by Jon Snow here: http://blogs.channel4...ber-big-society/14699
///So, as a trustee, a board member, a committee member, a chair, and an occasional functionary, how is my life about to change? Apparently you and I are about to be asked to do more. In the bits and pieces of my ‘voluntary sector life’ I do not run a school, hospital or library, and, oh dear, I have no desire to. I don’t run my local police, probation office, or prison, and, oh dear, I don’t want to.
Worse, like millions of others in the ‘third sector’, I don’t actually have any time to. I intersect with very, very many people in the ‘third sector’, and they don’t have any time or seem to have any interest in taking on any of the above.///
Following on from the discussion had here: http://www.theanswerb...s/Question986509.html ...
Do you think you're probably already in the "Big Society" which Mr. Cameron is attempting to appropriate? And if you're not, would you want to be? And do you have the time to do so?
All the best,
Spare
///So, as a trustee, a board member, a committee member, a chair, and an occasional functionary, how is my life about to change? Apparently you and I are about to be asked to do more. In the bits and pieces of my ‘voluntary sector life’ I do not run a school, hospital or library, and, oh dear, I have no desire to. I don’t run my local police, probation office, or prison, and, oh dear, I don’t want to.
Worse, like millions of others in the ‘third sector’, I don’t actually have any time to. I intersect with very, very many people in the ‘third sector’, and they don’t have any time or seem to have any interest in taking on any of the above.///
Following on from the discussion had here: http://www.theanswerb...s/Question986509.html ...
Do you think you're probably already in the "Big Society" which Mr. Cameron is attempting to appropriate? And if you're not, would you want to be? And do you have the time to do so?
All the best,
Spare
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Why should we? We are a very rich country since we can afford to give India £1bn in aid.
http://tinyurl.com/665k8bx
Charity should begin at home.
http://tinyurl.com/665k8bx
Charity should begin at home.
And why should our citizen's - in one of the most advanced and successful societies in the world - have to receive services they need and are entitled to from 'charity' instead of from properly remunerated professionals.
One of Cameron's more obvious lies is that the BS (what an appropriate abbreviation) is about using volunteers to 'make our society better'.
Clearly that is not true.
Already, if one is attending a professionally run hospital and there is the added benefit of a refreshments stall run by volunteers then they are making the service better.
Attending a hospital where core services are reliant on people doing it for nothing and on the tax paying users accepting charity that is not making it better. That is just replacing proper professionals with cheap alternatives.
As in any business, focusing on savings at the expense of focusing on growth is a stupid and short sighted mistake.
Unless the economy grows the Banks won't be able to repay the bail-outs that got us into this mess in the first place.
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One of Cameron's more obvious lies is that the BS (what an appropriate abbreviation) is about using volunteers to 'make our society better'.
Clearly that is not true.
Already, if one is attending a professionally run hospital and there is the added benefit of a refreshments stall run by volunteers then they are making the service better.
Attending a hospital where core services are reliant on people doing it for nothing and on the tax paying users accepting charity that is not making it better. That is just replacing proper professionals with cheap alternatives.
As in any business, focusing on savings at the expense of focusing on growth is a stupid and short sighted mistake.
Unless the economy grows the Banks won't be able to repay the bail-outs that got us into this mess in the first place.
.
It obviously will not, Jake. However, neither will continuing to spend large sums of taxpayers’ cash on useless jobs which produce nothing and help no one.
Many people under the age of about twenty, or possibly up to the age of twenty-five, have been brought up to believe that the State will care for them, pandering to their every whim from cradle to grave. I think the Prime Minister is trying to rebalance things.
However, I am not convinced his “Big Society” philosophy will succeed. I have to say I’m not entirely sure what it is likely to involve. A very good example would have been for an army of volunteers to have been drafted in to clear the pavements of snow and ice a month or two ago. Of course I doubt the “Elf n’ Safety” problems could have been overcome, but it’s certainly not something which I would expect widespread State resources to be readily available. I don’t think, Zeuhl, that the plan is to make all the brain surgeons redundant and replace them with a few people who may like to dabble in the art in their spare time.
Nonetheless, whatever it might entail, those in work are mostly too busy to become involved in whatever sort of voluntary work he envisages. Those already undertaking such work similarly will probably have little capacity or inclination to do any more. But most importantly, the biggest resource pool of all - those who do not work, allegedly craving for “something to do”, and who are usually recipients of the services in question - are about as likely to become involved as I am to take part in next year’s Olympic Games.
Many people under the age of about twenty, or possibly up to the age of twenty-five, have been brought up to believe that the State will care for them, pandering to their every whim from cradle to grave. I think the Prime Minister is trying to rebalance things.
However, I am not convinced his “Big Society” philosophy will succeed. I have to say I’m not entirely sure what it is likely to involve. A very good example would have been for an army of volunteers to have been drafted in to clear the pavements of snow and ice a month or two ago. Of course I doubt the “Elf n’ Safety” problems could have been overcome, but it’s certainly not something which I would expect widespread State resources to be readily available. I don’t think, Zeuhl, that the plan is to make all the brain surgeons redundant and replace them with a few people who may like to dabble in the art in their spare time.
Nonetheless, whatever it might entail, those in work are mostly too busy to become involved in whatever sort of voluntary work he envisages. Those already undertaking such work similarly will probably have little capacity or inclination to do any more. But most importantly, the biggest resource pool of all - those who do not work, allegedly craving for “something to do”, and who are usually recipients of the services in question - are about as likely to become involved as I am to take part in next year’s Olympic Games.
<<But most importantly, the biggest resource pool of all - those who do not work, allegedly craving for “something to do”, and who are usually recipients of the services in question - are about as likely to become involved as I am to take part in next year’s Olympic Games.>>
The problem with that though is that people currently out of work have to make themselves available for work, or interviews, or possibly lose their benefits. And certain volunteer services need continuity of staff rather than people who would be replaced when, and hopefully if, they got paid work.
Plus the whole point ot volunteering is it is a choice! Forcing people to do it seems to go against the grain to me.
The problem with that though is that people currently out of work have to make themselves available for work, or interviews, or possibly lose their benefits. And certain volunteer services need continuity of staff rather than people who would be replaced when, and hopefully if, they got paid work.
Plus the whole point ot volunteering is it is a choice! Forcing people to do it seems to go against the grain to me.
<<I don’t think, Zeuhl, that the plan is to make all the brain surgeons redundant and replace them with a few people who may like to dabble in the art in their spare time. >>
LOL NJ
I was probably thinking more of cleaners and outreach workers but hey why not?
Agree with you and mightywease, the BS is muddled nonsense - and those most likely to be interested in this and qualified to help are already working hard and paying huge amounts of tax so rather expect these services to be provided anyway.
Those with time on their hands ie unemployed and retired will probably be disincentivised or unable/unwilling in the first place.
.
LOL NJ
I was probably thinking more of cleaners and outreach workers but hey why not?
Agree with you and mightywease, the BS is muddled nonsense - and those most likely to be interested in this and qualified to help are already working hard and paying huge amounts of tax so rather expect these services to be provided anyway.
Those with time on their hands ie unemployed and retired will probably be disincentivised or unable/unwilling in the first place.
.
Also, the PCSO's good, bad or indifferent were never intended to replace police only supplement their duties,
The BS is proposing to get rid of professionals providing a service e.g. librarians or counsellors and directly replace them with free/cheap people providing the same service.
Not sure how Cameroon interprets that as something that 'makes society better'?
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The BS is proposing to get rid of professionals providing a service e.g. librarians or counsellors and directly replace them with free/cheap people providing the same service.
Not sure how Cameroon interprets that as something that 'makes society better'?
.
-- answer removed --
Tried volunteering to a couple of charities. One worldwide, the other local. Pages of forms to fill in, police checks needed, nobody local to organise . Financially support a few charities, result, begging letters and phone calls from many others.
Expertise, teaching. Volunteer? No. All too often 1 volunteer = 1 paid job lost.
Expertise, teaching. Volunteer? No. All too often 1 volunteer = 1 paid job lost.
Despite claiming not to be a Thatcher clone, Cameron and his 'Big Society' inevitably remind me of the Thatcher government's 'Care in the Community' policy for the institutionalised. The biggest problem back then...and it is clearly going to prove so again now...was that "the community" didn't give a good goldarn!
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