Of all the broadcast hours devoted to the Big Society, only one discussion has made me
think that the whole thing is not completely doomed. Channel4’s 10 O’Clock Live show, staged last Thursday. It’s up on YouTube now (34 mins in).
The comedian David Mitchell kicked off. “The clearest thing anyone can say about Big Society is that it’s the opposite of Big Government,” he said. Now, I haven’t heard
anyone not paid by the Conservative Party say anything as clear (or as positive) about the BS. But, then again, neither Phillip Blond (who has built a think tank from the success of his Red Tory
theme) nor Shaun Bailey (the unsuccessful Tory candidate in Hammersmith) is paid by the Tories. And perhaps that’s what helped them make an oddly compelling case.
When Ian Birrell tweeted that he’d been asked on but couldn’t make it, I smiled to myself: he’d dodged a bullet.
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