There are signs of hope in the wake of Mr Cameron’s speech that, with sufficient attention from the top and a genuine national debate, the national well-being index could be a crucially important tool in the progressive effort to transform lives for the better.
Aaron Peters is currently at a student occupation at University College London where he will be staying for as long as is permitted; even within the confines of this one microcosm of the movement the possibilities for this nascent student movement within the context of Net 2.0 are being rendered increasingly tangible.
Nick Clegg used his Hugo Young lecture to unfurl a banner for the “new progressives”. But he chose not to set out what “new progressives” think about the causes of social mobility.
Fully one month after the scale of the government’s cuts to school sport were unveiled, politicians, journalists and sports stars have at long last been stirred into fighting back, the realisation of the horror about to be unleashed finally dawning. As Left Foot Forward reported in October, the Department for Education is scrapping the £162 million PE and Sports Strategy – a strategy which has been proven to work, significantly raising participation in competitive sport.
The criminal justice system is not effective at dealing with children and young people. Evidence shows that about half of the 10 and 11 year olds sentenced in court in 2008 will have re-offended within a year – and their experience within the criminal justice system actually increases the likelihood that they will go on to commit further crimes.
The announcement by Francis Maude yesterday that the coalition government wants to set up mutuals to run our public services is typical of what’s wrong with Cameron and Clegg’s ramshackle regime. On one level the plan seems a good idea – to give people who work in public services the opportunity to run those services. Indeed, the idea of mutual public services is something the Co-operative party has campaigned for throughout its history.
Iain Duncan Smith announced last week that the unemployed will, under some circumstances, be required to undertake unpaid “community work”, with strict sanctions for those who fail to comply. His view was that this would help people re-integrate into the labour market, by getting into the habit of work.
What is the government’s version of a ‘Big Society’ all about? According to a strong statement from a new Christian network called Common Wealth – in which I should straight away declare my interest as a supporter – it’s an ideological con trick aimed at co-opting civil society groups (including churches and charities) into the Conservative/Lib Dem agenda to shrink the responsibilities of government so that the poorest get to pay for an economic mess created by the wealthy.
Social care is currently in crisis due to lack of funding. The number of older people needing care is growing but rationing through eligibility criteria means fewer and fewer are qualifying for local authority support. There are few services aimed at preventing those with low-level care needs from reaching a crisis situation.
Our nation faces an unprecedented housing crisis. More than 4.5m people are languishing on waiting lists. Around 2.5m people are living in cramped and overcrowded conditions. And to top it all off, the Government has unleashed a programme of housing benefit cuts that could force hundreds of thousands of people out of their homes, leaving many at risk of ending up on the streets.
