There have been hundreds of debates and presentations about the 'big society', David Cameron's big idea for transforming the relationship between government and society. But one question has been missed: what would the Bard have to say about it? This presentation tries to answer that question - and finds that in the end, really it's Our Society.

1. The Big Society
a Shakespearean space odyssey

2. T BS, or not to BS...
o

3. A comedy of errors?

4. ‘neither rhyme nor
reason...’

5. ‘at the heart of this debate, in my humble opinion, is ... a
collective and very British constitutional negotiation of a
partnership for the 21st century that values and combines
not just the seabed, the bedrock of our public services –
to protect the vulnerable – but the coral represented by
the many current and future providers of those services
that add variety and innovation and humanity to their
delivery. Last but not least it is the very fish that feed in
these waters, the local citizen groups that can extend,
vivify and shape this landscape in ambitious as well as
humble ways...’
Lord Wei, 16 June 2010

6. some origins and ideas
1986 - ‘big society’ used in Liao Xun’s paper, ‘Marx
and Engels’s thoughts on “small government” and
current economic reform’
2010 - Ian Birrell, speechwriter for David Cameron,
describes big society as ‘an attempt to connect the
civic institutions that lie between the individual and
the state’
2010 Conservative Party conference - Lord Wei
talks about ‘a society where you don’t feel small’

7. Much ado about nothing?

8. ‘O, what men dare do!
What men may do! What
men daily do, not
knowing what they do!’

9. from ideas to activity
The Big Society Bank - up to £300m to lend to
charities and social enterprises (‘a tiny acorn from
which it is far from certain a giant oak will grow’ - FT)
Community organisers - 500 paid for one year,
4,500 volunteers. T be led by Locality
o
Big Society Vanguards - Windsor & Maidenhead,
Eden, Sutton... Liverpool does the hokey-cokey
Public service reform... or privatisation?
Localism Bill - new community rights

10. A midsummer night’s dream?

11. ‘T show our simple skill,
o
That is the true beginning
of our end.’

12. some opportunities?
Localism - the opportunity to bring decision-
making closer to the people
Co-production - the chance to involve users in
designing and delivering services
A ‘post bureaucratic state’?
Necessity as the mother of invention - or
desperate times requiring desperate measures?

13. The tempest?

14. ‘These our actors,
As I foretold you, were all
spirits, and
Are melted into air, thin air.’

15. some risks?
T down, centrally driven approaches
op
Funding cuts - £5bn potential losses to voluntary
sector and counting; £58.6m logged on at
www.voluntarysectorcuts.org.uk
The loss of learning, expertise and key people
No apparent interest in equality or social justice -
what happens to the marginalised?
Lack of buy-in - the more often it’s relaunched, the
less people believe in it

16. Measure for measure?

17. ‘O, it is excellent
to have a giant’s strength;
but it is tyrannous
to use it like a giant’

18. restoring the balance
1 Build on community development values
2 Recognise and share learning
3 Create new connections
4 Critique, conversation and collaboration - from
Big Society to Our Society
5 Create the mainstream from the margins

19. All’s well that ends well?

20. ‘Our remedies oft in
ourselves do lie,
which we ascribe to heaven.’

21. reclaiming Our Society
How can local communities set an agenda for
wellbeing and resilience?
How do we combine the power of the personal with
the influence of the institutional?
How do we move from a world of hierarchies to a
community of networks (and a network of
communities)?
How do we move from a government vision of
society to a social vision of government?

22. more from me...
www.urbanpollinators.co.uk
my blog: Living with Rats
Twitter: @juliandobson