Posts Tagged ‘schools’

We need a more sophisticated response to the big society, says Peter Watt

15/09/2010, 09:00:11 AM

I know what is best for me and what is best for my family. You don’t.

I suspect that most people in the Labour party feel the same about themselves and their families.  By and large, we are a pretty independently minded bunch which doesn’t take kindly to being told what to do, how to think and how to vote in (say) internal elections.  Presumably this is because we think that we are intelligent, capable of free thinking and able to take decisions for ourselves?

So why do we think that voters want us making so many decisions for them?  We have set rules about what school people can send their kids to; what, when and how their home-support services are delivered if they are infirm; when they can visit the GP; which part of town they can live in and even what sort of food they can eat or feed to their families.  Of course if you are wealthy enough then you can bypass the rules that we set and decide for yourself.  No, our rules are very inequitable and only apply to those who can’t afford to buy their way out of sticking to them.  Understandably people are beginning to say “enough – I want to make some decisions for myself.”

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