Big Society's Big Mouth Powered by v

Today, Michael Gove described trade unionism as militancy and suggested that the government is considering bringing in new laws to curtail the unions’ power. Like a phoenix from the ashes, Thatcher rises again to scorch this land anew. At least this time the lady is a bit more tempted by “that favourite media catchphrase, the U-turn”.

I’ve always been concerned about the Thatcherite nature of the New Conservatives; no dramatic overstatement here. Something about the Big Society has always struck me as acutely similar to the suggestion that “there is no such thing as society”; the kind of do-it-yourself principle of Cameron’s policies seem to me to be removing government support for societies, not building it up.

Now the Conservative-led government has launched a fresh attack on public sector unions, who stand up for us against the government and the absurd battle-axe it insists on waving about above its head like a drunken ogre (like a drunken Maggie). What will happen to them? Will they continue to campaign? Will they win? I have a feeling that the government is underestimating them and the public’s support for them. An interesting battle is about to be fought, and Michael Gove has just thrown down the gauntlet.

By the way, all that drivel about teachers losing respect for standing up for their rights is complete nonsense. It reads like an Edward Lear poem. I respect my teachers all the more for having a point of view and for fighting for it. That’s what they teach us to do, after all. Read less

I was lucky enough to visit Egypt last year and meet some youth activists there.

The youth there have some big problems - there's a "youth bulge" which means there are suddenly way more young people there than there ever has been before, so not enough services, jobs etc - I think about half of the population under 25 and unemployment is off the scale. So maybe it's easier for them to take on the government because there's more of them??

But we have seen clever use of t'interweb in recent UK protests, like this from the student protests: http://bit.ly/gzVyEI Read less

I may be going to a protest on the 26th, having never attended one before. I think that there is a sense of disillusionment about what power there is in voting alone, but I can't see much evidence of recent protests achieving their aims either. I think that protests also have an issue; quiet protests which are not overly disruptive and involve no violence or anti-social behaviour don't get a lot of news coverage and thus wider discussion on the subject. Protests where riots break out and there's footage of police officers hitting 12 year olds with batons seem to be the main way in which a protest (and thus it's aims) actually gets coverage, but this is wrong and clearly gives out the wrong message about what's necessary to get people to listen.  Read less