Trouble with the big society

RCE

So, during these hard times Cameron & Co can't see the paradox of giving 100m of taxpayers' money to the AHRC in the name of 'smaller government'?

Meanwhile, the redundancy notices for soldiers fighting two underfunded wars are in the post.

david

There is one enormous problem with Dave's Big Society, its total BLX.

Dave B

The Observer fails to mentions that the Arts and Humanities Research Council

"unconditionally and absolutely refutes the allegations reported in the Observer (‘Academic Fury over order to study the big society’, 27 March). We did NOT receive our funding settlement on condition that we supported the ‘Big Society’, and we were NOT instructed, pressured or otherwise coerced by BIS or anyone else into support for this initiative."

http://www.ahrc.ac.uk/News/Latest/Pages/Observerarticle.aspx

Robert Eve

Why should a smaller state need any cover?

It can only be good news.

Rhoda Klapp

All enquiries are fixed. Everything is gamed. All statements are truish, but do not reflect all of the truth. And yes, 'independent' opinion follows its funding. I don't think I'm saying anything new here. Who has yet to discover it?

Fergus Pickering

They did not refute the allegation. They denied it. Really such bodies ought to understand the language. Three words - refute, rebut, deny. All different. If you say I am a child molester I deny it. It is an allegation impossible to refute.

TrevorsDen

The Arts and Humanities Research Council was always funded by the government. it was set up by Labour.
No doubt the lefty Observer was happy when it researched into things Gordon brown thought were useful. Hypocritical tosspots.

Martyn

The last report I read from the AHRC indicated that it employs 120 staff to manage just 340 grants. Why is this quango still in existence?

ollie

"When academic research is used to promote party political ideologies its quality and value decline."

An interesting comment. Our education system has been subject to left wing ideology for 50 odd years now - which is why millions of people in this country are unemployed and unemployable.

justathought

More money for quangos? Is there any end to this waste of taxpayers money?

If there research is so worthwhile let them publish and sell it on the open market.

Mike

"When academic research is used to promote party political ideologies its quality and value decline."

Where does the utter BLX known as man made global warming fit in here?

anne allan

Must be some research for £100 million. What a criminal waste of money. How about keeping a few more betrayed soldiers, sailors and airmen?
300 million smackers for a load of washed up academics to come up with the bleedin' obvious.

TGF UKIP

Setting aside the staggering figure of £100m of taxpayers money being handed to such a lefty style quango, I'm afraid, David, neither you nor these academics properly understand what the Big Society is all about.

It was nothing less than a piece of pure pre-election genius by my good mate Steve H, designed to make Dave appear the silly arse he transparently is and to reinforce the image of him as a lightweight, PR man much given to stunts and photo ops. Naturally it also had the added bonus for my Labour Mole pal of being a very useful tool for The Swivel Eyed to beat Dave over the head with.

PS Can't help noticing too, David, how on message you are with Big Society becoming, for you, "big society" just as Dave wishes. Looking to join the sinking ship are we?

biggestaspidistra

What is so difficult to understand about the term 'big society'? Big society=small government. I don't know how anyone could not understand the simplicity of it or, after the last decade, be against it.

Verity

"AHRC is conducting research into the big society...". What is this nursery school "big society"? Every society is a "big society". How are taxpayer pounds involved in this worthless "research"?

Seattle is a "big society". France is a "big society". Sydney is a "big society". China is a "big society". All societies over around 50,000 are "big societies". What the hell are these morons a) talking about and b) spending taxpayer money "studying"?

This is such a socialist construct. Why are the Conservatives even in the same room with it?

David Cameron is a nastier piece of work than Tony Blair and Cherie put together and that is going it some. I might even throw in Lord Fondlebum and Jacqui Smith.

Yorkshireblue1

Anne, you may think arts & humanities research is a criminal waste of money but the chinese, japanese and other foreign phd students who queue up to pay our university fees to be taught by profs such as my husband clearly disagree, as do the publishers who translate his research funded work so it can be read in every continent.

RCE

Yorkshireblue1 @ 8:53
The difference that you state but clearly don't acknowledge is that those foreign students pay their own fees, and by choice.

With regard to this issue, it is economically illiterate and morally indefensible that during a budget deficit even more money is borrowed to pay for this crap whilst sailors, soldiers and airmen who are risking their lives to earn Dave his place in history are being handed their redundancy notices.

William Campbell

The reason it can't escape the small state accusation, or one of them, is that idiotic 'Big Society [smiley face], not Big Government [sad face]' slogan which proliferated about a year ago. It IS a cover for a smaller state. In fact, it ought to be, logically - if people are doing things voluntarily, we dont need the state to do them. Except working active productive people won't do much more voluntarily because their real incomes are falling and they're working longer than ever.

Thom Brooks

There is also a petition calling on the AHRC to remove "The Big Society" from its delivery plans with immediate effect (signed by over 2,500 academics) here: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/thebigsociety/