Simon Jenkins is the sort of annoying columnist with whom you have on occasion to seriously agree and sometimes seriously disagree. I guess that's a merit.
This morning he's on form, arguing that local response is needed to the riots we're suffering. As he puts it:
There is no substitute for proper, open, responsive democracy at any tier of government. There can be no localism without some discretion over taxation and resources. There can be no big society without a vote. Curing any community's woes is not the job of the police. Leave it to them and trouble will simply recur.
In other words, community matters but it has been undermined in the UK and that process does have consequences for a lack of identity with place.
I think he is right.
Neither Labour or Tories have got this right. It's a big issue to be addressed. What it says is Courageous States are confident enough to delegate power. We've not been there.
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Hi Richard, I write as a fan of yours so please take this is the spirit it is intended.
Could you maybe not mention “The Courageous State” in every post? It does start to scan a little badly.
In the meantime keep up the excellent work.
Best of everything to you,
a) It’s not every post, seriously
b) You’ll be seeing a lot more of it
c) I use the term only when I think it works – and I happen to think it does, quite often
d) That’s what happens when someone writes a book
e) As all politicians know – you have to repeat things until people are fed up with them – only then are they noticed. I’m sorry if you’re the first to get fed up!
Yes I guessed it was due to your spending a lot of time on your book. Best of luck with it.
Just a thought Richard, but you could also mention in your book the courageous local state because there some local authorities who are still trying to do their best for the local economy.
It will be in….
Thatcher destroyed many communities, particularly mining communities – some of the most close, knit, socially cohesive communities that ever existed in the UK.
She said “there is no such thing as society” and did her level best to wreck it. We are now paying the price.