I’m not sure whether this is a good or a bad thing, but Gordon Brown’s interview in the Independent today shows him to be just the latest in a long line of converts to the Big Society.
Here are some choice quotes:
“We’re just recovering from the 1980s,” says Bryan. “We know what works.” Brown nods grimly. “We’re going to have to be prepared,” he [Brown] says, “to do things locally.”
Why is that something to be grim about?
[Brown is] telling me about a local youth project called “midnight football” in which young people play sports with professionals, and a local cycling club, which lends bikes to people who can’t afford them, and a website that Tim Berners-Lee told him about where you can look up cycling danger spots and plot your route.
(We wrote about the cycle map AGES ago)
What I’ve done in the last two months is really what I wanted to do, which is do things locally. That’s been my first interest, to put something back into a local community that I feel very much part of, and that I feel I’ve got a duty to.
How disappointing that he didn’t feel the need to empower others to do the same while he had the power to do so.
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Yeah, I picked up on this as well and did something briefly here http://bit.ly/cuOt9Z although I didnt see the thing about cycle maps.
Speaking of which though, we’ve been working on one in our local area.
http://wearelangleypark.blogspot.com/2010/06/circular-cycle-routes-from-langley-park.html