phildebatables’s most recent Quotables

I know that cuts in public spending are unpopular with many people. But the suggestion that the Prime Minister’s “ideal society” is country that’s endured 20 years of civil war and crippling poverty strikes me as a tad strong.

This is the Big Society Bail-In - we will not pay for their crisis.

As the state spends less and does less, which would be happening whichever party was in government, there would be a positive benefit if some parts of society were to step forward and do more.

[The Conservatives] have been planning this for years. It is not true that the Big Society is a cover for cuts. They were making these arguments when they were committed briefly to Labour's spending levels.

What ordinary people do understand about Mr Cameron’s Big Society is that the Tory Government recklessly slashes and burns public services and expects us all to then roll up our sleeves and pick up the pieces of a social catastrophe.

The logic of this is that his ideal society is Somalia where the state barely exists, and his hell the Scandinavian societies that the rest of us admire for combining quality services, equality and dynamic economies.

[Big Society] is my absolute passion. I think it is a different way of governing, a different way of going about trying to change our country for the better, and it’s going to get every bit of my passion and attention over the five years of this government.

The feeble 'big society' bank will not plug the gaps in charity funding left by the cuts. As many a Tory has said, this is BS