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By Iain Martin
Wow. Who would have thought that you can't get government services for free?
No way. Or make that “No Wei.” The man hired by the government to run its Big Society program is scaling back his role because he doesn’t have enough time and needs to earn some money, the Guardian reports.
Nat Wei (34) was picked out by the prime minister’s guru Steve Hilton and policy supremo Oliver Letwin and given a seat in the Lords after the election. He was supposed to make the Big Society happen. Remember it is a policy drive designed to encourage Britons to engage in volunteering, thus supposedly triggering an explosion in civic engagement. Its critics, and some of its supporters, say that so far it hasn’t really taken off.
Wei took on the Whitehall post unpaid — as a volunteer, all very Big Society — but now he’ll move from the equivalent of three days a week BS work to two.
The Guardian reports a cabinet office spokesman suggesting that Wei had worked extra hours in the early phase of the program. “The government remains committed to devolving power to citizens and supporting a big society,” he said.
But Wei has discovered, according to The Guardian, that he needs more time to make a living and see his family.
Many hard-working Britons will know how he feels, although they may not necessarily sympathize. The prime minister’s speech to Tory conference in the autumn was a hymn to the Big Society. He encouraged, demanded, that his fellow Britons get up off their backsides and go mend that leaky roof in the youth center at the end of their road. The clips of the speech played on the evening news came across a little bossy and hectoring. Cameron seemed to be implying that millions of people who had come in from a busy day at work with only a pile of ironing to look forward to needed to jolly well pull their socks up.
Since then all has not been well in the Big Society household. Various reports have surfaced of concerns on the part of Hilton and others that they are disappointed with the state of the initiative. Last month a Cameroon explained the unhappiness to me over lunch. He mentioned Lord Wei’s role as a cause for concern. “Steve and Oliver can’t work out why Wei’s not making more progress. It’s frustrating.”
Polly Curtis of The Guardian deserves an award for breaking this Wei story — a tale straight out of the “you couldn’t make it up” files. It has become almost a cliché when a piece of farce such as this is uncovered to observe that it is “like something out of ‘The Thick of It,’” a reference to the Whitehall satire of that name. But really, this is like something out of “The Thick of It.”
It is also easy to see the “Big Society Boss Says He’s Too Busy and Wants to Do Less Volunteering” story playing quite big, and outside the Westminster village, too. It is tailor-made for Radio 4’s satirical “Newsquiz” or “Have I Got News For You.”
Nat Wei (34) was picked out by the prime minister’s guru Steve Hilton and policy supremo Oliver Letwin and given a seat in the Lords after the election. He was supposed to make the Big Society happen. Remember it is a policy drive designed to encourage Britons to engage in volunteering, thus supposedly triggering an explosion in civic engagement. Its critics, and some of its supporters, say that so far it hasn’t really taken off.
Wei took on the Whitehall post unpaid — as a volunteer, all very Big Society — but now he’ll move from the equivalent of three days a week BS work to two.
The Guardian reports a cabinet office spokesman suggesting that Wei had worked extra hours in the early phase of the program. “The government remains committed to devolving power to citizens and supporting a big society,” he said.
But Wei has discovered, according to The Guardian, that he needs more time to make a living and see his family.
Many hard-working Britons will know how he feels, although they may not necessarily sympathize. The prime minister’s speech to Tory conference in the autumn was a hymn to the Big Society. He encouraged, demanded, that his fellow Britons get up off their backsides and go mend that leaky roof in the youth center at the end of their road. The clips of the speech played on the evening news came across a little bossy and hectoring. Cameron seemed to be implying that millions of people who had come in from a busy day at work with only a pile of ironing to look forward to needed to jolly well pull their socks up.
Since then all has not been well in the Big Society household. Various reports have surfaced of concerns on the part of Hilton and others that they are disappointed with the state of the initiative. Last month a Cameroon explained the unhappiness to me over lunch. He mentioned Lord Wei’s role as a cause for concern. “Steve and Oliver can’t work out why Wei’s not making more progress. It’s frustrating.”
Polly Curtis of The Guardian deserves an award for breaking this Wei story — a tale straight out of the “you couldn’t make it up” files. It has become almost a cliché when a piece of farce such as this is uncovered to observe that it is “like something out of ‘The Thick of It,’” a reference to the Whitehall satire of that name. But really, this is like something out of “The Thick of It.”
It is also easy to see the “Big Society Boss Says He’s Too Busy and Wants to Do Less Volunteering” story playing quite big, and outside the Westminster village, too. It is tailor-made for Radio 4’s satirical “Newsquiz” or “Have I Got News For You.”
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