The big society - will it, can it, work?

The text of the Prime Minister's speech is not yet available, but do have a look at the No 10 website which includes the following, which, beyond a general statement that people should take more responsibility, really does not give me much in the way of specific proposals. "I think it's 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."

Mr Cameron said Britain needed people to take more responsibility. He said government action could only ever be part of the answer to solving society's problems — and he wanted to make it easier for people to volunteer. Having read a lot about it, it seems to me that the big society might be encapsulated as a mix of direct social action (volunteering, both formal and informal), philanthropy (charitable giving, in essence) and new social enterprises (investors coming in to help do things better).

The problems, though, are all too obvious. Organisations that support volunteering are under huge and immediate threat as a consequence of the cuts, and the infrastructure is in danger of simply evaporating. And there are two other problems with volunteering; first, volunteers can be found to do some of the easier jobs - hospital driving for example - but not some of the more difficult and skilled jobs. Second, it is much harder to find volunteers where social problems are already acute.

Philanthropy... well, a lot of people give a lot but some of the richest do not seem to do their share. I will merely say "bankers' bonuses". And the new social enterprises are at best unproven. I just don't see how to get people to invest in improving education outcomes for children in care, for example, and that's what I'll describe in my column.