The biggest thinktank news is that Michael Jacobs, general secretary of the Fabian Society since 1997, is leaving in October. Jacobs joined the Fabians after the previous general secretary, Stephen Twigg, found himself unexpectedly elected MP for Enfield Southgate. Twigg had given an assurance to the interview panel that there was no way he could win the seat. The hunt is on to find a replacement for Jacobs, and it won’t be easy. The job requires intellectual prowess, media skills, management aptitude, and political nous – plus a willingness to work in the Fabians’ bijou offices in Dartmouth Street. But without giving away any secrets, I can tell you that some big hitters have expressed an interest.
Demos and ippr have published a couple of pamphlets recently on allied themes. In the Public Interest: Assessing the Potential of Public Interest Companies by Paul Maltby of the ippr reviews different types of public interest company, including the National Air Traffic Service, housing associations, Network Rail, and the proposed NHS foundation trusts. This is a hugely relevant debate for the left, because if we rule out wholly private solutions to public services, and dismiss state-owned ones, then we need a credible alternative – a third way. Over at Demos, Inside Out: Rethinking Inclusive Communities by Helen McCarthy looks at how community-based organisations can help deliver local services and tackle social exclusion because, unlike the local state, they have high levels of trust. The report reviews over 40 local organisations and concludes that local councils and the government should cut the red tape and let them get on with it.
Communities in Control by Hazel Blears will be published soon by the Fabian Society. The Salford MP and health minister makes the case for greater community ownership over local services, drawing on the co-operative and mutual models. This impressive pamphlet shows that radical thinking is possible even at the heart of government, and Blears’ ideas have been attracting the attentions of senior politicians and thinkers. She argues that consultation and seats on management boards are not enough: working people want to own, run, and control their local services. It’s enough to make most politicians and civil servants choke on their cornflakes.
Disengagement and disenchantment with politics is a perennial thinktank concern. The New Local Government Network has produced Valuing Political Leadership, a recruitment pack to help
local councils identify, recruit and sustain tomorrow’s council leaders. The NLGN calls for greater professionalism in recruiting councillors, and better party systems of selection. This may be part
of the solution, but until the life of a councillor is made a little easier, with fewer pointless meetings and less grief, and more power and rewards, fewer and fewer talented people will want to enter local politics.
The Social Market Foundation is going back to basics with a new pamphlet called, appropriately enough, The Social Market. Authors Phil Collins and David Leam revisit the ideas launched by the SMF ten years ago, and attempt to define and defend the social market.
Tax Freedom Day’ is on 2 June this year, a day later than last year. The Adam Smith Institute calculates that this is the date when the average tax payer stops working to pay taxes and starts working to pay themselves. It is a neat bit of spin by the Adam Smith Institute in their campaign against big government, but should it be a cause for complaint? Perhaps we should establish an annual ‘Public Services Day’ when we stop earning money to stuff in our own pockets, and start contributing to the hospitals, schools, roads and national defence that make up a civilised society.