Yesterday, with a heavy heart, I formally ceased all previous outside interests and paid work including being the Executive Chair of the Big Society Network here in a letter responding to the government’s offer to be an unpaid advisor on Big Society. It is a strange moment for me to leave organisations I have spent a good part of my life helping to establish but the role demands my full attention, and the organisations of which I have been a part need to be truly independent, and my continuing to be formally linked to them might have compromised that moving forwards.
I’m proud to have helped to co-found the Big Society Network. In the coming weeks and months the shape of it will become much clearer and I’m excited by the emerging plans it has and how citizens will be able to shape it and co-run it. Its mission, despite the feeling at times by some commentators that it might be a little intellectual, is to be – in partership with government, business, and the voluntary sector – an action-orientated remover of barriers to mass civic engagement where people live – enabling the change we want to be. It will do this by running major sub-branded media campaigns, highlighting the existence of groups throughout the country who want new powers to run services and take over local assets, and mobilising a civic service of people who want to help make it easier for others get involved in the Big Society. Through this it aspires to attract, encourage, and mobilise the best talent, groups of local citizen entrepreneurs, and all of us where we live to join and own a citizen union that will allow us to interact in new and different ways: Your Square Mile.
I have every confidence that the team led by Paul Twivy and the new Chair, Martyn Rose, the foundation board of trustees and representatives being established to steward the movement, with our collective input and support as citizens, will succeed and wish BSN well.
This will be my last regular post, but I do hope to stay in touch in a variety of ways and do let us all keep contributing online and offline as we design, rediscover, and build the Big Society together.
Post by: Nat Wei
Tags: government, mass engagement, policy
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by David Wilcox and The Big Society, The Big Society. The Big Society said: Blogpost: The end of the beginning http://bit.ly/bwsW5V #bigsociety [...]
[...] and summary: Lord Nat Wei, one of the authors of the Big Society idea and Network founder, will no longer blog about the vision. He will be working as unpaid advisor to Government. Meanwhile, many people are talking about Big [...]
I’m shocked and bewildered.
This is disastrous.
Help I’m confused,Lord Wie are you in or out? how does your new possition differ from the last one?
Sorry, dislexier is a terrible affliction, of course I should say Lord Wei.
We need people like you- inside. Maximum Respect!
Nat, when the Big People lock themselves in the ivory tower and make the Big Decisions; when they exclude the little people and drop bombshells on us, that’s when I leave. You turned The Big Society into a quango and walked away. Spare us the pain, close it down and use the money to pay off the deficit. You quit? I quit. Cross my name of the list.
[...] • Lord Nat Wei signs off from the Big Society Network… [...]
Robin, thank you for your comments. Nat has not turned his back on Big Society but recognises that as the Government Adviser on Big Society, he cannot continue as Chair of the Big Society Network, which is independent of government. Otherwise the Network could be seen as you suggest — to be a government quango etc. etc. And we think that the Government needs people like Nat who have experience in encouraging and building a stronger society and empowering ordinary citizens and groups.
Paul Twivy on behalf of the Big Society Network
I’m confused again, I thought that the BS was intended to be an independant organisation and though sold to the public the Conservative Party, the idea was, that once up and running it could function and support it’s self reguardless of which party or parties were in power.If this is the case then why did Nat feel the need to resign as chair of the BSN?
[...] • Lord Nat Wei signs off from the Big Society Network… [...]
Paul, you are implying that Nat did not have a choice about resigning. That avoids addressing the issue as to whether it was a good idea. As they say, “If you can’t convince ‘em, confuse ‘em.”
Clearly I’m not a fan of the quango system. For me, it’s all about fat cats, power and privilege. We are not going to have a useful debate about this. I just returned to this thread to see if anyone else had commented on Nat’s resignation. Seems like it’s just snoop, Noah and myself.