Former government policy advisor admits the need for a new big idea

When a society begins to shake, all sorts of new possibilities arise

Matthew Taylor, former head of the IPPR think tank and former government policy advisor, was in a conversation on ’The World this weekend’ (Radio 4). They were discussing the absence of any sort of big picture from today’s politics, how all the politicians are just ‘camping on each other’s ground’ and dealing in the nitty griity of particular policies.

Matthew Taylor said,

People get completely lost when politics becomes all about tactics…this is the death throes of a particular type of politics which is no longer tenable…

He was then asked ‘So what is the big idea that no one is talking about’.

Matthew Taylor replied:

‘The big idea is about how we live our lives in a sustainable way, not just sustainable in terms of the environment, but sustainable in terms of our own sense of well-being and the things that we care about, our families and communities. The big paradox of modern society is that we are more and more affluent, but we do not seem contented or at ease in our modern world. Politicians have not found a way of talking about that. Sooner or later some people or groups will find a way of talking about it and that will be the new terrain of politics.’

I listened to this with great interest.  Here was someone right at the heart of government and public policy thinking for many years both acknowledging the ideological vacuum that we are experiencing and pointing to a solution that could be a description of The Great Peace.

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