Big Society??

Just incase anyone hasn't noticed yet but central government is about to commence the process of washing its hands from controlling the country and handing power to anyone who will grab it. What's that got to do with birds? Well control of nearly everything is up for grabs including 'the environment' . It's going to be f##kin chaos but a necessary and inevitable part of our evolution towards true democracy and a post growth and sustainable future.

I was asked recently 'what are the biggest obstacles to local community groups in achieving their goals'. Well I've been dealing with this shhhhhhhh....situation for years so I gave my 'informed' answer. Aside from money and legal matters the biggest problems are quite simply people. At the end of the day the only society is the local community - (anything bigger is impersonal and abstract)and that local community is made up of individuals and.... there is nothing quite as queer, difficult and challenging as average folks.

So what are some of the biggest problems with local community groups?

A) Lack of expert knowledge within the groups (the Meddling Amateur syndrome)
B) Poor Management of the Groups (the Little Hitlers )
C) Lack of committment from project participants (the Lazy Bast#d Effect)
D) Opposition from the establishment (The Big Tyrants e.g. Big Business and Government)
E) Exclusion of other community members (e.g. Dog Walkers!! e.g. e.g. Birders hate them and dont want them near their projects)
F) Lack of support from the Big Pressure Groups (The 'We are too busy having glamarous conferences and writing magazines about saving the world and simply dont have time or any money left to actually save the world' Brigade )

So what to do about it? Well..... I have a plan. But fear not.. I also have a plan B. Plan B is to buy myself a little place in the country and build my own paradise and tell the whole world to go and ####!!!!! . But first... Plan A.