PART TWO OF "ER - THE EMOTIONAL RUBRIC"

Clock Tower Diary.  The most difficult questions asked by transformation concern the relationship of state and citizen. Deep and difficult, questions of this relationship have no airing at the bright galas and tool fairs that often accompany the government change agenda. Few people even seem to speak about such profundities. What do we actually expect of the state? Where sits the citizen? What is the citizen's life like? Where lies responsibility? Purpose? The democratic right to be you?

The most important local government change project happening now is happening in Oldham. It is their individualised budgets (In Control) pilot, the most advanced of a flotilla of national schemes around individualised budgets. This concept moves the boundary between state and citizen, between state and the making of the self. Its headlines are dramatically personal stories of illness and the pursuit of well-being. We hear of multiple sclerosis sufferers buying football tickets, of beautiful terminal cancer sufferers buying trailers for their cars, of people going to the pub instead of care centres; stories of right, of personality, of self.

The state concedes some responsibility to the citizen. These are stories of using the economy and society's many dimensions in pursuit of lifestyle, not of carestyle. This is a social work of ability, not disability. Oldham's work chimes with the social innovation casesof the famous Harvard Professor, Clayton Christensen. Yet it would be, head and shoulders, the outstanding case study in that paper. And its happening here.

It makes me proud again of the concept of welfare. It suddenly seems so much more 21st century. I have not met Simon Duffy of In Control, nor have I yet read his publications, but he is a worthy winner of the Albert Medal of the Royal Society of Arts. I have met and worked with Beverley Maybury and the team at Oldham. They have a very, very special chemistry. They need it. Theirs is a very difficult road. At MBS we have a long association with the project and are lucky to have Gavin Croft working with us here in TALK to share their knowledge, (in progress here).  

I sign out on this twice. First, with Charles Leadbeater writing in The Guardian. Then, secondly, I cite Ken Stapleton, former Social Work team manager, writing to the Oldham Chronicle in defence of the initiative:  

"60 years after the momentous creation of the then 'modern welfare state' with its underlying paternalistic model of care, a government has finally had the balls to put its trust and faith in a group of people who have endured segregation, stigmatisation, and marginalisation for too long, and have been defined by society and professionals alike by what they could not do, rather than being able, with whatever support is necessary, to choose  how they wished to plan and live their very individual lives ... The issue is not only one of belonging but of feeling that one belongs, is valued, has the same rights, and yes responsibilities, as the rest of us. In short, to be treated as equal citizens in the life of our communities."

Transformation In The Head. Nick Clifford tells me I must read 'Revolution in the Head' for I often cite the Beatles to MBA students when they despair of finding a common, rational chord in their group projects. Consensus doesn't matter, I say. Nor does enjoying it. Creativity, passion and making it through, are all that count. Ask John, Paul, George & Ringo. Or Beverley, Ken, Karen & Viv. More on the unlikely Beatles thesis for local government, soon.

You Are What You Tube. The man with the beard is not God, but Paul. My mother loved this song.