David Cameron wants a “Big Society” day where young people are “volunteered” into spending a day doing community work etc. 

The Conservatives are so out of touch with everyday life in our towns, villages and cities that they forget the army of volunteers that our communities and councils already rely on. I think it is patronising in the extreme to push this additional volunteering unless that is he has a hidden motivation. 

Could it be he ultimately see this as an opportunity to save a potential Tory Government millions by getting an unpaid army of young volunteers to do local work instead?  

They already think our cities are like The Wire and half of all teenage girls are pregnant, so I suppose it’s not a great leap to imagine for Cameron’s Tories to think that those young people who are not in gangs are just waiting to volunteer to clean up the local eyesore. 

There are literally thousands of dedicated people who are working to make their communities better every day, including many unpaid carers. And yes lets encourage more people to get involved in volunteering, but we don’t need gimmicks. 

What voluntary organisations need is more funds to enable them to develop their value for money services and what people want and need is a greater say over their public services and how their taxes are spent.