Changing the world.

In the aftermath of the General election its good to think of new ways of changing the world. Steve Hilton one time action man at Downing Street with Cameron has written a book More Human on this theme. In it he argues that decisions must be taken closer to where they matter at the human level. Bureaucracy is killing off initiative and individuality. The leading German sociologist Robert Michels wrote his seminal book Political Parties in 1911 about this very issue and how we are governed by small cabalistic cabinets. We can only relate so the social scientists tell us to a circle of not more than 150 people in our social network - more is overload. Government should be aimed at the individual and family level. Helping families get the intervention they need much earlier in their life circle. By the time they get to school its already too late for many kids. The middle classes have stolen a march on them. Inequality of opportunity means inequality of outcome. More must be done to redress this balance. Sure Start introduced by the last Labour government was a first step. However on a cost benefit on a longitudinal basis more needs to be done. Unless we have hope and a sense of belonging the sine qua non of a functioning society nothing will change. Will Cameron and Osborne put the money in?