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JHL's new President criticizes the British concept of "Big Society" JHL (27.10.2011 - Juhani Artto) "The Big Society seems to have small services", JHL's new President Jarkko Eloranta concludes in his column in JHL's magazine Motiivi. The Big Society Eloranta refers to is the slogan chosen by the British Prime Minister David Cameron and his Conservative Party. "The empowerment of communities and individuals sounds very positive, providing a veneer of idealism to the Big Society concept ", Eloranta writes. "But, in reality what really lies behind the Big Society idea concerns the economy: the need and especially the desire to cut taxes which will inevitably result in cuts to public services and social welfare." In Finland the think-tank EVA, strongly in favour of Big Business, has recently published a booklet (Power to Communities) on the British model. Eloranta hasn’t much positive to say on the ideas presented in the booklet. Quite the opposite: he ridicules the idea of kindergartens or drug addiction clinics becoming dependent on the voluntary work of ordinary citizens.
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