The Big Society Swindle
Luckily I didn’t find out until 8 pm last night that David Cameron was in the next room announcing his ’vision’ for the world that he wants us to inherit, Why did Mr Cameron choose Liverpool? the historic heartbeat of radical labour movements, a hundred years of workers revolting. We can all continue to ask this why we ponder what impact more volunteers at Museums will have. For that is what he was there to promote. I found it very odd, that on this particular day, there was actually an absence of staff at the Walker Art Gallery, where normally you would usually find two highly trained education assistants located by the exhibit banner stand that specialize in creative activities and early literacy, there was no one. The dressing up area usually full of costumes, was bare except for a very impressive Henry VIII and a wee worker bee, hmmm. I have worked at one of the largest Science museums in the States, and while it was not free, they had a mandatory amount of free days that they must provide every year in order to justify the public funding they received. In the good old days, this used to mean that every Tuesday or Thursday was free. Unfortunately now, it is a week of free days in the middle of the winter, but, you can check out free passes from the library so it kind of balances out. The point is, the museum provides excellent jobs to people who live in the community, it is a sector of the workforce that can be a wonderful entry for graduates who are interested in pursuing careers in either education, the arts, human resources, marketing, design, management, you name it. Our happy and over qualified team included a part time University Professor, a retired tuba player from the marine corps band, a model, a film maker, a movie critic, and too many out of work actors. Its not that I have anything against volunteers, its just that we can’t let it undermine the opportunities for people to find meaningful work.