Renewing public services

To the RSA last night, for my second speech there. (My first was my wedding speech at our wedding reception hosted there). The theme was reform of our public services about which we’ll besaying a lot next week. For most families the worry about the downturn dominates everything. But more and more, people are thinking about the kind of economy – and the kind of society – we want to emerge from this storm. Click here for the text

I think most people want to see a society that’s fairer in the future – where we reassert some moral boundaries on the market – and make sure public services do more to help from any walk of life get on in life. That was the theme of my speech; it looked back on how we responded to downturns in the last century and argued we’ve the chance once again to re-shape the state during this downturn, putting power in peoples’ hands yet making sure that standards and quality aren’t a gamble but something guaranteed. Let me know what you think.