What is a national debate?
And have you, or anyone you know, ever taken part in one?
I just read John Williams piece on Comment is Free having a not-so-gentle pop at the whole e-petitions thing, and he ends with this.
We do need a national debate on how we maintain the contradictory things we like to have in a crowded island - the freedom of the road, nice countryside, a thriving economy, low taxes, and everybody else off the road except ourselves.
Aaargh - the number of times I hear people saying ‘we need to have a national debate’ on this; or a ‘national debate’ on that, and yet I have honestly never
It is normally a spectacular delaying tactic from someone who wants to oppose something, but can’t find a suitable alternative.
Interviewer: ‘So what do you propose…’
Interviewee: ‘I think we should have a national debate about….x x x’
And for some reason, they are nearly always allowed to get away with that as a justified response. When if they’d said what they really mean -
Obviously you can welcome opinions - as the Arts Council has done here in their national debate but please, with less than 100 comments on each debate it’s hardly national or representative.
The point of all this - is that we might not like the way the e-petitions thing has worked out. We might not like the fact that people who don’t want to pay road tax, or inheritance tax, or who want to have the hunting act scrapped get so much of a say. But I suspect this ‘push-button democracy’ (I forget whose quote that was) is as effective a form of national debate as we’re likely to see anytime soon.
So, I’m starting it now - the campaign against calling for national debates. Oh hell, let’s have a national debate about national debates.
Luke Smith wrote:
Hello Simon’s readers,
The arts debate is a genuine national debate, rather than an exercise in ‘push-button democracy’. We are debating complex issues that will shape the future of public funding of the arts in England. We’ve had over 130 online contributions so far and the vast majority are considered and valuable.
We think a well run national debate informed by extensive research is an appropratiate undertaking for a public body. But we would say that — we’d like to hear what you have to say. Anyway, thanks for promoting out national debate, albeit indirectly
regards,
Luke Smith, Project Manager, The Arts Debate
Posted on 22-Feb-07 at 10:32 am | Permalink
simon.waldman wrote:
Luke - apologies, I didn’t mean to criticise you…frankly, you should be applauded for what you have done..and at least you have kicked things off (and I will contribute accordingly).
The point though is that even a few hundred responses isn’t truly national or representative - and in its way is as open to abuse as the e-petition system (although, I suspect there are less pressure groups beating a path to your door than there are to number 10).
My beef though isn’t with you (ie The Arts Council) - it’s with commentators who call for ‘national debate’ but never actually articulate what that means or how it is going to work, or what the outcome is going to be from it.
Posted on 22-Feb-07 at 10:47 am | Permalink