More "shrill discourse" please

Matthew Taylor, Blair's out-going chief strategy adviser says:

"We have a citizenry which can be caricatured as being increasingly unwilling to be governed but not yet capable of self-government."

An arrogant twat, as Chris rightly says. And one could add that since Matthew Taylor thinks blogs are part of the problem, what he says doesn't quite ring true:

"What is the big breakthrough, in terms of politics, on the web in the last few years? It's basically blogs which are, generally speaking, hostile and, generally speaking, basically see their job as every day exposing how venal, stupid, mendacious politicians are.

The internet is being used as a tool of mobilisation, which is fantastic, but it only adds to the growing, incommensurate nature of the demands being made on government."

It's the last bit I don't recognise. I suppose it depends what blogs you read but on my regular reading list there are more than a few whose principle 'demand' on government is that it should do less.

The generally libertarian stance of many blogs can be seen clearly when you look north of the border. The dreary dead-tree statist consensus here simply doesn't reflect right-libertarian voices like these ones.

And by a happy coincidence, and as you might expect, Mr Eugenides has made the same point already. So if we repeat it, perhaps Mr Taylor and all the other Blairite managerialists might eventually get the message: you want 'empowered communities' full of 'active citizens'? Well, fuck off and leave us alone, then.