Baroness Warsi defines the Big Society in 51 words

By Jonathan Isaby

I have felt for some time that the Government has failed properly and succintly to define what is meant by the concept of the "Big Society".

So I was heartened to see during Question Time in the House of Lords yesterday that Baroness Warsi made rather a good fist of doing just that, in the following 51 words:

"The big society is defined by many in this House as being what most of them have done for most of their lives. It is a volunteering, social action, philanthropic approach to life, but it is also about the opening up of public services to local control and devolution of power."