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Can we please stop using the word 'innovation'? It's become totally devoid of meaning, on a par with 'solutions.'

Mr Cameron promises transparency from local government but his head of candidates will hardly publish any data on the Conservative Party's MEP selection process.

Pathetic hypocrisy.

What a sick joke! The party does not have the technology or skills to maintain accurate membership records. Many members did not receive ballot papers for the Mayoral and European ballots.

John Maples, the returning officer for the European ballot, disobeyed a 3 line whip and abstained on the crucial vote for a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty.

Iain Dale deleted my comment on his blog which asked why he had criticised Ken Clarke for voting against party policy but not Maples. Dale has been silent on the gerrymandering of the European selections. He is not an independent commentator, just a CCHQ sychophant and sanctimonous hypocrite who is desperate for a seat!

I look forward to seeing an increased role for the voluntary services. This is the only way to get a proper micro-managment of social problems. However we have to ensure that voluntary bodies are at all times accountable, yet not weighed down by bureaucracy. The top-down approach, more often than not, leads to big-fix overkill solutions which turn out to be no solution at all. Only by working on the ground and getting to the heart of social problems will it be possible to begin making a difference. This is a refreshing new approach to getting things done.

"I can’t tell you exactly how social problems will be solved once we’re elected

I hope this sentence doesn't come back and haunt DC. Given all the stirling Social Justice policy work that has already been done I hope that DC does have some idea!

I'm usually impressed by DC's speeches but this one seems rather muddled and confused.

What point was David Cameron trying to get across?

One minute he says that he doesn't want to talk about science and the next he starts talking about mainframe's, Linux, open source solutions (a decades old Conservative Government concept - Posix, OSF etc) and IBM (who were one of the main opponents of 'Open Systems' back in the 80's). Is IT no longer considered technology?

He says he wants to talk about Social Innovation but he doesn't mention the social problems that need to be addressed by that innovation or how a Conservative Government would facilitate such innovation?

Then he he hints at the general concept of decentralisation of power without providing any detail but says nothing about deregulation (or perhaps even new regulation) or funding, both of which, I suspect would greatly assist in facilitating certain types of innovation.

This speech was hardly a concise message.

If a Conservative Government is not going guide entrepreneurs by identifying the areas where they want social innovation. How on earth can we be confident that entrepreneurs are going to provide the sort of innovation that is required?

If a Conservative Government are not going to facilitate innovative ideas from small scale entrepreneurs. How will small scale entrepreneurs (e.g in the IT sector) overcome companies such as Microsoft who have suppressed innovation elsewhere since pretty much their inception.

There are certain impacts of decentralisation that potentially can have a negative effect as easily as a positive one such as loss of central control and diversity of outcome. DC does not consider how a Conservative Government would ensure that the outcomes from such issues are positive?

This speech suggests that DC has a long way to go before he is ready to lead the mobilisation of innovators and utilise technological innovation appropriately to address the social issues that face this country.

Perhaps he could start by highlighting the key issues that he thinks might be assisted by technology or other innovations and provide an outline of requirements on which such innovations need to be based?

There are obvious areas where innovation could be used - transport, environment, energy usage, information security and availability.

As a postscript, I agree given the topic there also does seem to be a lack of consistency between what he said in the speech and the actions of the Party. It's about time on issues of political transparency and internal democracy the Conservative Party got their act together and walked the walk. Talking the talk without backing up with real change is getting rather tedious. DC needs to lead by example.

I'm going write this off as just a pretty poor speech.

"One minute he says that he doesn't want to talk about science"
....nope, he said it shouldn't ONLY be about science.
He has a point - The government sems to be stuck on biotechnology and can't see any further.
"and the next he starts talking about mainframe's"
......how many people think of mainframes as "science"?
"he doesn't mention the social problems that need to be addressed"
.....Ian Duncan Smith has already done that very effectively.

There seems to be quite a lot of unwarranted criticism aboove but
I agree with Tony Makara, this looks interesting.

In the land of the blind the eye-catching initiative is king.

TBH the one thing we need to be promising the electorate is that - if elected - we'll get out of the way of ordinary people and let them live their lives without trying to micromanage them.

No more 'initiatives' or 'strategies' or 'policies' - instead, promise to *do* less, *intervene* less, *tax* less. Setting people free to realise their potential means getting the government off their backs, and out of their lives.

How can the Conservatives claim to want to support technological innovation when they support the governments polices that have caused so much damage to small IT companies by destroying their markets with, in effect, subsidised overseas suppliers. Outsourcing and inter-company transfers have destroyed small companies and individuals. Now youngsters are not studying many technical subjects at university as they see no future prospects for themselves in the industry. The Conservatives have done nothing to oppose these damaging policies. Why? It is a bit rich to now claim to support technical innovation.

Although there wasn't a lot of detail (we can hardly expect that) I think this was a good speech that showed a decent grasp of innovation, a field I have worked all my life in. He hit on some key points - we can't predict or state organise what new ideas will emerge but do have to create the conditions for them to emerge. He also hits correctly on removing the barriers to risk- taking and the overly pervasive fear of making mistakes when conceiving new approaches.

Innovation is just a buzzword, nothing more. It sounds modern. It may be fluff but its par for the course in this political climate.

Most of Camerons speeches are a good substitute for toilet paper to be honest.

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