Brotherhood Comment November 2006

ISSN 320 8632A regul Ar upd Ate from Soci Al Action And r e Se ArchNovember 2006Towards the good societyEvery so often a publication appears policy has faltered because the Blair to the downshifting among the which signals the beginning of a approach adapted to, rather than middle-aged, the Make Poverty new movement in social politics. broke with, economic rationalism. History campaign, the waves of This may be the case with the Blair’s social reforms were achieved environmental concern, increased recent publication of The good more by stealth than explicitly in volunteering and the serious weight society (Rutherford & Shah 2006) the name of a new society. Today, now attaching to corporate social in the United Kingdom. The thesis according to the authors, the responsibility. While these are of the book is that under New progressive wave that swept New not the familiar types of social Labour, Britain has remained in Labour to power in 1997 has not activism, they are indicative of a the midst of what it terms a ‘social abated. Indeed the Conservatives ‘latent progressive consensus’ which recession’; and the authors sketch are now also champions of public can also be found in Australia. the kinds of policies needed to services, the environment and As Tony Nicholson wrote in restore growth to British society. measures for redistribution. the August issue of Comment, political assessments of Australians The book is the product of the In Australia, under a ...