Dave unleashes the Big Society

“The Big Society: a genuine vision for Britain's future – or just empty rhetoric?” headlines The Independent. Nearly a month after his government announced the harshest austerity budget in living memory, David Cameron has unveiled his flagship Big Society policy, which seeks to devolve power from central government to local groups to manage post offices, libraries, transport services and housing projects. Speaking in Liverpool, the PM named four "vanguard communities" which are going to be the "great training grounds of this change", a change, the centre-left wing daily notes, that “has drawn criticism from people who think it is either meaningless, or an excuse for cutting public services.”