Yet again whilst trying to look busy you have fallen into the trap of asking for a review from someone who you thought would say what you wanted to hear. Lord Heseltine proposes many sensible things but the title of Leave No Stone Unturned is not really accurate.
The 'review' leaves many stones unturned and proposes little in the way of strategic change or innovation. Why, for once, can we not undertake an exercise which looks at where we need to be in, say, 50 years time, and plot a course to get there? In the Unofficial Big Society Green Paper I tried to vision out the path to a working, capitalist, big society and managed to come up with several innovations which would have the same effect as throwing cash around like confetti, as Lord H suggests, but would do so in a measurable, targeted and strategic way. The people would get it. They would understand that it is not just the same old big businesses and friends of the government to benefit and they would turn the economy around in just a few years.
There is simply nothing to be gained by delaying the inevitable. Old economics does not work in the current financial climate, capitalsim has been too successful. Tweaks and sticking plaster might produce some growth but they will not end the lurch from boom to bust. This arises as much from the policies of the two controlling parties, swinging from left to right every few years, as it does from international capital flows and recessions. Lord H's review, like all other advice you have conjured this far, does not deal with the underlying issues and they will not go away.
To really energise the people please let's have a proper strategic review, fully costed, and try and create something more than a platform to win the next election. Let's create 5G. A legacy for the next five generations based on a bold and innovative plan.
