Big Society was launched yesterday, with the Government’s commitment to it clearly demonstrated by the presence of both Cameron and Clegg.
But who else was there? I’m interested to know, to start to understand more deeply the vision that the Coalition government has for Big Society. It’s a launch, it’s only 20 people, so let’s not get too carried away, but I think it’s still interesting to know who was there.
It seems, at least via Twitter, that the Cabinet Office has either mislaid/isn’t sharing the guest list. That seems contrary to their commitment to open data.
So let’s see if we can piece the guest list together ourselves. If you were there, or if you recognise someone from the photos, please let us know by leaving a comment below.
Update Thursday 11.35 Thanks to Will Perrin, who was at the launch, you can see the seating plan here.
May 19, 2010 — 2:40 pm
Hi Rob, The cabinet office admits to inviting the following: Ray Mallon, Martha Lane Fox, Camilla Batmangelidgh, Nat Wei, Rob Owen.
Will Perrin blogged about being there. We’ve also established that David Robinson, Adele Blakeborough, Neil Jameson were there. And someone that looks a bit like Hilary Cottam of Participle, though I may be mistaken (perhaps I’m just thinking she ought to have been there…)
Patrick
May 19, 2010 — 3:27 pm
Thanks Patrick. I’ve just watched a video here – you may recognise a few more people:
http://bit.ly/9upsCZ
I’m aware this is a slightly daft exercise, but I think it does matter who they invite to a launch. As we all know, launches are about symbolism, so the guest list matters.
Plenty of good stuff in your Society Daily today btw, good work.
http://bit.ly/9X8WWh
May 19, 2010 — 4:00 pm
Seems that the guest list itself originated via twitter!
http://bit.ly/9bhd7q
“It’s not often that you get an invite to attend a meeting with the Prime Minister, and the Deputy Prime Minister at 10 Downing Street. But thanks to a unlikely set of Twitter connections, Alastair Tibbitt, Development Manager for Greener Leith found himself sitting at the cabinet table in Number 10, alongside David Cameron, Nick Clegg, and a host of other voluntary sector agencies discussing the “Big Society”…..
May 19, 2010 — 4:00 pm
It looks as though Stephen Howard from BitC was there too:
http://www.bitc.org.uk/media_centre/news/bigsociety_downingst.html
May 19, 2010 — 10:41 pm
It really doesn’t matter in some ways. Whoever are anointed to shape the vision are destined to create winners and losers. http://leedscd.wordpress.com/2010/03/10/challenges-in-community-development-the-vision-of-the-anointed/
May 20, 2010 — 9:10 am
Thanks for your comments. So we have so far:
Ray Mallon
Martha Lane Fox
Camilla Batmangelidh
Nat Wei
Rob Owen
Stephen Howard
Alastair Tibbit
Adele Blakebrough
David Robinson
Neil Jameson
So that’s half of the guests. Anyone know who the other half were?
May 20, 2010 — 10:17 am
Some info here on the issue – http://tinyurl.com/2ez2ltz
Umbrella bodies weren’t invited.
May 20, 2010 — 11:29 am
Rob,
Here is the full list of people who attended:
Neil Jameson
Will Perrin
Nat Wei
Frances Maude
Martha Lane Fox
PM
Camila Batmanghelidjh
Geoff Mulgan
Dawn Austwick
Ally Tibbett
Rob Owen
Paul Twivy
David Robinson
Lord Victor Adebowale
Adele Blakebrough
Dick Atkinson
Deputy PM
Hilary Cottam
Nick Hurd
Ray Mallon
Rolande Anderson
Stephen Howard
May 20, 2010 — 11:41 am
Thanks Steve, that’s great, proof that social media moves faster than Government!
May 21, 2010 — 8:58 am
There’s info on who all of the above people work for on the Social Enterprise Live site
http://bit.ly/dgjuth
Thanks
Rob
May 22, 2010 — 9:51 am
No surprise that there were so few elected politicians, I don’t recognise any elected trade unionists which is no surprise.
This Big Society doesn’t look like a democratic society – does it?