16. Dick moves on

Hi, I'm Richard Everyman but people call me Dick

It's been a while since my last report so please forgive the lack of information.  My last mission required that I infiltrate several organisations to look for evidence of the Big Society.  I'm obviously not at liberty to say where I've been as this will remain top secret for the next fifty years, so don't forget to come back and check - I suggest putting a reminder in your mobile or iPod calendar.

Anyway, you obviously want to hear about my findings.  Have I found the Big Society?  In a word - I've had absolutely no luck at all, okay so that was seven. 

The Eggheads urged me to go out into the world...

My mentors, the Eggheads urged me to go out into the world, so taking their advice I have been in touch with lot's of ordinary people who, for one reason or another are struggling together either against oppression or other common causes.  I needed to find out if they fitted into the Big Society or if they believed that it existed at all.  But as soon as I felt I had the right answers my dreams filled me with fresh doubt.  The dream that I call "The Institution" is one that recurs many times, taunting me and teasing me with its promise to reveal the secret of the Big Society.

It is always the same dream - the institution looms before me and I am unaware of what horror awaits me. Who or what lies behind its doors? I think I see a face at the window and I want to turn back but a strange force urges me to go inside...

a strange force urges me to go inside......

The corridors are long and foreboding and I think I hear the cry of poor unfortunate souls.  I am unsure whether they belong to the living or to the ghosts of residents past. I can only imagine what deprivation and suffering they experienced between these walls and how long they spent in incarceration.  I see no one, but behind closed doors I here faint mutterings and whimpers and occasionally a heart stopping cackle. 

I comfort myself that someone, somewhere will have the answers as I drift through the endless labyrinth, hoping that the Big Society has taken care of or is in the process of helping those that may be left...

And then I see the answer to my prayers - at last someone who will have the answers!

I see the answer to my prayers

This is Dick Everyman signing out.