Brown's Britain: You will all "volunteer"

Putting aside the obvious increases in the tax burden, the fiscal fraud of the PFI on the nations balance books, the CHancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown gave us all a hint of what the "Brown Future" will look like and it seems pretty clear that his three priorities for Government will be legislation legislation and legislation. IN a speech today to the Corporate & Social Responsibilty conference he outlined his vision thus:

A vision for our country to pioneer and be the first to achieve the day when it becomes the norm for:

* Every person to be asked to give some of their income to a charitable cause,;
* Every young person to volunteer some time while in education;
* Every employer has a volunteering scheme for their employees; and
* Every retired person considers helping others with their life's experience and skills.

Supported at each point by an enabling and empowering government that does what it can to make this possible.

The last sentence is the killer that sets the tone for what is to come. Greater social authoriarianism and increased interference. There will be very little that is voluntary in Brown vision of volunteering based on that last sentence.

In Brown's world the state will have an ever increased role in dictating our actions. To quote a wise man from Croydon, Brown is essentially advocating the "nationalisation of free time". God help us all.