I’m quite excited by the concept of a Bigger Society — of people taking more control of their lives and in support the lives of those around them.

Hopefully this will limit waste in supplying social activities and not do too much harm to those who need the help most however is society ready for the supersizing?

After years of the diminishment of mutuals and charities; of less natural volunteering — people used to do things to help their community out without this being organised. Now it seems to require an army of support.

My personal thought is that we need to promote altruism and this needs to come from society as a whole, here are some suggestions:

• Freeing parents and carers up to volunteer
• Employers to give every employee a day’s paid volunteering
• Bosses to be given a reward or recognition for mentoring
• National service for the jobless young
• Day release for teenage employees
• Volunteering accepted as a natural part of unemployment
• Pre-retirement volunteering introductions
• Tax breaks to professionals for providing services to the voluntary sector
• Some form of GiftAid for voluntary work — allowing charitable bodies to claim some tax from those who volunteer for the organisation.

However biggest of all — we need new ideas to demonstrate that taking part in society isn’t about purely being some selfless saint character. Taking part in voluntary activity is good for you — it teaches new skills, opens up new experiences, broadens social circles and gives a huge ‘up’.

How is it so difficult to get this across to people? My feeling is that for so long the populus have been told to think that it’s government’s job to supply these sorts of services — I, for one, would prefer society as a whole to take a firmer control of itself.

People do have time to volunteer and take part in their communities — it’s just about freeing up time. I suspect most people are able to do this, given the support of their family, friends and neighbours. It’s also about exposing people to those opportunities that appeal and effectively reward them.