“Judging a person by their temperature is —
how shall I put it? — so uncool!”
From Oscarboli by Bachchoo

The mugs who devise electoral campaigns in democracies try to formulate A Big Idea. The Bharatiya Janta Party, remember, floated the Big Idea of “India Shining”. It was a boast but the electorate found its lustre lacking. The Big Idea in India is still “roti, kapda aur makaan”.
When Lenin was smuggled, like an infectious disease in a sealed train to St. Petersburg’s Finland Station, the crowd that received him awaited the Big Idea — which was Peace, Bread and Power or variations on that theme. Dictatorships have the one simple Big Idea: Vote for the Dictator or Die. The Romans came up with the everlasting formula of “bread and circuses”.
The Tory party’s present governing clique came up with their own slogan: The Big Society. It was supposed to say that we must not ask what the state can do for us but what we can do for the state. Or at least that people would do things for themselves, a sort of Home Guard in civil times. That’s how I, a humble voter, saw it. My interpretation of the phrase may not be the only one. To some a Big Society might mean babies inflating the demographic; to others it may have an echo of The Big Burger of the fast food outlet with promises of cheap and instant gratification without nourishment.
The slogan didn’t affect the election result. The Conservatives formed a government by going into coalition with a party that actually wanted more state action on several counts, such as reining in the banks, taxing of the rich, passing legislation to give more students access to higher education, withdrawing from war, scrapping nuclear plants, building windmills, joining Europe with gusto, etc.
Voters didn’t quite understand what The Big Society meant. Now it becomes clearer.
The phrase was a contrivance, a sleight of hand to disguise the cutting down of services provided by the state. It was a philosophical device to get volunteers to do what the state had hitherto done.
Which can’t surely mean that one has to perform heart operations on oneself or patrol and repair the roads? It can’t mean we raise, through Internet networking, presumably, troops of yeomen under the banner of Dukes and Earls with neighbourhood-backed su­bsidies to relieve Britain’s troops in Afghanistan: “600 Forest Hill Volunteers Killed by Road Mines in Helmand — Relatives of the fallen heroes claim that bows and arrows not effective against Taliban’s American weaponry”.
The Big Society means that services will be cut and jobs abolished. We, pledges the government, will all share the pain. The debt and extravagance of the previous New Labour regime have left this coalition with no choice but to cut not only the fat of inefficiency but the muscle of real services.
“Bread” being necessary to the body, it can be rationed but not to the point of starving bodies. “Circuses” on the other hand, those provided for by the state, are like an accordion. Even if squeezed they still make a sound — in the case of the British Film Council, which the arts and culture ministry has just abolished, rather a loud one.
The arts budget, subsidising theatre, orchestras, opera, literature, visual arts etc. has been cut by half. The ministers in charge have regretted some of the cuts but have, in the spirit of The Big Society, recommended that the arts help themselves. The policy of no state subsidy prevails in New York where theatres make their money entirely from ticket sales. A Londoner pays a third of what a New Yorker will pay for the same show. In London you can get in to the Proms for a fiver (£5) whereas a New Yorker could pay $80 to listen to a comparable concert of classical music.
I have in my time been a member of several theatre groups each of which have had subsidies from the British Arts Council or from a regional state fund.
The justification was that a society does not live by bread alone and that the arts are the chief vehicle for purifying and advancing the dialects of the tribe. Yes, abstract notions whose impact can’t be measured in money or weight — and yet we know that “educated” is better than “ignorant” or that beautiful is better than ugly, that revelation, a little exploration in whatever form of the possibilities of mind and life is better than the stagnant darkness.
It doesn’t mean that the pretentiously creative should live off subsidy. Theatre proves itself not only by critical acclaim but by bums on seats. Arts grants are and should be subject to both sorts of assessment — worth and popularity. The grants enable, say, a theatre company to commission scripts, pay actors meagre salaries and seed their activities and ambitions.
This month a play of mine called Miranda — it’s what I’ve called a polylogue for a single actor dancer — set in contemporary Goa, was adopted by the distinguished British Asian company Tara Arts and together with Lucid Arts, was commissioned to perform through August at the Edinburgh Fringe, the most prestigious arts festival in Britain.
Tara, at the same time, had its grant cut as have most companies. We had no money to pay the actors and get the show on the road. We had, of necessity to subscribe to the philosophy of The Big Society, fish around for anyone
who would give us a loan or a grant.
A concerned friend introduced us to an institution which she knew supported the arts, in particular arts of Asian origin. We, of course, agreed that the potential sponsors should come and see a rehearsal of our raw show being done in a makeshift venue in the suburbs of London. 
Our guests arrived, among them M.F. Hussain. For a moment I attributed my recognition of him to something I might have drunk or smoked the night before — but no, it was M.F. Hussain. Our potential sponsors sat through the show and very generously agreed to recommend it for sponsorship.
The C&C Alpha Group came through. With no more fuss, bother or questioning than a brief meeting with a beautiful and charming young lady who handed over a cheque, they became our Big Society sponsors.
And that made the show go on. Yes, thanks, it has opened and is doing well in Edinburgh.