"The public realm is [a] civilising embodiment of our best collective endeavours"

Polly Toynbee at her very best:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/mar/12/public-sector-26-march-rally

.. The 'good society' must prevail...
... Few people realise yet how their pockets will be hit after 1 April by £81bn of cuts, £18bn from benefits alone. Consider the working families suddenly losing childcare credits worth £600, forced to withdraw from nurseries and abandon jobs. Or housing benefit cuts making some move far away from work. Travers sees the government as "someone diving off a high board in the dark, not knowing if there is water in the pool"....

... The ideal of the entrepreneurial, hyper-efficient private sector is as much a myth as the ideal public servant. Think of all that "business class" travel and hospitality excess paid for by shareholders, mainly from our pension funds. It's time Labour exploded this mindless "private is always best" nonsense. Business is essential – but so is a strong public realm. Why does Serco's CEO earn £4m for running outsourced public services? Labour is on the right track talking of the "good society" as an antidote to Cameron's empty "big society"...

See also:

http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/indreview_willhutton_fairpay.htm