Yes we can! (From Times Series)

Yes we can!

12:51pm Thursday 13th November 2008 in

• Skip social links
• Print
• Email
• Comments(0)

Barack Obama is, of course, the man of the moment and his acceptance speech has evidently captured the imagination.

European leaders are falling over each other to meet him and Gordon Brown and David Cameron competing with each other to be him - though convincing the electorate that being Scottish or posh is as much of a theoretical obstacle to office as colour will be a tall order.

The phrase “yes we can” is cropping up repeatedly and fast cementing its place in the lexicon of modern political oratory.

But if you take it out of context, it really is a pretty timid slogan. It was only caught up in the context and atmosphere of that heady victory that it moved grown men to tears.

Others are holding on to its tail coats and part of its genius is its complete ambiguity.

That much was in evidence at a trade union meeting at North London Business Park last night, when on more than one occasion speakers roused the audience of council staff, residents and three councillors with a few rounds of “yes we can!”

There were subtle differences between the spirit of Barry’s speech (can we overcome the racial divide in American politics - yes we can) and that of John Burgess (can we overcome Barnet Council’s plans to outsource street cleaning and IT services to private companies, thus damaging the quality of services, terms and conditions of staff and financial transparency - deep breath - yes we can).

Nonetheless, there it was. And it acturally worked very well, if in part because John’s impassioned plea was delivered with such vigour.

The meeting was to inform council staff about what the union and its advisor, Professor Dexter Whitfield, believe the council plans to do in order to meet the rising cost of governance while making budget cuts.

That’s a difficult equation to square for even the most profficient of technocrats. When the council need profficient technocrats they usually turn to Pricewaterhouse Coopers, and a team of bean counters from the accountancy firm have spent the past few months working out whether the chaps who collect your dustbins will be outsourced to a call centre in Bombay.

Ok, that particular scenario is unlikely, but Professor Whitfield and John Burgess have warned us loudly and clearly that this “consultation” will result in a widescale privatisation of public services, a scenario that has proved catastrophic in other areas.

The council’s answer echoes its response to the equally contentious proposals to convert pedestrianised Sanders Lane into a two-lane highway: “We haven’t decided anything yet, there’s nothing to talk about.”

Watch this space.