Yesterday I was asked if, or maybe rather told, I was a Tory. I am sure maybe people would say I was but I believe it is not that simple if you really want to understand the bigger picture. Many policies have many advantages and disadvantages, with a whole range of stakeholders from many viewpoints who will all have a say in the direction to some degree.


What a minister claims they promise what will happen will always go through a long process before being turned into a palatable solution. Many policies will be implemented within a complex landscape of norms and challenges which may need to be overcome or worked with. Many policies indeed come from the civil service who may have ideas sitting on their shelves, waiting for the right brave or foolish minister to adopt it as their own. These policies may often come as a demand from the sector they affect and in the past, they have even come from disabled people.


From whatever government, they are some policies or elements I agree with and others I disagree with. Within social care especially I try to have an active involvement in the development of policies in a way that is honest and thoughtful. The government is not a single entity but a collection of departments, organisations, people and ideas that work together in a complex way. True activism is about working with this collective to see the bigger picture, not to turn everything into a showdown between you and the government you imagine exists.