I am determined to do the bold things it will take to sort out public services, too. Too often our schools aren’t up to scratch, are hospitals aren’t always clean enough and our police don’t catch criminals. Brilliant and committed people work in public services – but somehow the system stops them doing their job. So we’ll change it. And I will be bold about working to cure the problems of our society. While a few at the top get rewards that seem to have nothing to do with the risks they take or the effort they put in, many others are stuck on benefits, without hope or responsibility. So we will tackle excess in the City just as we’re reforming welfare to make work pay and support families.
I profoundly believe that we can turn these things around. That’s what I mean by the Big Society. The British people have got what it takes – and the government has got the ideas and policies we need. As we welcome the world to the best Olympics ever – and as in the 60th year of her reign we honour our Queen as the finest and most famous example of British dedication, British duty, British steadiness, British tradition – let’s use these things as a mirror of ourselves too, a mirror of the nation.
Resilient. Realistic. Intelligent. Curious. Enterprising. Inventive. Unswerving. It’s the spirit that has made our universities among the best in the world, our scientists Nobel prize winners, our athletes gold medal winners, our culture, our music and our television famous everywhere, and our armed forces respected for their dedication and professionalism – as they showed last year in Libya, and as they continue to show in Afghanistan. In every area of life we will find success by being honest with ourselves about the problems, and practical about what lies ahead. I know that if we lift our eyes to the other side we have it in our power to come through this stronger, better balanced, focused on what this fantastic country does best."