‘Round like a circle in a spiral…’ - March 31 - 6.15pm - 2022

Ed Milliband’s ‘Big’ ideas to fix our world

My first thought was Lionel Blair. And it kept recurring to me during Mr Milliband’s talk on his new book ‘Go Big: 20 Bold Solutions to Fix Our World’. Engaging? Yes. Likeable? Yes. Convincing and full of substance? Well, let’s just say the jury’s out. The Former Labour Leader and currently Shadow Secretary of State for Climate Change and Net Zero was here to talk about some of the big ideas (thus the title of his book) being put forward to solve the daunting challenges currently faced by the world. And in principle, though only two or three were actually discussed (the climate, Universal Basic Income and child care) you couldn’t argue with them. The problem for me, and I was reminded of the lyrics to the song ‘Windmills of My Mind’ (‘Round like a circle in a spiral, like a wheel within a wheel, Never ending or beginning on an ever spinning reel…’) was that he wasn’t able to give ANY substance as to just how these big ideas could be implemented. Now maybe he does in the book but he didn’t here. Instead, questioned by Provost of Worcester College David Isaacs, he just seemed to continually extemporise without ever offering any rigid framework as to how he could achieve in practical terms these Big Sky thoughts. To me, it felt like one of those after dinner diversions where guests around the table are asked to choose how they would improve the world in one way. Entertaining yes but ultimately disappointing without lead in the pencil.