Radical movement

Have the grey suits taken over voluntary agencies? Our roving
reporter at the recent National Council of Voluntary Organisations’
annual conference was in a position to observe key changes over the
past decade, having been a delegate in 1984.

The radicalism voluntary organisations were once noted for
seemed to have gone. For example, polite applause greeted the Home
Secretary Michael Howard, compared with the dramatic walk-out his
predecessor Sir Leon Brittan provoked when he rose to speak at
Keele University 11 years ago.

Generally, the stuff of debate in 1995 is contracting and the
law rather than anti-discrimination, though the session on
campaigning provided a bit of colour.

Have the radical campaigners calmed down or have they just
stopped going to conferences?