'Life is a reciprocal business'

Tuesday's Night waves on BBC Radio 3 featured a discussion around the idea that 'there is no such thing as society' with David Willetts MP and Geoff Mulgan of the Young Foundation.

They rode together floor-by-floor in a conceptual lift, taking turns to press the buttons and glancing out at personal social networks, how 'community' is reflected in civil society, our confused associations with national institutions, and the growing acknowledgment of global connections.

Available here for a few more days. This item starts about 15 minutes into the programme.

In passing, the programme claims that Margaret Thatcher's famous remark about society has been 'spun out of context'. We're reminded that she never actually said 'There's no such thing as society.' What she said was 'Who is society? There is no such thing'. Sounds pretty close to me. And it seems she also said 'life is a reciprocal business'.