Who'll be proved right on Big Society and cuts?
It's amazing what a link from the front page of the ´óÏó´«Ã½ website can do for you.
Usually I'm delighted to see just a couple of comment posts on a blog entry.
But after my Big Society blog made it to the ´óÏó´«Ã½ front page, the comment numbers went nuclear.
It was 105 at the last count.
It's turned into a fascinating and impassioned debate about the whole concept.
David Cameron put some flesh on the Big Society bones yesterday, and insisted it wasn't just about cutting services.
And he confirmed that the Eden district of Cumbria I visited last week will be one of the pilot areas for the policy.
So the buyout of Crosby Ravensworth's pub and the village's energy project may well become a test for the Big Society idea.
But what's interesting about the debate that erupted on my blog yesterday is the clear philosophical and ideological divides that are emerging.
The Big Society, like the cuts, crystallises the real schism that is developing in our politics.
There is now clear blue water between Labour and the Conservatives on the size and role of the state.
And the Coalition's decision to cut harder and faster than Labour ever planned to shows yet again that there are genuine differences between the two parties now.
It makes a change from the perception formed over the last decade that there's little to distiguish our political parties.
The question then is who will be proved right on the impact of cuts and the viability of the Big Society concept in that climate?
The result may dictate the future fortunes of the three main political parties both in the North and the rest of the country.
I'm Richard Moss, the ´óÏó´«Ã½'s Political Editor for the North East and Cumbria. Welcome to my irreverent - but hopefully insightful - northern take on reporting politics for Look North and the Politics Show.
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