Front line, schmont line

First there was Demos’ Time to put trust back in the front line of public service.  Then came the Localis/KPMG report, The Bottom Line – a vision for local government, Reform’s The Front Line and last week we had the Government’s Putting the front line first. The ‘front line’ is of course a term that comes from [...]

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The Pushmi-pullyu approach to social reform

 The idea that there can be perfect congruence from the vision and aspirations of an organisation all the way through its various strategies and action plans to an individual employee’s objectives has always struck me as overly simplistic. In practice, the so called ‘golden thread’ tends to be as elusive as the golden medina. In a similar way, [...]

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President Obama and the web

I’m grateful to my colleague, Ben Unsworth, who gave me a copy of a briefing paper by Chris Quigley of Delib Ltd on how President Obama has been using the web to facilitate a more participative approach to governance.  Chris explains how Open for Questions encouraged citizens to submit questions on line, via text or [...]

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In praise of receptiveness

Like the teenagers we seek to influence, councils are only too susceptible to peer pressure. No sooner have we started to feel confident enough to say that we will no longer be hostage to targets than we all seem to be jumping collectively on the bandwagon of save, save, save. And it seems to be [...]

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Settlers, Prospectors and Pioneers

Last week, together with a number of other colleagues I met with the Campaign Company to learn more about some of the very interesting work they have been doing with outer London boroughs on community cohesion issues. They take a ‘values modes’ (VM) based approach, making use of cultural dynamics. VM is mapping system that [...]

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No messages for anyone – Twitter, Herzog and Stephen Fry

Amongst the latest blogs to be posted at the bloggers’ circle, I was particularly interested in a piece by Blog for Prestolee on social intimacy and twitter. Prestolee outlines how the intimacy of regular contacts between ordinary people has been eroded in today’s increasingly dislocated society and as a consequence, the quality of our daily [...]

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Bloggers’ Circle – a round-up

A while back I mentioned about a bloggers’ circle being set up by Matthew Cain.  I’m pleased to say that the initiative with RSA backing is now up and running.  If you would like to find out more about the bloggers’ circle, the details are on a recent posting by Matthew Taylor. The idea of [...]

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The answer to the question is scrutiny

I went this morning to the Institute of Mechanical Engineers to hear John Denhan, the Secretary of State for Communities, launching a new Department of Communities and Local Government (DCLG) consultation document, Strengthening local democracy. I gathered that it was a hastily arranged and low key launch and while Chris Leslie of the New Local [...]

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Losing the personal touch

This year’s Dorchester Lecture was given by Robert Winston, the medical scientist and broadcaster. One of the issues that Lord Winston raised in his speech is the use of technology by today’s doctors. Lord Winston suggsted that doctors are losing the ability to assess patients in person. Rather than contact with the patient being the [...]

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Reconfiguring mental health services

I had a very interesting afternoon today at the Kings Fund where I was participating in the third in a series of discussions groups organised by West Kent Primary Care Trust as part of a consultation about services for people with complex personality disorders.  The consultation covers services for people throughout London, the East of [...]

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