The merits and limitations of coproduction

 I’m always interested to read what David Boyle has to say.  He is the co-author of a recent report published jointly by the New Economics Foundation and NESTA.  The report puts forward co-production as the best, most cost effective way of improving public services. Boyle and his co author, Michael Harris, argue that by focusing [...]

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The tyranny of habit

The other day I was in a meeting where a number of us where talking about how best to initiate a conversation across the organisation about dealing with cuts.  We were talking about the need to deliver quantifiable efficiencies when a colleague pointed out that in our personal lives if we find ourselves with financial [...]

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Nutmeg, the local government apprentice

There were always targets for breakfast.  There were always performance indicators for lunch. There were always inspections for supper.  The civic offices were full of files of data. Nutmeg, the local government apprentice, looked out of the window.  Cllr Nesbit fiddled with bits of things.  Nicodemus, the chief executive, sat in his chair and dozed. Nutmeg [...]

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The bottle and the damage done

Back in March when the Chief Medical Officer, Sir Liam Donaldson, suggested a minimum price for alcohol, the Government quickly dismissed the suggestion.  But few would dispute the social harm that alcohol mis-use causes.  Alcohol is involved in more than half of all A&E visits and the range of fact sheets produced by Alcohol Concern [...]

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Nudging to success

I went last night to hear Richard Thaler speaking at the London School of Economics about Nudge – improving decisions about health wealth and happiness, the book that he co-wrote with Cass Sunstein and which was published last year.  At the time both Thaler and Sunstein were working at Chicago University but Sunstein is now [...]

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Behavioural change and the much mentioned brilliance

In his poem Love Songs in Age Philip Larkin writes about ‘that much mentioned brilliance, love’ promising to ‘solve, satisfy, and set unchangeably in order’.  With behavioural change fast becoming the hottest topic in local government, there might be a view that councils are over-reaching themselves.  In seeking to make a reality of our community [...]

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Behaviour change in Beijing

I took part today in a workshop organised by the London Collaborative which brought together a delegation of 25 senior officials from Beijing and members of the collaborative from boroughs, thinktanks, third sector and private sector organisations. Mary Ney, chief executive at Greenwich kicked the event off.  Greenwich has been doing some joint work with the [...]

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