Nudge Nudge Think Think

Matthew Taylor’s blog is a very useful source of information on new thinking on a wide range of issues, many of which relate to local government.  It is through his blog that I discovered a recent article, Nudge Nudge, Think Think: Two Strategies for Changing Civic Behaviour.  The article is written by Gerry Stoker, Peter John [...]

Read Full Post »

A practical approach to engagement

At a time when many of us are grappling with our Place Survey data, I was interested in the distinction between simply trying to understand public opinion and working directly with the public drawn by Richard Wilson, Director of Involve, in last week’s Guardian.  He suggests that councils still prioritise research-based techniques like polls, focus [...]

Read Full Post »

End of an era?

Today for the last time the Comprehensive Performance Assessment results are published.  I believe that since its introduction in 2002 the CPA has provided a positive source of external challenge and has contributed to improvement.  I think that its greatest impact was in its early years.  Despite regular tweaking and the development of the harder [...]

Read Full Post »

Social Attitudes Survey

Yesterday the National Centre for Social Research published its annual social attitudes survey.  Amongst the results was that watching television remains Britain’s number one leisure activity.  91% of us watch several times a week and 74% watch every day.  Of the 74%, 23% say that they get no or not much enjoyment from watching tv.  [...]

Read Full Post »