Politicians, media and public need to understand that politics needs to be less glamorous – or at least understand that it is partly about the unglamorous business of government.
Posted by Richard D North under Dare to be dull / The Political Class on 17 July 2011. No comments.
Invented in their modern form in 1979, House of Commons Select Committees were designed to increase Parliament’s scrutiny of the Government of the day, and to do it by “marking” the departments (the ministries) through which it works. That approach has widened a lot, and in the case of bankers, the police and media tycoons, has maybe gone too far…. More »
Posted by Richard D North under Dare to be dull / Post-Bureaucratic world on 5 April 2011. No comments.
After a year in power, Cameron is now governing like Tony Blair. That’s to say, his use of the levers of power is increasingly bunkered in Number 1o, with message control and management of ministers and Whitehall by party trusties. Here’s an assessment of how it happened. More »
Posted by Richard D North under 'Power To The People!' / Dare to be dull / The Initiative Blizzard on 10 August 2010. No comments.
David Cameron and his Con-Lib coalition have mostly impressed people interested in Britain’s governance as well as its politics. I am not quite so sure, yet… More »
Posted by Richard D North under 'Power To The People!' / Dare to be dull / The Political Class on 23 May 2010. No comments.
Nick Clegg’s constitutional reforms may be worthwhile. But the big shift to good government depends on MPs getting a bit bolder and braver. More »
Posted by Richard D North under 'Power To The People!' / Dare to be dull / The Archipelago State on 10 February 2010. No comments.
Looking at the work of the Institute for Government makes me all the more interested in describing some radical changes in the way the Civil Service operates. Here goes… More »
Posted by Richard D North under Dare to be dull / Post-Bureaucratic world on 5 November 2009. No comments.
Making government better by making it businesslike has a certain appeal. The trick is not to confuse policy with delivery. More »
Posted by Richard D North under Dare to be dull / Post-Bureaucratic world on 7 September 2009. No comments.
There is fresh and useful interest in improving the way a Prime Minister should engage with the Cabinet, and through the Cabinet with the Civil Service. By the way, hardly anyone is being too nostalgic for an imagined golden yesteryear. Here are some of the signs. More »
Posted by Richard D North under 'Power To The People!' / Dare to be dull / Death of ideology / Post-Bureaucratic world on 6 June 2009. No comments.
Here’s a quick guide to Parliamentary Reform
It’s in two parts (after v brief remarks by MBG editor):
(1) Current proposals for the reform of Parliament
(2) Some shakers and movers on the reform of Parliament
Posted by Richard D North under Dare to be dull on 25 May 2009. No comments.
After a few weeks of “crisis”, we’re already past the worst and into some very constructive stuff about the future of Parliament and MPs. Here’s a summary of the proposals so far. More »
Posted by Richard D North under 'Power To The People!' / Dare to be dull / Death of ideology / Presentation or policy? / The Initiative Blizzard / Uncategorized on 28 April 2009. No comments.
Gordon Brown took a lot of stick for his impromptu announcement of an initiative to clobber MPs’ expenses. It shows how careful you have to be when you go in for de haut en bas informal commnications on social media. More »
