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 'Power To The People!' / Dare to be dull / Presentation or policy? on 14 April 2009. No comments.
There is little surprise in finding that Gordon Brown’s vindictive nature has led him into doing serious damage to his own administration. His team’s failure with Red Rag has wider lessons, though. More »
Posted by Richard D North under Dare to be dull / Death of ideology / Post-Bureaucratic world on 28 October 2008. No comments.
In the post-ideological world, political parties have a clear choice. Robbed of the chance to pretend to want to change the world, parties need to convince the voters they are managerially sound. That, or offer to be sexy, smooth, celebrity types – in the manner of Blair. Likewise, they can offer proper government or insist on ruling informally from a sofa in The Den at Number 10. Where are the Tories in this game? More »
Posted by Richard D North under Dare to be dull / Presentation or policy? / The Initiative Blizzard on 11 October 2008. No comments.
Gordon Brown is the most remarkable case of perception management we have yet seen in politics. He casts himself as the nation’s rock in a metdown, but even now he seems incapable of the modesty and honesty which would make for good government. More »
Posted by Richard D North under Dare to be dull / Presentation or policy? on 23 September 2008. No comments.
Gordon Brown used to insist that if and when he became Prime Minister he wanted to govern in a more sensible and even old-fashioned way. The implication was that the informal Sofa Government from the “den” of Blair’s Number 10 would come to an end. That impulse did not survive. More »
Posted by Richard D North under 'Power To The People!' / Dare to be dull / Death of ideology / Presentation or policy? / The Archipelago State / The wisdom of crowds on 18 September 2008. No comments.
David Cameron has said that he would like to see a return to proper government, with a Prime Minister working with his Cabinet and Whitehall. But he has also been toying with the idea of the “post bureaucratic society”. Sounds nice, let’s hope he doesn’t mean it. More »
Posted by Richard D North under Dare to be dull / The wisdom of crowds on 18 September 2008. No comments.
D Cameron and G Brown both promised they would inaugurate a return to Cabinet government. In both cases, that was before they got the job. GB comprehensively dished his promise. DC has yet to be given a chance to come good. But here’s what Francis Maude, one of his most senior lieutenants, promised. More »
