Politicians always say they want a bottom-up society, and can never quite deliver it. This may be because it would seldom work and isn’t often a good idea.
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 'Power To The People!' / Presentation or policy? on 18 November 2009. No comments.
For hundreds of years, the british have accepted some very odd fictions as being valuable to good government. As these tumble – or shake a bit – one wonders if we are being as clear-eyed as we think. 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 '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 »
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 'Power To The People!' on 6 April 2009. No comments.
When the BBC’s Culture Show asked Alistair Campbell to chat with its film man Mark Kermode about the new Iannucci offering In The Loop we were bound to have fun. The best of it was that Blair’s spin merchant scored a nice clean win over the right-on luvvie about the merits of politicians. More »
Posted by Richard D North under 'Power To The People!' on 4 February 2009. No comments.
The alleged abuse of the House of Lords (and democracy) by a few Labour peers shouldn’t detract from the great value of the Lords, nor from the merit of its being an appointed, not an elected, house. More »
Posted by Richard D North under 'Power To The People!' / The Initiative Blizzard on 18 November 2008. No comments.
There was a rather depressing discussion on the Today show. It followed publication of Liam Byrne’s mildly assertive ministerial memo setting out how he liked his private office to be run. As usual, the Man In Whitehall was portrayed as a sly tyrant. More »
