Reflections on New Think Tank – 4. Alex Kenmure
This is a series of posts in which we’ve invited people to give us their reactions to the New Think Tank project. This post: Alex Kenmure. Thanks to Alex for contributing the post, and we welcome your...
View ArticleCould social media help to open up commissioning?
Chris Sherwood, Co-Founder of Guerilla Policy and Director of Innovation and Development at Scope argues that commissioners should use social media as a way to collaborate with citizens to open up...
View ArticleWhat role could social media play in commissioning?
Chris Sherwood, Co-Founder of Guerilla Policy and Director of Innovation and Development at Scope argues that commissioners should use social media as a way to collaborate with citizens to open up...
View ArticleHow could commissioners make greater use of social media?
How could commissioners make greater use of social media? Chris Sherwood, Co-Founder of Guerilla Policy and Director of Innovation and Development at Scope argues that commissioners should use social...
View ArticleAre directly elected mayors making use of social media?
We’ve been blogging over the past couple of weeks about how various bodies – think tanks, commissioners, civil servants and trade bodies – can make better use of social media such as Twitter. In this...
View ArticleBest of the frontline bloggers (week ending 5th October 2012)
Here’s our selection of the best frontline blogs we’ve read this week – from local government finances, to payment by results. Do send us your suggestions for great posts we’ve missed – and those...
View ArticleSocial work and moving on
In a couple of weeks I will be leaving social work. Or will I? I am moving into a job where my social work qualification is not an essential requirement. I am moving away from ‘frontline’ practice in...
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Troubled thinking
Well, the ridiculous examples of bad performance measurement keep flooding in. I’ve lost count of whether we should be on Episode 5 or 6 by this point, so I’ll just stick to new titles from now on....
View ArticleOrganising for a new economy
This week I went with my colleagues from Southwark to visit Marsh Farm Outreach, a group of local residents of the Marsh Farm estate who have been working for over fifteen years to create an area of...
View ArticleMore hypocrisy and doublespeak
A month ago, in the week that the new homelessness regulations came into force, I did a Red Brick piece on homelessness that I called ‘Hypocrisy and Doublespeak’. The aim was to highlight the absurdity...
View ArticleThe future of public sector communications – 2013 and beyond
At the recent Public Sector Communications Awards in Manchester I delivered a presentation about the future of public sector communications in the coming years. I’ve since had a few emails and Twitter...
View ArticlePickles and local government ‘saving’ ideas
Yesterday, Pickles announced a cut of 1.7% spending for local authorities. On top of cuts which have taken place already, this leaves many public services in a precarious position. Local government has...
View ArticleWestminster Council’s proposals for obesity: awful, awful, awful
So, Westminster Council have announced something thoroughly, offensively awful: they want obese people to be monitored to check if they’re using a gym, and if they aren’t, they should have their...
View ArticleCouncillors’ pay: Throwing money at more of the same just increases the odds...
If you feel at all cynical about politicians and their motives for seeking power, you are unlikely to have been left feeling refreshed by the latest row over councillors’ pay which has surfaced this...
View ArticleRehabilitating politicians
I am genuinely concerned about the widening gulf between the public and politicians…and the level of sheer contempt for our representatives. I understand why and how this has happened and all parties...
View ArticleCentral Government support for the youth service is needed now more than ever
I’ve written before about my concerns of an increasingly fragmented youth sector. Local authorities, under growing central pressure to save money, are ‘casually’ slicing through their youth service...
View ArticleDon’t let them pickle local government
With tremendous chutzpah, Eric Pickles is slating councils who dare to exercise their democratic right to increase Council Tax (http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-21226239). In so doing he makes clear...
View ArticleCooperative Councils – the blueprint for Miliband’s Labour?
The recently published pamphlet ‘Towards co-operative councils: empowering people to change their lives’ by the Cooperative Councils Network – which I was a contributor to, may represent an important...
View ArticleFrontline voices: Emma Daniel – Cool again, local democracy that is
In the latest post in this series on voices from the frontline, Emma Daniel – who works for an organisation which brings together democratic organisations and digital media to improve democratic...
View ArticleUnchaining the wolf
This blog looks at the impact of the austerity measures and in particular, the retraction in public sector spending on charities. I am concentrating on medium sized charities partially because I work...
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