Search this site
-
Recent posts
About
I'm a councillor in the London Borough of Wandsworth; this blog mainly covers that, sometimes general politics and policy and occasionally anything else that takes my fancy.
Tag Archives: big society
Neighbourhood Watch and Big Society
A bit of lazy blogging. But going through various bits and pieces from last week it occurred to me that I didn’t post my speech from the Neighbourhood Watch conference I referred to in Tweeting not twitching in Wandsworth. I don’t often write speeches – which probably shows through in my performances in the council
read more…
Maslow for government
Nat Wei, the Government’s Big Society advisor, has an interesting blog which often highlights good Big Society examples. It now appears he’s rating them as well and recently introduced his ‘power rating’ (and thanks to Warren Hatter for highlighting it) which “seeks to express the increasing degree in which a platform or initiative takes power
read more…
Wandsworth Challenge
I am excited to see the Wandsworth Challenge finally launch a public face this week. I know that some might be sceptical, even cynical, about it; but I’m not one of them. I’m excited in large part because it marks a new way of working for the council. Wandsworth has been remarkably successful at running
read more…
Posted in Wandsworth
Also tagged ideas, Politics, transparency, Wandsworth Challenge
Leave a comment
What motivates people
I have been a rubbish blogger recently. In my defence the dream of mainly working from (a small) home hasn’t been so dreamlike since the birth of our second child! The result has been that a lot has had to suffer, including this blog. I want to, and will, keep it going, but why? What
read more…
The council doesn’t have all the answers
“The council doesn’t have all the answers” was one of the closing comments by the council’s deputy leader, Maurice Heaster, during a debate on the Wandsworth Challenge last week. I would hope, to most, that this is fairly self-evident, but sometimes you wonder. You wonder first because there is a tendency for government (of whatever
read more…
Public health in Wandsworth
Andrew Lansley, the Secretary of State for Health, came to Wandsworth to launch the public health white paper yesterday. I’ve been very remiss in not posting much about health on here, despite the fact that it’s probably the most exciting area of local government at the moment and presents a huge opportunity for local councils
read more…
The inevitable failure of Big Society?
Wearing various hats I’ve found myself spending a lot of time talking about the Big Society recently (including, if you’ll forgive the name-dropping, with Nat Wei) and one common theme has emerged: failure. Failure has been the first thing on the agenda in pretty much every discussion, whether with councillor or resident, Conservative or Labour,
read more…
Technology isn’t always the answer
Years ago, as a new councillor, one of the old salts told me that he now couldn’t go anywhere in the country without seeing a housing estate and looking for indications of how many of the houses or flats had been bought or how the estate was managed. I’ve found myself doing the same looking
read more…
Fly tipping: the council’s fault?
Several weeks ago I posed the question does the council actually hinder people doing the right thing? The example offered publicly in the comments (and by email from someone else) was on our policy of charging to collect bulky items. I’ve never been directly involved in our refuse policy. But I’m not afraid of idly
read more…
Reinventing Government
In a bid to check whether there really are no new ideas I’ve started re-reading David Osborne and Ted Gaebler’s Reinventing Government. It’s probably not that well-known a book today, but it was the first ‘fad’ book I remember – and having seen other titles like Nudge come to prominence (only to hear it dismissed
read more…
Posted in Politics
Also tagged 80s, 90s, Bill Clinton, innovation, Reinventing Government
Leave a comment
