Month: October 2009

What sort of crisis is public management in?

I’ve just been discussing with a colleague what sort of crisis we are in and what the effects for Public Management Reform are likely to be. Lots of people are discussing what the financial crisis means for public services and public management, without stepping back to think about what sort of crisis the public sector (internationally) faces?

The big issue for me is not the public sector financial crisis per se, but what caused it? Only by understanding that can we start to understand the possible reactions to it. Continue reading “What sort of crisis is public management in?” →

The Financial Crisis: How Economists Went Astray

from Professor Geoffrey M. Hodgson

Two Nobel Laureates and over 2000 Signatories Uphold that Economists have Mistaken Mathematical Beauty for Economic Truth

Continue reading “The Financial Crisis: How Economists Went Astray” →

BNP Supports Polish Pilots?

Today’s controversy over the far-right British National Party using images from the British Armed Forces to promote themselves has one rather ironic element.

The BNP has featured the Spitfire on their literature as an symbol of the Battle of Britain – the air clash between the UK and Germany at the start of the war. Continue reading “BNP Supports Polish Pilots?” →

Balls takes his ball away

Gordon Brown put reinforcing parliamentary accountability at the heart of his premiership. One major change was to involve parliament in the appointment of senior public officials. Continue reading “Balls takes his ball away” →

MPs Expenses – the missing mortgage money issue

So – MPs expenses are back, but this time with a slightly more complex plot.

Former civil servant Sir Thomas Legg has been accused of retrospective re-writing of the rules in calling on MPs to repay anything above certain set limits for things like cleaning their second homes. Continue reading “MPs Expenses – the missing mortgage money issue” →

PS – Eye Witness: Gordon’s seemed fine to me

I sat next to Gordon Brown at the Chequers seminar (Sat 10/10/09) as he he took copious notes – he was clearly having no problem writing, so I don’t know what all the fuss is over his eyesight?

Chequers, mate?

I almost didn’t get to Chequers (the Prime Ministers country residence) on Saturday for a seminar on “Equality, Fairness and Responsibility in the Post-Crisis Society” convened by the PM and chaired by Ed Miliband. Continue reading “Chequers, mate?” →

Recessions Come and Go

Don’t dismantle the public domain because of this latest one…. see my article in today’s Guardian.

See also my brief comment on George Osborne’s ‘cull’ of Whitehall in todays Financial Times.

Britain’s Emissions Exported says Chief Scientist – really?

A news story today apparently sent some in Whitehall into a bit of a tail spin – according to the BBC:

Professor David MacKay told the BBC that reductions in carbon dioxide emissions since 1990 are “an illusion”. “Our energy footprint has decreased over the last few decades and that’s largely because we’ve exported our industry,” he said. Continue reading “Britain’s Emissions Exported says Chief Scientist – really?” →