The RSA Blog

We're all offenders

Blog

03 Mar 2009

I have difficulty with the word ‘offender’.  I didn’t until I heard Frances Crook speak at an event last year when she remarked that the term has no real meaning given that most of us at some point or other has probably committed an offence.  Frances has a point – consider the following questions.

Me, Vince Cable, and the Child Trust Fund

Blog

03 Mar 2009

Matthew Taylor

For some unknown reason I find myself this afternoon on a panel at the National Housing Federation’s Leaders Forum. It’s not hard to see why they chose the other panellists: Lord Falconer, former housing minister and now Chair of a major housing association, Professor Christine Whitehead, housing expert from the London School of Economics and none other than Vince ‘Oracle’ Cable. But why me?

Turning archives into social media spaces

Blog

02 Mar 2009

Just spent a little while taking  a brief but enjoyable gambol in  this new gallery/museum-based social media project, Creative Spaces. It's a beta version, but already creates a great model of how to make collections more accessible, and how to let the public use material that might otherwise be gathering dust.  I should get out more, I know, but I do like the idea of not having to travel to museums.

Fred, the rich and compulsory good causes

Blog

02 Mar 2009

Matthew Taylor

A bit of a consensus is emerging about the ‘Fred the Shred’ pensions debacle.  On the one hand, people find Goodwin’s determination to hold onto his pension inexplicable and obscene, given the misery his bad decision-making is causing.  On the other hand, there is a strong suspicion that Government ministers are using Fred-baiting as a useful way of avoiding more difficult discussions about the overall crisis, or as a way of currying favour amongst Labour activists.

A tale of two bankers

Blog

02 Mar 2009

At the Ashden Directory blog Robert Butler writes about Mohammed Yunus, founder of Bangladesh's Gameen Bank, and deliverer of Thursday night's Ashden Awards lecture:

A wake up call for the public sector

Blog

27 Feb 2009

Matthew Taylor

Steve Bundred, chief executive of the Audit Commission, gives it to us straight this morning in The Times:

Why migration policy is never right

Blog

26 Feb 2009

Matthew Taylor

My old friends at ippr have a report out today on immigration. In typical ippr style the work is balanced, evidence based and progressively inclined. It comes to the conclusion that there is no net impact on the existing workforce as a result of immigration. However, all the evidence upon which the project was based comes from before the recession, so I fear it won’t cut much mustard with the kind of people who have been protesting against the hiring of foreign workers.

New challenges for a new Fellowship

Blog

25 Feb 2009

Matthew Taylor

As I suggested yesterday, thinking about conversation does seem to improve it. I had some fascinating exchanges in Sheffield and Leeds yesterday and also met up with other bloggers, including Rob Greenland who has already blogged about last night’s Fellows evening.

Being Nudged by Tesco

Blog

25 Feb 2009

I haven't been to Tesco for a few weeks, but last night at the checkout it was bemusing to see that the plastic bags were about the size of a piece of A4 paper. I asked whether they had any larger ones, but the woman who scanned my shopping gave me the impression that there weren't. This didn't bother me too much as I wasn't doing a big shop, but the guy next to me who had bought at least 16 pints of milk looked distinctly hacked off as he crammed his purchases into the tiny bags.