Latest thinking

Over and out?

Blog

01 Jun 2012

Matthew Taylor

I wrote yesterday about the distinction between 'power over' and 'power to'. This distinction is relevant to the crisis which now grips Europe.

What does the future hold for a recovery agenda?

Blog

01 Jun 2012

This week I read an interesting blog post  by Toby Seddon entitled ‘The politics of recovery’. The article draws the comparison between previous crime reduction and harm reduction strategies that have now given way to a more recovery orientated agenda in formulating modern drug policy. The tone of this piece is one of scepticism outlining that continuity is often king, and that recent policies have much in common with their predecessors on  a strategic level. So where does this leave the implementation of a recovery agenda on the front line, and more importantly in our local communities?

Between the book shelves - a new way forward for libraries

Blog

01 Jun 2012

Kate Monkhouse

My first foray into the world of work was as a Saturday girl at the library in my local town.  No two days were ever the same and so many people came through the doors for one reason or another.  It has saddened me therefore to see the decline of funding for libraries and the continued closing of them over the past few years.  However, a couple of weeks ago I visited a library that has been bought back from the brink by a loyal band of volunteers.

Who's got the power?

Blog

31 May 2012

Matthew Taylor

The mountain marathon I am running in two weeks (thanks again to all the kind people who got me to my £2,000 target) illustrates the distinction between ‘power over’ which is zero sum and ‘power to’ which is not. For many runners the goal is to come as close as possible to winning. As only one pairing can come first the power to win is power over others. But all my team of two hopes to do is in finish in one piece. In terms of this goal the ‘power to’ finish need not affect anyone else in the race.

What if Climate Change is not an 'Environmental' Issue?

Blog

31 May 2012

Jonathan Rowson

Like most people I know, I accept the gravity of climate change at an intellectual level, but don't live my life as if the message has really sunk in. It seems that many if not most people reading this blog will be in a similar state: fully aware of the balance of evidence but somehow trapped in patterns of thinking and behaving that seem to prevent us from aligning our actions with our awareness.

Wicked priorities

Blog

30 May 2012

Matthew Taylor

In my last post I used a footballing metaphor to suggest that the lifestyles of well-off people in the UK, particularly those based in the South East of England, put them in the Premiership of developed economy citizens while the poor have fallen to the level of the Championship. Given there are twenty teams in the top football division, there was gloomy confirmation in the statistics released yesterday by UNICEF that UK children are now 21st of  34 in a league table measuring child poverty levels (where the top country has the lowest levels).

Brands and behaviour change: beyond the usual suspects

Blog

30 May 2012

Benedict Dellot

Towards an economy of 'care, craft and culture'

Blog

28 May 2012

Jonathan Rowson

An economy of care, craft and culture. Who could be against that? At an explicit level, nobody, but all the emphasis on 'jobs', 'growth' and 'productivity' risks undermining all of these things in the name of labour productivity- growth fuelled by increasing the the economic outputs from human inputs.

Poor performance

Blog

28 May 2012

Matthew Taylor

In preparation for a discussion on social mobility on Saturday’s Today Programme , I read a report on the subject by the Sutton Trust. The top line of the report, quoted by both Nick Clegg in his speech last Tuesday and Neil O’Brien who was debating with me on Today, is that Australia and Canada have similar levels of inequality to the UK but much higher levels of mobility. The DPM and the Policy Exchange Director used the finding to rebut the view that reducing inequality is the best way to increase mobility.