Latest thinking

Let's hope the RSA elections are about issues

Blog

12 May 2009

Matthew Taylor

In what appeared to be a thinly veiled endorsement of UKIP, Norman Tebbit suggested this morning that the public might show their disgust at the MPs’ expenses saga by voting for minority parties. In the RSA we have our own elections. Our Council elections should be an opportunity to debate key questions about the future of the Fellowship.

Interview with activist/video maker Leo Murray

Blog

11 May 2009

I've just posted an interview that Caleb Klaces did with Leo Murray for on the main RSA Arts & Ecology website. Murray did the clever little viral video Wake Up Freak Out - Then Get a Grip which has been doing the rounds on the net.

What (some) MPs do when they aren’t claiming expenses

Blog

11 May 2009

Matthew Taylor

The expenses saga is depressing and - in contributing to public antipathy to elected politicians – dangerous. Many if not most MPs clearly saw the expenses system as a backdoor way of compensating them for the demands of their job and the relative modesty of their salaries in comparison to other senior professionals or executives.

Moving beyond 'think' versus 'nudge'

Blog

11 May 2009

Matthew Taylor has started a discussion concerning the different approaches of ‘nudge’ and ‘think’ to civic behaviour change. The source of the discussion is Gerry Stoker, Peter John and Graham Smith’s paper entitled ‘Nudge, nudge, think, think: Two strategies for changing civic behaviour’.

Nudge, nudge, think, think

Blog

08 May 2009

Matthew Taylor

Having started the day in Kettering talking to the trustees of Youth Music, I have just come back from the advisory board of an ESRC funded project called ‘Researching Civic Behaviour’.

Robert MacFarlane on Richard Long

Blog

08 May 2009

A Night of Rain Sleeping Place An 8 Day Mountain Walk in Sobaeksan Korea Spring 1993 by Richard Long, 1993 Courtesy Kunstverein Hannover © the artis

George Monbiot, Franny Armstrong, The Age of Stupid at RSA May 22

Blog

07 May 2009

As part of the national launch of The Age of Stupid we're having a special screening here at the RSA on May 22. Afterwards George Monbiot, director Franny Armstrong and Dr Richard Betts of the Climate Impacts research unit at the Met Office will be joining a discussion that will be broadcast via the web to other cinemas around the country. The event is free but you must book. See RSA Arts & Ecology for more details.

Forget The Apprentice - here's a real challenge for tomorrow's entrepreneurs

Blog

07 May 2009

Matthew Taylor

It has been great to get so many intelligent and helpful comments on the community websites idea I floated last week. I will soon provide an update on our plans. Today I am floating another idea - this time about how to get enterprise going in a deprived neighbourhood.  

Beware false spending cuts

Blog

06 May 2009

Matthew Taylor

There I was, all prepared with a blog showing how cancelling ID cards would only save a fraction of their top line cost when exactly the same issue was the lead story on the Today Programme. There is disagreement, but the mid range estimate of how much could be saved on ID Cards themselves - as distinct from biometric passports which will soon be required internationally – seems to be around £1.5 billion, which works out at £150 million a year over the ten year programme.  This is a lot of money but a different order of contribution to the looming spending gap than the £5 billion figure that tends to be thrown about.