Latest thinking

A little bit of inspiration and a lot of challenge

Blog

06 Jun 2011

Matthew Taylor

I am generally sceptical about the idea that there are certain winning leadership traits. Indeed, the most authoritative studies seem to disprove the conventional idea that success is down to charismatic individuals.

Civil service liggers and pavement politics

Blog

03 Jun 2011

Matthew Taylor

You know those friends or acquaintances that you start to avoid because they always seem to be asking for something for free? Well I’m starting to feel this way about the Civil Service. This morning I have had a request from a senior management team in one Whitehall department to use the RSA House for free for an awayday ('we just don't have any money to pay for a room'), and I have been asked to spend half a day on the platform at a civil service conference for which – as the e-mail said – 'there is no budget for speakers’ fees'. 

Carl Jung - Legacy and Influence

Video

02 Jun 2011

With Mark Vernon, Robert Rowland-Smith and Gary Lachman

We may not be doomed but perhaps we should start a controlled panic

Blog

01 Jun 2011

Matthew Taylor

I went out with an old friend from Scotland last night. It’s not that he told me anything I hadn't already heard or thought about, but the sense of alarm he instilled was perhaps the result of his accent (anyone who watched Dad’s Army in their youth is hard wired to associate Scottish accents with doom).

Alone Together

Video

01 Jun 2011

Sherry Turkle, MIT technology and society specialist

A home for the incurably smug

Blog

31 May 2011

Matthew Taylor

When I was at secondary school we had a mock trial and I was chosen as lead for the prosecution. I cleverly set a trap for the gang alleged to have broken into the tuck shop. But when the plan worked and the two witnesses directly contradicted each other I punched the air and whooped in delight. Unfortunately, this irritated my classmates so much that they found the defendants not guilty to spite me.  

Arrival City: How migration is reshaping our world

Video

31 May 2011

Doug Saunders, journalist and author

Ethics and Public Life

Video

31 May 2011

Jonathan Wolff, professor of philosophy, UCL

The Embodiment of Life: Francisco Varela (1946-2001)

Blog

30 May 2011

Jonathan Rowson

On Wednesday I will be attending a conference to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the untimely death of Francisco Varela, organised by the Centre for Real World Learning, and hosted at City University in London. There are still places available for those who wish to attend.