Category Archives: Social media

A Parliamentary Commission on the Civil Service

Posted on May 20, 2013 by

Summary Some thoughts on the call from the Chairman of the Public Administration Select Committee for a root-and-branch examination of the civil service. Bernard Jenkin made a call for a Parliamentary Commission on the Civil Service in a speech to one … Continue reading →

Posted in Party politics, Public administration & policy, Social media | 1 Comment

Public policy – is it academia vs party politics?

Posted on May 14, 2013 by

Summary Some thoughts from a couple of talks inside Cambridge’s public policy community Puffles has been flying around the Cambridge Public Policy community of late. Talks hosted by the Cambridge Science and Policy Exchange, by the Centre for Research in … Continue reading →

Posted in Cambridge, Charities and Big Society, Data, science and statistics, Party politics, Public administration & policy, Social media | 3 Comments

What role is there for civic society & local government social media in boosting voter turnout?

Posted on May 11, 2013 by

Summary Some thoughts from a Cambridgeshire perspective. I had a look at the turnout figures for the recent local government elections in Cambridge. Chesterton, The People’s Democratic Socialist Republic of Romsey, and The Royal Division of Her Majesty the Queen … Continue reading →

Posted in Cambridge, Charities and Big Society, Party politics, Social media | 3 Comments

Are Comms the social media blockers? – In praise of Catherine Howe

Posted on May 8, 2013 by

Summary Some thoughts from an awesomely amazing workshop with Catherine Howe of Public-i at Comms Camp earlier this year. If you’re interested in public sector social and digital media, and are not following Catherine Howe of Public-i, please rectify this. … Continue reading →

Posted in Business economics and finance, Law and legal issues, Public administration & policy, Social media | Leave a comment

“Time for revolution rather than evolution?” A response to Steph Gray & GovUK friends

Posted on May 7, 2013 by

Summary Some thoughts from the Open Policy Teacamp This blogpost stems from the Open Policy Teacamp that Puffles and I went to on 2 May, and from this article by Steph Gray, who you really should be following if you are … Continue reading →

Posted in Data, science and statistics, Party politics, Public administration & policy, Social media | 5 Comments

Cambridgeshire County Council elections: “hoo wun wot?”

Posted on May 4, 2013 by

Summary Have UKIP exposed a major political faultline in Cambridgeshire? The headline results don’t look good for any of the three main parties. (Phil Rogers has crunched the numbers here) The Conservatives have lost both their group leader (Nick Clarke, … Continue reading →

Posted in Cambridge, Campaigning, protesting and demonstrating, Party politics, Social media | 8 Comments

“Will 38 degrees please stop spamming my inbox?”

Posted on April 29, 2013 by

Summary Some thoughts on 38 degrees following comments from a number of MPs, Westminster & Whitehall insiders, and seasoned campaigners I took Puffles along to an event on the ‘social mediatisation’ of politics at the London HQ of the European Parliament … Continue reading →

Posted in Campaigning, protesting and demonstrating, Charities and Big Society, Data, science and statistics, Party politics, Public administration & policy, Social media | 16 Comments

Hacking local democracy – a response

Posted on April 28, 2013 by

Summary A response to Emma Daniel’s post on reinvigorating local democracy Emma‘s short blogpost is here - please read it before going further. One of her early questions is: “Why does local democracy need a reboot?” Low voter turnout and low … Continue reading →

Posted in Cambridge, Campaigning, protesting and demonstrating, Charities and Big Society, Party politics, Public administration & policy, Social media | 2 Comments

#ScienceDay at the Department for Communities and Local Government

Posted on April 24, 2013 by

Summary What happens when Eric Pickles pays for the train fare of a dragon fairy. I thought for transparency’s sake I’d get that out up front first. Richard Harries, who I briefly worked with during my time in Whitehall, invited … Continue reading →

Posted in Cambridge, Data, science and statistics, Education, training and exams, Public administration & policy, Social media | Leave a comment

A #Goodlaw unConference?

Posted on April 17, 2013 by

Summary Why we need an unConference to tease out some of the issues discussed at the launch of the Government’s Goodlaw initiative For those of you unfamiliar with what an unConference is, have a look at UKGovCamp. Some of you … Continue reading →

Posted in Law and legal issues, Public administration & policy, Social media | Leave a comment