tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-67751953577191157252024-03-21T13:07:15.679+00:00Infinite FuturesFutures, foresight, public services and innovation for tomorrow. Infinite Futureshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04205652875433268734noreply@blogger.comBlogger21125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6775195357719115725.post-4860505099853141122017-06-13T21:27:00.000+01:002017-06-14T16:39:28.360+01:00Strangely strange, but oddly normal<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><strong><em>"Oh I could wreck my brain<br />Trying to explain<br />Where it is I think that we are heading"</em></strong></span><br />
<strong><em><span style="font-family: "georgia";"></span></em></strong><br />
<strong><em><span style="font-family: "georgia";">from "Strangely strange but oddly normal" by <a href="https://www.discogs.com/artist/267839-Dr-Strangely-Strange" target="_blank">Doctor Strangely Strange</a></span></em></strong><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Another election, another set of shocks to add to the catalogue of twenty first century politics in Britain. Nearly a week on from polling day & as the dust begins to settle, the possible outcomes arising from the Conservatives latest gamble with the electorate are beginning to emerge. What exactly the presumed Tory/DUP pact will mean for the economy, devolution, security & above all the Brexit negotiation strategy (there is one, right?) is open for debate - & the debates are coming thick & fast.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia";"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia";">There has been no lack of prediction, forecasting & claims of prescience - &, as usual, most of it has turned out to be been inaccurate. But what has been noticeable in its absence throughout the election campaign is an application of foresight or futures thinking - an exploration of scenarios, hypothetical alternatives, wild card situations. & let's face it, in the period following the 2015 election there have been quite a few wild cards. Nevertheless, despite some honourable exceptions, few commentators seem willing or able to move beyond applying patterns from the past to the future - fighting the last election, if not the last war. In the febrile, kaleidoscopic, inconstant politics of this age, it seems there are no fixed points: multiple futures can emerge.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia";"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia";">Amongst this flux, the pragmatic politics & delivery of local government continue to stand out. Throughout the years of austerity, councils have prided themselves on "getting on with the job", even if some have been perilously close to the financial wire on several occasions. If we really are seeing the dawn of the <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-the-papers-40255847" target="_blank">end of austerity</a>, however dim it may be, then local government can further reinforce its place with cross-party, open & collegiate leadership for local places. As the early days of the new Metro Mayors have illustrated, visionary & inclusive urban government can transcend the chaos at national level. Nothing new there, then.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia";"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia";">So yes, these are strangely strange days. But they're also oddly normal.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia";">Here's to the next election.</span>Infinite Futureshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04205652875433268734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6775195357719115725.post-34119927339674791912017-05-09T17:27:00.000+01:002017-05-09T17:27:27.302+01:00At least two cheers for the Elected Mayors<br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">So at last we finally have our six "metro mayors", elected on Thursday & starting their first week in office. In some ways it seems an age since the first signs of devolution mania gripped the world of wonks (the 1st blog I wrote was in November 2014 in the heady days of "DevoManc"). Since then the fashion for devo has ebbed & flowed, particularly since the EU Referendum result appeared to change everything. However, despite the political shocks of 2016 devo retains its devotees in policy circles, if not the wider populace - although it should be said that the turnout in most of the mayoral elections exceeded (admittedly low) expectations.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'helvetica neue', arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">& now, as the cliché goes, the hard work begins. The mayors are now in a crucial phase that could define their periods of office & the future for further devolution. Establishing a strong vision, clear targets & early results for their mayoralty must be the priority for all of the victors. But beyond each of the localities, the impact of mayors could be a catalyst for further & greater decentralisation.</span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">As has been noted </span><a href="https://www.lgcplus.com/7017761.article?blocktitle=Top-stories&contentID=20100&mkt_tok=eyJpIjoiWWprM1kyVmxOamRqWkRCbSIsInQiOiJhRDBhbEpcLzJzSnFyR0NKR0EzclRGa1N6MUxLamFlYUM0TUJvNmlTZWl3XC9pUnJkZ0lJVUVhSmpNWnRiYnFRNHhpTFBMZUZpcVNzRHJcLzA5U1ppWHpLcXVyZ0JnT0xNaWhGYyt4T2tJdkluXC8yMEZLWDhxVkZ5RlVLbTl0UnprTjMifQ%3D%3D" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">elsewhere</span></a><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">, the success of Conservative candidates has the potential to revive the fervour within central Government lacking since the departure of Osborne & the distancing of Greg Clark. This assumes (& why wouldn't it?) the General Election returns an emboldened Theresa May to Number 10. In particular, Andy Street's success in the West Midlands establishes a Tory figurehead in the most politically & geographically complex Combined Authority, & provides the possibility for a significant alignment of the post-Brexit industrial strategy with a vibrant city region as its testbed. The stakes are high, the challenges are daunting - but the prize of a genuine alternative to centralised power could be at stake.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'helvetica neue', arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Alongside reigniting the interest of Whitehall, successful mayoralties can also re-embolden devolutionaries across the country. Beyond the six metro-mayor regions and devo-deal areas such as Cornwall, many potential agreements have fallen apart or been snuffed out. Its difficult to imagine this remaining the case if & when the mayoral effect begins to occur. Adapting & seizing the future prospects for local, place-specific approaches will surely be back on the cards for a variety of areas - be they cities, regions, counties or clusters. Much of the fall out (& fallings out) following the 2015 deadline for proposals centred on clashes over sovereignty, structure & territory; issues that doubtless remain but may be vanquished by examples of mayoral success. Unity of purpose, rather than unity of governance, could once more be the focus.</span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I remain a devotee. As it happens on Thursday & Friday last week (election day & results day) I was honoured to attend a UK City Futures symposium, hearing speakers from across academia, think tanks, local government & beyond discuss the futures of devolution, industrial strategies & localist approaches. Examples such as </span><a href="http://www.newcastlecityfutures.org/" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Newcastle City Futures</span></a><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> highlight the potential for local areas to develop collaborative innovation & practical solutions. Many forward thinking cities are engaged in comparable work - the question is how devolution can catalyse similar approaches in other towns, regions & places that in part make up the "forgotten" (or <a href="http://www.localis.org.uk/research/the-making-of-an-industrial-strategy/" target="_blank">stifled/stuck</a>) parts of the country? Local futures work, with genuine & comprehensive engagement with place-based scenarios, is essential for this to succeed. & in time, we can look forward to many more mayors, devolution deals & genuine decentralisation to come.</span><br />
<br />Infinite Futureshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04205652875433268734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6775195357719115725.post-6912279112548080892016-12-23T10:29:00.000+00:002016-12-23T10:29:13.239+00:002016: Beyond laments<br />
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">It’s that time when reviews of the year appear, looking back
over the key events, remembering the successes, regretting missed opportunities
and lamenting those who have left us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>God knows there is plenty to think on from 2016, a litany including
Trump, Syria, terrorist attacks across Europe, Brexit, Jo Cox, & the seemingly
irreversible descent into polarised factions across the political landscape.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Combined with the loss of voices as diverse
as Ali, Bowie, Gill, Cohen – it all adds up to a </span><span style="color: #0563c1; font-family: "calibri";"><a href="http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21712128-liberals-lost-most-arguments-year-they-should-not-feel-defeated-so-much" target="_blank">bitter
harvest</a></span><span style="font-family: "calibri";"><a href="http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21712128-liberals-lost-most-arguments-year-they-should-not-feel-defeated-so-much" target="_blank"> </a>indeed.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">2016 is also a year of personal loss for me, with the death
of my father in April being a profound & lasting shock.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If possible my dad would, no doubt, have
enjoyed celebratory dinners & drinks & the company of those closest to
him whilst looking forward to the New Year. But my dad died in April, & so this
will be another of the “firsts” that people mention when you lose someone close
to you – “the 1st year/ Christmas/ anniversary is the worst”, & so on.
& this is the first, & quite possibly the last, time I’ve ever written
about something so personal in this blog.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Born in 1940, my dad’s childhood was shaped by two major
factors: being a “war baby”, & being a son of Stoke-on-Trent.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think this heritage always informed his
values, his understanding of the toil & hardship that most families working
in North Staffordshire’s pots, pits & steelworks gave him the hunger to
succeed. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But alongside this grim
reality, post-war Stoke was also my dad’s playground, from the terraces of the
Victoria Ground to the steep Moorland hills of Brown Edge.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What we’d now call “place”, & that
feeling of belonging, was second nature to my dad.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He might have dreamed of escape from the hardship,
but never from “the City”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Always “the
City”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Always proud to be a Potter, but
not bound by limitations or insularity.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">The post-war years of growth, rebuilding & social
ambition also, I think, imbued my dad with a spirit of opportunity &
optimism. I don’t mean this is in any Polyanna-ish sense, but more in an
implicit commitment to work, aspiration and constructive engagement with wider
society – family, community, friends.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">This is no rose-tinted nostalgia trip.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The grief, & the process of coming to
terms (whatever that means) with a sudden, unexpected loss, is beyond my
capabilities of description.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But it
seems to include the incredible capacity of the human memory to dredge up
long-buried moments of bitterness, disagreements or (in my case) father/teenage
son bust ups, & to slap you in the face with them at the most unexpected
moment</span><a href="file:///E:/Today.docx" name="_ftnref1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="color: #0563c1;">[1]</span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: "calibri";">.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">But, & this is crucial for why I wanted to write this
blog, the grieving process</span><a href="file:///E:/Today.docx" name="_ftnref2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2;" title=""><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="color: #0563c1;">[2]</span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: "calibri";">
has forced me to reconsider & reflect on the lessons, or perhaps more
accurately (he wasn’t a great one for lectures or life instructions) the
principles I absorbed from my dad & how they connect to where I go next,
& how I think about the future.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">So, first & foremost the “urgent optimism” so
brilliantly laid out by Marina Gorbis in her piece </span><a href="https://workfutures.io/the-future-as-a-way-of-life-4bc314ec97de#.17zpf6vj3" target="_blank"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #0563c1; font-family: "calibri";">The Future as a way of life</span></i></a><span style="font-family: "calibri";"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i>from July this year, & mirroring
what I take from my dad’s life, is the North Star. “It’s up to all of us to
imagine and create” our futures, as Gorbis says, & “there are seeds of the
great, new, and wondrous being planted every day”. In the wake of the tragedies
& setbacks of 2016 some of us it may feel as though everything has broken,
& that if 2017 does indeed develop into the </span><a href="https://www.thersa.org/discover/publications-and-articles/matthew-taylor-blog/2016/11/royal-society-of-sinners" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0563c1; font-family: "calibri";">“year of betrayal”</span></a><span id="goog_1341952269"></span><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> this sense could snowball. We can succumb to disillusionment
or we can summon the will to hope, explore, & renew the future.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>& as Alex Massie has </span><a href="https://capx.co/stop-moaning-about-2016-it-was-a-year-of-wondrous-progress/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0563c1; font-family: "calibri";">pointed out</span></a><span style="font-family: "calibri";">, 2016 may seem to be a year of national & international disasters
but when viewed from a longer lens it may be that “the world, despite
appearances to the contrary, really is becoming a better place”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The challenge is how to broaden, deepen &
democratise this progress yet further.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Entwined with this is another implicit tenet of my dad’s:
the necessity of challenging ideas, opinions, & standpoints. As a child of
the 1980s I grew up hearing the miners in my family championing the NUM strike
& the opposition to the Thatcher government.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The one dissenting voice was, always, my
dad’s.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some of this was purely
contrarian, to provoke a response & challenge sacred cows (& to be
fair, everyone involved enjoyed a good row).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But it was also a counterpoint to the dogma of the union leadership</span><a href="file:///E:/Today.docx" name="_ftnref3" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn3;" title=""><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="color: #0563c1;">[3]</span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: "calibri";">:
groupthink, & the regurgitation of the party line, no matter what party,
was anathema.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Think for yourself, try to
see things from different angles, don’t receive wisdom – instead test &
understand wisdom.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As a kid hearing
these loud debates I couldn’t understand how the high tempers & harsh words
would disappear as quickly as they’d arrived, & eventually the talk would
return to the more certain ground of Stoke City’s deficiencies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But the lessons stayed with me.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">“Read as widely as you can.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Listen to the “other side”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Don’t
be a conformist.” Good advice it took me a while to assimilate. Some of this relates
to a recurring theme of 2016: that of the echo chamber, via social media or
elsewhere, & the polarisation of discourse</span><a href="file:///E:/Today.docx" name="_ftnref4" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn4;" title=""><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="color: #0563c1;">[4]</span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: "calibri";">.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The actual extent of this trend is open to
debate, but in my view it’s apparent that the willingness to engage across
viewpoints, to find common ground & consensus is getting rarer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Constructive challenge or provocation in good
spirit is the lifeblood of new ideas.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The refusal to listen to or engage with views you don’t share is its
antithesis.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>& so the constant
“everyone who says x is wrong/evil/stupid/uneducated/out of touch elitist” etc
etc etc drains the well of the energy, serendipity, goodwill & collaboration
required for concepts to develop & advance.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">So urgent optimism, & the enabling futures to be a
“massively public endeavour” as Gorbis puts it, is for me the essential lesson to
take forward from 2016.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the last
piece I wrote, I set out the concept for Humboldtweb, a new forum & think
space for ideas, conversations & projects working towards an understanding
of the new landscapes around us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s
taking a little while longer to get there than we’d hoped, but we’ll be
launching soon. I hope that, in some part at least, this can be a tribute to
the memory of my dad & his principles of hope, learning and challenge.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Here’s to the New Year.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">The website will be live shortly - in the meantime if you'd
like to get involved please get in touch via this blog or via Twitter
@futuresinfinite & @wearehumboldt</span></div>
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<a href="file:///E:/Today.docx" name="_ftn1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="color: #0563c1;">[<span style="font-size: x-small;">1]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: x-small;">
These episodes, & the sheer absurdity of trying to explain or understand
what’s going on during grief, are explored in Helen MacDonald’s “H is for
Hawk”, a truly mesmerising book that I kept close to me during the worst times.</span></div>
<div style="mso-element: footnote;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: x-small;"> </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; mso-element: footnote;">
<a href="file:///E:/Today.docx" name="_ftn2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2;" title=""><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; line-height: 107%;"><span style="color: #0563c1; font-size: x-small;">[2]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: x-small;"> A quick aside – there has to be a better phrase than
this, surely?</span></span></div>
<div style="mso-element: footnote;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"></span><br /></div>
<a href="file:///E:/Today.docx" name="_ftn3" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn3;" title=""><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; line-height: 107%;"><span style="color: #0563c1; font-size: x-small;">[3]</span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"> Years
later he told me he’d never disagreed with the reasons put forward, just the
tactics of the strike.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: xx-small;">To paraphrase: “Scargill’s
analysis of Thatcher’s intent was correct.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">
</span></span><span style="font-size: xx-small;">His response was self-defeating”.</span></span></span><br />
<div style="mso-element: footnote;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; mso-element: footnote;">
<a href="file:///E:/Today.docx" name="_ftn4" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn4;" title=""><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; line-height: 107%;"><span style="color: #0563c1; font-size: x-small;">[4]</span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: x-small;">
Exactly the kind of phrase, btw, that would have my dad’s eyes rolling.</span></div>
<div style="mso-element: footnote;">
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"></span><br />Infinite Futureshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04205652875433268734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6775195357719115725.post-59453788759567666862016-07-07T22:53:00.000+01:002016-07-07T22:53:55.463+01:00Things Have Changed<br />
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Two weeks on from the EU Referendum & despite all angst & exuberance the inescapable feeling is that, for good or ill, things have changed beyond all expectation. We've had innumerable analyses, interpretations & explanations of the results but the hard truth is that, like any instance of momentous change, the factors behind it are complex, intertwined & difficult to assess. What (R)remains is the sense of unchartered intellectual & political territory, a void beyond experience.<br />
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Beyond the political flux, commentariat frenzy & despairing attempts to claim prescience is, I believe, an opportunity to be grasped. Although it seems beyond comprehension that there was never a plan for what might happen in the event of an exit vote, it would appear that is the case (food for thought for the futures community btw). So the possibilities exist for a fundamental reframing of what we understand to be democracy in the UK. Almost everything, from taxation to international relations, from local accountability to the very existence of the major political parties, is now open to question. Our core institutions are creaking. Whilst the Tory Party struggles to understand the impact of its internal schism on the United Kingdom's future, & as the Labour Party continues its long descent into insignificance through battles over ideological purity, it seems to me the real prize - moving beyond the <a href="http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21701478-triumph-brexit-campaign-warning-liberal-international-order-politics" target="_blank">politics of anger </a>to "the diffusion of prosperity" & the restoration of social progress - is there to be claimed. Or, at least, strived for.</div>
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None of which is to say there are easy answers. & that is, at least in part, the point. Easy answers are almost always facile, simplistic, & doomed to failure. £350m a week to the NHS, anyone? But the potential for new kinds of dialogue, debate & approach has been noted by many fine voices in the last fortnight (some, but by no means all, links below).<br />
<br />
In this vein, & in the spirit of <a href="http://www.economist.com/news/britain/21701540-britain-increasingly-looks-two-countries-divided-over-globalisation-brexitland-versus" target="_blank">open</a>, rather than closed, debate - I'm proud to be a part of Humboldtweb, a new forum & think space for ideas, conversations & projects working towards an understanding of this new landscape. We see Humboldtweb as a place for open, constructive engagement with the issues: too often debates are framed as arguments from opposing, unmoveable positions. What we hope to create is a space for ideas to be put forward, challenged & refined in a spirit of collaboration. Rather than focussing on a narrow subject, we'll be looking at the interrelationships of art, politics, science & beyond with a view to the "unity in variety" that Humboldt himself espoused.<br />
<br />
The website will be live shortly - in the meantime if you'd like to get involved please get in touch via this blog or via Twitter @futuresinfinite & @wearehumboldt<br />
<br />
Some further reading</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<a href="https://www.thersa.org/discover/publications-and-articles/matthew-taylor-blog/2016/06/into-the-unknown">https://www.thersa.org/discover/publications-and-articles/matthew-taylor-blog/2016/06/into-the-unknown</a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br />
<a href="https://paulkirby.net/2016/07/03/a-policy-agenda-for-the-white-working-class/">https://paulkirby.net/2016/07/03/a-policy-agenda-for-the-white-working-class/</a> <br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/blog/13936/what-brexit-means-for-english-devolution/?utm_content=buffer492a9&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer">http://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/blog/13936/what-brexit-means-for-english-devolution/?utm_content=buffer492a9&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer</a> <br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.thersa.org/discover/publications-and-articles/rsa-blogs/2015/03/hippies-hipsters-and-the-generational-inbetweeners">https://www.thersa.org/discover/publications-and-articles/rsa-blogs/2015/03/hippies-hipsters-and-the-generational-inbetweeners</a> <br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.publicfinance.co.uk/opinion/2016/06/brexit-turning-point-devolution">http://www.publicfinance.co.uk/opinion/2016/06/brexit-turning-point-devolution</a> <br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.involve.org.uk/blog/2016/06/24/fundamentally-disconnected/?utm_content=buffer99f15&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer">http://www.involve.org.uk/blog/2016/06/24/fundamentally-disconnected/?utm_content=buffer99f15&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer</a> <br />
<br />
<a href="https://twitter.com/alecjross/status/746679499073327104">https://twitter.com/alecjross/status/746679499073327104</a> <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
</div>
Infinite Futureshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04205652875433268734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6775195357719115725.post-81787060184628714012016-03-06T12:16:00.000+00:002016-03-09T10:23:33.625+00:00Devolution, Evolution & sitting on a barb-wire fence<br />
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">It’s been a while since I blogged about devolution and the
futures of local government.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A great
deal has changed since I began posting, initially focussing on the
possibilities raised by “DevoManc” & the (then Coalition) Government’s new
found appetite for subsidiarity.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">It’s worth reflecting on how different the landscape looks
now, compared to only 18 months ago.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
Greater Manchester deal is, of course, the tower that dominates the skyline.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But alongside GManc we have devolution deals
for Cornwall, West Yorks, West Mids, Tees Valley & more.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Local government, in the doldrums for so
long, has (to some extent, at least) been reinvigorated intellectually if not
financially by the challenges & opportunities at stake.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Economic growth, seemingly the Government’s
prime consideration in all of its dealings, is crucial to localised approaches
but in tandem with welcome emphases on health & wellbeing, skills &
infrastructure, & the challenges of the future. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Chasing small pots of money to fund sticking
plasters for problems is yesterday’s game: everyone seems to be talking root
causes, complex interdependencies & long-term solutions now. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Public services have some of their boldness
back, driven in part by the reality that the traditional approaches of the last
twenty (or more?) years are gone.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">& yet the last couple of weeks or so have seen a
significant shift in mood.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Cracks have
started to show in several areas looking to agree devo deals & Combined
Authority agreements.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The “North
Midlands” (an aside: I truly dislike that label) proposal covering Nottinghamshire
& Derbyshire has seen almost daily renditions of in, out & shake it all
about.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Districts in Oxfordshire have apparently
gone rogue with a plan for new unitaries. The Norfolk & Suffolk plan is now
spreading into other parts of East Anglia.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Or is it? & so the questioning starts: is it worth it? Might it be
better for us to wait & see what happens? See who fails? Should we sit on
the fence?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">The vagaries inherent in a deal-based, rather than a
methodology-based, approach from central Government were always going to result
in an imbalanced & unequal patchwork of arrangements around the
country.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The GManc deal, although held up
as a trailblazer & model to follow, is the result of a unique
situation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It would be folly for rural
areas or combined shires to simply copy the “Northern Powerhouse” (another pet
hate); but then it is equally unhelpful to have the Mayoral model imposed from
Whitehall as a pre-requisite for substantial decentralisation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Calls are getting louder for more clarity
from central Government about what exactly is on offer, & what is the quid
pro quo? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Personally, I’m all in favour of asymmetry: local deals need
to suit local circumstances & ambitions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>That may well mean large areas of the country don’t get a deal for some
time, & it may mean that some arrangements are significantly diluted in
comparison to others.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The deals already
done are surely only first stages: proof of concept (& accountability) will
lead to more responsibilities.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">So the emphasis should be on local leadership (across
organisational boundaries) working with their communities to pinpoint what is
needed, & making a convincing case for it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>A compelling vision for the future has to be the key, not a compelling structure chart. If that means
tearing up the blueprints & starting again, so be it; but that can only
happen if there is an appetite in Whitehall for genuine & variable change.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The proof of concept needs to work both ways.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">& above all let’s not forget that devolution will be a
process of evolution. A new era for local democracy & accountability is not
going to happen immediately or neatly. Steps forward will, as ever, be followed
by steps back.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But democracy,
accountability, politics, geography; these are all messy, complex, disputable
notions without obvious solutions. & surely it’s better to be wading
through the mud than sitting on a barb-wire fence.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Infinite Futureshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04205652875433268734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6775195357719115725.post-33951978918147846842016-01-17T12:45:00.000+00:002016-01-17T12:45:28.433+00:00Alexander's Amazing Adventures<br />
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<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">“The Invention of Nature: The Adventures of Alexander von Humboldt, the
Lost Hero of Science”<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">By Andrea Wulf. Published by John Murray, 2015<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Alexander van Humboldt, the subject of Andrea Wulf’s Costa
Book Award winning biography, lived a remarkable & singular life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Born into privilege in aristocratic Prussia
in 1769, outstanding academically & from a young age a fixture in Berlin’s
intellectual circles, the young Humboldt did not lack ambition: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">“According to family lore, the Prussian King, Frederick the
Great, asked the boy if he planned to conquer the world like his namesake,
Alexander the Great. Young Humboldt’s answer was: “Yes, Sir, but with my head.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Nevertheless, Humboldt was constrained by family obligations
to a career as a civil servant in the Prussian Ministry of Mines until his
mother’s death freed him from any such ties.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Along with a significant inheritance, this emancipation from expectation
provided Humboldt with the opportunity to pursue his dreams: travel, exploration,
scientific enquiry & investigations into the “Gordian knot of the processes
of life.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Humboldt’s journey to South America, and subsequent
writings, became the foundation stone of his career & of this book.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Both a picturesque adventure tale & an
extraordinary account of scientific discovery, Wulf’s retelling of the
relationships, travails & encounters during the three years the Prussian spent
in South America resound with awe & wonder for the natural world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is during this journey that Humboldt
develops his concept of “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Naturgemalde </i>–
an untranslatable term that can mean a ‘painting of nature’ but which also
implies a sense of unity or wholeness.” This interconnectedness, & the importance
of systems, networks and interrelationships to the “unity in variety” in nature
mirror Humboldt’s own curiosity & desire for understanding beyond
specialisms & academic frameworks. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“If
nature was a web of life, he couldn’t look at it just as a botanist, a
geologist or a zoologist.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He required
information about everything and from everywhere.” Fittingly, to convey this
approach Humboldt dispensed with tradition & produced a drawing, at first a
sketch & later published as a three foot by two foot colour illustration with
supporting information, pioneering the development of what we now know as infographics.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Knowledge, Humboldt believed, had to be
shared, exchanged and made available to everyone.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The fame & adoration which followed Humboldt’s return to
Europe & the publication of his accounts of scientific discovery are
reflected in the fact that more things – rivers, mountains, ocean currents,
cities, penguins – are named after him than anyone else. Later works, especially
the five volume <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Cosmos</i>, sold in
enormous quantities & confirmed him as a pre-eminent thinker of the
age.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Interestingly, Wulf devotes several
later chapters of her book to the influence & continuation of Humboldt’s
ideas in the careers of subsequent acolytes whose current fame exceeds that of
their hero; including Charles Darwin, Henry David Thoreau, & John Muir.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In doing so, the author re-establishes Humboldt’s
importance having been relegated (at least in the English-speaking world) to
the margins of history.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The Invention of Nature is a biography on a grand canvas,
reflecting the multifaceted career & interests of its subject.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Scientist, adventurer, author, data
visualisation pioneer & mentor for subsequent scientists & writers
amongst many other things, Humboldt was no mere cataloguer of nature.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He “was not so much interested in finding new
isolated facts but in connecting them”, & in reconnecting her subject &
his works into the grand sweep of the Enlightenment, Andrea Wulf’s vital book more
than succeeds in her quest “to rediscover Humboldt, and to restore him to his
rightful place in the pantheon”; it reclaims the importance of her subject’s
work & its legacy far beyond the confines of the history of science.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLZLLHsITPnqeQ14cX72kL2GITpOtTCjZbPsd8ANoz405VaqOipOH5wpIXfAB1DQS08VKVmGTnSaz-OvRCqox53vwtxyo42z8fxhS80LEv4eYein9FVtAJ5NuIWwf9f-RJ9DI43NG_NmGl/s640/blogger-image--217721933.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLZLLHsITPnqeQ14cX72kL2GITpOtTCjZbPsd8ANoz405VaqOipOH5wpIXfAB1DQS08VKVmGTnSaz-OvRCqox53vwtxyo42z8fxhS80LEv4eYein9FVtAJ5NuIWwf9f-RJ9DI43NG_NmGl/s640/blogger-image--217721933.jpg" /></a></div>
Infinite Futureshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04205652875433268734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6775195357719115725.post-91294855109960082122015-12-03T17:43:00.000+00:002015-12-03T17:43:01.704+00:00Infinite Futures Books of the Year 2015<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">
It's book review of the year time, & below are the inaugural & highly prestigious Infinite Futures Books of the Year awards for 2015. Some of these have been read for reviewing purposes & some not, but the thing that unites all of these books is their focus on ideas & the possibilities for creative thinking. Let me know what you think.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> </span></o:p></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Finance<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Andrew McNally <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Debtonator</i>,
published by <a href="http://eandtbooks.com/book/debtonator-how-debt-favours-few-and-equity-can-work-all-us" target="_blank">Elliot & Thompson<o:p></o:p></a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">There has been no shortage of books focussing on inequality,
& what to do about it, in the years following the financial crisis.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Radical responses from within finance itself
have been much scarcer; however, this short essay from an investment &
stockbroking veteran provides just that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>McNally’s thesis is that debt, & the reliance on cheap credit,
concentrates power & wealth within a small elite. The answer, perhaps, is
to focus on equity –that is, shareholding, & thus investing in the long
term success of ventures, rather than short term gain.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The author argues his case for shared risk
& opportunity in order to challenge inequality, highlighting existing
examples & avoiding the over complicated jargon of many finance books to
make a compelling case for the virtues of equity & equality.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><o:p><em>Full review <a href="http://thelondoneconomic.com/entertainment/literature/review-of-debtonator-by-andrew-mcnally-published-by-elliot-thompson/16/04" target="_blank">here</a> </em></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Politics<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Simon Parker <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Taking
Power Back</i>, published by <a href="http://www.policypress.co.uk/display.asp?k=9781447326878" target="_blank">Policy Press</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Devolution seems to be the only game in town for English
local government, & whether you trust the motives behind Whitehall’s
embrace of local democracy or not, the reality of city mayors & combined
authorities is upon us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Simon Parker
views the opportunity for devolution as a launch pad for something much broader
& ambitious, namely Commonism: a new kind of society based around
self-help, mutualism & community. Far from a utopian dreamland, the
examples cited throughout <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Taking Power
Back </i>illustrate the potential for a genuine revolution in localism &
how we as a society adapt to the challenges of the future.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A must read for anyone with an interest in
how devolution might be made to work.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">
<em>Full review <a href="http://thelondoneconomic.com/entertainment/review-of-taking-power-back-by-simon-parker/03/11" target="_blank">here</a></em></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> </span></o:p></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Biography<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Andrea Wulf, <em>The
Invention of Nature: The Adventures of Alexander von Humboldt</em>, published by <a href="https://www.hachette.co.uk/books/detail.page?isbn=9781848548985" target="_blank">John Murray<o:p></o:p></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Invention of
Nature </i>is a biography on a grand canvas, reflecting the multifaceted career
& interests of its subject.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Scientist,
adventurer, author, data visualisation pioneer & inspiration for Charles
Darwin amongst many other things, Humboldt’s contemporary fame & renown in
the 19<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup> Century are reflected in the fact that more things –
rivers, mountains, ocean currents, cities, penguins – are named after him than anyone
else. More than a mere cataloguer of nature, however, Humboldt “was not so much
interested in finding new isolated facts but in connecting them.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Andrea Wulf’s vital book reclaims the importance
of her subject’s work & its legacy and influence far beyond the confines of
the history of science.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I’ll be posting a full review of The Invention of Nature on this blog
in due course.<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> </span></o:p></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Fiction<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Tom McCarthy <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Remainder,
</i>published by <a href="http://www.almabooks.com/remainder-p-683-book.html" target="_blank">Alma Books</a> (2010)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Ok, so hardly a new book for 2015, as this novel was first
published ten years ago.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However,
McCarthy’s shortlisting for this year’s Man Booker Prize for his latest book <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Satin Island </i>encouraged me to finally
take this book off the “I’ll read it one day” pile & get on with it. I wish
I’d not taken so long.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Remainder </i>is an unsettling & darkly humorous
novel exploring memory, trauma & a search for meaning as seen from the perspective
of a narrator obsessed with trying to recreate, at first, seemingly mundane
events. Aptly enough, the book is itself echoes & prefigures other works – some of David
Foster Wallace’s short stories, Charlie Kaufman’s film <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Synecdoche, New York</i> – whilst remaining
entirely singular.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m looking forward
to getting on with the rest of McCarthy’s back catalogue.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> </span></o:p></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Something else<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Darran Anderson, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Imaginary Cities</i>,
published by <a href="http://www.influxpress.com/imaginary-cities/" target="_blank">Influx Press<o:p></o:p></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Described on the back cover as a “work of creative
non-fiction”, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Imaginary Cities </i>defies straightforward
categorisation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I eventually tracked my
copy down in the Literary Theory section of a well-known bookshop, but this is
hardly the dry & academic text that suggests.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Instead, this is a book brimming with ideas,
quotations, allusions & illusions – from Conrad to Plato to Le Corbusier to
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Taxi Driver. </i>If that sounds highfalutin
or pretentious, think again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“The idea
of cities will exist as long as there is a mind left to imagine them”, Anderson
concludes. This is an amalgam of the histories, philosophies & literatures
of cities, real & imagined; a guidebook for the future.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">
</span>Infinite Futureshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04205652875433268734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6775195357719115725.post-3944011721377733482015-09-30T19:53:00.003+01:002015-09-30T20:09:00.702+01:00Commons People<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
<strong>Review of <em>Taking Power Back</em>, by Simon Parker</strong></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Published by Policy Press, October 2015</strong></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></o:p></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There’s no doubting that when it comes to political fashion,
devolution is one of this Parliament’s essential items.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Following the Scottish referendum, the
much-vaunted “Northern Powerhouse” schemes & the introduction of the Cities &
Local Government Devolution Bill, the recent deadline for local proposals to be
submitted to DCLG saw over thirty detailed bids put forward.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Cities, regions, counties & as yet
unnamed combinations of local areas in England are bidding to assume greater
powers & responsibilities from Whitehall.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>If the previous century did witness, as <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Taking Power Back</i> suggests, Britain “arguably becom(ing) the most
centralised country in the developed world”, then it would seem centralism’s
reversal is en vogue for the 21<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">st</span></sup> century.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It is fair to say, however, that when it comes to devolution
& the localist agenda, Simon Parker is no arriviste.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As the director of a </span><a href="http://www.nlgn.org.uk/public/"><span style="color: #0563c1; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">local government think tank</span></a><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> &
frequent contributor to the debates surrounding public services & the
state, Parker’s work has often been ahead of the game when analysing the
challenges & prospects for local democracy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>With <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://www.policypress.co.uk/display.asp?k=9781447326878"><span style="color: #0563c1;">Taking Power
Back</span></a></i>, these experiences & the opportunities presented by the
devolution zeitgeist are distilled into a prospectus for a radical shift in how
& why government exists, & what might (at least in part) replace it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The book includes an examination of shifts in the structures
of government power, from pre-war municipal corporations via the centralisation
of the post-war settlement, through to the ideological battlegrounds of the
Thatcher era & the statism of the New Labour years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The author contends that throughout these
significant periods of government, the opportunities for decentralisation to
more local pluralism in public services have either been squandered or
purposely rejected.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Britain’s
centralism”, he writes, “is ultimately a result of political ideology and
managerial convenience”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The perverse
outcomes arising from this centralist “hoarding” of power are vividly
illustrated by Parker’s analysis of three pillars of the public sector;
housing, skills & the NHS.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
latter, examined under the subtitle “Why we spend more on gastric bands than on
losing weight”, exposes the absurdity of how little is spent on preventative
healthcare in comparison to treating illness, a situation that may only change through
redesigning the system so “local places and local people take a bigger role in
healthcare”. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"></i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"></i></span> </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Taking Power Back </i>is
not merely a rage against the political machine, however, & moving beyond
critique of the past and present, Parker illustrates his alternative view with
some exemplars of the radical approaches witnessed in recent years – some of
which may be well known or even fashionable: the story of Greater Manchester’s
Combined Authority; Occupy Sandy in New York; citizen-led projects in
Bologna.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But alongside these examples
are equally compelling vignettes from less heralded sources: healthcare
innovation in Greenwich; renewable energy in Woking; libraries in Colchester.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These may be less glamorous or publicised,
but author’s knowledge & passion for these projects is evident, &
alongside generation change & the parallel crises in trust with government
and business, informs Parker’s idea of “the commons”:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: justify;">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Localities are the engine rooms of prosperity and
well-being, something that we all have a stake in but that none of us owns.
That means that we all, as citizens and as businesses, have a role to play in
looking after them.”<o:p></o:p></span></blockquote>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The commons includes community assets & cooperatives,
but goes beyond the vagaries of the Big Society to a philosophy characterised
by mutual relationships & is defined as “the combination of a resource, the
social community that manages that resource & the rules & practices
they use to do so”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Taking Power Back </i>argues that channelling these communal approaches
& harnessing the opportunities for more local decision making offers the
possibility of a new kind of society.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It’s important to state this is not an exercise in
woolly-minded idealism, & many potential pitfalls are identified.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Centralists may be reluctant to let go of
power; local leaders may succumb to parochialism; such a participatory
democracy & society requires a rare level of engagement &
leadership.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, perhaps as a result
of the current appetite for urban Mayors & the spotlight on the trailblazing example
of Greater Manchester, there is little examination of how devolution might be
adapted to suit the often complex social geography of more rural areas beyond
the major conurbations. The big regional cities may be in the current vanguard
of devolution, but non-urban areas are equally hungry for a greater say in
their futures.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Taking Power Back </i>is
not a manifesto for devolution or a political shopping list, & thus should
not be criticised for failing to provide a blueprint for the future.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As the author points out, “we do not know how we get
from peak state to peak commonism, or we would be doing it already.” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Rather, what his book does do is set out is a
robust analysis of how we got to the current position, & more importantly a
set of ideas for how change may be brought about.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>& whilst there are plenty of big ideas in
this text it is also a book with a big heart: its focus is on people &
communities, not theory.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As Parker says,
“change will not come from grand theoretical narratives”: it will come from the
actions & commitment of ordinary people. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Self-help & mutual aid are as vital to commonism,
& thus to devolution, as any legislation or policy change from above.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The key, Parker concludes, “is not to draw
more lines between ‘them’ and ‘us’, but to radically expand our sense of what
‘us’ means, and then to rediscover what we can achieve together.” If the
reality of devolution does reflect this pluralism & inclusivity then we may hope it's a style (& not a fashion) that’s here to stay.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong><em>Taking Power Back </em>is published on 1st October.</strong></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><em><strong>An interview with the author will be on this blog soon.</strong></em></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>
</strong></span></div>
Infinite Futureshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04205652875433268734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6775195357719115725.post-59866210613368480862015-08-20T15:38:00.000+01:002015-08-20T17:29:23.542+01:00100 days in office & all that<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The government has now passed the 100 days in office mark,
& thus it’s time for some early reflections.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Of course in a five year term the first 100
days is a largely symbolic & possibly overworked milestone, but alongside
some significant parallel developments it is a good time to consider the main
features of the post-election landscape for local government.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Devolution remains the biggest, if not only, game in town
for councils looking to evolve beyond the confines of prolonged demise by a
thousand cuts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Many local authorities
are currently publicly committed to exploring the options whilst working
frantically behind the scenes to make deals, forge alliances & develop
Combined Authority (or other) proposals.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The government’s emphasis on local devolution tied to the elected
Mayoral model is a concern for many, especially non-metropolitan areas who
perceive the threat to their influence & independence. Despite this, the
consensus seems to be that it’s better to be in a proposal than not. Quite how
this will be resolved following the September deadline for submissions is
unclear: it’s hard to believe that there won’t be areas left wholly outside of
the vanguard.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This then raises the
danger of a set of “off the peg” models being developed centrally in attempt to
please everyone, effectively pleasing no-one & nullifying the innovation
and place-centric possibilities that are the foundation of devolution’s
purpose.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The asymmetric approach is, in
my opinion, correct given how wide the “readiness” gap is for greater
responsibilities & opportunities, but this does mean there will be
considerable dissonance across the sector. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Lord Kerslake’s </span><a href="http://www.lgcplus.com/opinion/we-want-views-on-devolution-from-outside-westminster/5089493.article?blocktitle=More-expert-opinion&contentID=2341"><span style="color: #0563c1; font-family: Calibri;">recent
call</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> for input into the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for reform,
decentralisation and devolution is a further step in this direction. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Kerslake calls devolution a “defining issue of
this parliament” with the possibility of being a “defining moment in local
government history”. Importantly, he states that a core principle of the
inquiry will be to engage as much as possible “from outside the corridors of
Westminster”: a principle that equally applies to the need for devolution
conversations across the country to escape the confines of civic offices.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If this is indeed a defining moment for
localisation and subsidiarity, it needs to encompass far more than local
government. The success of any proposal surely depends on the centrality of
communities, small businesses, major employers, universities & colleges,
blue light services, the health sector, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>voluntary organisations and many more stakeholders
in designing & delivering the new model. This will require strong
leadership, collaboration & negotiation skills – which local authorities
may be well equipped to provide. But this should not be a gilded version of
local government reorganisation; devolution is not a silver bullet for the
sector, whether or not it’s fired from a pearl-handled revolver.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Alongside these developments, November’s Spending Review
looms large. The Chancellor’s open call for saving suggestions & the
implication of cuts of a further 40% is the latest horror story facing Council
leaders & finance teams. The stark choices of service reductions,
redundancies & restructures are not fading away. However, in parallel with
the possibilities of devolution, there may be cause for optimism in some areas
of funding. Recent suggestions, in an </span><a href="http://www.themj.co.uk/Funding-by-results/201446"><span style="color: #0563c1; font-family: Calibri;">excellent piece</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;">
from Dan Corry, of substantial future funding for outcome focussed results
offers the potential for genuine collaborative work on preventative,
cross-cutting solutions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If true, this
fund may be the game changer so urgently needed to focus partners across all
sectors on addressing the causes of issues, rather than the siloed approaches
encouraged & reinforced by service delivery sovereignty.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Allied with strong, well led & inclusive
devolved governance, this may be the opportunity to develop genuine system
change for 21<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">st</span></sup> century public services.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The impact of local authority services in
areas such as ill health prevention, youth services, back to work services
& skills development could potentially all be recognised in a payment by
results process that earmarks the savings generated for the public purse <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">to the contributing agencies</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Building on the lessons from the Troubled
Families programme, this is exactly the kind of whole system, outcome focussed
approach so often invoked as the ideal approach, but so frequently usurped by
short term-ism.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">So with 100 days gone & many developments yet to emerge,
it’s fair to say the next 5 years remain a period of great uncertainty &
potential difficulty for local government. Alongside the trials & insecurities,
however, there remains the opportunity for local authorities to grasp a role of
at the heart of their communities.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This
role may be considerably altered from the traditional & established view of
the Council, & be more aligned with what a </span><a href="http://www.cles.org.uk/news/creating-a-good-local-economy-the-role-of-anchor-institutions/"><span style="color: #0563c1; font-family: Calibri;">report</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;">
from the Centre for Local Economic Strategies termed “anchor institutions”, forming
part of a wider combination of organisations, groups & individuals enabling
their local strategic economic & social development.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To achieve any of this will take considerably
longer than 100 days, but the early stages have begun & the momentum should
not be squandered.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Now is the time for
canny pragmatism, collaboration and locally-led innovation”, as a </span><span style="color: #0563c1; font-family: Calibri;"><a href="https://www.thersa.org/discover/publications-and-articles/rsa-blogs/2015/08/blog-impossible-promises-and-grotesque-chaos--the-dark-side-of-devolution/" target="_blank">recent RSA blog</a></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> put it: “now that the chance of devolution is finally on the
table, don’t blow it”.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Infinite Futureshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04205652875433268734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6775195357719115725.post-59279623131822209142015-08-11T21:25:00.000+01:002015-08-11T21:25:29.348+01:00Looking for the next best thing
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">This week the London Economic published my <a href="http://tle-online.com/entertainment/states-of-inequality-double-review/10/08" target="_blank">latest book review</a>, a joint assessment of two texts concerned with alternatives to current
economic policy in the UK &, to a lesser extent, beyond.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I won’t rehash their arguments or my reading
of them here, but would like to expand a little on ongoing & developing themes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">As mentioned in previous blog posts, I see an emerging dialogue
across professions & disciplines focussing on some pretty big issues:
economics & our understanding of how we understand & maybe even measure
what Will Hutton & <a href="https://www.thersa.org/discover/publications-and-articles/rsa-blogs/2015/08/measure-of-success/" target="_blank">others</a> term a “flourishing” society; how innovation
& technology disrupt the status quo, & how we can employ this to
redesign existing, moribund systems; the movement towards devolved decision
making, accountability & purpose; the value of & need for debate,
conversation, collaboration & alliances; & perhaps linking all of these
elements an acceptance that there has to be a greater understanding of how
human systems, economic systems, & natural systems interrelate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Both books I reviewed touch on some, if not all of these
themes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What disappointed me was what I saw
as a lack of new ideas for the ways forward.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>To be fair the authors do set out their proposals for change, rather
than taking the easier option of critique alone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But despite acknowledging the changing social
& technological factors of the past decade or so, the solutions seemed
retrospective. The postwar settlement & the supposed golden age of social
democracy undoubtedly contained significant successes, but it did so precisely
because “it” (I recognise this is a very broad brush here) was of its
time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Learning from the past is invaluable,
trying to recreate it is futile.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No
retro movement is ever as good as the original: passion becomes pastiche,
conviction becomes received wisdom, sincerity becomes irony.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Things have changed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I appreciate the challenges are immense, perhaps more so
than any of us can really comprehend.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t
pretend to have any answers, but I do think there is a need to start with a new
set of questions about what we want our society to be, & how we think we
can get there. Let’s keep looking.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Infinite Futureshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04205652875433268734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6775195357719115725.post-72080588604933755722015-07-13T21:25:00.001+01:002015-07-13T21:25:46.841+01:00Towards a more coherent prospectus for something or other
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Following on from my most recent blog post, last week I was
fortunate enough to be in the audience for Matthew Taylor’s RSA annual lecture
(click <a href="https://www.thersa.org/events/2015/07/the-human-welfare-economy/" target="_blank">here</a> for the footage), which proved to be as thought provoking as I expected.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Taylor’s theme, addressing what a “good
economy” could or would look like, & how to move beyond the current
narrowness of the wider economic debate, certainly seemed apposite on the eve
of the Budget.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">& in less than a week since the lecture, political &
economic issues have been ever more to the fore.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>George Osbourne’s Budget, <a href="http://www.economist.com/news/britain/21657412-george-osborne-well-way-balancing-britains-books-now-he-hopes-reshape" target="_blank">memorably described</a>
as “political cross dressing at its most flamboyant”, seemed despite its One Nation
rhetoric & colonisation of other parties’ policies to re-entrench the narrow
& divisive discourse of austerity come what may.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Subsequent developments with Greece & the
Eurozone have further reinforced the almost overwhelming sense of economic dystopia.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I make no pretence at expertise in these
matters, & when even someone with the ego of Andrew Neil admits they have
<a href="https://twitter.com/afneil/status/620294032611258368" target="_blank">no idea</a> what’s going on, there’s no shame in that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But what’s often missing in the news reports,
articles & twitter debates between economists, commentators & academics
is a sense of what this means for the (often voiceless) people stuck in the
midst of the nightmare.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Economic
theories, from all points on the political spectrum, seem much removed from the
human reality they purport to serve.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">All of which sounds deeply pessimistic, but again returning
to Taylor I echo his question: do we have the opportunity today to think &
act differently? Times of crisis & turbulence also bring possibilities for reassessment,
redesign, fundamental reform.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My last
post set out some of my reflections on themes that seem useful in this debate,
and the possibilities for continuing dialogue.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I’m grateful (& awed, frankly) for the feedback, support & input
I’ve had to date from some great people, & I’m still working towards a more
coherent prospectus for whatever this might become. The crucial thing for me is
that however bleak things may appear, the opportunity to create a different
discourse and to shape different futures is available.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No doubt there will be obstacles,
disappointments, even disillusion. But to paraphrase one of those <a href="https://twitter.com/immykaur/status/619039880828592128" target="_blank">inspirational</a> people, the goal isn’t to fight what’s already happened but to exemplify what
could be possible & then think what’s next.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">If you want to get involved please email me
@infinitefuturesinfinite@gmail.com or find me on twitter @FuturesInfinite <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
Infinite Futureshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04205652875433268734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6775195357719115725.post-48982109590450151382015-06-19T09:30:00.000+01:002015-06-19T09:30:37.702+01:00Joining the dots<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="color: black;">Since I started Infinite Futures I’ve been working around
approaches to a number of themes, originally focussing on public services and
foresight or futures thinking & along the way taking in forays into economics,
finance and politics.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Having the
opportunity to review books & talk with writers & thinkers &
entrepreneurs has helped me to expand the horizons of this work, & working
without a definitive roadmap has proved (for me, at least!) to be a liberating
& fulfilling experience.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>New
challenges, original thinking, & creative solutions have come to light on a
regular basis.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="color: black;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="color: black; mso-themecolor: text1;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri;">At the same
time, I’ve felt as if there is something bigger tying together all of these
things & more.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s been difficult
to pin this down, & a definitive version still escapes me despite several
attempts to write this piece.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But a
recent </span></span><a href="https://www.thersa.org/discover/publications-and-articles/matthew-taylor-blog/2015/06/a-small-chance-to-think-big/"><span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri;">blog</span></a><span style="color: black; mso-themecolor: text1;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="color: black;"> from Matthew Taylor, the Chief
Executive of the RSA, provided a catalyst for this attempt to develop a more
coherent approach.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In his piece, Taylor
argues that following the general election there is an opportunity to develop a
radical public debate about Britain’s political economy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The central question to consider is “how
would we judge the economy to be successful in 2030 based on the criteria of
long term human welfare and flourishing?”</span> <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">This question, & some of the potential answers Taylor
suggests, have helped me to gather my thoughts & experiences with Infinite
Futures.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As I’ve already mentioned, this
is far from a completed prospectus, but then one of the beauties of futures
thinking is that tomorrow “does not just happen by itself, automatically.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is created through our actions or inactions
in the present”</span><a href="file:///C:/Users/Rob/Documents/Since%20I%20started%20Infinite%20Futures%20I.docx" name="_ftnref1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: #0563c1;">[1]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;">
and thus is constantly subject to change.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The context<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">During the last 12 months or so it seems there’s been a
groundswell of opinion from new voices & old seeking to challenge the
orthodoxies in business, public services and wider society.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The general election success for the
Conservatives may be considered to be a victory for the status quo & vested
interests, but in reality we’re in a state (& State) of flux. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Amongst some of the critical issues are:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 21.3pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -21.3pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Economic & social stasis & the continuing
reliance on credit that underpins the recovery<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 21.3pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -21.3pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The promised EU Referendum, the continuing
“Scottish question” & the challenges these will contain for UK Government
structures & business.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 21.3pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -21.3pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Calls for greater Devolution (in different
forms) in England, Wales and Northern Ireland<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 21.3pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -21.3pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The “Greater Manchester” model & moves towards
devolution to regional & sub-regional areas & the redefinitions of life
in urban areas across the country<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 21.3pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -21.3pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Perceptions of inequality, the stagnation of
social mobility & the failures of neoliberal economics<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 21.3pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -21.3pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Technological changes & how society evolves
in kind; with new types of skills, employment, service design and
infrastructure<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 21.3pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -21.3pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Demographic trends, with an ageing population
leading longer active lives whilst public services contract; and generational
shifts: Generations Y & Z have been born into the internet age, with
different values, different priorities & different expectations<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 21.3pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -21.3pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The ebb and flow of political movements &
changes to voting patterns<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt 21.3pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -21.3pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Environmental issues – with natural resources
being eroded by short term growth focussed economy (& society) <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt 18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">This is far from a definitive
list, and there is much debate to be had regarding how priorities for the
future can be determined.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But as Taylor
says, new questions demand new answers & his initial shortlist of ideas is
a starting point for this wider debate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This is a debate beyond the old arguments of Left vs Right & more an
evolution of new mindsets.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt 18pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Infinite possibilities<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt 18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Several of Taylor’s proposed
answers (which, it should be noted, he does not advocate specifically but uses
to indicate “a sense of what radical new progressive thinking might actually
look like”) chime with some of my work with Infinite Futures.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The call for a more strategically focussed
central state that encourages enterprise & fosters social innovation echoes
the main thrust of Will Hutton’s </span><a href="http://tle-online.com/entertainment/literature/will-hutton-how-good-we-can-be-book-review/17/03"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #0563c1; font-family: Calibri;">How Good We Can Be</span></i></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;">, a return to the
fray from a seasoned political economist who identifies both opportunities
& threats from new technological & economic challenges, & who
challenges neoliberal business orthodoxy with proposals for greater recognition
of public interest.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hutton also
champions devolution of power to local areas, specifically cities, beyond the
confines of current Whitehall control.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This is a recurring theme in the RSA’s </span><a href="https://www.thersa.org/action-and-research/public-services-and-communities/cities/"><span style="color: #0563c1; font-family: Calibri;">work</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;">,
& is again reflected in Taylor’s proposals for local taxation, welfare
& policy diversity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Working in local
government during a time of unprecedented challenge, I am an enthusiast for
local devolution beyond cities, & have </span><a href="http://www.welovelocalgovernment.com/index.php/blog/139-what-happens-next"><span style="color: #0563c1; font-family: Calibri;">written</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;">
several times on the possibilities & responsibilities this movement could
bring. Subsidiarity, in Graham Allen MP’s words “an ugly word for a beautiful
concept”, is in my opinion a central element of any new social economy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt 18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The challenge of inequality is
ever present in current public discourse.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Piketty’s </span><a href="http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674430006"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #0563c1; font-family: Calibri;">Capital in the Twenty First Century</span></i></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;">,
Stiglitz’s </span><a href="http://www.penguin.co.uk/books/the-price-of-inequality/9780718197391/"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #0563c1; font-family: Calibri;">The Price of Inequality</span></i></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;">, & most
recently Anthony Atkinson’s </span><a href="http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674504769"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #0563c1; font-family: Calibri;">Inequality</span></i></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> have all analysed &
drawn attention to concentrations of wealth & distributions of income.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A radically different solution is proposed by
</span><a href="http://www.debtonator.info/index.php"><span style="color: #0563c1; font-family: Calibri;">Andrew McNally</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;">, a 25 year
veteran in the banking industry who in </span><a href="http://tle-online.com/entertainment/literature/tle-meets-andrew-mcnally/27/04"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #0563c1; font-family: Calibri;">Debtonator</span></i></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i>exposes modern finance’s reliance on debt & argues that
through broadening access to equity investment, inequality be addressed through
productive assets.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Like Hutton, McNally
highlights examples & calls for greater employee share ownership in companies & a reassessment of
the neoliberal economic tenets of the invisible hand of the market & unbiased
rational investors; flawed theoretic constructs that, as Richard Thaler has
recently written, have nevertheless underpinned the perception of economics as
“the most powerful of the social sciences in an intellectual sense”</span><a href="file:///C:/Users/Rob/Documents/Since%20I%20started%20Infinite%20Futures%20I.docx" name="_ftnref2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: #0563c1;">[2]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;">.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To contest, challenge & reimagine
economics with a human dimension is a recurring aspiration.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt 18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">In addition to the human
dimension, the </span><a href="http://capitalinstitute.org/regenerative-capitalism/"><span style="color: #0563c1; font-family: Calibri;">Capital
Institute’s</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> goal is to reimagine capitalism to focus on sustainability
& well-being.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Institute was
founded by John Fullerton, a former Managing Director of JPMorgan who, like
McNally, has an insider’s perspective on finance & banking.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Fullerton’s insight that modern economics is
the “root cause of the(se) systemic crises” such as the 2008 financial crisis
is hardly unique, but his diagnosis of “regenerative” capitalism following
principles of systemic evolution is undoubtedly radical.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am currently writing a feature based on
Fullerton’s story & the ideas he proposes to affect change to “the future
of Finance”.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt 18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">But as much as the books &
manifestos & blogs have inspired my thinking during this time, equally
important have been the conversations with innovators & demonstrations of
new approaches I have been fortunate to be involved with.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Within the public sector, & despite the well
documented issues arising from austerity, the desire for progress & new
approaches is obvious. A distinct advantage of living in an era of constant
change is that adaptability & agility becomes normal, despite the popular
perceptions of the sector.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is not a
claim of woolly-minded utopianism, but in my experience it is especially true
of current generations who are bringing new perspectives of collaboration,
design & customer focus to address the challenges we face.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Battles over sovereignty (particularly with
regard to devolution) & politics remain, but the opportunity to provide a
new generation of the civic functions & public goods demanded by citizens
is obvious.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The challenge for local
government leaders and local representatives is to live up to the expectations,
accept the responsibilities available & prove their capabilities in order
to help their communities flourish.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
development of scenarios for future versions of local public services continues
to be an area of strong focus for me.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt 18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Beyond the public sector, my own
experience of an emerging cohort of entrepreneurs, creative thinkers &
social businesses indicates how & where employment may develop for future
generations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ve written before about </span><a href="http://birmingham.impacthub.net/"><span style="color: #0563c1; font-family: Calibri;">ImpactHub Birmingham</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> & similar
ventures that are re-embedding enterprise, creativity & pride into local
communities.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Other examples include the </span><a href="http://www.creativequarter.com/"><span style="color: #0563c1; font-family: Calibri;">Creative Quarter</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> in Nottingham,
& I’ve recently come across the website for the </span><a href="http://www.civicsystemslab.org/about/"><span style="color: #0563c1; font-family: Calibri;">Civic Systems Lab</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> & its
goal to develop a local “participatory & civic economy”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Principles of ethical working,
sustainability, collaboration & social commitment are recurring themes. This
is not to say these examples are the answer to future employment, which will
necessarily be as diverse if not more so than the labour market of today: of
course there will be no one answer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
questions of inequality & mobility will not be washed away by a </span><a href="http://ducknet.co.uk/books/all/The%20Flat%20White%20Economy"><span style="color: #0563c1; font-family: Calibri;">Flat White
Economy</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> alone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But a growth in what
John Howkins</span><a href="file:///C:/Users/Rob/Documents/Since%20I%20started%20Infinite%20Futures%20I.docx" name="_ftnref3" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn3;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: #0563c1;">[3]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;">
defines as a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">creative ecologies </i>(&
not necessarily in so-called “creative industries”) provides “the seedbed for
creative economies” necessary to adapt, shape & invent the new human
economy proposed by Matthew Taylor.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-indent: 18pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Joining the dots<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt 18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">As I said as the start, this blog
has gone through several versions, & is by no means the finished article,
so to speak. Howkins refers to the online platform <a href="https://labs.ideo.com/about/" target="_blank">Ideolab</a> setting out to
“always be in beta…(i.e.) draft, unfinished, open to change and improvement.”</span><a href="file:///C:/Users/Rob/Documents/Since%20I%20started%20Infinite%20Futures%20I.docx" name="_ftnref4" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn4;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: #0563c1;">[4]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;">
Hopefully what this blog does is summarise in beta form some of the themes
& interests I’ve been working on within a broader canvas of the
propositions set out in Matthew Taylor’s blog.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt 18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">There are many voices in this
debate, & many different perspectives on the question of “what kind of
economy do we want in 2030?” It would be impossible (& foolish) to try to
include them all in a piece such as this, but the conversation should take
place as widely as possible. Again referring to Ideolab, my hope is that these
dialogues can be “inclusive, community-centred, collaborative &
optimistic.” In the run up to publishing this blog, I’ve been requesting
feedback on twitter & will continue to do so now.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Please do contact me, post a comment or send
me a tweet if you’d like to join the dialogue & contribute to the debate & Infinite
Futures’ development.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Matthew Taylor’s <a href="https://www.thersa.org/events/2015/07/the-human-welfare-economy/" target="_blank">annual RSA lecture</a> will take place on 7<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup>
July 2015, entitled “The Human Welfare Economy”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
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<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></div>
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<a href="file:///C:/Users/Rob/Documents/Since%20I%20started%20Infinite%20Futures%20I.docx" name="_ftn1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: #0563c1;">[1]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">
Ziaddun Sardar, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Future</i>: Hodder &
Stroughton (2013), page 5.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<a href="file:///C:/Users/Rob/Documents/Since%20I%20started%20Infinite%20Futures%20I.docx" name="_ftn2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: #0563c1;">[2]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">
Richard H. Thaler, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Misbehaving</i>: Allen
Lane, 2015 page 5.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<a href="file:///C:/Users/Rob/Documents/Since%20I%20started%20Infinite%20Futures%20I.docx" name="_ftn3" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn3;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: #0563c1;">[3]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">
John Howkins, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Creative Economy</i>:
Penguin (2013), page 5 & pages 31-3.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<a href="file:///C:/Users/Rob/Documents/Since%20I%20started%20Infinite%20Futures%20I.docx" name="_ftn4" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn4;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: #0563c1;">[4]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">
Ibid, page 36.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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Infinite Futureshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04205652875433268734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6775195357719115725.post-81996901202752886332015-05-12T19:21:00.002+01:002015-05-12T19:21:27.378+01:00What happens next?
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">It's taken a few days to sink in.
Unlike several commentators who are now trying to claim they foresaw the
Conservative majority in Parliament, I will admit to being surprised by the
General Election results. The collapse of the LibDems & the rise
of the SNP may have been more predictable, but even here the sheer size of
the shift seems incredible. Labour's strategy seems to have imploded,
& in the final reckoning the Conservatives' reputation for financial
judiciousness won the day.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">So what does this mean for the future of
public services in the next five years & beyond? Without their erstwhile
partners the LibDems to temper some of the Tory proposals, those working
in the sector may be expecting the worst. Certainly the preceding five
years of austerity, public funding cuts & the dismissive rhetoric of
prominent Tories will stoke the fears of many in local government.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">The pledges made in the Conservatives'
manifesto & during the election campaign raise as many questions as
answers. The (in)famous £12bn in welfare cuts remain shrouded in mystery,
but the potential for pain is clear. The future of social housing,
already suffering from years of neglect, has been destabilised further by the
election promise of the extension of right to buy. Even the devolution of
powers to local areas is largely cloaked in the nebulous phrase "Northern
Powerhouse". This is a bugbear of mine, mainly for two
reasons. Firstly, how exactly is the "North" being
defined? There is no agreement what this term even means in Doncaster, never
mind Downing Street. I heard an interviewee in Newcastle scoffing at the
idea of a Mancunian hub for the Powerhouse, as that city was "in the
south" as far as he was concerned. Westminster soundbites will not help
the cause of subsidiarity. & the second reason is that the focus on
the "North", whilst politically astute during the campaign,
side-lines huge swathes of the country where the appetite, potential & <em><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">need </span></em>for greater responsibility
& accountability is just as valid as that of Manchester, West Yorkshire
& beyond. I hope the business rates pilot scheme in Cambridgeshire is
an indication of the broadening of this canvas.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">& yet there are reasons for
optimism. The appointment of Greg Clark as Communities Secretary
indicates a continued emphasis on devolution & decentralisation, together
with a more collegiate & constructive approach to Whitehall's relationship
with local authorities. The Conservatives have thus far been much more
open to asymmetric devolution proposals, & although the city-centric
approach may continue to hold sway the Tory shires will no doubt be lobbying
for their own deals. This suggests the fundamental shift in local
accountability & autonomy dreamt of by many in local government may be
within reach. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">To make this possible, the pre-election
momentum must not be wasted. The incoming government has an overflowing in
tray, particularly with the Nationalist surge in Scotland & the
perennial EU referendum issue for the Conservative Party.
Missed opportunities at this stage may be lost forever. The
DevoManc deal, Centre for Cities' excellent publications, the Key Cities
manifesto, the Non-Met report, and many more - all of these documents,
positions & offers have built a case for devolution of some kind.
Perhaps now is the time for a collective voice for local authorities of all
types - metropolitan, district & county - to pull all of this together as a
menu of options for central government. Much as the LGA's
excellent "First 100 Days of the Next Government" has set out a
range of proposals for radical change to help address the financial and
systemic problems in local government, the devolution agenda requires a
comprehensive, collective voice. This may result in a loss of sovereignty
for some, & may require a fundamental reassessment of how the public,
private and voluntary sectors work together in future to focus on local
priorities.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But place based budgets,
financial autonomy, early intervention for complex issues, innovative service
design: all these & more are up for grabs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The opportunity to create a vibrant, sustainable future for local government
is there to be grasped; the sector must seize its chance.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
Infinite Futureshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04205652875433268734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6775195357719115725.post-22882061732129285882015-04-24T14:39:00.000+01:002015-04-24T14:39:31.089+01:00May 7th & the future of local government<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">So there’s less than two weeks to go now until Election Day
& the reckoning that comes with it, & the political narratives are well
established.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Long term economic plans,
protecting the NHS, dealing with the deficit, ending austerity & increasing
housing supply are the interchangeable mantras heard throughout each day from
almost every side.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It has felt like a
curiously cautious campaign, with as much emphasis from the major parties on
not scaring the horses rather than providing hope, inspiration or new
directions.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Central to the groupthink on public spending is the
NHS.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ve written <a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6775195357719115725#editor/target=post;postID=2993616092974811720;onPublishedMenu=allposts;onClosedMenu=allposts;postNum=5;src=postname" target="_blank">before </a>on the sacred
cow that is, in Nigel Lawson’s famous phrase, “the closest thing the English
have to a religion”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The election
campaign has evidenced this more than ever, if the party pledges are anything
to go by.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Conservatives promise at
least an extra £8bn per year by 2020, as do the LibDems who add an extra £500m
per year for mental health services.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Labour promise £2.5bn of extra funding for the NHS per annum, 8,000 new
GPs & 20,000 more nurses.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>UKIP
pledge 8,000 more GPs, 20,000 more nurses, 3,000 more midwives & £3bn per
year extra funding.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The SNP want £9.5bn
extra for Britain, with £2.5bn of that specifically for Scotland.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>& so it goes on.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Of course no party wishes to commit political suicide by being
seen as anti-NHS, even those who disagree with the way it is structured.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>& so the arms race of NHS spending
pledges continues exponentially.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Compare this to the parties’ stances on other public
services.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yes the (current) big three
have all committed (in different ways) to greater devolution of powers to local
areas.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Education remains an area of
focus, but with the emphasis on how schools are administered and what the
curriculum should contain.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>New housing
is vital, but local government’s role in how this might be delivered is barely
mentioned, beyond the Conservatives’ focus on the sale of existing Council
properties to help fund the extension of Right to Buy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The conclusion I find hard to avoid is that when it comes to
influencing the debate, local government has largely failed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Within the sector it is widely recognised
that councils have, in most cases, adapted to post-2010 austerity well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Perhaps too well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Unlike the health sector, local government does
not cry out for more money, & has not warned of imminent disaster if the funding
doesn’t come.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The sector has raised
objections & sounded warnings, but then generally got on with making the
best of a bad situation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is laudable,
but the truth of the matter is that whilst politicians of all stripes are
falling over themselves to “protect” the NHS, local government is seen as an
easy target for more reductions in funding.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The fragmented nature of local government is a part of
this.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The LGA has a crucial role to
play, but the competing claims of Counties, Districts and Metropolitan areas
mean that the sector often does not speak with a united voice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This makes it all the more easy for national
politicians ignore or override their local counterparts. In the area of public
health, Michael Marmot’s “Social Determinants of Health”, and councils’ central
role in addressing these issues, are widely acknowledged.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But does this message get reflected in the
discourse of national politics? Local government, ironically, is not a vote
winner. Alongside this, the sector’s complexities make it difficult for the general
public to know what councils do, never mind how they do it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>& in the current climate fomented by
certain politicians, public opinion of local government is weighed down by
inaccurate perceptions of largesse, “gold plated pensions”, & so on &
so forth.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">This being the case, the election will certainly provide
significant further challenges for the sector as a whole.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But it does also afford the possibility of
opportunities.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Whichever party, or
parties, holds power after May 7<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup> will be aware that despite the
election rhetoric, all public services face an era of economic, technological,
demographic & social change.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The challenge
for local government is to convince the politicians & the public that we
are a fundamental part of the solutions to these changes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Infinite Futureshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04205652875433268734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6775195357719115725.post-54058336369846099942015-03-17T19:55:00.000+00:002015-03-17T22:00:55.359+00:00Reflections on Hutton<br>
The London Economic today published my review of Will Hutton's latest book, How Good We Can Be. As I said in my last post, Hutton was the first political economist I read, & it's been fascinating to return to his writing & approach. His is a particular world view, & one that I sympathise with on the whole, if not in some his conclusions. The review covers the main themes & proposals of the book, but I did want to add some personal reflections on a particular passage from the text, which I've quoted below:<div><br></div><div>"The clerisy of well-read individuals, creative artists and academics prepared to engage in public argument, participate in public life and challenge the new orthodoxies - and who might stiffen the ranks of the professionals, working-class and faith healers - is thinner and less influential than it should be... There is not enough energy to contest what is happening. This is not fertile ground for a progressive culture, new alliances and a politics that challenges today's business and financial structures."</div><div><br></div><div>Hutton does go on to say that counter-trends do exist, & his conclusions on the whole focus on the positive opportunities for change. But the excerpt above stuck with me throughout, because I see things very differently, admittedly at some distance from the Oxford College Principal & Observer columnist position of Hutton. </div><div><br></div><div>I would argue that the countervailing parties are very much out there & affecting change in new & substantive ways. Examples like the ImpactHub in Birmingham <a href="http://birmingham.impacthub.net/">http://birmingham.impacthub.net/</a> are evidence of a collective, progressive approach to collaboration, creativity & innovation. Likewise, Rowan Conway's recent blog <a href="https://www.thersa.org/discover/publications-and-articles/rsa-blogs/2015/03/hippies-hipsters-and-the-generational-inbetweeners/">https://www.thersa.org/discover/publications-and-articles/rsa-blogs/2015/03/hippies-hipsters-and-the-generational-inbetweeners/</a> illustrates the generational differences in approach between Boomers, GenX (my generation, baby) & Millenials - but the common ground is the desire for progressive change. & the Internet & social media may well be fertile ground for fruitcakes, but there are plenty of seekers of the new alliances Hutton describes.</div><div><br></div><div>& not forgetting Will Hutton himself, who is not afraid to confront this "crisis of ideas" with his own analyses, critiques &, crucially, suggested remedies. He suggests this is "the future is bright - if we can seize it" & is prepared to participate in public life to make this case, despite the certain flak from those who disagree with his approach. That's something to be inspired by.<br>
<br>
<a href="http://www.thelondoneconomic.com/2015/03/17/will-hutton-how-good-we-can-be-book-review/">http://www.thelondoneconomic.com/2015/03/17/will-hutton-how-good-we-can-be-book-review/</a></div><br><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHcDggnXrmbPtrf7FGPTbAUjcYjjmIQ8_p_32kejzLmcyYzSE_UJw9rffjlDFhzk05bBxEs9dRPs8K7uyJjiQYLUdMtCqFGhwOR_-Cu1HpF6o8Wb3CZxkBgIM6kvMqlqOrV4-sOq52J2y6/s640/blogger-image--1553646529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHcDggnXrmbPtrf7FGPTbAUjcYjjmIQ8_p_32kejzLmcyYzSE_UJw9rffjlDFhzk05bBxEs9dRPs8K7uyJjiQYLUdMtCqFGhwOR_-Cu1HpF6o8Wb3CZxkBgIM6kvMqlqOrV4-sOq52J2y6/s640/blogger-image--1553646529.jpg"></a></div>Infinite Futureshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04205652875433268734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6775195357719115725.post-88587636933490067772015-02-09T21:49:00.001+00:002015-02-13T16:50:37.050+00:00How Good? Let's see...<div>It's been a busy week. Last Friday, New Start magazine published my review of John Seddon's "The Whitehall Effect" -<a href="http://newstartmag.co.uk/your-blogs/book-review-whitehall-effect/" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">http://newstartmag.co.uk/your-blogs/book-review-whitehall-effect/</a> . As summarised in the review, Seddon's trenchant criticism of the industrialisation of public services & the policy mistakes made by Governments (Central and local) during the last 35 years makes for compelling, if disturbing, reading. If the tone of the book sometimes disappoints, the concluding focus on the possibilities for change is redeeming. </div><div><br></div><div>On Monday this was followed by the receipt of a copy of Will Hutton's new book "How Good We Can Be", which I'll be reviewing soon. Hutton's seminal "The State We're In", published 20 years ago, was the first book of its kind I'd ever read & opened my mind to journalism & analysis of politics & the economy. Years later I saw him speak at a conference on austerity & public services, & although I don't always agree with his analyses I hugely admire his work & commitment to public society. Thus far the new text is living up to expectations. </div><div><br></div><div>Monday also saw the publication of Respublica & Core Cities report "Restoring Britain's City States", <a href="http://www.respublica.org.uk/our-work/publications/restoring-britains-city-states-devolution-public-service-reform-local-economic-growth/" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">http://www.respublica.org.uk/our-work/publications/restoring-britains-city-states-devolution-public-service-reform-local-economic-growth/</a>. Alongside recent publications from the RSA & Centre for Cities this report continues the current narrative momentum for English devolution to cities and City Regions, a momentum that continued to a certain extent at Tuesday's NLGN (<a href="http://www.nlgn.org.uk/public/" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">http://www.nlgn.org.uk/public/</a>)<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"> annual conference "Looking for a new England" held at the City of London Guildhall. The keynote address from Sir Richard Leese, Leader of Manchester City Council, set out the long road to last year's milestone agreement to create a Greater Manchester Authority , which as he pointed out actually began in 1985! This timescale adds a different perspective to the current scramble to replicate DevoManc in other regions of the country: as was noted by several fellow attendees, the relationships, trust & confidence to break the mould of local government takes time to evolve.</span></div><div><br></div><div>Also noteworthy from the conference was the differing levels of enthusiasm & commitment for devolution between politicians, but not due to the usual tribal loyalties. The strongest voices in favour came from the local politicians (both Labour & Tory) who seemed to be at best dismayed, if not disgruntled, at the lack of trust & understanding shown by Parliamentary colleagues. As was rightly pointed out, few Ministers are likely to vote in favour of giving away hard-won power without understanding the benefits, & it is for local government leaders to make a persuasive case for change. The revolution (if it comes) will be led by the localities, but Richard Leese sounded a warning: any changes are currently made at the whim of Ministers, & that which can be done at the stroke of a pen can just as easily be undone. The need for a new constitutional settlement remains.</div><div><br></div><div>Hotfoot from the Guildhall I returned to the Midlands for Tuesday night's RSA West Midlands (<a href="https://www.thersa.org/fellowship/in-your-area/regions/west-midlands/" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">https://www.thersa.org/fellowship/in-your-area/regions/west-midlands/</a>) engage event, held at the brilliant & inspiring Impact Hub Brum (<a href="http://birmingham.impacthub.net/" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">http://birmingham.impacthub.net/</a>) for an evening of networking, conversation & inspiration. Eight pitches for involvement, input & support were made from Fellows aiming to reduce waste, inspire children, design the future, & develop new skills (amongst many other things!). I'm hoping to be involved in a couple of these projects & look forward to getting started, but more than anything came away from the Hub immersed in a sense of shared optimism, enthusiasm & determination to create change. These are difficult times, but as John Seddon points out the opportunities are immense. In the words of Will Hutton, "the challenge is to shape this future rather than be shaped by it."</div>Infinite Futureshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04205652875433268734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6775195357719115725.post-56837357661028122132015-01-26T16:55:00.001+00:002015-01-30T11:48:03.824+00:00100 days to go. Or, it's all Greek to meIt's beyond a cliche to say we are living in tumultuous times. Yesterday's election result in Greece is just the latest aftershock from the global economic & political earthquakes that are coming to define the 21st Century to date. The Greek electorate's support for Syriza & their rejection of the "imposed austerity" from the EU & IMF reaffirms the sense that many of the existing political certainties in the West are crumbling. In place of these lost certainties remain only questions: what next for Greece? For the EU? For the Euro?<br />
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Today also marks 100 days to go to the British General Election. The countdown is underway with a background of increasing pluralism. The two traditional parties may still be out in front of all the challengers, but the potential make up of the next administration is open to many possibilities. LibDems, UKIP, the Greens, the nationalists in Wales & Scotland, & the idiosyncrasies of Northern Irish politics are all potential elements to be considered & factored in to possible scenarios. </div>
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Many commentators have pointed to the rise of non-mainstream parties as being a voice for populism, whether it's left wing in Greece, right wing in Holland, or (as seems to be the case in the UK) a bit of both. The narratives of these non-traditional parties can often be summarised fairly simply: the mainstream "elite" got us into this mess & don't care about ordinary people, only we can be the voice of the masses. Whether you blame capitalism, immigration, banks, neoliberalism or wind farms, there is a simple answer to all of the West's ills. </div>
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It is therefore vital that during these changing times, political parties & movements are scrutinised & questioned over their motives, but also that they are explained & contextualised. During the last few days I've become ever more thankful for the insight & analysis of particular journalists & broadcasters. Freedom of the press has rightly been a very pressing concern following the events in Paris, but often the daily grind of news & current affairs can be viewed with cynicism. I'd like to sing the praises of some of Britain's journalists who don't make the headlines for phone hacking, but do make news stories that help to bring understanding, knowledge and daylight into an often murky world. A fine example is Paul Mason's reporting from Greece for Channel 4, bringing a depth of history & nuance to an often complex & confusing scene. & the introduction of 100 constituencies in 100 days from the Today programme promises a range of insight & human stories from around the country beyond the Westminster village. </div>
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2015 is shaping up to be a year of radical change. Let's give thanks to the voices that help us understand (at least in part) what's going on. </div>
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Edit 30.01.15: links below<br />
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<a href="http://www.channel4.com/news/paul-mason" target="_blank">http://www.channel4.com/news/paul-mason</a><br />
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<a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02hy6fh">http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02hy6fh</a></div>
Infinite Futureshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04205652875433268734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6775195357719115725.post-49955904956327757482014-12-31T11:32:00.001+00:002014-12-31T13:13:36.878+00:002015 & beyond: back to the futureLooking back over 2014 & ahead to the New Year it's hard not to see a plethora of challenges for the public sector. Political commentators & pundits seem to be in general agreement that if there's one thing for certain regarding the forthcoming General Election, it's that nobody knows what to expect. Labour or Conservative, alliances with UKIP or the LibDems or the Greens or the Nationalists, the possibilities are complex & confusing. Factor in the competing & confused policy pronouncements on public spending, the NHS & devolution (see previous posts) amongst other things & the future(s) become even more difficult to comprehend.<div>Despite this landscape, however, I am approaching 2015 in an unusually optimistic manner. This is unusual for reasons that go beyond the fairly common "meh" feelings towards the forced jamboree of New Year's Eve & the resolutions that go unfulfilled. I think the optimism stems from a feeling of possibility & creativity that is apparent across sectors, organisations & generations in recent months. The Scottish referendum may have been a catalyst for this (regardless of your views on the result, it was a victory for democracy & debate), alongside the developing perception of the revolutionary possibilities for the future. "Digital" is a shorthand catch-all for the possibilities for technological change, but the potential is obvious. Some impacts will be negative & the understanding needed to adapt to change will grow even further. But the potential for innovation, creativity & (re)design of business, public services & lifestyles is enormous. </div><div>This optimism, it is fair to say, is not my natural default setting. The first General Election I was eligible to vote was in 1997, the year of New Labour's landslide victory & subsequent euphoria leading to widespread disillusionment. Any kind of Pollyannaism in politics or public policy raises eyebrows, including mine. But for now at least I see the options open to voters in May as a huge opportunity to influence & inform how we build the futures ahead, together. </div><div><br></div><div>If you want to be part of how we do this please get in touch. </div><div><br></div><div>Wishing you a happy & prosperous New Year.</div><div>IF. </div>Infinite Futureshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04205652875433268734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6775195357719115725.post-29936160929748117202014-12-06T22:09:00.000+00:002014-12-06T23:46:01.644+00:00The ring-fenced sacred cow<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Wednesday’s Autumn Statement arrived on a wave of publicity,
pre-announced gambits & commentariat predictions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But for those of us expecting or being
encouraged to expect more detail on English devolution proposals the actual
statement failed to live up to the hype.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The Chancellor made an early reference to the “Northern powerhouse” that
excited some social media speculation, but beyond a summary of proposals for
Greater Manchester & a reference to English Votes for English Laws the
subject didn’t progress beyond Mr Osbourne’s pledge that “my door is open to
other cities who want to follow”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the
example of Manchester.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Reform of stamp
duty took the limelight, & reform of English democracy retreated to the
sidelines.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The coverage following Wednesday has (Stamp Duty excepted)
centred around the analysis that the continued long term public sector spending
plan detailed in the Autumn Statement will lead to the lowest proportion of state spending
since the 1930s.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A further £15billion
reduction in <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Whitehall</st1:place></st1:city>
spending over the first two years of the next Parliament have been promised
(subject to voters’ agreement, of course) under the slogan of “Savings and
reform”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This section of the statement
is worth quoting in full:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">“We’ve shown in this Parliament that we can deliver spending
reductions without damaging frontline public services if you’re prepared to
undertake reform.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Crime is down.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Satisfaction with local government is up.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Savings and reform.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We will do exactly the same again.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">All of which is perhaps unsurprising.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Data sourced by the IFS and reported by </span><a href="http://www.economist.com/news/britain/21635034-despite-deep-cuts-britains-public-finances-have-veered-course-job-not-done"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The
Economist</span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> illustrates the percentage change in Whitehall departmental
budgets between 2010-11 and 2014-15, with Local Government reducing by around
25% and Communities by 45%.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And yet
protection remains and grows for certain areas, especially the NHS.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If we go along with the old saw about the NHS being the
closest thing <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">England</st1:place></st1:country-region>
has to a religion, then National politicians appear to be devout
believers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Chancellor announced a
further £2billion every year (yes, every year) to frontline NHS services,
alongside £1.2billion investment in GP services.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And who could disagree with more acute care,
more nurses, more Doctors, more NHS?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Labour, who see the NHS as their trump electoral card, certainly
couldn’t & so promptly announced that the extra £2bn announced by the
Chancellor would be added to the £2.5bn they had already pledged should Ed
Miliband become Prime Minister.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This NHS arms race between the political parties is a key
electoral theme, & as such can be seen as an entertaining parlour game. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Instead of tanks & rocket launchers parading
across <st1:place w:st="on">Red Square</st1:place>, perhaps our political leaders dream
of columns of ambulances & paramedics marching along The Mall. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But it does obscure and ignore some of the
biggest (actual, real) challenges facing our society, our population’s health
and future development.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">People working within & outside public services know the
issues we face: an ageing population that is living longer but enduring more
long term illnesses; significant issues with obesity, diabetes & other
limiting conditions; longer working lives & the requirement for skills
development, re-training & innovation; the shortage of quality affordable
housing, & so on. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>From the Marmot
Review onwards every analysis of current and future demands on the state has
identified the importance the wider, or social, determinants of health &
wellbeing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The importance of prevention,
of changes upstream to reduce future impacts of these issues is commonly
accepted. The problem is the very people & organisations that have the
potential to at least assist in meeting these challenges in the future are
currently being slowly strangulated & the focus remains on the last port of
call, the already overstretched & buckling Health service.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">None of which is to say that reform & savings are not
required across the whole of the public sector.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Most of my colleagues & acquaintances understand the need for
change, & believe the days of largesse are deservedly over.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The newer generations entering the public
sector workforce are bringing with them a greater emphasis on creativity,
problem solving & inventive solutions, unburdened by concerns over
tradition, hierarchy & political ideology.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>What they require is an environment that provides the freedom to innovate,
collaborate & genuinely re form how the public sector might operate,
unhindered by ring fences & political groupthink.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The sacred cow of NHS funding illustrates the
barriers that remain between the present & future forms of the public sector.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">
</span>Infinite Futureshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04205652875433268734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6775195357719115725.post-75717973281941036152014-11-20T16:58:00.002+00:002014-11-20T16:58:45.214+00:00Rochester, Devolution and the futures of local government
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Today’s the day of the Rochester by-election, with the
potential result of a further representative of UKIP entering Parliament.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ever since the Scottish independence
referendum, the political class & media have been focussed on two concerns:
what next for devolution in the UK, & what does this mean for England?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The potential devolution of further powers to Scotland &
(by assumption) Wales seems to have had more impact on specifically English
politics than that of the Celtic nations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The continuing rise of UKIP &, despite its name, the party’s very Anglo-centric
focus has been one outcome.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A second has
been the scramble for position from various interested parties seeking to seize
the opportunity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In this respect,
Greater Manchester is currently in the vanguard with the “Devo Manc” proposal,
although this does come with the caveat of an imposed Elected Mayor model
rejected by Mancunians not so long ago.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The major cities &/or “City Regions” are currently
leading the way & winning the narrative of devolution.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is much talk of a “Northern powerhouse”
& connected cities pan-Pennines & beyond.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">But where does that leave non-city, or non-“Northern” (or
both!) areas?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">It’s worth noting the political dimension to these
positions. Much has been made of the Prime Minister’s early morning paean to
the need for “English votes for English Laws” following the Scottish vote;
naked political posturing in the guise of the Englishman’s New Clothes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But the subsequent clamour for devolved
powers to cities also has as much to do with their being (broadly speaking)
traditional Labour strongholds; without which the Labour party would be in even
more difficulty than present.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">So, the positioning is clear: devolve to established,
traditional & in the most part “Northern” cities in order for the
established, traditional Labour controlled authorities to remain & gain
greater powers over finance, housing, economic development, & so on.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">All of this positioning however, still fails to answer a
crucial question: what happens in non-urban, non-“Northern” areas?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The post Scotland Referendum debate has been
so focussed on the mythical disillusioned Northern voter that whole areas of
England appear to have vanished from the political landscape, at least in terms
of the devolution debate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Does this
illustrate a gulf between & within the political parties’ visions for England?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the “Northern” cities (& Scotland, &
possibly Wales) disillusioned voters need devolved budgets, local priority
setting, economic regeneration strategies & transport infrastructure
investment.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Whereas in the smaller cities, towns, districts, boroughs &
villages in the south, west, east, midlands, & non-metropolitan North the
focus is on immigration, tradition, “English” values & the scramble to out-UKIP
UKIP.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(How much time has been spent
debating economic infrastructure, combined transport authorities or similar
issues in the Rochester by-election campaign?)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The silence from the main political parties regarding non-Northern
metropolitan devolution is complete.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Some cities, such as Nottingham, & regions including the West Midlands
are trying their best to ride the devolution wave in the wake of Manchester &
the Northern Powerhouse.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But where is
the Midlands Future summit? Or the East Anglia Powerhouse propaganda? </span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Almost all voices, from the Conservative Party to the RSA
City Commission to the trailblazing MP Graham Allen agree that English
devolution will asymmetrical.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
Manchester model (if or when it becomes a reality) will not be the Maidenhead
model, & so on.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is a logical &
progressive approach, & should be applauded.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But that’s not to say that devolution
governance should be proscribed according to the political environment &
ideological battlegrounds of current political discourse.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The future of all forms of government –
national, regional, metro, shire, & district – in the whole of the UK, face
enormous challenges.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The benefits of
subsidiarity (local involvement, accountability, trust and so on) run counter to
the centralising tendency of Central Government, but in advocating localism and
devolution the major political parties have acknowledged that 21<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">st</span></sup>
Century decision making needs to be guided by local needs, and address local
challenges. In order to meet those challenges, our political leaders &
centres of power need to put aside their concerns over Rochester & even the
General Election of May 2015 & consider how all parts of England & the
UK will be best positioned for 2025 & beyond.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>By focussing on entrenching their current
powerbases, they risk stagnation, greater discontent & obscurity & we,
in turn, risk losing a huge opportunity for change.</span></div>
Infinite Futureshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04205652875433268734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6775195357719115725.post-63330502945739135392014-11-20T16:10:00.000+00:002014-11-20T16:10:57.068+00:00New blog: welcome to Infinite FuturesHi<br />
This is the new home for the Infinite Futures blog, where I'll be posting thoughts, articles & other things on subjects including foresight, futures & horizon scanning. Local government & how it adapts to futures will be a recurring theme.<br />
Let me know what you think & please join the conversationsInfinite Futureshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04205652875433268734noreply@blogger.com0