Category Archives: Politics

The Class Ceiling – Posh Boys (and Girls) Still Rule OK

Posted on April 29, 2012 by

When Tory MP Nadine Dorries described her Prime Minister and Chancellor as ”two arrogant posh boys” it prompted me to start thinking about my own experiences of class in British society over the past half century. My conclusion – there … Continue reading →

Posted in Political Economy, Politics, Public Administration, Whitehall | 5 Comments

BT Infinity – Infinitely Unavailable?

Posted on April 5, 2012 by

Yesterday I got an email from BT, once again extolling the virtues of BT Infinity* and inviting me to sign up. As I am a BT customer – which is why they had my email – it wouldn’t have been … Continue reading →

Posted in Political Economy, Politics, Public Management, Whitehall | 5 Comments

The Public Government of Public Money – not yet, not by a long way

Posted on March 19, 2012 by

Three decades ago two American academics published a superb analysis of the way in which British government’s made finance decisions provocatively entitled “The Private Government of Public Money” (Heclo and Wildavsky, 1981). Has the Coalition accidentally given birth to the … Continue reading →

Posted in Parliament, Politics, Public Administration, Spending, Whitehall | 1 Comment

Saint GP. Why have GPs been elevated to special status in the health debate?

Posted on March 11, 2012 by

The whole NHS reform is based on an assertion – that GPs are somehow better placed to decide what NHS services need to be provided because they are in some sense ”closer to patients”. The news story today that GPs … Continue reading →

Posted in NHS, Politics, Public Administration, Public Management | 9 Comments

Is the Civil Service Accountable to Parliament? Hodge vs O’Donnell spat opens a can of worms.

Posted on March 10, 2012 by

Is the Civil Service accountable to parliament? Margaret Hodge MP, the formidable chair of the powerful Public Accounts Committee of Parliament says “yes”. Sir (now Lord) Gus O’Donnell and other ex-Mandarins say firmly “no”. (For details see the Guardian website here). … Continue reading →

Posted in Accountability, Parliament, Politics, Public Administration, Public Management, Whitehall | 5 Comments

Implement That

Posted on January 20, 2012 by

Watch out for the word “implementation” in 2012. It’s the new in-word in Whitehall.

Posted in Politics, Public Administration, Public Management, Whitehall | 1 Comment

My Top Ten (most read) WhitehallWatch posts of 2011 (so far)

Posted on December 22, 2011 by
Posted in International, Performance, Political Economy, Politics, Public Administration, Public Management, Spending, Whitehall | Leave a comment

Greek Deficit and Tax Evasion

Posted on November 10, 2011 by

One issue that keeps coming up around the Greek crisis is the degree of tax evasion. In the slide below I report the average Greek budget deficit per year on a decade by decade basis since the 1960s (figures on … Continue reading →

Posted in International, Political Economy, Politics, Public Administration, Spending | 2 Comments

Theresa May: déjà vu all over again

Posted on November 8, 2011 by

[I appeared briefly on Newsnight commenting on this - the item is about 20 mins in]. A British Home Secretary faces a media firestorm over a major blunder in one of the Home Office’s Executive Agencies. A senior agency official … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics, Public Management, Whitehall | 1 Comment

My Big Fat Greek Government?

Posted on November 7, 2011 by

The Greek crisis has given neo-liberals a a great opportunity to criticize ‘big government’ Hellenic style – they see the problem as a Big Fat Greek Government (apologies to the film of nearly that name). But as usual the truth … Continue reading →

Posted in International, Politics, Public Administration, Public Management, Spending | 2 Comments

Three ‘Simples’ Principles for Controlling Run-Away Finance?

Posted on October 30, 2011 by

I have been thinking about what sort of moral principles ought to apply to finance, including banking. The sort of thing I’ve been thinking about are some fairly simple things that would appear obvious to most of us, but apparently … Continue reading →

Posted in International, Political Economy, Politics | 2 Comments

Universities and the logic of public interest

Posted on September 22, 2011 by

  My trade union, UCU, is campaigning against the establishment of “private” universities in the UK. They have a point about the way in which this is being done, which is in my view with reckless disregard for quality and … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics, Public Management, Spending, Whitehall | 1 Comment

Soviet Planning Meets Parliamentary Boundaries, and it’ll end in tears

Posted on September 13, 2011 by

The imposition of soviet-style ‘one size fits all’ Parliamentary constituencies on the complex organic realities of England is an extraordinarily clumsy and contentious move. It smacks of moving towards Amercan-style boundary ‘Gerry mandering’, as well as distancing Parliamentary representation from … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics, Public Management, Whitehall | Leave a comment

Politicising the Met Won’t Help Policing

Posted on September 13, 2011 by

The appointment of Bernard Hogan-Howe as the new Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police is a political appointment, and all the poorer for it. I don’t mean Mr Hogan-Howe is a Tory, although he has been publicly cosying up to their … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics, Public Management | Leave a comment

Virtual Life… after Death

Posted on September 13, 2011 by

This doesn’t really have anything to do with Whitehall or Public Management, but I got this extraordinary Press Release this morning and was so taken aback I just thought I needed to share it. Maybe it should be relevant to … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics, Public Management | Leave a comment

9/11 10th Anniversary – Tough on Terrorism and Tough on the Causes of Terrorism

Posted on September 4, 2011 by

PA Times (USA) 21 September 2001 The column below was written immediately after 9/11 and published by the US magazine PA Times. You can find the archived online version here. I was going to write a fresh piece for the … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics | Leave a comment

Rebuilding Libya: Transitions in Public Management

Posted on August 24, 2011 by

Gaddafi is gone, and Libya faces a new future. Of course, the fighting is not completely over and he and his scions are still at large, but few doubt the regime is no more.

Posted in International, Politics, Public Management | 2 Comments

On Coalitions and Mandates

Posted on July 14, 2011 by

I have great respect for the veteran political commentator Peter Riddell, and his new book, “In Defence of Politicians, in spite of themselves” deserves to be widely read. It contains much sage analysis and wise advice and much I agree … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics, Whitehall | 1 Comment

Murdoch and Cameron should act now (and Murdoch has, but not enough)

Posted on July 7, 2011 by

UPDATE: I wrote this and posted it, only to find that Murdoch has already made a move – closing down the News of the World! As usual tho, this seems like a manoeuvre – the Sun is to go to … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics | 2 Comments

First Celeb Phone Hacking, then Victims and now Bribing Police – this is now a crisis for the Government too

Posted on July 6, 2011 by

The explosive story about phone hacking, and now police bribery, involving the News of the World and Rupert Murdoch’s News International is fast escalating into a political crisis for the Coalition government.

Posted in Politics | 1 Comment