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Colin Talbot is professor of government and public administration at MBS. He writes 'Whitehall Watch' in a personal capacity. Colin’s Tweets
- RT @housing_grunt: Spotted a waitrose van on the estate , I will track down the tenants and increase their rent . 6 hours ago
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- RT @hibiscuits1: Deficit Reduction vs Growth: A False Choice touchstoneblog.org.uk/2012/05/defici… via @touchstoneblog 8 hours ago
- RT @BWDDPH: Equality Works Campaign Via @SpiritLevelDoc: is now live at igg.me/p/109093?a=8190 #NHS #Localgov #SDOH #PHealth #inequality ... 8 hours ago
Colin’s latest book
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IJPA is edited by Colin Talbot, Richard Common, Farhad Hossain and Carole Talbot, at the University of Manchester. Comment is free…
Please feel free to comment and especially to add your own analyses or experiences. Just click on a blog and go to the comment section at the bottom. Or you can email me at colin.talbot@mbs.ac.uk-
Authors
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Top Posts
- Who Do You Think You Are?
- ‘Poor Performers’ in the Civil Service - blame the poor bloody infantry
- Civil Service Accountability and the CS Code
- Surpluses, Budgets, Parliament, and Accountability Down Under (Australia): some random thoughts
- The 50% tax rate and Mr Osborne's Department for Obfuscation (sorry, HMRC)
- Andy Coulson and and his non 'Developed Vetting' - why on earth did the Civil Service let this happen?
- Greek Deficit and Tax Evasion
- Civil Service Accountability: Who Guards the Guardians?
- Jeremy Hunt (DCMS) debacle raises again the issue of Civil Service Reform
- Spending Review 2012 - maybe
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Discussion
- Lucy Jeynes on Who Do You Think You Are?
- Pamela Bottomley on Business has forfeited the confidence of the Government and can win it back only by working harder
- Captains – if not the kings – depart « Integrity Talking Points on ‘Poor Performers’ in the Civil Service – blame the poor bloody infantry
- adragonsbestfriend on ‘Poor Performers’ in the Civil Service – blame the poor bloody infantry
- Colin Talbot on Who Do You Think You Are?
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Category Archives: Politics
Public Servants or Public Leaders?
David Cameron’s remark that he sometimes felt like saying to our military chiefs “you do the fighting and I’ll do the talking” has raised some interesting issues.
Posted in Politics, Public Management, Whitehall
1 Comment
Public Service Reform White paper delayed…. Again
Jill Sherman reports in today’s The Times (16 June 2011) that the Coalition government’s long delayed public service reform White Paper has been delayed, again.
Posted in Politics, Public Management, Whitehall
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One Year of the Coalition
See my comment for Public Finance on “The Five States We’re In”
Posted in Politics
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Malawi – academic freedom under attack
[This post is being updated as more information arrives, so please check back]. A friend and colleague at the University of Malawi (Chancellor College) has just sent this somewhat hair-raising account of a developing attack on academic freedom there:
Posted in International, Politics
2 Comments
NHS Reform: Who’s Gonna Count the Beans?
Here’s a simple question about the NHS reforms – who’s going to count the beans? Bean counting gets a bad press, but as soon as someone fails to count the public sector beans – for which read “the taxpayers money” … Continue reading
Posted in Politics, Public Management, Spending, Whitehall
4 Comments
Going Nuclear: the BBC (and rest of the media) and Japan
I don’t usually do media commentary, but the coverage of the aftermath of the quake and tsunami in Japan forces me to make one point: the coverage of the nuclear problems at Fukushima are out of all proportion to the … Continue reading
Posted in International, Politics
5 Comments
Big Society versus Big State – unpicking a myth
The current debate in the UK about the “Big Society” has been marred by some unfortunate mythology about to what extent the “Big Society” already exists, whether it is growing or shrinking, and whether it is counter-posed to the “Big … Continue reading
Western Universities Helped Ferment the Arab Revolt
Over the past couple of decades, tens of thousands of students from (usually autocratic) Arab states have attended universities in Britain, America and other western countries. On a smaller scale, many western universities have also run all sorts of training … Continue reading
Posted in International, Politics
1 Comment
10,000 Reasons for the Coalition to be Worried?
The Oldham and Saddleworth by-election is intersting for all sorts of reasons: the first since the general election; the first where two Coalition parties have fought each other (or not); the first sitting MP to be expelled by an Election … Continue reading
Posted in Politics
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Manchester and Old and Sad – conspiracy or cock-up?
The allegation is being widely circulated that Manchester City Council announced it’s 2,000 job losses today as a “spoiler” for the Old & Sad bye-election. Sadly, nothing so expertly Machiavellian has happened….
Posted in Politics
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Localisation of the Bill
Today we have seen clearly what “localism” means for the Coalition government: localising the bill for the financial and economic crisis caused not by government – central or local – but by the banks.
University Fees and Muddled Motives
On this morning’s Today programme Education minister Michael Gove – reputedly a man of great intelligence – maintained that raising University tuition fees to nearly 3 times their current level for some Universities would have absolutely no effect on levels … Continue reading
Posted in Politics, Public Management, Whitehall
3 Comments
Oh Brother
First, can I apologise to my readers for a little “mission creep” in this blog? I’m afraid the politics of the last few months in Britain have been way too fascinating and I realise I have strayed into commenting too … Continue reading
For Labour, Two Ed’s are Better Than One
To coin a phrase, I agree with Nick (Clegg) – two Ed’s are better than one. Now Ed M has won the Labour leadership, it would clearly be to Labour’s advantage to make Ed Balls the Shadow Chancellor.
Posted in Politics
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Labour’s Leadership Contestants – “It Weren’t Me, Guv”?
Labour’s Leadership Contestants – “It Weren’t Me, Guv”? Written and prepared by Colin Talbot for Whitehall Watch. Professor of public policy and management at Manchester Business School. http://whitehallwatch.org Continue reading
Things Gove Wrong In Government
Education Secretary Michael Gove is learning a painful lesson – things go wrong in government. One could almost be sympathetic, if it wasn’t for the sanctimonious way in which Coalition Ministers have been gleefully highlighting every little, and big, error … Continue reading
Posted in Politics
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Off Budd (Office for Budget Responsibility)
The sudden announcement that Sir Alan Budd is to leave the Office of Budget Responsibility (OBR) after only 3 months may fatally wound the already less than fully credible flagship reform introduced by Chancellor George Osborne.
Posted in Politics
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To Potential Labour Leaders: First, Admit You Can’t Win
My advice to the Labour leadership contenders – admit Labour will never win a General Election again. It’s not as painful as it sounds, because nor will the Tories. The age of one-Party rule is over, and the sooner Labour … Continue reading
Posted in Politics
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What do 25% cuts look like? Like this…..
The BBC radio 4 ‘Today’ programme asked me if I’d give them an analysis of what a 25% cut in Departmental budegts would actually look like by applying it to one department: the Home Office (the interview is here if … Continue reading
Posted in Performance, Politics, Public Management, Spending
2 Comments
The Budget and Public Services: it really is worse than we thought
Spending on public services is set to reduce by 25% in real terms by 2014-15 (apart from Health and International Development). One quarter of all other public services could go – that is the equivalent of around a fifth of … Continue reading
Posted in Performance, Politics, Public Management, Spending
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Colin Talbot
