In the late 2000s I started a programme at the Young Foundation on the idea of a 'relational state' - how government could act with people as well as for them, and how to take relationships seriously. We published a paper which prompted engagement with several governments - in particular Singapore, Denmark and Australia. A version was published a few years later by IPPR in a collection of essays. Conditions in the UK weren't then propitious for taking the ideas forward - with austerity and retrenchment. But interest is reviving and next week an international conference is happening on relatio ..read more

Ahead of the general election, attention is beginning to turn to what new institutions might be created by a new government, with Labour promising a Great British Energy, a National Care Service, Skills England and an Office for Value for Money.  The paper (which can be read here, or in the link below) looks at the history of institutional design; why some institutions survive, and others don’t; lessons to be learned from other sectors and other countries; some new design principles; and the many potential priorities for creating new institutions in the UK over the next decade.  It ..read more

Big cities are full of clever people. They often contain multiple universities as well as research organisations, consultancies, specialists in economics and design, planning and technology, as well as vast investments in hardware and software.  But few have found good ways to connect the brain power of the cities to the needs and tasks of the city.  Several decades of initiatives under the heading ‘smart city’ have done little to make cities smarter in terms of their ability to solve pressing problems. Getting this right is complex, a challenge of social organisation and institu ..read more

  AI governance continues to evolve at a dramatic pace.   Last autumn President Biden issued a comprehensive executive order and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak hosted a summit to discuss AI safety, and even interviewed Elon Musk.  Meanwhile, Europe is racing to update its own EU act, and China has introduced a batch of laws. A remarkable number of organisations have now been set up to survey governance options and make proposals.   But as governments race to catch up this time the problem is not the anti-science delusions of figures like Ron De Santis or Donald Trump. Ins ..read more

Every government is, in reality, a flotilla of many departments, agencies, tiers rather than a single thing.  But all aspire to greater coherence. ‘Whole of government’ approaches - that mobilise and align many ministries and agencies around a common challenge - have a long history: during major wars, and around attempts to digitize societies, to cut energy use, to reduce poverty and to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. These have been described using different terms - national plans, priorities, strategies and missions – but the issues are similar. This paper, linked to a European Commi ..read more

It is reasonable to assume that the work of governments, businesses and civil society goes better if the people making decisions are well-informed, using reliable facts and strong evidence rather than only hunch and anecdote.  The term ‘evidence ecosystem’1  is a useful shorthand for the results of systematic attempts to make this easier, enabling decision makers, particularly in governments, to access the best available evidence, in easily digestible forms and when it’s needed.   This sounds simple.  But these ecosystems are as varied as ecosystems in nature.  H ..read more

We live in a world full of lies, distortions and misinformation. Should we have rights to be told the truth? If a government issues a statistic, a report, or a warning to its citizens should any rights guarantee that it’s based on the best available information? Should there be penalties if a government, or a political party, knowingly lies? If a doctor gives you a diagnosis, should it be your right that the diagnosis is based on the best possible medical knowledge? If a company has your pension invested in it, should any rights guarantee that their accounts are as accurate as possible? It mi ..read more

This piece looks at the role of stories in social and political imagination, from analogy and metaphor to the universal patterns found in stories across the world.  It suggests a common, paradoxical pattern in some of the most powerful progressive stories. These use what I call 'generative opposites'. They combine a promise of both return (to an idealised past) and advance (to an idealised future). And they promise both short-term retreat, struggle and setbacks, and long-term triumph. Their emotional power comes from these tensions, which echo aspects of the human condition. It was given ..read more

The traditional government department or ministry is organised as a pyramid made up of blocks.  At the top sit the ministers and the top officials. Below them are a series of divisions, and units, cascading downwards and outwards.  Multiple organograms show this structure clearly. What then flows down and out from the departments are emanations of power: rules, laws, directives, funding programmes and regulations of all kinds.  These then land on the people doing the action in the world: teachers, police, doctors, social workers, businesses big and small, as well as citizens. T ..read more

I've written an overview of how skills for running governments are provided around the world - by governments' own colleges, universities and online - and how this provision might be improved. The paper describes the history of training from ancient China onwards and the main forms it now takes. It suggests 10 areas where change may be needed and goes onto discuss how skills are learned, suggesting the need for more continuous learning and new approaches to capacity. I hope anyone interested in this field will at least find it stimulating. I couldn't find an overview of this kind available an ..read more