Take the NHS for example. The political narrative is always about the dearth of resources available – and of course this is bound to be a problem. But it is odd, nonetheless, given that so much of what needs doing requires no obvious training – visiting,...
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The underlying causes of an unbalanced economy
We don't live in a very literate age when it comes to economics. There are still people in Whitehall, even the Treasury, who believe that somehow – if cities decline or fall, if one place succumbs to grinding poverty – that is it the ‘market’ that did it. However...
Delivering What Exactly?
I had just finished reading the wonderful second volume of Alan Johnson's autobiography, Please Mr Postman, when an advert popped up on the computer for a company called Doddle. Doddle joins Yodel and Whistl, other delivery companies with babyish names, which are...
Telling Truth to Power
Sometimes a good idea turns round and bites you on the ankle. The Chancellor might be thinking this about the Office for Budget Responsibility which he set up in 2010 to provide an independent overview of the public finances . After the 2008 financial disaster these...
The psychology behind economic collapse
I can't now find the interview I heard today on the BBC about the prospects of deflation in the euro-zone. I have a feeling it was Gillian Tett. But whoever it was talked about the underlying psychology of deflation. She put it down to apathy. People have to break...
Pattern for the people
Does pattern have to be superficial and imitative or can it capture a fleeting moment, the fingerprint of a place or even the spirit of a person? This is the idea behind my latest collection of prints by Dora, made with friends on my local allotments on Spa Hill in...
Latest Publication
This pamphlet looks at how the UK is unprepared for a new era of crises and disasters. To illuminate the national predicament we look at lessons from recent history, and what we can learn, often from countries in the Global South, about the kind of local planning required and resources needed to be ready for when storms and other disasters strike near where we live.
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