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Clinical commissioning groups… fancy doing a survey?

/ June 29, 2015 at 8:36 PM 1,691 views

I have recently been doing the monumental task of looking through each of the 211 new clinical commissioning groups (these replaced Primary Care Trusts) websites. Clinical Commissioning Groups are a flagship health policy of the Coalition, giving spending control of…

Scrutiny and Police & Crime Commissioners

/ June 29, 2015 at 8:36 PM 1,375 views

Police and Crime Commissioners are hugely powerful and have direct and sole control over multi-million pound budgets. Those of us who have closely followed the implementation and election of PCCs know this, but still many of the public don’t understand…

On the road, learning about councillors

/ June 29, 2015 at 8:35 PM 11,402 views

Last week, I spent most of it on the road listening to Councillors from around the country discussing the Networked Councillor report and findings. Councillors joined the discussion from rural and urban areas, from all parties and some like me…

U.N.I.T.Y 'who you callin' a bitch?'

/ June 29, 2015 at 8:33 PM 6,582 views

So, here are my thoughts on being a woman entering local politics and how I want to be treated, and how I want to behave…mostly. It’s also peppered with my thoughts on how women get treated who want to, whisper,…

From the archive: Hacking local democracy

/ April 28, 2013 at 8:34 PM 1,984 views

So how about we hack local democracy? What am I talking about? Hacking is associated with coding, but as I learned at bluelight camp... essentially it means taking a thing and modifying it to make it work better. I know…

From the archive: Rehabilitating politicians

/ January 17, 2013 at 8:32 PM 2,997 views

I am genuinely concerned about the widening gulf between the public and politicians…and the level of sheer contempt for our representatives. I understand why and how this has happened and all parties and participants are to blame for continuing to…