Localism Club

Mipim criticism Enquiries etc Best way? Ukti point Previous years’ costs Can argue with method but there seems to be a deeper argument about the principle – people are not used to ambitious local government

This post was first published on the Local Government Information Unit blog which is well worth bookmarking. Readers au fait with Coalition localism rhetoric will know that we are the most centralised country in Europe – though many of us may fear that not enough is being done about it. As the imple

I’ll be on the panel for an online discussion on localism tomorrow (Weds 8th Feb) organised by the Guardian’s Local Government Network. It’s from 12-2pm and you can take part here. Was pleased to be asked and judging by previous online discussions they’ve held, it should throw up some food for thoug

This post was first published at The Multicultural Politic. As the Coalition is fond of saying, the UK is one of the most centralised countries in Europe. Lucky then, you’d think, that the Coalition inherited an unusual law with the potential to help make localism a reality. But the story of the Sus

Answer: when Michael Gove is telling free schools to teach the importance of marriage and avoid ‘inappropriate teaching materials’ or they won’t get funding. Previously on this blog I have explored the way in which the rhetoric around free schools and academies set up local authority oversight as a

1) It’s not about the value of the pensions or whether they are deserved. There has been much argument over the size of local government pensions, which are argued to be lavish by the right and meagre by the left. While an important debate about living standards more generally, this is missing the i

The Coalition Government has taken pride – rightly – in its reforms to open up access to public data. While the emphasis has fallen on spending, with the phrase ‘armchair auditor‘ floating about in the media for about two days, the release of datasets acrosss a range of subjects, including crime and

Superficially at least, party conference season brings out a propensity in party elites to seek to draw ‘dividing lines’ between themselves and their opponents, and this year was no exception. David Cameron’s upbeat speech sought to paint Ed Miliband as a pessimist and Labour as economically incompe

Eric Pickles’s decision to set up a support fund to help local authorities collect landfill waste once a week has been raising controversy today, and rightly so. It makes a complete mockery of his localist pretensions and, some argue, will put at risk landfill waste reductions that occurred in respo