Sand fills Horseguards Parade. Stadiums rise over Stratford. And the big clock in Trafalgar Square spells out the message clearly: the Olympics are now just one year away. But the Games are not just of interest to sports fans; they also reveal crucial lessons for government in general. For the organisers, London 2012 represents...

Since the Institute published its MINDSPACE report in March, there has been an explosion of interest and activity around behavioural economics. Most notably, my co-author David Halpern now heads up a new Behavioural Insights Team in the Cabinet Office, which is tasked with ‘applying behavioural economics to policy in a systematic way’.

Yes, Prime Minister is one of those rare television programmes that shaped the way we look at the world. For many people, the experience of governing is still defined by Sir Humphrey’s scheming and Jim Hacker’s spluttering. And it was superbly, wickedly, funny.

The recent release of official data on government websites allows us to make some comparisons. In a straight comparison of costs, the ‘Your Freedom’ site nearly makes it into the cheapest 20% of government websites.