Posts tagged with ‘ Political leaders ’

The days of central command and control are over. The future means a devolved approach to government with network structures and greater use of private and civil society collaborative arrangements.

Government failure gets far more attention than government success, but British governments can point to a string of stunning policy triumphs in the past 30 years.

Writer L.P. Hartley’s famous opening line, “The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there”, is too often a very real feeling for those analysing government, where the pace of events and media can frequently contribute to a year zero mentality.

Just over a month ago, non-executive directors (NEDs) from across government – from the smallest arm’s length bodies to Whitehall’s biggest departments – met at the Better Governance, Fewer Resources conference.

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.

Since 5 May pundits have had a field day arguing about whether coalition government can work and the life chances of the current coalition. Reading some commentators, it is almost as though we are now in a brave new world with little precedent.

It was a tough first audience made up of many familiar faces who helped shape his experiences as Prime Minister – and who were now busy settling in a new Prime Minister.