by Tim Dickson | Apr 9, 2025 | Articles, Interviews, Third Edition
Doing things differently with data Over the last three months the hue and cry around the size of the state, new ways of working, the need for more specialists and buzzwords like ‘performance’ and ‘accountability’ have reached a new crescendo. As they struggle to cope... 
by Kathy Hall and Gus O'Donnell | Mar 31, 2025 | Articles, Data, Tech and Innovation, International Perspectives, The Top Articles of 2025, Third Edition
Gus O’Donnell and Kathy Hall review what the latest Blavatnik Index has to show us about comparative strengths and weaknesses Sir Chris Wormald, the new Cabinet Secretary, told Parliament earlier this year that great policymakers are “self-confident enough to... 
by Ian Diamond | Mar 24, 2025 | Articles, Data, Tech and Innovation, Third Edition
Ian Diamond explains why UK policymakers need to understand the significance of recent trends The components of population growth have been changing faster than at any time in my 45 years of working on population data. For example, people’s expectations of how... 
by Alex Thomas | Mar 10, 2025 | Articles, Leadership and Reflections, Third Edition
Alex Thomas looks back at the venerable series’ effect on our perceptions of the Civil Service Dorothy Wainwright is a minor character in the Yes, Minister universe, but she is one of the sharpest. We meet her in the first series of Yes, Prime Minister where... 
by James Plunkett | Mar 5, 2025 | Articles, Book Reviews, Data, Tech and Innovation, Third Edition
James Plunkett reviews Platformland: An anatomy of next-generation public services, by Richard Pope, 2024 Everyone appreciates the power of digital technologies to improve public services. Yet, as the new Government realises, much of that opportunity remains... 
by David Halpern | Feb 17, 2025 | Articles, Data, Tech and Innovation, Policy Insights, Third Edition
David Halpern, founder of the world’s first behavioural insights unit, says it’s more important than ever that policymakers understand human behaviour Back in the early days of Tony Blair’s newly created Strategy Unit, I invited Danny Kahneman to join us for a...
