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 pick up the phone for that...

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 long they will live have been...

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 she acts as a counter to the...

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 untapped. ​A closer look at the...

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 private discussion about his work....

Why the policy profession must embrace AI   Michael Padfield explains the benefits of a range of tools that will drive better strategy, greater democracy and improved delivery    Ever wondered if there’s a better way of distilling key information than ploughing through hundreds of...