My first local government job was as a housing officer working out of the Townhill estate office. I learnt a lot! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

Twenty five years ago councils were implementing exec arrangements and overview and scrutiny as a result of the Local Government Act of 2000. But as @se13ed.bsky.social points out, the legislation was playing catch-up with innovative councils www.lgcplus.com/politics/gov...

Here is a fascinating document from the the late 1940s. It was produced for the County Council of the West Riding of Yorkshire by the Bureau of Current Affairs and is a digest of information and statistics about the Council. It picks up on a number of interesting themes... 🧵

I, for one, am a fan. More of these please 🚂

But what about Police and Crime Panels, I hear you say? (1/)

A movie you've seen more than 7 times with a gif.

21st Century Councillors event - check it out! www.cfgs.org.uk/21st-century...

Great project. Lovely that this article acknowledges the work in this space already done by @mapio.cymru and others

I've seen a couple of polls recently showing that public sector workers - or as Matt Goodwin has it, the new elite - have very different social attitudes to the rest of us. To which I say meh. Of course they do, and we should be very glad of it.

I’m at the National Tenant Scrutiny Conference. @louisemholt.bsky.social is doing the intro 💃🕺 #tpasconf25

I've discovered a new non-extreme, slow-sport that involves hunting down Ordnance Survey Benchmarks. It's like a laid back Pokémon Go I guess. I case you don't know, OSBs are marks or plates placed on buildings, walls etc to show the elevation above sea level. They often look like this...

Hello, today I'm heading to Belfast for the UKAPA conference tomorrow - all things public administration with a nice academic / practitioner mix. Do say hello if you are going. www.ukapa.org.uk/conference/u... #ukapa25 @ukapa-1918.bsky.social

"Questions at council" is something which has come up a few times recently in bits of work we've done for councils in England. Some thoughts... (1/)

Check out our featured case study of transition from committee to cabinet governance model, with a bountiful basket of top tips from #BrightonHoveCouncil. Essential reading for others looking to do this as it's packed with learning. #GovernanceChange #LocalGovScrutiny #ResidentFocused

🤔 What's the point of democratic innovation? Can it address crurrent crises and build democracies for the future? 💡In this new article @adrianbua.bsky.social and I argue that the field needs to strengthen its change-making orientation and capacity. Open access 👉🏼 journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

“There is an emerging opportunity for councils to reimagine how democracy can be done better”. Our Principal Practice Lead Liin Nur explains our ambitions for Waves – the biggest trial of digital democracy in the UK – and the solid foundations that the programme is built upon.

Looking forward to day 3 of #LGAConf25 - pop along to stand A24 to chat about our latest research, last chance entry to the levy-funded Senior Leader programme, and our policy proposals on citizen engagement. And pick up a 21C councillor coaster!

Do love a train thread 🚂

Here's my weekly roundup of nonprofit data jobs. Subscribers received this yesterday buttondown.com/likeaword/ar...

Fancy working with me? Want to do messy, community-led research with communities in Clackmannanshire? Then do I have the job for you! www.stir.ac.uk/about/work-a...

Great to hear from the fantastic @joe-mitchell.com at the @publicinterestnews.org.uk launch of their 2025 Survey of independent news providers 🗞️🗞️ 2024 was a big year for democracy and great to hear that the public interest news sector felt they had a big social impact!

councils should have their headquarters buildings in town centres, not in business parks miles from the nearest railway station - this is not me making a sociopolitical point but practical annoyance as someone who can't drive and who has to visit council HQs a lot

Ian Thomas kicks off #StrongerThings, pointing out that the phrase "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure" was coined by Benjamin Franklin in *1736*. So we've known it for a while...

By the way, is it 'AI' or 'A.I.'? I mean, A.I. seems clunky, but AI is a three toed sloth* *very hand towards the end of a game of scrabble

Our deputy chief exec @se13ed.bsky.social says it's time to rethink governance and scrutiny for mayoral authorities, given their increasing power - and because of how they'll use that power:

I was delighted to be able to able to give evidence in Parliament today to the Science, Innovation and Technology Committee's inquiry on the Digital centre of government. I hope I represented #localgov #digital well. You can watch and make your own mind up here: parliamentlive.tv/event/index/...

Here is a something I wrote about different approaches to in-person and virtual scrutiny committee meetings. #niche www.linkedin.com/posts/mckenn...

I enjoyed Conclave. Not least because the plot revolves around a voting system.

Good luck to all my #localgov colleagues across England who are working today, tonight, and tomorrow on local elections.

Hard to process this 😔

Bluesky will be our primary social media platform for the #PSA25 conference. Find and follow us @polstudiesassoc.bsky.social

1. Find a topic you really care about 2. Take time to get the question right 3. The @patrickdunleavy.bsky.social book 4. Follow @thesiswhisperer.bsky.social

Cracking slide here from Jason Leman #cfgs2025

New pens with the new @cfgs.bsky.social branding. That’s what I’m here for 💚 #cfgs2025

Here is Mel Stevens getting us organised for what promises to be a fabulous day of reflection and discussion all about scrutiny 💚 #cfgs2025

Mornin’

All aboard the scrutiny express 🚂 heading towards Birmingham for the CfGS annual conference See you there @cfgs.bsky.social 👋

Councillor Bob doesn’t go to scrutiny committee pre-meetings 🤔 www.linkedin.com/posts/mckenn...

Great to hear from @timcouncillor.bsky.social and colleagues today as part of the 21st century councillor workshop in Doncaster 🕺

Report on the changing roles undertaken by councillors and the associated support and development needs. by @catherineneedham.bsky.social @catherinemangan.bsky.social @drdavemckenna.bsky.social, Ella Dunne and Rosanna Marr with NW Employers. 21stcenturypublicservant.wordpress.com/the-21st-cen...

Elected politicians are central to leadership of local public services. Our update of the 21C councillor report is published today. 21stcenturypublicservant.wordpress.com/the-21st-cen... Take a look and join the conversation!

Lots of amazing speakers, panel members and workshop hosts now on our website for our annual conference. This year - of course - there'll be a focus on the devolution agenda, and local government reorganisation. So check out the sessions, and book here: www.cfgs.org.uk/panel-member...

Fabulous reflections on #notwestminster here 🕺💃

ON THE BLOG: Should we be worried about the decline of parliamentary scrutiny? Ahead of a related Constitution Unit event next week, Meg Russell summarises her recent article in Public Law which crunches the numbers on parliamentary scrutiny over time.

Must have a few cllrs among my followers... Duncan writes well about this sort of thing so do reach out to him.

NEW in LGS: In 'Using social media for supporting engagement in the public sector: a systematic literature review' Marco Contri, Silvia Fissi & Elena Gori offer a knowledge map that identifies the antecedents & determinants of the citizen engagement process via social media doi.org/10.1080/0300...

Another great day yesterday in Huddersfield celebrating local participatory democracy and citizen agency at the 10th #notwestminster conference. Great to see everyone and thank you @notwestminster.bsky.social and Diane for your great efforts in making it a consistent success!

An interesting and inspiring day at this years #notwestminster