There has been huge hype in the media about the “collapse” of  Labour’s vote in Scotland and the possibility the SNP will win a referendum on independence, when they eventually get around to calling it (they appear to be in no hurry).

Most the commentariate – as usual – focuses on seats delivered by the elections, and not the actual votes cast. Even those who support voting reform (e.g. Polly Toynbee in The Guardian) continue to use seats, as a proxy for actual support, as the main basis for their analysis.

It is well known that there has been something of a “performance movement” (as Beryl Radin has called it) in western countries in recent years. (I have written an account of UK developments for the World Bank myself here).

Britain has just had elections for the three regional assemblies (Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland) and for many local governments in England, as well as a national referendum on changing the voting system for Westminster elections to the Alternative Vote (AV) Here are some random thoughts on these events – I’ll be adding to them […]

From the Financial Times Minimum wage rated top policy, say academics By Nicholas Timmins, Public Policy Editor Published: May 1 2011 What is the most successful policy of the past 30 years? Ask a bunch of political academics and their answer – perhaps surprisingly – is the minimum wage, followed by devolution, privatisation and the […]

The poor nature of the debate about AV – and especially the focus on personalities rather than the issues – has obscured the fact there are serious discussions to be had about our voting system, rather than just slap-stick jousting. So I was immensely pleased to get this reaction from the Leader of the Tory […]

The World Bank is updating its approach to public sector management.

I have never understood how on earth our current electoral system became known as “first past the post” (FPTP)? The metaphor implied is clearly that of some sort of race to a winning post, and the first one past it wins. The problem is, there is no winning post in our system. Or at least, […]

A very useful, balanced, discussion of the above over at Flipchartfairytales – including important international and historical perspectives.

The Public Management and Policy Association (UK) has just published a new report on Redefining Local Government, and is available for free download here. It includes a chapter by Carole Talbot and myself on “Local government strategies in an age of austerity” in which we analyse some of the possible responses and look at the […]