If I could suggest two texts to read this week, it would be these by Paul Kissack and Mark Smith. I think I’ve read each of them more than three times this week and they’ve got me thinking about a lot of things.
Paul Kissack’s piece is about his frustrations with public sector reform. It delves into his personal frustrations in working to reform the back office of the public sector. His writing, which I found both beautiful and sensitive, resonated deeply with me, particularly in understanding my own career path. Kissack’s approach to valuing diversity, democracy, hope and imagination in policy making is inspiring. He argues for a focus on the conditions in which people live rather than an obsession with ‘interventions’ in a complex world, a perspective that could dramatically change the way government works.
On the other hand, Mark Smith’s text objectively sets out how some of Kissack’s ideas can be implemented in the real world, presenting his experience of using the Liberated Method to transform the way local authorities deliver social services in some cities in the UK. He emphasises the need for courage in building new ways of running government and public services that focus on people’s autonomy. Smith introduces a number of technical concepts, proposes new organisational arrangements and methods of service delivery. His text has piqued my curiosity and I’m looking forward to learning more about his ideas.
Other interesting things I picked up during the week:
Think tanks’ big plans for a new Trump administration
The heat is on in the US, where a coalition of populist right-wing conservative think tanks has come together to launch a huge package of policy proposals for a potential new Trump administration. Among the ideas is the idea of increasing the number of political appointments from the current 3,000 positions to something like 50,000, as well as ending the stability of all US federal civil servants, while maintaining selection on merit. The idea may sound crazy, but they’re serious, and frankly I don’t think some of the arguments are crazy… what some people out there call bureaucratic resistance is simply bureaucrats using their tenure to avoid implementing perfectly constitutional and legitimate (however stupid) agendas. It is not the role of a bureaucrat to be an opposition, given the limitations of human rights (before you accuse me of being a Nazi). The challenge is to seriously engage in this conversation with its creators, because the proposals are being seriously drafted and debated by them. Don’t say we weren’t warned.
Financial Times on the crisis in the British civil service
This interesting but short article in the Financial Times got me thinking… it sets out a scenario of a deep crisis of confidence in the British civil service, politicians and bureaucrats, especially after everything that has come to light following the commission of inquiry into the behaviour of senior civil servants and politicians in dealing with the covid crisis during the Boris Johnson government. I’ve seen extracts from Dominic Cummings’ crazy testimony and there’s a lot of interesting stuff in there. The text points out that post-war France established a new model of interaction between politics and the civil service, which led to a more stable post-war regime. I found the parallel interesting, but was left wanting for a more detailed explanation.
Reimagining Government podcast
The third episode of the second season of Reimagining Government is a blast. They don’t just talk about the need to reform public services, they talk about flipping the whole paradigm of how government works. Another aspect that piqued my interest in the episode was the involvement of Toby Lowe, an incredibly insightful person. I’ve been following his work closely since I first came across his innovative ideas on transforming systems within the public sector.
Eric Schmidt’s latest philanthropic enterprise – Future House
Eric Schmidt may be my favourite philanthropist (yes, I’m a philanthropist fanboy). His new project, Future House, is to build an AI scientist. It’s a wonderful example of Focused Research Organisation (FRO). It’s an ambitious 10-year mission focused on biology that aims to accelerate scientific research and make cutting-edge knowledge more accessible worldwide. The scale and scope of this project is nothing short of staggering.
Bennett Institute’s AI Challenge
The Bennett Institute for Public Policy is literally throwing money at people who can come up with cool ideas for using AI to improve public services. Got a bright idea? You have until 31 January to apply.
Britain’s AI bet on civil service reform
The UK government is launching a new AI unit, and I’m all ears. They say it’ll help implement civil service reform, and will also focus on education, welfare fraud and more. With a team of 20-30 brainiacs, it looks like a brave instance. I’m half curious, half sceptical about how it will turn out.
Evidence-based legislation in Buenos Aires
The city council of Buenos Aires is setting up an office for evidence-based policy. Exactly how it will improve the legislative process is still a bit fuzzy, but I’m betting it will be a step up from the useless work of Brazil’s audit courts.
Opening up the French civil service to foreigners
In France, Le Sens du Service public, a progressive think tank on civil service reform issues, is shaping the debate on who can be a fonctionnaire. They’re urging the National Assembly to consider opening up civil service jobs to more than 4 million non-European immigrants. It’s a bold move that could shake up the French public sector for good.
That’s all for now. Valeu!
A Catedral e o Bazar 