Posted by Katharina Derschewsky on 9 July 2010
Increasing public sector efficiency has never been so sexy. Or so Reform director, Andrew Haldenby concluded his introductory words to the think tank’s conference on ‘Reducing the deficit and improving public services’.
And indeed, with the current governing theme being “financial retrenchment” the topic, previously perceived by many as “too dull to bother”, suddenly does seem [...]
Posted by Katharina Derschewsky on 3 March 2010
The BBC’s success in convincing the three Parties’ leaders to appear in a TV debate prior to the General Election may have heralded a change in the way we will be discussing the impact of new media on politics in the future.
We always knew that new media would not win elections but did have the [...]
Posted by Katharina Derschewsky on 4 February 2010
Social Media… Everybody’s doing it. Why? Mainly, it seems, because everybody else is doing it. That, at least, was one of the conclusions that could be drawn from last night’s event “Show me where the money is – measuring ROI in social media”. While the panel included some of the thought leaders and high flyers [...]
Posted by Katharina Derschewsky on 28 January 2010
Wow! When I went to Rt Hon Hilary Benn MP’s lecture on Tuesday night, I did not expect the Environment Secretary to talk so passionately about the transformative change that will have to be embraced if Britain was to be turned into a green rather than a mean society. Granted, Benn did have a brilliant [...]
Posted by Katharina Derschewsky on 26 January 2010
At last night’s LSE ‘Speaking with the Speaker’ event, I got to know a bit more about John Bercow, Speaker of the House of Commons and current incumbent of the Buckingham seat (one of the safest Conservative seats in the country).
Fair-minded, a good facilitator and endowed with an impressive memory, Bercow became Speaker because he [...]
Posted by Katharina Derschewsky on 19 January 2010
Following my (almost) crazed obsession with anything that has social media in it, I found myself among people that the Independent frequently lists as Britain’s most influential bloggers and tweeters in Westminster’s Grand Committee last night. While actively adding to the event’s live twitter stream, I eagerly listened to what the panel had to say [...]
Posted by Katharina Derschewsky on 14 January 2010
We went along to Politeia’s Winter Address last night to hear Shadow Transport Secretary, Theresa Villiers MP speak about the ‘Conservative Approach to Railways’.
Little was said that was new but it’s worth reiterating the key points nonetheless:
A Conservative Government would put the customer (and that includes both passengers and freight operators) at the [...]