Articles


 

The pitfalls and perils of payment by results

Why payment by results will take us right back to the bad old dysfunctional world of targets (Local Economy, Dec 2011).

The new efficiency

The old efficiency looks increasingly like mutually assured destruction.  But there are a range of new ideas emerging which suggest there are better, more efficient and more effective ways of organising public services.  This report sets out four ways forward (POPSE, April 2011).

Payment by results: the perils of measurement

Outomes make sense for measurement, but not if you try to pay people on that basis (RSA blog, Oct 2010).  See also argument in Guardian on the return of targets (Oct 2010)

Targets: just say no!

When four police forces rejected their Whitehall target regime, it was an Emperor’s New Clothes moment for the whole of centralization (Guardian Comment is Free, June 2008).

Creating a National Wellness Service

The NHS requires a very different shape if it is going to prevent ill-health rather than pick up the pieces (Prince’s Foundation for Integrated Health, June 2008).

A human agenda for public services

At last we may be moving away from the sterile public versus private debate, and onto something more relevant (Liberator, April 2008).

Can you count a better environment?

Why counting gets in the way of protecting the environment (Ecos, April 2007).  Also follow up reply to the debate.

How long is a piece of string?

BBC broadcast about the evils of obsessive measurement (Off the Page, 2005).

The Aspergers myth

Why we should be suspicious of the statistics about the massive rise in autism (New Statesman, 2003).

Facing up to the tyranny of numbers

Why counting too much shrinks the soul (Resurgence, 2001).