As part of a Ministry of Justice funded Innovations Fund project, we’re involved in giving a presentation tomorrow to a group of Councillors at Norfolk County Council on the ways that are / could be used to engage with constituents via the internet. Here’s the long list I have at Read more
A supermarket trolley has a mind of it’s own." This little gem was provided by Cllr Richard Brodie from Dumfries and Galloway Council in a Live Chat this afternoon on www.bigvote.org.uk. He also provided us with a couple of poems which I’m sure he won’t mind being published here: Dalbeattie, Read more
We’re in Party Conference season and the news is full of speeches from politicians playing to the gallery, the media and their opponents. There has been recent coverage about how Gordon Brown is similar to Margaret Thatcher as they are both "conviction politicians". Jerry Sanders, the Republican Mayor of San Read more
I’m normally far too quick to complain and not quick enough to praise, so when I get really good customer service I ought to shout about it. So let me introduce Tony West, our friendly TNT driver. At 7.20am this morning there was a knock on the door at home. Read more
We first got involved with The Scarman Trust a couple of years ago during the development of CampaignCreator. They were tasked with coaching members of the community on how to campaign and how to use the site.
Since then I’ve got to know them and their work in the South West a little better. At the moment we’re producing a marketing campaign for a series of guides they have produced to help communities help themselves.
Another cornerstone of their work is in dispersing small grants to creative and energetic members of communities to help with community cohesion. It is a programme called Community Champions. Unfortunately the DfES, before it was reorganised, decided to stop funding the programme and The Scarman Trust are working hard to save it. They have started a petition to save community champions on the Number 10 Downing Street site and I’ve signed it. I hope you will too.
The petition copy reads:
We’ve been talking with Sheffield City Council for a few months about running LifeSwap. During National Care Leavers Week on October 24th 2007 five Care Leavers from Sheffield and five senior officers and members from the council will take a photo every hour on a mobile phone camera and send Read more
Nick Palmer is one of the more online MPs in Westminster. Nothing too flash but he does write a regular email to 2,399 constituents in Broxtowe, Notts. This week he talked about the "niceness" of small town America and compared it to Europe: When I lived in Switzerland, I was Read more
The scourge of Bristol City Council, The Bristol Blogger, has written a powerful piece outlining one of the reasons why political engagement has declined. A Dispersal Order on College Green (home to Bristol City Council) was made without the elected representatives for the area being told. they first heard about Read more
Cheltenham Borough Council have been driven (or perhaps a creative employee has taken the opportunity presented) by floods to innovate with their communication strategy using some key web technologies. Due to the fear that Council servers and workers would be flooding and stop working the council decided to launch a Read more
Earlier this week the DCLG announced the results of the bids for unitary status that had been made earlier in the year by many councils up and down the country. The successful bids are: Councils Submitting Proposals Proposed unitary structure Bedford Borough Council Bedford Unitary Chester City Council 2 Unitary Read more