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Everyone involved with public engagement and consultation has had to respond to the allegation “You’re not listening to us”. It goes with the job. Part of the problem is that […]

A public engagement strategy has to respond to many conflicting pressures. Few things matter more than a good understanding of those people with whom you wish to engage; stakeholder identification

In almost six years of writing these Topics we have probably enthused about consultation without acknowledging that there are times when the best advice is, Don’t do it! Some of

There’s nothing quite like a personal recommendation. The opposite applies too. So an individual’s advice not to touch a particular product with a barge pole is also pretty useful. It

You can now enter a pharmacy and, over the counter, buy machines that measure your blood pressure. Gone are the days when you have to go to your doctor’s surgery

The Mayor of Bedford died recently. There will now be a fresh election in mid-October and, last week, the Conservative Party held an ‘open primary’ whereby anyone could come along

A camel, according to the famous cliché, is a horse designed by a committee. It’s a terrific image, and makes the point so well. In fact it makes several points.

Some people think that the mega-meeting now taking place in Copenhagen is the most important negotiation that will take place in our lifetimes. Others believe that it has been over-hyped,

A few days ago, one of our Regional newspapers gleefully reported that ‘political apathy has reached a new low’. The headline said Less than 0.01% of … voters responded to