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A public dialogue is as good as the information upon which it is conducted. So much is self-evident, but observing this mantra is a bit more difficult in the context of controversial consultations. Take last week’s launch of the Heathrow expansion consultation. It is full of technical information, interpretations and analyses thereof. Battle lines have […]

It might be easy to dismiss much of the Government’s flashy new “empowerment” agenda1 as yet more spin. But, despite being open to criticism, there are some really significant positives in what is now proposed. First, a criticism – we have yet another piece of terminology. We could not find “Empowerment” anywhere in the new

Direct democracy has many enthusiastic fans. They point out that some questions are just too important for elected representatives to decide; constitutional changes are often cited as classic issues of this kind, and the current call for a Referendum on the latest European treaty just reflects some people’s views that it contains proposals whose significance

Make no mistake; this High Court judgment will have a major impact upon the conduct of public debate in the United Kingdom. It’s not that this is the first time that the Courts have intervened when public consultation has been flawed – there have been previous cases – but until now, these were thought to

Many newspapers and even parts of the BBC seem to have decided for themselves that 10 Downing Street’s recent experiments with public participation are nothing but a set of PR gimmicks designed to enliven Tony Blair’s forthcoming departure. But insofar as they represent the application of established forms of civic public participation, albeit in a

When even Blue Peter has to apologise for misleading callers to its show, and virtually every other broadcaster has had to run for cover lest its practices be placed under scrutiny, you can be sure that something pretty rotten has been discovered. And for once it’s not politicians that stand accused of misleading the public!

We all know people who think they are skilled at “knocking heads together” – and very useful they are too for those occasions when deep seated intransigence or sheer obstinacy prevents issues from moving forward. True skills of consensus-building are vastly more subtle than the brute-force variety macho managers sometimes employ, and these skills need

If you look down a list of consultations from a range of public bodies, two things become immediately obvious. One is the sheer variety of topics and issues. The other is the number that appear to focus upon procedural rather than substantive matters. There are good reasons why this happens. Legislators are acutely conscious of

Developing strategies is not unlike having children. Many are conceived from committed parentage, and are nurtured in a loving and learning environment. But others are what we call orphans, the product of enthusiastic if short-lived liaisons, and then abandoned to compete for attention alongside others who face a similar fate. With the current fashion for