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26 Jun 09
JOHN THORNTON | Decide now if you’re going to let data streamline or swamp your organisation
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25 Jun 09
PHILIP JOHNSTON | John Bercow’s election as Speaker has been seen as the triumph of the common man over the old Etonian. In reality, Parliament is in serious danger.
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24 Jun 09
Looking across the remaining cranes on the sunny Manchester skyline, CIPFA members at their conference could be forgiven for believing the city is still booming despite the recession. In fact, the...
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24 Jun 09
CONOR RYAN | The modernising new Speaker John Bercow has a lot going for him. He has successfully overseen his first Prime Ministers' Questions, earning plaudits for his timely interventions and...
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23 Jun 09
COLIN TALBOT | Speaker Bercow clearly has his work cut out for him. Not least because his own former Conservative party colleagues clearly loathe him and some have been making extremely injudicious...
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19 Jun 09
JUDY HIRST | The news that Number 10 has appointed yet another new communications supremo has been greeted with a certain amount of derision. And not just because it’s the fourth shake-up of Gordon...
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18 Jun 09
MATTHEW PARRIS | Long-term projects can grind to a halt when a government runs out of steam. A new approach, pioneered by the transport secretary, might be the way forward
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18 Jun 09
IAN CARRUTHERS | As the role of the chief financial officer becomes more ever critical, new CIPFA guidance clarifies the main requirements for the post
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12 Jun 09
PETER WILBY | Labour is in a hole because it no longer has a vision or an ideology to cling to – and its government is stuffed full of yesterday’s men and women
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12 Jun 09
MIKE THATCHER | Having survived only by his well-bitten fingertips, the prime minister is in full hairshirt mode
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8 Jun 09
VICTORIA MACDONALD | It’s been a bad week for women in politics. Within the space of a few days, Jacqui Smith and Hazel Blears have resigned from the Cabinet
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5 Jun 09
IAIN MACWHIRTER l When it comes to expenses, members of the Scottish Parliament are basking in a virtuous glow. Maybe that’s because, unlike their Westminster counterparts, they have to disclose...
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5 Jun 09
COLIN TALBOT l David Cameron’s rhetoric on reforming Westminster sounds great, but a dissection of his policies reveals a lack of substance. Instead of being an enemy of democracy, bureaucracy...
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5 Jun 09
MIKE THATCHER | It was unfortunate timing, to say the least. The decision by the communities and local government secretary to resign one day ahead of the council and European elections breached...
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29 May 09
CHRIS LESLIE l Joined-up working is crucial if councils are to improve services. This is particularly true for the local environment, where better use of technology and improved management can...
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29 May 09
JOHN BERRIMAN l Public sector finance directors face competing demands and ever-tighter budgets. They will need to improve leadership skills, address culture change and offer more insight into...
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29 May 09
JUDY HIRST | Amid all the sturm und drang over cleaning up politics, and ahead of the June 4 local and European elections, politicians are competing to demonstrate their power-to-the-people...
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29 May 09
DAVID LIPSEY | Some twenty years ago, David Owen’s Social Democratic Party was wound up after the party finished behind the Monster Raving Loony Party in a by-election.
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22 May 09
JOHN DUNFORD l School league tables are out of fashion, to be replaced by scorecards that will judge schools on more balanced and holistic criteria. But the design will need to be carefully thought...
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22 May 09
STUART ETHERINGTON l Charities must adapt to survive in these turbulent economic times. They need better financial systems and should consider diversifying their income streams and collaborating...
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22 May 09
MIKE THATCHER | A future Conservative government would result in ‘chaos’ with all manner of spending cuts, the prime minister claimed this week.
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22 May 09
PETER HETHERINGTON | Earlier this year, as the furore over parliamentary expenses was gaining momentum, I visited one of a diminishing number of MPs who can still claim a working-class background.
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15 May 09
Anna Coote’s article (‘Growth defects’, April 10—17) is a valuable contribution to the issues now facing the global economy
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15 May 09
Your news story, ‘Bill for Manchester waste PFI scheme hits £4.7bn’, states that the ‘rise (in cost) was caused mainly by the increased cost of finance and greater transfer of risk to the contractor’
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15 May 09
JOHN THORNTON l The prime minister has had some bad experiences of using the internet recently. But websites such as Twitter and YouTube could be essential for governments in communicating with the...