I've spent the last few weeks down under where, among other things, I've been discussing the future of government and launching a new Demos report on the future of New Zealand's public services. It's left me wondering whether we might not be at one of those historic tipping points, when a combination of social trends and interesting new ideas starts to really transform the way public services work. What's next?

When you look over the history of the welfare state, it becomes pretty clear that it tends to change in relatively fast bursts of reform as sets of new ideas and trends rapidly take hold.

And the process of change is speeding up. From the 1890s to the 1920s it was the progressive development of basic welfare across the developed world, after 1945 it was all about social democracy, and in the 1980s it was the new public management.

In other words, we're overdue a fresh wave of transformation in the way governments relate to society. And a lot of people are starting to try and work out what comes next - including the Victoria State Government, New Zealand's Public Services Association and, errr, Demos. At least, I hope our report has something to contribute to the debate. It's all about what public services might look like if we used democratic engagement as our core design principle.

On a separate note, I grew a pretty wicked (and slightly ginger) beard while I was on holiday. Does anyone know of any way I can use it to raise money for charity or something similar? These guys seem to have the right idea.

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