Duncan O'Leary
Duncan works on projects looking at public services, skills and work.
- The 'September 10 attitude' Interesting to see George Bush criticising his opponent for his ‘September 10 attitude’ yesterday (by which he means ‘only committing to a response after America is hit’). It reminded me of Paul’s post a while ago which discussed the role of Black Swans and our instinctive responses to them. continue reading on 19th October 2004 Comments (2)
- Thoroughly Unreliable Another day of speeches in Brighton, here's a flavour..."Of course we debate. Of course there will be controversy. But there comes a time when we need to communicate our ideas to the electorate. We can't rely on the telly; we can't rely on the newspapers. Or the think tanks. We have to rely on our own resources. So I say to those who feel tempted to dash off a quick article attacking our Government in the press. Think again. Suppress the urge. Get out. Meet some voters. Talk to them directly". continue reading on 30th September 2004
- Depressing My little brother achieves fame before I do, reacting to Tony Blair's conference speech at his school yesterday. He's pictured down the bottom of the page, and get this: he claims he was misquoted about the war. continue reading on 29th September 2004
- More Brighton blogging As the posts come in from Brighton, it seems that the Labour Party itself is getting in on the act. Party Chairman Ian McCartney is one of three delegates keeping an online conference diary. continue reading on 27th September 2004
- Lost value? Public value might not be that valuable, suggests James Crabtree in an article in The New Statesman. He argues that though it offfers a way for citizens and democracies to make choices without the need for a spreadsheet, the catchiness of the term has allowed it to become diluted to such an extent that it risks becoming a justification for poor services and things that, basically, aren't valuable. continue reading on 24th September 2004
- Guest blogger no.2 As promised, the recruitment of guest bloggers for the Party conferences continues. David Charter, Chief Political Correspondent of The Times, will be writing the odd entry amongst all the mayhem. Here was his reading of the recent reshuffle before it all happened. continue reading on 14th September 2004
- Straw poll There’s a bit of an experiment taking place on Tom Watson's blog at the moment. He’s doing a straw poll on fox-hunting, and has asked for a vote either way, suggesting that he may refer to the results in any parliamentary debate on the subject. This comes after the Hansard Society suggested recently that politicians’ blogs should be used more to ask questions than provide answers. continue reading on 6th September 2004 Comments (2)
- Like an ipod... The UK's first official download chart is launched today.The move is being trumpeted as the industry reflecting the changes in the way in which we listen to music, but the decision to give downloads their own chart – rather than to include them in the existing one – is an interesting one. The download culture developed largely in spite of the industry rather than because of it, and this seems to be reflected in the reluctance to welcome downloading fully into the mainstream... continue reading on 1st September 2004
- Anyone's armband A few words from the camp:"We'll judge each game and each week as it comes.""The gaffer wants 11 captains out there." continue reading on 17th August 2004 Comments (2)
- Cancer Care The way in which medical staff provide care for cancer patients was explained to me over the weekend, and it has some really powerful features:- Cancer is dealt with by multi-disciplinary teams. This is borne out the recognition that a surgeon’s clinical knowledge may not always be enough on its own to provide the best overall solution for the patient. In this way, professionals guard against one perspective being allowed to dominate to the detriment others aspects of patient-care.-... continue reading on 16th August 2004 Comments (1)