Duncan O'Leary
Senior Researcher
Duncan works on projects looking at public services, skills and work.
- Systems tinkering Another tension i’ve been mulling over recently is the difficulties that all political parties are likely to have in the next wave of policy-making: trying to implement specific ideas that are proven to work....or put in place systems that are designed to work for themselves? continue reading on 25th June 2007
- Schools of thought The Sutton Trust has (rightly) caused a bit of a stir today with its work highlighting Britain’s social mobility deficit. Peter Lampel argues that ‘no other advanced country for which figures are available is social mobility as low as in the UK and in no other country is the link between a parent’s education and the cognitive skills of their children stronger.’ continue reading on 25th June 2007
- What works? Here's a good idea, i think. Harriet Harman says that: "Once a bill has gone through parliament, we need to look again two years later and ask 'Did it do what we said it would do?' - and if it hasn't we'll change it." Why don't we have this already...? continue reading on 11th June 2007 Comments (2)
- Testing times Here's a thought. The government wants to raise the school leaving age. And lots of people have objections to the way young people are tested at school - see here for how they could be orientated more towards future learning and here for how they could reflect a wider range of skills. Could changing the school age open up the possibility of doing something radical with GCSEs? If people aren't leaving at 16 then why not do something interesting with testing at that age - getting rid of it, or adapting it so that it supports learning rather than just measures it? continue reading on 5th June 2007 Comments (2)
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Informing or influencing?
Really interesting post from Danny Finkelstein, over on the Times' Comment Central blog, which sums up the dilemmas we’ll be looking at our new project on ‘The Politics of Behaviour’.
Commenting on the news that the government is changing the guidance on drinking whilst pregnant – despite no new medical evidence – in order to send “a strong signal” to women currently exceeding the current recommended limit
continue reading on 25th May 2007 -
Choice words
continue reading on 25th May 2007
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Hopeful Belfast
I had the pleasure of going to Belfast last week for Thursday and Friday. What a great place to go at the moment. I can’t remember going anywhere with such a sense of optimism. I only met a small number of people but the impression i got was a city on the rise – people realistic but hopeful that they won’t go back to the conflicts of the past, lots of regeneration, a sense that the economy is on the up and a belief that people's lives are about to improve.
continue reading on 21st May 2007
I came back feeling a lot better about the world – and more convinced than ever about power of politics, for good or ill. If you can find an excuse to go over there at the moment i'd recommend a visit. - Blair resigns His resignation speech in full: continue reading on 10th May 2007 Comments (1)
- Cheesed off Another damaging poll report for the government today: Apparently 52 per cent of senior figures in the dairy industry believe that this Government "is actively anticheese". Could this tilt the balance in today's local elections...? continue reading on 3rd May 2007
- You're Hired! Yesterday Niamh and I launched Demos’s latest pamphlet, Recruitment 2020: How Recruitment is Changing and Why it Matters.The pamphlet, as more perceptive readers may have already guessed, looks at the future of the recruitment industry. It argues that recruitment is caught up in some of the key public policy issues of our time – business success, job satisfaction, equality, integration and privacy. continue reading on 27th April 2007