Civic Regalia
One city deal - many lessons
The Budget confounded expectations on city deals. What can we learn from Greater Manchester’s success?
No love lost on council tax
Ministers’ conduct over councils’ decision on whether or not to put up council tax has been shabby - my lead article from last week’s magazine
History of the 'chiefless' council
My column from this week’s magazine feature on councils that have done away with - and then reinstated - the role of chief executive
Community budgets - a reason to be cheerful?
Local government has plenty to be negative about as it enters 2012. But the ambition of the community budget pilots is outstripping that of the government.
Treading a fine line
With further cuts heading local government’s way, perhaps it’s time for the sector to rethink its lobbying strategies - my leading article on the autumn statement from this week’s magazine
Riots: the interim report
My LGC View column from this week’s magazine feature on the interim report of Darra Singh’s Riots, Communities & Victims panel
Has 'Total Place' set local government back years?
Councils do themselves no favours with ministers if they appear to want to build up powerful ‘municipal states’
The new pragmatism
The government’s mantra of ‘localism, localism, localism’ has been usurped by a renewed focus on economic growth, social cohesion and public service reform
No such thing as bad publicity...
Revealed: How the government has squared its “North Korean” publicity code with its localist principles
Eric 'Tom Tom' Pickles
Councils should think twice before heeding the guidance of a secretary of state reading from a dodgy road map
Shakespeare in the cherry orchards
The Localism Bill and the finance settlement are today’s stories. But the debate will soon turn to business rates.
LGA fighting on two fronts
The Local Government Association is not standing up well in comparison to other lobbying organisations in the sector
Audit threat to Big Society bodies
Could the abolition of the Audit Commission hit town and parish councils?
Why one size sometimes fits all
The new government’s approach to transparency requires common data standards
The biggest couch potato of them all
Any “army of armchair auditors” will be dominated by the biggest couch potato of them all - the TaxPayers’ Alliance
The decline in party membership - local perspectives
Data on the decline in membership of political parties has some interesting implications for localism
A Blooper From Sir Simon?
Has there been a potentially revealing slip of the tongue about how long Boris Johnson plans to hang around City Hall?
The politics of grit
Heavy snowfall should offer councillors and opportunity to connect with local residents
Denham's dramatic vision for local government
In trumpeting local government’s role in scrutinising the provision of all public services, John Denham conjures images of hit US TV drama ‘The Wire’.
Two-tier attack could be sign of times to come
Could we now be seeing the first signs of the Department for Communities & Local Government’s preparations for swingeing funding cuts?
Labour leader slams Brown's tactics
A Leadership Centre debate saw the leader of a flagship Labour council hit out at Gordon Brown’s insistence that public spending will continue to rise after the election.
LGA conference - Day two
Dan Drillsma-Milgrom’s second day musings from the Local Government Association annual conference
LGA conference - Day one
LGC’s political editor Dan Drillsman-Milgrom looks back at the first day of the LGA conference in Harrogate
Bundred weighs in on spending cuts
The chief executive of the government’s public services watchdog warns against protecting health and education budgets
Shakespeare's words make LGA's silence deafening
Comments from the leader of the Conservative group on the Local Government Association on the cabinet reshuffle inadvertently draws attention to the lack of a unified response from the LGA itself
Lessons from Canada (+1)
How Canada tackled a crisis in its public finances similar to ours. Just in case you missed it the first time.
An own goal by the LGA?
Anything less than full disclosure will be seized upon as evidence of secrecy, as the Local Government Association is discovering.
Local election fallout
Were Labour’s abysmal local election results the fault of the party’s councillors or MPs?
Chief execs hamstrung when thrust into the spotlight
Announcing election results will usually be the only time they appear on live TV for council chief executives. What a shame their other responsibilities don’t get the same coverage.
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