Posts of the week: generating social capital and admitting parts of public services are second rate
Welcome to my weekly round-up of two blogging highlights from the past week: the post that I found most interesting or enjoyable to write and the post from someone else that I found most interesting or entertaining.
A post from me…
Using council websites to help local residents generate social capital
Take a look at the list of planning applications on your local council website, and what will you find? Chances are, you will find them all listed, including detailed background information. You probably will also find out how people can submit their views and when planning committee meetings are held. So you may well take a look and think “That’s a pretty good use of the internet to let people know what’s happening”.
Unless you’re me, that is.
Because think about what you don’t see…
Read the full post about council websites here.
… and a post from someone else
Parts of the NHS are second rate
Jonathan Calder on the gaffe that isn’t a gaffe except that comments like that are always called gaffes:
It seems it was the American journalist Michael Kinsley who first observed that a gaffe takes place when a politician inadvertently tells the truth. There is no clearer illustration of this than David Cameron’s interview for the Today programme yesterday in which he said or implied or was thought to have implied that parts of the NHS offer a second-rate service.
Of course parts of the NHS offer a second-rate service.
If you doubt this, have a look at the front page of yesterday’s Leicester Mercury…
Read the full post from Jonathan Calder here.
Spotted any other great posts this week that I may have missed? Let me know in the comments.
Instead of this anecdotal guff, why don’t we admit that the NHS is under constant attack from the political right but actually fares very well in international comparisons http://www.commonwealthfund.org/Content/Publications/Fund-Reports/2010/Jun/Mirror-Mirror-Update.aspx In contrast, the American system which forms the model for the coalition’s proposals consistently scores badly.