UK
Britain is going through a difficult time, when its sustained ability to punch above its weight, economically and diplomatically, is ebbing. The end of irrational exuberance found the country ill at ease with itself, with rising inequalities and unhealthy nationalism, just when it needs to be fleet-footed in recognising that many of the traditional pillars of its strengths have changed. The need is to recognise other supports and partners and find a new common purpose after the pandemic. I live in hope.
another go at transformation
Public services are excellent at talking transformation, less good at doing it. However steep decline in the availability of public funds, set to worsen, makes endless salami slicing in silos ultimately impossible. There may be a catalyst to an alternative approach, which in my view sees the provision of a public service as an investment, around which a mature state, in all its emanations, should be able to take a view as to return and risk, so bringing evidence and cost-benefit analysis to the fore as never before. That's what I spent my friday afternoon on