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Inside the System

An insider’s view on leadership, reform and delivery — focused on how public systems really work in local places.

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Rewiring the State Is Not About Structures, It’s About Trust

For most of my career, I’ve sat in rooms discussing how to make public services work better.

The View From the Other Side of Annual Leave

A few weeks ago, before heading off on annual leave, I wrote about the importance of stepping away.

The Leadership Test Nobody Talks About: Can Your Organisation Function Without You?

Why annual leave might be one of the most revealing measures of leadership effectiveness

Social Care Has Finally Moved to the Centre of the National Conversation

Why the renewed national focus on social care matters far beyond Westminster

The Care We Don’t Talk About: A Closing Reflection

Six weeks ago, this series started with a simple observation.

The Care We Don’t Talk About (Part 6): What Would Change If Social Care Actually Mattered?

If social care were treated as essential infrastructure rather than residual provision, much of our wider reform agenda would need to look different

It Occurs to Me That We’ve Been Integrating Organisations Instead of Decisions

Residents don't experience organisations. They experience the consequences of our decisions

The Great Cost Shift

How adult social care is quietly becoming the NHS’s safety net

Reform Is Happening, Just Not Where People Are Looking (Part 5)

Some of the most important change in social care is already under way. The problem is not the absence of reform, but its fragility, unevenness and lack of national backing

Care Where We Live: Adult Social Care’s Future Isn’t a Service Reform. It’s a Place Reform

Why the future of adult social care depends less on redesigning services and more on strengthening the places where people live their lives.

Fiscal Devolution: The Missing Ingredient in England’s Growth Debate

England doesn't have a growth problem. It has a centralisation problem. A new APPG report argues that fiscal devolution is the missing ingredient