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petermiles.bsky.social
Pete Miles
@petermiles.bsky.social
3.3K followers 7.1K following 8.7K posts
Ex- consultant, manager, marketer, engineer. Interested in Complexity, Systems and Collective Intelligence. GSOH (Brit)
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petermiles.bsky.social
Bit late to this, but it is worth reading...

(A key improvement point to go on Starmer's report card)
Beyond being re-elected and surviving in office, what does Starmer want? It is almost always unclear. He not only did not write the two biggest speeches of his first year in office - his "things will get worse" Rose Garden address and his "island of strangers" speech on migration but has since disavowed them in conversation with his biographer. In government that is a recipe for confusion and backbiting, for the civil service to lapse not into governing but instead to focus on managing relationships between departments and stakeholders. No one can plan sensibly when the head of the government gives such mixed messages and confusing signals.
February 2, 2026 at 3:57 PM
petermiles.bsky.social
Morning all 🙂
Cartoon by Larson, black ink on white. A second-hand car dealership. In the foreground a car roughly put together from pieces of wood, with a SALE sign in the window. A salesman and a customer look at the car. The caption: Andrew is hesitant, remembering the fiasco with the car of straw.
January 31, 2026 at 8:10 AM
petermiles.bsky.social
Excellent.

I see parallels with the recommendation on inspection and regulation in this report on 'relational public services' (which also holds out the offer of a 'free lunch' if we just organise ourselves better.)

mmuperu.co.uk/wp-content/u...
2. Bringing together inspectorates and regulators (e.g., Ofsted, CQC, HMICFRS). Relational inspection & regulation. to agree what good relational leadership, management and practice looks like, including approaches to continuous improvement, use of evidence, participation in research and development, and sector led improvement. how to recognise and how to incorporate it into reviews and inspections, including reviews of serious incidents.
January 28, 2026 at 1:02 PM
petermiles.bsky.social
If the Minnesota resistance has an overarching ideology, you could call it "neighborism"-a commitment to protecting the people around you, no matter who they are or where they came from. The contrast with the philosophy guiding the Trump administration couldn't be more extreme. Vice President Vance has said that "it is totally reasonable and acceptable for American citizens to look at their next-door neighbors and say, 'I want to live next to people who I have something in common with. I don't want to live next to four families of strangers." Minnesotans are insisting that their neighbors are their neighbors whether they were born in Minneapolis or Mogadishu. That is, arguably, a deeply Christian philosophy, one apparently loathed by some of the most powerful Christians in America.
January 27, 2026 at 3:25 PM
petermiles.bsky.social
I know Gorton (used to work there, and OH also worked in the area) and I know Denton. I don't associate the two, the constituency looks like distinct areas shoved together for electoral purposes.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorton_...
Map from Wikipedia showing the constituency of Gorton and Denton, with a chunk to the West including Burnage and Levenshulme, then a chunk mostly to the East of the M60 including Denton.
January 27, 2026 at 2:27 PM
petermiles.bsky.social
I think this new report 'Policy Priorities to Support
Relational Public Services' provides a clear case study as to why central government needs to re-orient towards an 'enabling state' model and use its powers to convene regulators.

#MMUPERU

mmuperu.co.uk/wp-content/u...
It is crucial that regulators are attuned to and supportive of relational public management and that different regulators have a shared understanding of what relational practice looks like and what their role is in supporting it.
January 26, 2026 at 7:41 AM
petermiles.bsky.social
Sam Freedman on the fundamentals of 'rewiring the state'...
Any serious attempt to rewire the state needs to focus on the disconnects between power and capacity rather than power per se. That means matching the responsibilities of the Prime Minister to the machine around them; giving ministers the tools to manage the regulatory state; creating criteria for regulation that ensures it's proportionate; and decentralising power over delivery to regions and local government. This government have some of the right instincts but they're still way off having a plan. Darren Jones said that his initial proposals were just the start of a bigger project to fix the state. He better get on with it: he doesn't have much time.
January 25, 2026 at 8:54 PM
petermiles.bsky.social
Visual metaphor for your own interpretation...
Far Side cartoon by Gary Larson on calendar, dated 25 Jan. On the right a tiny fish about to be eaten by a bigger fish behind. Then behind that an even bigger fish. But behind that a school of smaller fish, attacking the biggest fish.
January 25, 2026 at 3:59 PM
petermiles.bsky.social
AI (here) and a focus on 'efficiency' narrowly defined can be a distraction from making the reforms that will make a real difference to people's lives.

(And save real money by the way!)

3/3
The solutions to many of the complex issues people who use public services face, such as poor mental health, obesity and loneliness can't be delivered just by making our current public services more efficient. They can only be delivered by making them more relational.
January 24, 2026 at 8:00 AM
petermiles.bsky.social
"...a £3.25 billion Public Sector Transformation Fund was formally announced in the Spring Statement 2025 by Chancellor Rachel Reeves with a heavy emphasis on investing in AI to improve public sector efficiency and productivity."

But this is one place where AI won't do the job.

2/3
... Government rhetoric around a narrow interpretation of public service productivity and the focus of its large investment decisions on AI seem likely to forestall a move to more relational approaches.
January 24, 2026 at 8:00 AM
petermiles.bsky.social
Important new report on public service reform, I hope this gets traction in central govt.

Perhaps the section "Why the UK Government’s current approach to public service reform will fail" will get someone's attention?

1/3

mmuperu.co.uk/wp-content/u...
Executive Summary Public services are in crisis after decades of under-investment, rising complex need and the long shadow of the pandemic. Demand pressures, workforce exhaustion, poor outcomes and deepening public mistrust now characterise much of public service. Against this backdrop, the Government's current focus on productivity, technology and AI, while offering some gains, cannot deliver the transformation needed. Efficiency drives alone risk repeating the failures of New Public Management, which fragmented services, eroded professional discretion and entrenched failure demand. Reform that ignores the relational core of public services will not succeed. This briefing collects widely evidenced arguments showing that genuine improvement requires a transformation based on rebuilding the relationships between citizens, frontline workers and institutions. Relational public services, already demonstrated in approaches such as Human Learning Systems (including the Liberated Method) create substantial reductions in failure demand, improved outcomes and higher staff morale. These effects are achieved not primarily through technology, but through rethinking how front-line work is structured and how organisations and local systems are led so that trust, continuity, flexibility and collaborative learning are embedded in local systems. The Government's principles of integration, prevention and devolution provide an opening for relational public services, as do initiatives such as Integrated Settlements and Test, Learn and Grow. But national policy remains overly driven by narrow productivity metrics, technology-first solutions and departmental silos. To accelerate system-wide relational practice, three actions are essential: embed preventative and devolved funding models; align regulators around learning rather than compliance; and undertake workforce reform to support relational practice at scale. Without a systemic commitment to relational methods of organising public s…
January 24, 2026 at 8:00 AM
petermiles.bsky.social
Stewart Lee gives up trying to satirise Trump's Davos speech...

www.thenerve.news/p/stewart-le...
To take the time to satirise Trump's Davos speech would be to dignify it in a way it doesn't deserve. At Dudley Zoo and Castle in the early 70s I stood with my grandmother, her bottle-green mac glowing in the shadow of the 13th-century fortifications, as we watched a clearly distressed gorilla circling its concrete enclosure growling in rage and mewling in distress. We didn't slurp on our ice-creams and wonder if the ape was trying to tell us something about its plans for the world, or boast about its successful domestic economic policies. We had the sense to know that it was angry, in pain, confused, and crazy. And yet still dangerous.
January 23, 2026 at 7:45 PM
petermiles.bsky.social
"The facade of Trump's global dominance can crack, then shatter."

A slightly more hopeful Ian Dunt here...

open.substack.com/pub/iandunt/...
It's been a rough, dangerous week. One of those weeks in which you could almost hear the world shudder. But the basic reality is that European leaders stuck together, held firm, and fired back. When they did so, Trump buckled. They now appear to be summoning greater reserves of courage than they previously seemed capable of. If they continue to show that conviction, and express it openly, the media frame will change with it. The facade of Trump's global dominance can crack, then shatter. As grim as the world looks right now, it seems a damn sight more hopeful than it did on Monday.
January 23, 2026 at 2:26 PM
petermiles.bsky.social
Chris Grey on the strategic opportunity (amongst all the threats) facing the UK.
This being so, Keir Starmer has the possibility both to address the strategic failure of Brexit and to gain domestic political advantage over Reform and marginalize Brexitism, as I've been arguing for at least a year when I wrote that: "Starmer has a real opportunity to exert leadership, and in the process has been gifted an opportunity to release Britain from the drift and dither to which it has been consigned by Brexit. He could, in one bound, position the UK as an international beacon of probity, as a strong regional partner, and perhaps even as a galvanizing convenor of medium-sized and small powers, and in the process marginalize Farage as an unpatriotic scoundrel. Similarly, resistance to closer EU ties from the Conservatives and their media supporters could be positioned as undermining Britain's staunch support for its allies."
January 23, 2026 at 8:27 AM
petermiles.bsky.social
I have photos 🙂

Do you spot anything here? (I took these before I made this morning's changes)
Bios screen text Bios screen text Bios screen text Boot setup text
January 19, 2026 at 1:22 PM
petermiles.bsky.social
The upcoming Elections Bill - wise recommendations here from the Information Crisis Coalition.

(Convened by Demos, with Full Fact, Transparency International, the UK Anti-Corruption Coalition and the Online Safety Act Network)

demos.co.uk/research/epi...
1. Introduce systems to reduce online threats and abuse against candidates 2. Publish guidance which clarifies the law on electoral information incidents, including deepfakes of candidates and MPs 3. Establish further regulation and transparency in political advertising 4. Reduce spending limits at elections to address runaway spending on social media 5. Increased the Electoral Commission's investigative powers 6. Establish a public protocol for election information incidents
January 19, 2026 at 11:39 AM
petermiles.bsky.social
Parliament will debate “Call a public inquiry into Russian influence on UK politics & democracy”

Good to see.
Parliament is going to debate the petition you signed - "Call a public inquiry into Russian influence on UK politics & democracy". https://petition.parliament. uk/petitions/744215 The debate is scheduled for 9 February 2026. Once the debate has happened, we'll email you a video and transcript. Thanks, The Petitions Team House of Commons
January 17, 2026 at 4:09 PM
petermiles.bsky.social
This growing confidence in Badenoch is a disaster for both the Tories and Labour. A new leader - a serious personality - is required for the Tories to recover and claw back some of that Reform support. It would drag the party back from extinction, which would be good for them. Labour would benefit too, because the right would fail to coalesce around Reform. And the country would benefit by starting the long painful process of detoxifying the political right. It's in almost everyone's interests, but this counter-intuitive Kemi-might-be-alright-actually craze is a hindrance to it. Still, let's not get carried away. Today is not a day for strategy or predictions. It is a day for wild abandon and merry jubilation. Some of the worst people in Britain are having a very bad time. And it's not often that we get to say that anymore.
January 15, 2026 at 8:57 PM
petermiles.bsky.social
FT:
Now, researchers claim that a different kind of framing matters when people discuss contentious issues: declaring what you oppose, rather than what you support, is likely to play more positively among those who disagree with you. For example, a campaigner for abortion rights can express their stance in two different ways: supporting a woman's right to choose or opposing an abortion ban. The latter sentiment is likely to be received more openly by those against abortion, according to a study published last month in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.
January 14, 2026 at 6:30 PM
petermiles.bsky.social
Reformed meat also came to mind...

(Perhaps they are aiming to bind together the 'cheaper cuts' from the Tories, to create a new product?)
reformed meat Reformed meat, also called restructured or formed meat, uses smaller pieces, trimmings, or minced meat, often from less valuable cuts, bound together to create a product that looks like a solid piece of meat, common in products like ham, chicken nuggets, and burgers. This process uses proteins (like myosin) to bind the meat, sometimes with added water, salt, and phosphates, and can involve tumbling or massaging, resulting in products like formed ham or restructured steaks, which are often considered ultra-processed. From Google Gemini
January 12, 2026 at 8:15 PM
petermiles.bsky.social
Select committee (incl Liam Byrne, Emily Thornberry) calls for ban on crypto donations.

Seems like an obvious response to a clear danger.

@catneilan.bsky.social in @theobserveruk.bsky.social
Catherine Neilan Whitehall Editor Keir Starmer must impose a full ban on cryptocurrency being used for political donations or risk losing con-trol of a key new piece of legislation, senior Labour backbenchers warn. Former minister Liam Byrne, who chairs the business and trade select committee, and six colleagues, including Emily Thornberry, chair of the foreign affairs committee, and Matt Western, who heads the joint committee on national security strat-egy, have signed an open letter to the prime minister setting out a number of concerns that emerged in commit-tee evidence sessions. These include the risk of crypto being used by hostile foreign states or other malign groups; the use of tech-nologies and systems that are outside UK regulation; and the ability of AI to further obscure the source of funds. They are urging Starmer to use the forthcoming elections bill to make "explicit provision to disallow cryp-tocurrency donations to political par-ties and politicians". The UK allows parties and indi-viduals to accept crypto donations, although only three registered polit-ical parties do so, of which Reform
January 11, 2026 at 5:43 PM
petermiles.bsky.social
@charliepickles.bsky.social of @re-state.bsky.social starts the year with a call on the PM to be more radical.

(Excerpt from a mailshot)
I desperately want Labour to deliver on the "promise of renewal", but doing so will require the PM to be far more radical. A favourite country song of mine has the line "Some day I hope you get the chance to live like you were dyin'" (Tim McGraw if you're interested); some day (ideally today), I hope Starmer starts governing like he only has one term. Setting aside the fact that his current approach is making that a very real prospect, what might he do if he wasn't worrying about getting re-elected? He might scrap the unaffordable triple lock and introduce a new funding model for social care that requires us all to pay in (for our care not current recipients) and older adults to use their assets to fund more of their care. He might set out, and start executing, a radical new phase of devolution that establishes an at scale regional tier across the country, accompanied with genuine freedom of decision-making on spending and matched with fiscal devolution. He might back regional regulatory sandboxes to enable experimentation with radically different approaches to everything from employment law to environmental rules. He might fundamentally reconstitute the machinery of government, scrapping and merging departments and creating entirely new entry routes into the civil service with radically different terms and conditions. In fact, he might finally grasp the public sector pension nettle and end defined benefit pensions for new starters and cut the employer contribution to boost salary levels. He might announce plans, with correspondingly ambitious regulatory reforms, to dramatically cut the time it will take to build new runways, small modular reactors, munitions factories, homes and other key transport infrastructure - going beyond the (positive but insufficient) planning reforms. He might slash the massively onerous and excessively costly compliance reporting on professional service firms. He might radically rethink the 'mental and behavioural disorder' category for…
January 10, 2026 at 8:08 AM
petermiles.bsky.social
The same book includes a range of alternative metaphors for organisations.

I'm sure we can all relate to the Psychic Prison 🙂
Box 7.1 Metaphors through which organizations can be viewed Organizations as machines. The emphasis is on predetermined goals and objectives and the organization is expected to operate in a systema-tic, efficient and predictable manner. This can result in a lack of adapt-ability and a dehumanizing experience for those working within such frameworks. Organizations as organisms. The attention is focused on understanding organizational needs and the relationship with the environment. Orga-nizations go through cycles of birth, growth, development, decline and death living systems that have to adapt to changes in their environ-ment. The needs of the individual and organisms must be integrated. Organizations as brains. The attention is focused on the importance of information processing, learning and intelligence. Innovative organiza-tions must be learning organizations open to enquiry and self-criticism. Organizations as cultures. The system is based on the ideas, values, norms, rituals and beliefs that sustain it as a socially constructed frame-work. The focus is on the human construction of organization within the cultural directives. Organizations as political systems. This sees systems as creating order and direction amongst people with potentially different views and interests. The organization is a system of government drawing upon political principles within different types of managerial frameworks. Organizations as psychic prisons. Here people have become trapped by their thoughts, ideas and beliefs that often originate in the unconscious mind. This can inhibit the organization's ability to change and mem-bers of the organization may share similar delusions. Organizations as instruments of domination. Here organizations use those who work for them and the environment in which they operate to achieve their own ends. It is a process of domination where certain people impose their will upon others.
January 9, 2026 at 3:33 PM
petermiles.bsky.social
Yes. Or trying to steer supertankers.

I rediscovered this recently, by David Kernick in 'Complexity and Healthcare Organisation' from 2004.
In 1998, in response to disappointing waiting-list statistics, the Secretary of State for Health, Frank Dobson, stated: 'I said last year that the waiting lists were like a supertanker. It would take time to slow them down, longer to bring them to a stop, and even longer to turn them around.'" The explicit use of the metaphor 'supertanker' for 'NHS waiting lists' suggests many associations. A vessel with a large amount of inertia trying to change direction against resistance; a system that can be engineered by a directive from a captain on the bridge steering the ship to a new course. It brings an easier understanding of the situation than a complex statement on the differential rate of change of the waiting-list figures. The prescription for action followed, in 'a firm hand at the wheel'.* We will see in Section 3 how the use of this metaphor is illuminating for being so precisely wrong and how waiting lists form a complex network of interacting parts where changes in one part of the system can have unintended consequences in another and no one can be in overall control.
January 9, 2026 at 3:23 PM
petermiles.bsky.social
This paper is primarily about Social Impact Investment, but calls for a unifying narrative to span the potentially revolutionary programmes already underway, such as Test, Learn & Grow.
SIl is one of several reform movements promoting relational, preventative and people-centred approaches to policy. These include, but aren't limited to Test, Learn and Grow, Pride in Place, Community Help Partnerships, Neighbourhood Health, and Place-based Budgets. Without a unifying narrative, these initiatives risk remaining fragmented, limiting learning and hindering system-wide cultural change. Our work with senior civil servants has made clear the need for an overarching narrative that supports leaders across Whitehall to point to a wider vision of reform, motivate teams to change entrenched ways of working, and address cross-cutting disincentives in the system.
January 9, 2026 at 12:55 PM