The political lie that has taken hold so forcefully in the UK, as in the US, is that the state has become corrupted. Nostalgia for a ‘neutral’ civil service reining…
01 Jun, 2020
21 May, 2020
In Memory of Robert Park
Those of us in the South West Surrey Compass local group, along with so many others in the local community, were devastated to hear of the death of Robert Park…
20 May, 2020
What’s so funny about peace, love and understanding? How kindness can drive an agile, creative, and deliberative democracy
'The feedback I’m receiving certainly reveals a positive local picture, one where statutory organisations, established and newly developed Voluntary and Community Sector organisations or groups, and the informal network of…
19 May, 2020
Is it common sense that there is no such thing as common sense?
Boris Johnson’s belief in trusting the 'Great British Common Sense' may seem like…well, common sense, yet this is an ambiguous and empty myth often negotiated through our own interpretations and…
13 May, 2020
Reasons for hope: why and how we can #BuildBackBetter
The crisis reveals much and will change more - for good or bad. Everything feels like it is now up for grabs. There is much pain and suffering and our…
11 May, 2020
Deliberating with care for a caring democracy
Sometimes, when times seem unlike anything we have known before, we need to reach for ideas that are not new. The current crisis does not necessarily mean that we have to…
11 May, 2020
Democracy and the Coronavirus
Is an alert civil society an effective antidote to the cynical manipulation that mars contemporary democracy? Those of us who have argued that it is will soon face a stiff…
08 May, 2020
What makes a Good Society?
As the economic historian J.K. Galbraith wrote, “there is no chance of the better society, unless the good and achievable society is clearly defined”. So, what makes a Good Society?…
07 May, 2020
Insecurity at the top can create security for all
In September, Compass will be co-launching a report analysing what over 100 interviews tell us about the attitudes and civic and political behaviour of the top 10 per cent highest…
10 Apr, 2020
It can’t be that everything changes except how we practise politics
This might seem a strange time to be promoting deliberation. A crisis requires speed and heightened attention, a laser-like focus on the problem. We need powerful, centralised institutions, authoritative networks…
09 Apr, 2020
2021 – Huddersfield in the New World
The coronavirus pandemic is making most of us feel quite scared at the moment, and it’s by no means certain that this fear will subside once we emerge from the…
03 Apr, 2020
It’s Bloody Complicated – A Compass Podcast (Episode 2)
These are unprecedented times and we need to rise to the new and enormous challenges we now face. The crisis isn’t just forcing us to think differently, but behave differently. On…