Good Local Economics

I was talking to a colleague in the pub recently about the language used to describe the testing of new ideas and approaches. This is good territory for some facetious comment about one person’s pilot being another person’s pathfinder (indeed I reacquainted myself with some Strategy Unit work from nearly a decade ago which did indeed contain stories about ministers being asked to choose which term they preferred regardless of what was actually happening).

Resilient communities have resilient, co-produced institutions at their heart, argues Julian Dobson.

‘Bouncebackability’ is a favourite term of the former Northern Ireland footballer Iain Dowie. Given that one of his main claims to fame is the headed own-goal that put West Ham out of the League Cup on a miserable night in Stockport in 1996, he probably knows what he’s talking about.