Slumber Breaks

OK, so finally I have my laptop open in bed, it's 1.25am and an entry in the blog after a lull in my posting. Several events have conspired to my absence from my own little corner of cyberspace. Obviously, the outcome of the election across the pond was the big thing. On the Thursday afterwards, I went down to the LSE for a public debate on US foreign policy in the 2nd term. Robin Cook was there, John Kampfner as well. The event was populated by US ex-pats, and worried internationalists (like me!) and the mood was grim. I couldn't bring myself to write a post on the outcome of the US elections. I also started work at the Institute a couple of weeks ago, and things have been busy from the off.

All in all, I am enjoying working at the Institute for Citizenship. The team is small, and I like the flexibility of the hours - and the dress code: nice to be able to dress down when I don't have any meetings. At the moment, I am "programme managing" a project to set up a parliamentary commission. It's totally different to anything I've ever done before, and I think I am bringing my own inimitable style to it. Tonight, I put the finishing touches to a 30-slide PowerPoint deck, in which I expressed my floating passions in abstract diagrammatic constructs.

We already have a rival commission that's been launched this week. They have a flash website, a few celebrity names and a populist feel to them - theirs is not parliamentary, and markets itself on being "not the usual band of civil servants and ex-MPs". I think their omission of the parliamentarians is a mistake - they're preaching engagement without any attempt to reinforce the core democratic power in the land. Style, yes they have it - it remains to see if the substance will be there. They seem to be promising a lot, but I think there are flaws in their approach. For one thing, I think they are going to launch with a bang, then lose momentum. I am hopeful, however, that ours will distinguish itself through a strategy of expansive resonance!