Involve also has much to share on the leadership transition, and we will be posting about this later today. For now - just from me, a huge and heartfelt thanks to the Involve team & the Board of Trustees, and we will share more in due course.
It's been a privilege to lead this special organisation. I have learned more than I ever could express. Having said that, I'll be marshalling my thoughts, and sharing reflections and learning over the coming days.
📰 👉 Personal news - I'm stepping down from my role as Involve CEO. Family issues mean I need to take a break - so am leaving quite quickly, end this week. Yikes!
Central to the #democratic value of #minipublics is public engagement. Yet, how to generate this engagement in practice remains underexplored.
🔔ICYMI: The latest from @scastell.bsky.social & Stephen Elstub
www.publicdeliberation.net/mini-publics...
This is why I spent my early life in qualitative rather than quantitative methods. I've never answered a closed question thinking anything other than "but this isn't what I really want to tell you".
www.express.co.uk/news/politic...
Citizen's Assemblies can't be "stuffed with like-minded eco-zealots" otherwise they aren't Citizen's Assemblies. & even if 100 people all want change and recommend it in an Assembly, the power and accountability to decide remains with the elected representatives.
And share this widely please!
Involve is recruiting for a new Chair and new Trustees 👇.
As you start your break - are you thinking about what you might contribute, to safeguard and improve our democracy at this critical time?
Consider stewarding an ambitious organisation, that holds remedies for our democratic ills.
We are at your disposal to help engage people in a fair and transparent way.
The actual quality of the music as well, though - that's qualitynesia. Algorithms famously don't like key changes or songs that travel a long way to a different tone or mood, or songs with different types of production within them. So key changes and musical innovations in pop music are dying.
The House of Commons Library is a national treasure, and this looks like a really valuable primer, by David Torrance, on how laws are made, where powers are exercised, and what we need to know if we want to understand how (and by whom) we're governed.
commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-bri...
The broader public being aware of and engaged with the work of deliberative mini-publics is central to their democratic value.
In this conversation, @scastell.bsky.social and @stephene.bsky.social discuss why public engagement is so important - and so challenging.
#CitizensAssembly
Aim is to take complex questions to a space where there is a fuller debate. Assisted dying cuts across political spectrum so falls beyond party politics. Proposal is not for CA to take decisions but to inform debate in open, democratic way. We use other devices for comparable ends -judicial review.
Assisted dying is exactly the sort of morally and ethically complex issue which is fruitfully explored through a citizens assembly. It takes the issue away from Politicians and places deliberation in hands of people charged to consider it over time with no distraction. We need to use this approach.
That is a legitimate concern. In practice, there are checks in the design. For example, scrutiny: advisory groups scrutinise the materials & processes to ensure comprehensive. And transparency: all info, the framing it is given, & facilitation guides are publicly available so bias can be spotted.
...Revealing the public's true judgement, by creating a robust balanced deliberation among diverse people. Giving MPs confidence and insight, to inform their votes. The process itself builds back trust.
Great to see Rafael putting forward the important role of public deliberation in complex moral and social choices, & to chat with him about it in advance. There's still time for a Citizens' Assembly on Assisted Dying...