The Practical Democracy Podcast.
A podcast about practical change, with guests from public bodies and civil society.
Episode 2: #NotWestminster Live Special Part 1
Featuring: Carl Whistlecraft from Kirklees Council, Kate Grigg from Centre for Public Scrutiny, Joe Mitchell from Democracy Club
Carl Whistlecraft from Kirklees Council, Kate Grigg from Centre for Public Scrutiny and Joe Mitchell from Democracy Club speak to Delib’s Ben Fowkes when attending #NotWestminster 2020.
How can we make democracy work better? What are some practical improvements that we can put into place? These are questions that the Practical Democracy Podcast hopes to answer.
Last month, Delib director Ben Fowkes braved Storm Dennis and travelled up to Huddersfield to attend Notwestminster 2020. (Remember when catastrophic storms and flooding were the only reasons we couldn’t go outside? ‘Twas a simpler time.)
For those not in the know, Notwestminster is an event that brings people together to create and share new ideas for local democracy. The event ‘aims to turn discussions around local democracy and digital into some practical tools and techniques that we can all use to make democracy work better for us’.
While he was there, Ben managed to get interviews with some of the attendees, and thus the second episode of our democracy podcast was born.
More episodes from The Practical Democracy Podcast
Episode 2 transcript
See below for timings and an overview of what each contributor talked about. You can listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or via the embed at the bottom of this page.
0.42 Carl Whistlecraft, Head of Democracy at Kirklees Council and member of the Kirklees Democracy Commission
Carl talks about the Commission’s work and engagement based on places: that is; that what’s more important than Kirklees as a place or council catchment is the individual localities within and their identities, and how having conversations with this patchwork of individual communities informs Kirklees’ policy and budget decisions.
10.50: Kate Grigg, Research Officer at the Centre for Public Scrutiny (CFPS)
Kate discusses the role of the CFPS and the way they work with councils across the UK. She also answers some questions regarding scrutiny itself, shares some thoughts about citizens’ assemblies and what the perfect local authority would look like in terms of governance and accountability.
32.30 Joe Mitchell, from Democracy Club
What’s it like to have a job that, by rights, shouldn’t exist? Democracy Club’s work involves collating information, particularly around elections, that *should* be easy to find – but isn’t. They answer questions like ‘Where do I vote?’ and ‘Who can I vote for?’ Joe discusses the processes and frustrations around Democracy Club’s work – and the importance of machine-readable data.
This is the first part of a podcast special that Ben Fowkes recorded while at Notwestminster 2020 last month.
Continue listening with #NotWestminster Special Part 2.
