London | Highbury and Islington

News on the station forecourt work at Highbury and Islington, the planned removal of the 'temporary' Post Office building, and the less welcome eviction of some of the station's other traders.

www.larpnet.com/highburyandislington

Economics | Public sector reform | Flexible staff resourcing in central government

The Multi-tasking Methodology
Civil Service World, 10 September 2009

Defra has taken a leap into the unknown and abandoned the directorate structure that characterises Whitehall. The impetus for this rethink, says performance programme director Richard Price (also Defra’s chief economist), was the struggle to deliver the “rising expectations of ministers, the public and customers” in the face of a “steadily reducing headcount” - Gershon’s efficiency review recommended the loss of 2,400 staff). Ruth Keeling finds out about flexible staff resourcing – and its potential to cull consultants and short-term contracts.

See: www.larpnet.com/economics/publicsectorreform
and: http://www.civilservicenetwork.com/hubs/hr/hr-features-article/newsarticle/the-multi-tasking-methodology/

Economics | Environment | Economics of sustainable development report published

The GES Review of the Economics of Sustainable Development was published this week. See our environment page in economics for details. The report takes a skeptical view of the current debate on sustainability, and finds a more fruitful approach in identifying the information decision-makers need on the social and environmental impacts of potential policies and investment projects.

See: www.larpnet.com/economics/environment

Economics | Environment | Review of sustainable development

Sustainable development: what does it mean, how can it affect decision-making, and can economics help?

In this paper, Richard Price examines the roots of sustainable development, and questions the usefulness of the many definitions and uses of the concept that have sprung up since the 1970s. He finds that the concept is often unhelpful in addressing policy questions, and that it is undermined by a lot of well-meaning but flawed thinking. He explores how the concept might be tightened up to give a useful guide to the choices faced when using environmental assets to deliver policy objectives. The paper sets the context for his review of the economics of sustainable development for the UK's Government Economic Service.

See: www.larpnet.com/economics/environment

Arts | Design | Classics of modern design

The first page in our Design section - inspired by Jonathan Glancy's series in The Guardian. We pick one of our favourites from Jonathan's long backlist - the Class 47 diesel locomotive.

See: http://www.larpnet.com/design/classics

Economics | Environment | Making the right choices for our future: An economic framework for designing policies to reduce carbon emissions

Defra and DECC have published (March 2009) a joint document setting out economic principles for use in selecting and designing policies to reduce the emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gasses. It will be especially useful to policy makers and those with and interest in the UK Government’s economic approach to tackling climate change.

“Making the right choices for our future” is a timely statement of principles as the Government considers the advice of the Committee on Climate Change on the level of the budgets and how they might be met. It helps policymakers to make sure that the our approach to tackling climate change goes hand in hand with a strong economic recovery in the UK, and with sustained, low-carbon growth in the coming decades.

See: www.larpnet.com/economics/environment