Public Service Intelligence, the market intelligence firm where I’m a director, has just published a new report on city devolution. Devo-City: a short guide to Britain’s devolving city regions in words and data costs £10, and as well as providing the background has data on 17 UK regions that already have city devolution, look likely to ask for it, or could benefit from it.
Let us tell you what Devo-Manc is; which councils would be in an M4 City Region; and discover the 16 Lost Cities of Devolution. More information here. And, if you sign up for Council News Monitor, you can have a copy of Devo-City for free.
Elsewhere, I have used data from Public Service Intelligence in an article for Guardian Public Leaders Network on social media use in the public sector. One highlight: 96% of local authorities (counties, unitaries and districts) have a corporate Twitter account. The 10 that appear not to tweet are all in Northern Ireland, where all 26 councils are being abolished next spring in favour of 11 new ones. So they have an excuse.
Finally, one of those articles that makes journalism fun; a few weeks ago, in slightly nicer weather, I visited Goonhilly Earth Station on Cornwall’s Lizard peninsula for The Register. It is currently undergoing renovation, but the visitor centre will hopefully open to the public again in either 2015 or 2016. In the meantime, let me be your guide to how Arthur (above) and Co are turning their attentions from telecommunications to outer space.