Kittens Are Evil II Little Heresies in Public Policy

The ‘Little Heresies’ seminars provide an important public platform to debate the future of public services. This is the second published collection of talks given at those seminars. Both books takes their title from the first seminar, Kittens are Evil: it is still widely believed that private sector management methods and policies work well in the public sector. To suggest that they create perverse incentives and lasting damage to the social fabric is still a heresy. In this second volume (a companion to Kittens Are Evil), nine heretics, all leading thinkers and practitioners in their professional fields, explain the disastrous effects of wrong thinking and ineffective practice in areas like: standardisation, professionalisation in public services, measurement in public services, so-called evidence-based policy-making, money creation, philanthropy, and the third/charitable sector. Each heretic offers an alternative way of thinking about and developing policies. Government would do well to listen to these experts in designing practices for the future.

Toby Lowe is Senior Lecturer in Public Leadership and Management at Newcastle Business School, Northumbria University. His aim is to help improve the funding, commissioning and performance management of social interventions across the public, private and voluntary sectors. Jan Myers is Associate Professor in the Newcastle Business School at Northumbria University. Her research covers organisational behaviour and HR, and leadership, individual and organisational development. Charlotte is a visiting fellow at Newcastle Business School, Northumbria University. She edited 'Delivering Public Services that Work: Volume 2' and Kittens Are Evil and has written for many blogs and other publications on public services. Rob Wilson is professor at Newcastle Business School, Northumbria University with research interests in measurement and performance in public management, co-creation and collaboration of services, data and information sharing in public services and public service reform.