cadence comments about research

10 Oct 2011

All in it together?

I do not think the 'all in it together' phrase was used much at the Conservative conference last week. The response that lots of our clients have is 'yes, and some of us more than other' ... more

28 Sep 2011

What we do ... (and why)

We are often asked 'what is it that you do'? An answer along the lines of public policy research and strategy projects can cause a number of reactions. Sometimes it results in a glazed look and no further questions or more often than not the question 'what is that you do'? is repeated. The best way of answering is often to talk about real projects we are involved in and usually one of the areas we mention will interest our inquisitor. Dealing with cuts, commissioning, museums (yes museums), homelessness ... more

3 Sep 2010

The end of the summer

The schools are going back and the political resignations have begun. Summer must nearly be over. England did not win the World Cup, Murray did not win Wimbledon and cricket has just not been cricket. While trying to relax over the summer friends keep asking if we are 'alright'. Almost as as if we might be ill. What they mean is how are we faring in the face of a recession, change in government and spending cuts. We answer that we are fine, what else could we say? We have current projects and are bidding for new ones and developing ideas for other bits of work ... more

1 Sep 2009

Hoodie, goodie, buddy filming

Cadence's Joseph Rowntree Foundation funded Hoodie, goodie, buddy project included an innovative strand looking at perceptions of young people's behaviour depending on travel mode. If three kids in hoodies are messing about on a bench and someone drives past do they suspect anti-social behaviour ... more

9 Jul 2009

Hoodie, goodie, buddy and benches

Cadence's Hoodie, goodie, project, funded by JRF, stemmed from an event about walking and cycling research. We found ourselves making the point that modal shift (cars to bikes and foot) may well have public health and environmental advantages, but there may be bigger less obvious community benefits. Could neighbourhoods with more street activity like walking and cyling (and children's play, for example) be places where young people hanging around on park benches is seen as a good thing, rather than a threat ... more

17 Mar 2009

Fear of youth - Hoodie, goodie, buddy

During Cadence's work on youth provision, play and youth justice sensible people have often reminded us that youth have been seen as a problem throughout history. They often refer to newspaper articles from 100 years ago. Today psychologist and TV presenter Tanya Byron trumps them all with a reference to youth problems in Egypt 6,000 years ago ... more

20 Jan 2009

Abandoned communites, education and Obama

Walking past boarded-up houses and litter on the way to school can have a devastating effect on children's behaviour and exam results says a report featured in The Guardian today. Is this the sort of thing that soon to be President Obama understands? ... more

9 Jan 2009

Aspirations and attainment in deprived communities

A recent project between the Social Exclusion Task Force, DCSF and CLG says 'Young people in certain types of neighbourhood are less likely to develop high aspirations. These neighbourhoods tend to have high levels of deprivation ... more

5 Jan 2009

Depression among the young at alarming level?

On the first day of the year when work is unavoidable, for those people still lucky enough to have a job, a headline like the one above, is well ... depressing. On the other hand if you read the article things are not so clear cut ... more

17 Dec 2008

Focus on customer needs instead of targets

'Many of today's targets fail because they are set by people remote from what customers want' says a Jeremy Cox of Vanguard Consulting in an article in the Guardian's Society section today. He also suggests that there is no correlation between the services that councils provide and their ratings. Cadence Works' research work on innovation in public services would tend to support this view ... more