I’m a long time reader of Info Processing and DC’s blog/Substack but I still appreciated you eliciting more data on how the pre-fallout no.10 ran.
Seen some YouTube comments about you speaking too much, but I actually think you did a good job of consolidating points and mapping them onto policymaking in general—which I gather is the theme and maybe what you got your grant for? Either way, I had no qualms with it.
I hope you write lots about the extent to which you think topics of these conversations generalise to NZ, though I can appreciate that’s not an especially large audience. e.g., to what extent do you think DC’s reckons have external validity for us, even structurally speaking (that is, in terms of PM and Ministerial agency vs. the PSC)?
In a crowded field of long-form podcasts, I think you’re doing something new and interesting and you’ve gotten very good very quickly. Thanks, and keep it up!
BTW - I used the RSS feed, but I’ve rated on Spotify and Apple. Hope you get the cut-through you deserve.
I'd been reflecting on various successful podcasts prior to recording these, and knew I wanted to lean more towards a conversation that could hopefully lead to deeper and more interesting places than a standard question and response interview, as well as helping make the ideas expressed more accessible. Definitely didn't always get the balance right though, especially in the earlier episodes. Lots to learn, and some of the mistakes unfortunately only became obvious after I was back in NZ and had a chance to review the footage.
I really enjoyed the whole process, from research to filming to post-production. A few YT comments aside, people have actually been extraordinary encouraging, especially in DMs. People have obviously found the episodes interesting, and perhaps some good will come of it as a result. That said, it's obviously pretty niche content, and (as I get into a little in the commentary surrounding the Anish episode) it's currently at the level of an unsustainably expensive hobby. I've applied for another grant to help produce a second season, and we'll see how that goes.
To your question about the applicability of DC's theories to NZ, I've had the chance to speak to some of the misfits as well, and there are certainly some clear takeaways. The Westminister system we share obviously results in many similar dynamics, and you'll have picked up on one of the themes of these interviews about institutional malaise, procurement problems, and so on.
That being said, I'm far more optimistic about NZ's ability to navigate a course through all this than I am about the UK. Our scale, and far less fractured media environment (and society, despite the rumblings of various extremists) makes for much easier consensus building around key areas of necessary reform. We've seen great results with planning reform over successive governments, for example, and rents falling relative to incomes for almost a decade now. The recent announcements about a cross-party infrastructure pipeline also bode well. Our ability to be nimble, when we want to be, and spin up e.g. new regulatory regimes for space launches in a matter of months, is fairly unique across the West. Public sector performance obviously needs to be looked at, especially in the light of AI, but I'm less convinced that things are fundamentally broken in the same way that they are in the UK.
Not to say we can afford to be complacent by any means. We've a great many problems, many of which we're not taking seriously, assuming we're paying any attention at all. Politics, and the public sector more generally, tends to be very parochial. That's part of what I'm hoping to help change with these talks, and the project of this blog more generally.
Is there an RSS feed? Can you otherwize get your podcast to appear on Podurama, my podcast player of choice? I enjoy the show and want to add it to my lineup.
Thanks. I'm not currently set up with RSS. There are only two episodes remaining in this season, and I'm reluctant to set up another recurring charge at this stage given how expensive this has all been already.
If it ends up becoming a more regular thing, I'll definitely set one up for folks like yourself.
I’m a long time reader of Info Processing and DC’s blog/Substack but I still appreciated you eliciting more data on how the pre-fallout no.10 ran.
Seen some YouTube comments about you speaking too much, but I actually think you did a good job of consolidating points and mapping them onto policymaking in general—which I gather is the theme and maybe what you got your grant for? Either way, I had no qualms with it.
I hope you write lots about the extent to which you think topics of these conversations generalise to NZ, though I can appreciate that’s not an especially large audience. e.g., to what extent do you think DC’s reckons have external validity for us, even structurally speaking (that is, in terms of PM and Ministerial agency vs. the PSC)?
In a crowded field of long-form podcasts, I think you’re doing something new and interesting and you’ve gotten very good very quickly. Thanks, and keep it up!
BTW - I used the RSS feed, but I’ve rated on Spotify and Apple. Hope you get the cut-through you deserve.
Thanks. What an encouraging set of words.
I'd been reflecting on various successful podcasts prior to recording these, and knew I wanted to lean more towards a conversation that could hopefully lead to deeper and more interesting places than a standard question and response interview, as well as helping make the ideas expressed more accessible. Definitely didn't always get the balance right though, especially in the earlier episodes. Lots to learn, and some of the mistakes unfortunately only became obvious after I was back in NZ and had a chance to review the footage.
I really enjoyed the whole process, from research to filming to post-production. A few YT comments aside, people have actually been extraordinary encouraging, especially in DMs. People have obviously found the episodes interesting, and perhaps some good will come of it as a result. That said, it's obviously pretty niche content, and (as I get into a little in the commentary surrounding the Anish episode) it's currently at the level of an unsustainably expensive hobby. I've applied for another grant to help produce a second season, and we'll see how that goes.
To your question about the applicability of DC's theories to NZ, I've had the chance to speak to some of the misfits as well, and there are certainly some clear takeaways. The Westminister system we share obviously results in many similar dynamics, and you'll have picked up on one of the themes of these interviews about institutional malaise, procurement problems, and so on.
That being said, I'm far more optimistic about NZ's ability to navigate a course through all this than I am about the UK. Our scale, and far less fractured media environment (and society, despite the rumblings of various extremists) makes for much easier consensus building around key areas of necessary reform. We've seen great results with planning reform over successive governments, for example, and rents falling relative to incomes for almost a decade now. The recent announcements about a cross-party infrastructure pipeline also bode well. Our ability to be nimble, when we want to be, and spin up e.g. new regulatory regimes for space launches in a matter of months, is fairly unique across the West. Public sector performance obviously needs to be looked at, especially in the light of AI, but I'm less convinced that things are fundamentally broken in the same way that they are in the UK.
Not to say we can afford to be complacent by any means. We've a great many problems, many of which we're not taking seriously, assuming we're paying any attention at all. Politics, and the public sector more generally, tends to be very parochial. That's part of what I'm hoping to help change with these talks, and the project of this blog more generally.
Is there an RSS feed? Can you otherwize get your podcast to appear on Podurama, my podcast player of choice? I enjoy the show and want to add it to my lineup.
Ok I have been bullied into this by a number of people now.
Here is the RSS link:
https://media.rss.com/public-service-podcast/feed.xml
Should show up in the various podcasting directories over the next 24hours apparently.
Awesome. Thank you. Appears in Podurama and added 😎.
Also, I, uh, hope it isn't too expensive.
$16/month, not too bad.
Thanks. I'm not currently set up with RSS. There are only two episodes remaining in this season, and I'm reluctant to set up another recurring charge at this stage given how expensive this has all been already.
If it ends up becoming a more regular thing, I'll definitely set one up for folks like yourself.