Contact me: Celebrity culture comes to local government 26 August 2011 08.00 Is celebrity culture about to engulf local government? The suggestion by Ken Livingstone that Eddie Izzard could be the next Labour candidate for London mayor highlights the political culture shock that could await towns and cities opting for mayors in the referendums next May. Livingstone points out that the public knowing your name and face is far more important than having the backing of a political party. Izzard, who is interested in running, will "probably get elected because everybody knows who he is". Read the full article on the Guardian local government network… The smoking habit gets another kicking 24 August 2011 08.00 Four years after the ban on smoking in public buildings was extended across the whole of the UK, libertarian hackles are being raised again, this time by local government moves to ban it outdoors. The localism bill, soon to reach the end of its parliamentary journey, includes a "power of general competence" allowing councils to act in the interests of their communities, unless that action is prevented by other law. A few councils are examining whether they could use this power to extend the smoking ban to playgrounds, parks, sports venues, and even streets. Read the full article at the British Medical Journal… Councils should be leading the riots debate 19 August 2011 08.00 Local government needs to get a grip on what ministers are planning in the wake of the riots before it is too late. We will soon have populist, trigger-happy police commissioners who will be encouraged to deploy plastic bullets and water cannon. The home secretary, Theresa May, is considering curfew powers. Young people are being imprisoned for first offences of petty theft. And there will soon be national diktats issued on how councils and other parts of the state should deal with problem families and gangs. Read the full article on the Guardian local government network… Local leaders are missing in a bittersweet week 12 August 2011 08.00 It has been a bittersweet week for local government. Widely praised for the speed and dedication with which staff cleared up after each night of rioting, many councils felt they were sweeping away the wreckage of three decades of community work. But this is not a return to the 1980s. This week's trouble in Brixton was started by a group hanging around after the annual Brixton Splash reggae festival, held on the newly rebuilt Windrush Park, next to where the Black Cultural Archive is being developed. This is no urban wasteland stripped of civic pride and culture. Read the full article on the Guardian local government network… National Trust provokes Neill temper tantrum  8 August 2011 16.00 The government seems to have learned nothing from its forced retreat over plans to sell off the forests. Massed ranks of green welly wearers, in the form of 3.7 million National Trust and Campaign to Protect Rural England members, are mobilising to oppose their reform of planning policy... Read the full article... Running the town hall transparency gauntlet 5 August 2011 10.30 The public consultation launched by the Cabinet Office into open data marks another lurch forward in local government transparency. Having the ingenuity and thick skin to navigate the ever more exposed world of local government is fast becoming a core skill for managers and staff... The ever-increasing power of the Freedom of Information Act has combined with new technology and the pressure to cut costs not just to widen the doors further, but blow them off their hinges... Read the full article at the Guardian local government network...