Contact me: National dreams stymied by local realities 30 September 2011 08.00 There is a touching naivety about national politicians. As they write their speeches, flesh out their "vision", they begin to believe they can reorder a complex world with simple solutions. In contrast, local politicians and officers see complexity. They understand the rough edges of policy, the unintended consequences. This reality gap between the national and the local was evident in Liverpool this week as Labour began to develop its local government policies. Read the full article on the Guardian local government network… The headache of taking over public health 23 September 2011 08.00 As the health reforms near the end of their parliamentary journey, many councils have yet to get to grips with their imminent responsibility for public health. The tasks involved are wide-ranging and touch on every aspect of a council's work – housing, transport, leisure, disadvantaged families, local businesses, infants and children, community safety, the elderly and much more besides. Read the full article on the Guardian local government network… Trying to figure out the funding side of localism 16 September 2011 08.00 As MPs make a brief return to parliament before dispersing to the annual drinking marathons that are the party conferences, the Commons' public accounts committee has been passing the time unpicking the impact of the government's localism policies on how money is spent, and who is held to account for it. The Labour chair – big-hitting former Islington council leader Margaret Hodge – made her feelings clear on how the Department for Communities and Local Government distributes its cash to councils: "Nobody can really understand anything that comes out of DCLG in terms of rationality." Read the full article on the Guardian local government network… Localism, what localism? 9 September 2011 08.00 The government is developing a disturbing habit of making a lot of noise about granting councils new freedoms, which never materialise. This has happened twice in the last few weeks. First there was the announcement by Nick Clegg at the Local Government Association conference that two councils would be used as a test bed for pooling all the public service funding in their area, assessing the impact on service delivery, particularly for the most chaotic families. Read the full article on the Guardian local government network… Planning reform means time to start digging 2 September 2011 08.00 Local government is currently embroiled in solving two of the economy's biggest problems - achieving growth and building more houses. Common to both is the planning system. The government regards slashing regulations in order to make it easier and quicker to build homes, factories and offices as crucial to getting the economy moving and addressing the housing shortage. Ministers slave over media microphones, explaining how the government is condensing over a thousand pages of planning rules into barely 50. Read the full article on the Guardian local government network…