Dr Dave McKenna
drdavemckenna.bsky.social
Dr Dave McKenna
@drdavemckenna.bsky.social
Scrutiny geek. Local government fan. Freelance public servant. Occasional academic. 🕺💃
November 4, 2025 at 3:32 PM
A movie you've seen more than 7 times with a gif.
November 1, 2025 at 1:47 PM
Reposted by Dr Dave McKenna
Great project. Lovely that this article acknowledges the work in this space already done by @mapio.cymru and others
People submit Welsh placenames to project to protect linguistic heritage
People submit Welsh placenames to project to protect linguistic heritage
Entries include Welsh language names for fields and hills in move to ensure preservation of stories and legends Dozens of placenames in Welsh, some hinting at ancient legends, others telling rich stories of how people used to live, have been submitted to a project designed to make sure they are preserved. The Welsh government appealed for people to add historical names that may be missing from online maps so they could be saved for future generations. Within two weeks, about 200 submissions were received, including local Welsh language names for fields, hills and areas. Dôl y Tylwyth Teg (Fairy Folk Meadow/Fairies’ Meadow) in Aberfan, south Wales. The person who sent the suggestion said the field was known by the Welsh name by people who spoke Cymraeg, the Welsh language. A nearby school that teaches through Welsh refers to the field by this name and uses it for events. Caeau Maelorddin (Fields of Maelor City) near Aberystwyth, west Wales, are a collection of fields near Tanybwlch beach. The contributor said his late grandfather recalled many people referring to a group of now individually named fields as Caeau Maelorddin. They were close to Pen Dinas, the hill where the giant Maelor Gawr was said to live. Ffynnon Glog (Rock Well) near Rhyd, in Gwynedd, north Wales, is a hidden well in a roadside bank, according to the contributor. The water in the well was once used as a remedy for ailments and takes its name from Y Glog, a prominent rocky outcrop nearby. Continue reading...
www.theguardian.com
October 19, 2025 at 1:29 PM
Reposted by Dr Dave McKenna
I've seen a couple of polls recently showing that public sector workers - or as Matt Goodwin has it, the new elite - have very different social attitudes to the rest of us. To which I say meh. Of course they do, and we should be very glad of it.
October 17, 2025 at 2:27 PM
I’m at the National Tenant Scrutiny Conference. @louisemholt.bsky.social is doing the intro 💃🕺

#tpasconf25
October 7, 2025 at 8:52 AM
I've discovered a new non-extreme, slow-sport that involves hunting down Ordnance Survey Benchmarks. It's like a laid back Pokémon Go I guess.

I case you don't know, OSBs are marks or plates placed on buildings, walls etc to show the elevation above sea level.

They often look like this...
September 29, 2025 at 12:57 PM
Hello, today I'm heading to Belfast for the UKAPA conference tomorrow - all things public administration with a nice academic / practitioner mix. Do say hello if you are going.

www.ukapa.org.uk/conference/u...

#ukapa25

@ukapa-1918.bsky.social
UKAPA 2025 Conference
UKAPA annual conference Ulster University~ Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK Thursday 11 – Friday 12 September 2025 (& Doctoral Conference, Wednesday 10 September 2025)
www.ukapa.org.uk
September 10, 2025 at 8:28 AM
Reposted by Dr Dave McKenna
"Questions at council" is something which has come up a few times recently in bits of work we've done for councils in England. Some thoughts... (1/)
Very disappointing to see that the County Council is planning to abolish the right of members of the public to ask a follow-up question once they have had an initial response to a question at a council meeting. cambridgeshire.cmis.uk.com/ccc_live/Mee... (item 3)
September 4, 2025 at 10:42 AM
Reposted by Dr Dave McKenna
Check out our featured case study of transition from committee to cabinet governance model, with a bountiful basket of top tips from #BrightonHoveCouncil. Essential reading for others looking to do this as it's packed with learning. #GovernanceChange #LocalGovScrutiny #ResidentFocused
July 21, 2025 at 12:06 PM
Reposted by Dr Dave McKenna
🤔 What's the point of democratic innovation? Can it address crurrent crises and build democracies for the future?
💡In this new article @adrianbua.bsky.social and I argue that the field needs to strengthen its change-making orientation and capacity. Open access 👉🏼 journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
Democratic innovation for change: A participatory corrective to deliberative hegemony - Oliver Escobar, Adrian Bua, 2025
The world faces social, political, economic, and ecological crises, and there is doubt that democratic governance can cope. Democracies rely on a narrow set of ...
journals.sagepub.com
July 17, 2025 at 1:30 PM
Reposted by Dr Dave McKenna
“There is an emerging opportunity for councils to reimagine how democracy can be done better”.

Our Principal Practice Lead Liin Nur explains our ambitions for Waves – the biggest trial of digital democracy in the UK – and the solid foundations that the programme is built upon.
A digital approach to reimagining democracy    - New Local
Last month, New Local announced its partnership with Demos on Waves – the largest trial of digital democracy in Britain to date. The Waves project aims to create a digital democratic process that can…
buff.ly
July 16, 2025 at 10:03 AM
Reposted by Dr Dave McKenna
Looking forward to day 3 of #LGAConf25 - pop along to stand A24 to chat about our latest research, last chance entry to the levy-funded Senior Leader programme, and our policy proposals on citizen engagement. And pick up a 21C councillor coaster!
July 3, 2025 at 5:24 AM
Do love a train thread 🚂
Morning! 🚂 Train nerds assemble- today I'm going from Berlin home to Leeds all by train, all in one day!

First train of the day, the 08:17 to Köln. I've only got 23 minutes to make my connection in Köln to Brussels so wish me luck! 🍀

Train is moving, time to get some coffee ☕️
June 26, 2025 at 4:19 PM
Reposted by Dr Dave McKenna
Here's my weekly roundup of nonprofit data jobs. Subscribers received this yesterday buttondown.com/likeaword/ar...
Nonprofit data jobs 2025-06-13
Vacancies at Cancer Research, Shelter, Battersea Dogs and Cats Home and Good Law Project amongst many others.
buttondown.com
June 16, 2025 at 8:17 AM
Reposted by Dr Dave McKenna
Fancy working with me? Want to do messy, community-led research with communities in Clackmannanshire? Then do I have the job for you!
www.stir.ac.uk/about/work-a...
Vacancy details | About | University of Stirling
Job vacancy at the University of Stirling.
www.stir.ac.uk
June 10, 2025 at 4:17 PM
Reposted by Dr Dave McKenna
We want nominations for councillors who have made such a difference to #localgov that they are Lifetime Legends 🌟 Nominate your choice now for the 2025 Cllr Awards - it's super easy to do #CllrAwards lgiu.org/events/cllr-awards/...
June 4, 2025 at 12:18 PM
Reposted by Dr Dave McKenna
Great to hear from the fantastic @joe-mitchell.com at the @publicinterestnews.org.uk launch of their 2025 Survey of independent news providers 🗞️🗞️

2024 was a big year for democracy and great to hear that the public interest news sector felt they had a big social impact!
June 4, 2025 at 11:13 AM
Reposted by Dr Dave McKenna
councils should have their headquarters buildings in town centres, not in business parks miles from the nearest railway station - this is not me making a sociopolitical point but practical annoyance as someone who can't drive and who has to visit council HQs a lot
June 4, 2025 at 9:34 AM
Reposted by Dr Dave McKenna
Ian Thomas kicks off #StrongerThings, pointing out that the phrase "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure" was coined by Benjamin Franklin in *1736*. So we've known it for a while...
June 3, 2025 at 8:30 AM
By the way, is it 'AI' or 'A.I.'?

I mean, A.I. seems clunky, but AI is a three toed sloth*

*very hand towards the end of a game of scrabble
May 22, 2025 at 2:55 PM
Reposted by Dr Dave McKenna
Our deputy chief exec @se13ed.bsky.social says it's time to rethink governance and scrutiny for mayoral authorities, given their increasing power - and because of how they'll use that power:
Ed Hammond: Rethinking combined authority scrutiny
The convening power of mayors means we need to rethink governance and scrutiny in their areas, write...
www.lgcplus.com
May 20, 2025 at 10:24 AM
Reposted by Dr Dave McKenna
I was delighted to be able to able to give evidence in Parliament today to the Science, Innovation and Technology Committee's inquiry on the Digital centre of government.

I hope I represented #localgov #digital well. You can watch and make your own mind up here: parliamentlive.tv/event/index/...
May 13, 2025 at 4:13 PM
Here is a something I wrote about different approaches to in-person and virtual scrutiny committee meetings. #niche

www.linkedin.com/posts/mckenn...
On the topic of in-person vs virtual committee meetings, here are the… | Dave Mckenna
On the topic of in-person vs virtual committee meetings, here are the views of four scrutiny chairs. Who do you think is correct? Councillor Ali - ‘In-person only’ “In-person is so much better for d...
www.linkedin.com
May 13, 2025 at 1:41 PM
I enjoyed Conclave. Not least because the plot revolves around a voting system.
May 5, 2025 at 9:17 AM