Proper exciting to hear Stef Magdalinski talking about They Work for You on Today in Parliament Friday. MPs of various stripes are pretty pissed off with They Work for You because it exposes them to the kind of performance measurement they’ve been imposing on the rest of the public sector for years. Stef acquited himself perfectly, especially since the TWFY volunteers walk a tightrope. What they’ve built is powerful. Misuse would be easy. They mustn’t come over as anarchists or vandals but, at the same time, they can’t be seen to be too chummy with the legislators.
Emily Thornberry, the MP on the show (and a pretty gentle critic, really) suggested allowing MPs to provide some context for their voting records by adding their legislative priorities to the site. Kind of: “I’m not asking many questions about X or Y because my big priority for this session is Z”. This would be a mistake. It would be far too easy to read MP participation as collusion.
Since the Beeb will overwrite the show in a few days here’s an MP3. It’s also worth signing up for the Today in Parliament podcast.
