Lancing Farrell

117 – ‘Captain Council’. A local government superhero, posted on June 15, 2015

Local Government Utopia is 10 years old.

Yes! Our birthday was in January this year. We have been too busy writing to reflect on what 10 years of commentary on local government might contain. I have looked at the very first post and what we set out to do. I think we have been true to our aim.

See what you think…

The blogging has gone on for more than the year initially proposed. This seems to be common for bloggers. It can be hard to stop. Our stories have been drawn mainly from Victoria but we have looked overseas from time to time. The viewpoint has remained firmly that of middle management – the people in the engine room of every council. Some posts have been critical, but along with the criticism there have been suggestions on how to improve.

Success

The purpose of the blog is to influence better practices and measuring success is difficult. Popularity can be an indicator, and in July 2023 we hit 100,000 views from 57,000 readers in 187 countries. Today there have been over 120,000 views. This is just over 30 views every day since we began posting.

Occasionally, I read back over sets of posts on the same topic. It is interesting how your thinking changes over a decade. When you are on the public record, that change in thinking is documented for the world to see. Some of the changes in thinking evident in Local Government Utopia posts are noteworthy in the changing world of councils.

Retrospective

Over the next 6 months there will be a series of retrospective posts on key themes that have emerged in 10 years of thinking and writing about local government. These posts will track the changes in thinking and attempt to bring the threads together with some helpful insights and suggestions for improvement.

If you have a topic of interest that we should consider, please add a comment to this post and let us know what it is and why you think it is noteworthy.

LF