Political Communication

3 checklists to help you write better public policy writing

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If you want to learn to write public policy well, or improve your existing public policy writing, get Catherine F. Smith’s ‘Writing Public Policy’.   The author shows you how to: Write clear public policy Provides good written examples Checklists to help you prepare policy memoranda, position papers, briefings Helpful insights     The  11 … Read more

The simple art of poor public policy writing

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A lot of public policy writing is just plain bad writing. When I worked for a British Labour MEP in 1997 I found that I was dropping the position papers of a well-known trade association directly into the waste paper bin. I did not throw them away out of political spite. I just could not understand what … Read more

Brussels Behind Closed Doors

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What can a 20 year documentary teach you about making laws In 1997, I had the honour to work for British Labour MEP, Anita Pollack.   Anita gave me the chance to help pass my first piece of EU environmental legislation.  Anita helped steer through a ground-breaking piece of air quality legislation for the then EU … Read more

How a NGO can win a campaign in Brussels

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I have just re-watched a Channel 4 fly on the wall documentary, “Brussels behind closed doors”. It is a documentary about how an EU directive on air quality was adopted. I know about this is obscure documentary because I worked for the Rapporteur, Anita Pollack MEP, on the adoption of this legislation. I learned a … Read more