A little thread inspired by @daveainsworth4 and @davidsocialsp pieces on #charities and #socent lack of gov support. 1/

I have to start by declaring that influencing policy and public relations are my profession. So I have been reflecting on a daily basis on what #COVID19 is telling us about our current policy and political environment. 2/

I think we need to start broadly. This is not just about the Conservatives. We have all been caught out by the death of ‘evidence-based policy making’. We can always do better but we do -a lot- of research and evidence in our sector. Enough to make a strong case to gov. 3/

But this evidence is routinely ignored or not read. The lack of understanding amongst civil servants (let alone politicians) is staggering. The truth is, and probably always has been, that evidence is something you use to justify what you already believe. 4/

If you believe something is important, you will use evidence to back that up. But if you don’t, just ramming evidence through doesn’t make any difference. This isn’t a banal point about we are all sick of experts but just that ideology and belief are more openly driving things 5/

This is uncomfortable for a sector that loves to “triangulate”. So often we just try and split the difference between left/right. But let’s be honest we are appealing to neither well. A lot has been written online about the Tories, but we aren’t high up Labour’s agenda either 6/

The solution? We need to start looking at #chariries, #socent or whatever through the prism of prevailing political world views. In short, what is a ‘Conservative’ vision of charities? What is a ‘Labour’ vision of business? Etc. What are these instruments being used for 7/

Once we understand that, we can see alignments and potential policy opportunities. We also start to talk in the right language and create alliances which can be used to shift policy. We will also identify our own weaknesses and how we adapt ourselves to those 8/

Evidence follows from this process. When we know what people are interested in, then we can research accordingly to make sure policies have the right impact. But we need to fight in the political trenches and not stand back waiting for the battles to resolve themselves 9/

Around all this needs to be a recognition that this vital political work is expensive. Particularly if you want to shift views. We spend (I estimate across sector) 10-15x more on evidence (that no one reads because they don’t care) rather than on policy+political engagement. 10/

We need to rebalance from a technocratic approach to a much more poltiical one. We should not be afraid to do so. We do ourselves and the country a disservice in not doing so. In a democracy, the free fight of ideas is one of the most critical aspects of our system. 11/

I’m hopeful that we can do this. If we are prepared to learn the right lessons and not go back to business as usual once this is all over. We are behind the curve right now but we can correct for that. This is not a lost cause. ENDS.