A Manifesto for Relational Public Services: A Call to Action

A MANIFESTO for RELATIONAL public services.

For years, Keir Hardie's address to the Merthyr Tydfil Labour representation association hung on the wall in Glossop Labour club. It may be there still!

Bold yellow, dense text, no branding or 'campaign strategy'. Striking CAPITALISED words that seemed to capture an impassioned speech.

It stayed with me somehow - I like the tone - direct, unoptimised. Trying to hold together honesty and action at the same time.

So I tried one! Just a bit of fun. Not a model or a framework, it’s closer to a letter to people who already know something is off - but can’t quite enunciate it, or have it, but can't say it out loud.

The thing is, that over a century on, the structure of the problem hasn’t really shifted. We still build systems that can’t admit what they know. We still split power from purpose. We still celebrate small pockets of humanity while maintaining the conditions that suffocate them. We’ve just got better at hiding it.

Relational public services aren’t new. In many ways they’re the oldest instinct we have. But every generation seems to rediscover them... and then fail to make them stick.

So this image borrows a bit of Hardie’s stance. Say the thing. Name the tension. Refuse the polite half-truth that keeps both sides comfortable.

What would you write your Keir Hardie address on?
And what would you change in mine

#publicservices #relationalservices #socialjustice #communityaction #systemchange