@petermacleod.bsky.social
Principal, MASS LBP | Helping people shape the policies that shape their lives | Citizens’ Assemblies + Democratic Innovation | Co-author, DEMOCRACY’S SECOND ACT: WHY POLITICS NEEDS THE PUBLIC
Congratulations to @petermacleod.bsky.social and Richard Johnson on the release of their excellent new book, Democracy's Second Act: Why Politics Need the Public. A timely and elegant must-read for anyone interested in democratic reform. We just received our copies. Order yours!
13.02.2026 22:05 — 👍 2 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
In @nytopinion.nytimes.com
“Far beyond just saving riders money, free buses deliver a cascade of benefits, from easing traffic to promoting public safety,” Emily Galvin Almanza writes. “And it doesn’t have to be costly — in fact, it can come out just about even.”
From last night’s DSA launch in Ottawa with the terrific @jchianello.bsky.social
Democracyssecondact.org
The Two Solitudes
13.02.2026 10:26 — 👍 25 🔁 2 💬 1 📌 5Hope so! We’re working on it
13.02.2026 10:17 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0“Populism, resentment, authoritarian nostalgia: these are not fringe forces. They flourish wherever people feel ignored, humiliated, or locked out. The answer is not more insulation or control. It’s to build a democratic culture capacious enough to include everyone.” - Democracy’s Second Act
12.02.2026 14:43 — 👍 19 🔁 5 💬 1 📌 0
An excerpt from our new book, Democracy’s Second Act: Why Politics Needs the Public… now in bookstores.
thewalrus.ca/politics-has...
Democracy isn’t broken. It’s stuck.
Democracy’s Second Act explores how a new era of democracy can harness the power of the people—because the future depends on real citizens who have real responsibility.
Read more: bit.ly/4tgmpuX
@petermacleod.bsky.social @richard-tk.bsky.social
#Democracy
France is ditching American tech. When will Canada?
The latest from the Globe's business commentary, by Vass Bednar: www.theglobeandmail.com/business/com...
Great politics should look like a party you want to join
09.02.2026 02:44 — 👍 816 🔁 105 💬 6 📌 5
🔥HOT OFF THE PRESS: Why the energy transition is disruptive, non-linear, hard to predict and often faster than expected.
Our paper in Nature Reviews Clean Technology shows how feedback loops create virtuous and vicious cycles that can accelerate or block change. 🧵
www.nature.com/articles/s44...
What happens after the collapse of political parties?
“Today, the Western party looks more like a street hawker, desperately seeking customers. “
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/07/o...
‘Now We Have a Voice’: Indigenous Architects Redesign Canada www.nytimes.com/2026/02/06/r...
07.02.2026 13:49 — 👍 39 🔁 6 💬 0 📌 0
Epstein has, from beyond the grave, exposed the make-it-up-as-you-go-along nature of the monarchy and the House of Lords www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/politics/con...
07.02.2026 12:30 — 👍 145 🔁 56 💬 14 📌 4
In @nytopinion.nytimes.com
“We must be willing to say that the hedge fund managers have no clothes and their parading about is an unpleasant sight for us all,” Oren Cass writes. “Your daughter has taken a job at Blackstone? My condolences.”
Great to talk to @davidmoscrop.com about our new book and why democracy‘s future can be bright — if governments stop treating people like a risk instead of a resource.
open.substack.com/pub/davidmos...
Bird eye's view of people working together around a table, with notes and coloured paper.
👉 We’re officially more than halfway through the NG Citizens’ Assembly & the journey is continuing.
🗓️ In late Jan, Members met at the National Gallery for Session 3, reconnecting w/the collection, learning from staff & community groups, & beginning to shape principles for the Gallery’s future.
🧵👇
Foreign affairs minister to open consulate in Greenland today nationalnewswatch.com/2026/02/06/f...
06.02.2026 09:48 — 👍 16 🔁 3 💬 0 📌 0
New Brunswick, an east coast Canadian province of about 900,000 people, will no longer use billionaire Elon Musk’s social media platform X for routine government communications, its leader announced
05.02.2026 21:00 — 👍 1231 🔁 361 💬 45 📌 140
Citizens‘' assemblies continue to boom: in 2025, 58 mini-publics were launched or completed in Germany, and planning began for 32 more. To date, there have been a total of over 400 citizens' assemblies in Germany..
www.buergerrat.de/en/news/2025...
#CitizensAssembly
In good company at Munro’s Books, Victoria, BC
05.02.2026 21:25 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
The first — and very generous — review of our new book, Democracy’s Second Act, is out from Hugh Pope.
www.linkedin.com/pulse/carney...
In honour of the FT and Statista declaring Deloitte and PwC the top consultancies for sustainability services, worth re-upping @rosiecollington.bsky.social's and my piece on the rise of climate consulting:
05.02.2026 09:20 — 👍 9 🔁 5 💬 1 📌 1
On 4 February 2026, the Baden-Württemberg state parliament passed an amendment to the law on the protection of non-smokers. The amendment takes into account recommendations made by a Citizens' Forum.
www.buergerrat.de/en/news/non-...
#CitizensAssembly
Brilliant from Marina Hyde as always — just angrier today.
Every word hits the nail on the head with the force of ten sledgehammers.
What a wonderful writer she is.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Our founders, though deeply flawed, understood that democracy requires an informed citizenry and a government accountable to it people. That’s why the press is the only profession protected by the Constitution. It’s also why autocrats and oligarchs seek to control and destroy it.
04.02.2026 20:58 — 👍 9922 🔁 3034 💬 143 📌 126
Abstract This article compares the historical trajectories of democratic innovations across space and time in the UK by analysing the development and impact of collaborative governance, participatory budgeting, referendums, and mini-publics. This is an interesting country for longer-term analysis. First, the UK has been considered an inhospitable environment for democratic innovation. Second, it has experienced asymmetrical decentralisation of legislative and executive powers from national to subnational institutions. Third, these changes have taken place during a period of democratic backsliding. We analyse how these dynamics are interrelated by charting the trajectory of four types of democratic innovations in four different countries of the UK (space) from the 1970s to the present (time). We find that, after years of limited democratic innovation there has been rapid, although geographically asymmetrical, development in recent decades. We argue that the importance of these differences should not be overstated in relation to democratic deepening. We conclude that, to advance democratic innovations in the UK, a constitutional convention is required.
🆕 article: 'Democratic innovations in the UK: Reflections on historical trajectories across space and time' ⏳ 🤔 by Stephen Elstub and myself.
✅ Open Access www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
✅ Synopsis of trajectories of democratic innovations in the last 50 years across the UK ... in 7,000 words 😮💨
“Can we imagine a society where each of us has a say and responsibility in the decisions that affect and shape our daily life? Peter MacLeod and Richard Johnson can. What a vision. What a book.” - Uffe Elbæk.
Pre-order your copy: bit.ly/4tgmpuX
@petermacleod.bsky.social @richard-tk.bsky.social
