We Need to Talk about Climate

does us all an immense service by bringing together in one slim, readable volume, so much that public engagement professionals, civil servants, campaigners and politicians need to know about the most compelling democratic innovation of our times –

Although the title suggests it’s only about Climate Assemblies, his analysis of what’s worked – and what hasn’t - from the 200+ Assemblies that have taken place in Europe and beyond covers the entire spectrum of the genre. He is not among the dewy-eyed enthusiasts who, unrealistically see Assemblies as a way to re-engineer democracies from the ground up. Instead, he helps us learn the lessons of considerable experimentation and rightly recognises that the biggest challenge is to find ways to work with Governments so that their recommendations have a better chance of    implementation. He is brutally honest and admits that “engaging citizens is generally more fun than organising the bureaucratic procedures to follow up an Assembly”. My answer has always been that these recommendations should go to a full public consultation – to strengthen their legitimacy … and THEN to Governments. But Graham Smith’s book already points towards other excellent ways forward, and it’s my vote for the best stocking-filler for 2024