Prime ministers often want to leave their mark on Whitehall, but there are good reasons to rage against machinery of government changes

Last week’s leak gives some insights on trade talks, but the government needs to be more open to get the best results

The argument for government to use business cases is they force a structured conversation about spending, says Andrew Greenway. This is a good idea, but where government puts its money is based on belief as well as analysis

When governments push the boundaries of democratic legitimacy, keeping calm and carrying on is not the only option for civil servants, says Stefan Czerniawski

Next month’s election is an opportunity to fix the nation’s broken politics, but politicians must rise to the challenge by remembering the reasons they chose this job in the first place 

Pre-election talks with shadow ministers pose challenges for permanent secretaries – but are also an opportunity to meet ambitious manifesto commitments with an early dose of realism, says IfG's Catherine Haddon

Brexit has created a political crisis, but the civil service has stopped it becoming even more destructive, says the former DWP perm sec

To get the best value for stretched public resources, we need a whole government approach to develop a long-term plan for the nation’s health, says Tim Elwell-Sutton, healthy lives assistant director, the Health Foundation

The DExEU permanent secretary considers the similarities between making music and making government work

The Brexit-driven drama of Westminster ratchets up daily, but civil servants must be allowed space to do their job in safety, says FDA union chief

Finding the right words to describe a problem is important, but we shouldn’t let uncertainty about terminology stop us tackling the challenge of racial disparity, argues a group of civil servants from across government

Infrastructure and Projects Authority chief executive Nick Smallwood reflects on his first few months since joining government in August and his aims for the agency in 2020

The government’s one year Spending Round has brought very little security to departments. But it does recognise that government much be more strategic

Alanna Reid, a policy adviser at the Cabinet Office’s public appointments policy team, reports on an intersectionality event held by the Cabinet Office LGBT+ Network and Gender Equality Group as part of national inclusion week

The Next Steps programme represented a generation of reform from Thatcher to New Labour, driven by a desire to deliver services via executive agencies. Carole and Colin Talbot explore its chequered history

Mallory Compton and Paul ’t Hart argue that knowing what went wrong in the past doesn’t always help governments get things right in the future

Despite its relatively compact proportions, No. 10 Downing Street packs a hefty historical punch. Sue Cameron peruses the pages of researcher-in-residence Jack Brown’s new book

The weeks ahead will likely be dominated by politics, not policy. Private offices should play a key role in helping officials understand what is driving ministers’ decisions, says Tim Durrant

Dominic Cummings is sending signals out across government about how he plans to operate. But even the most high-profile special advisers have no real power – they only speak with the authority of their political bosses.

The leak of the Cabinet Office’s Operation Yellowhammer contingency planning shows how much government is working on mitigating the risks it can predict from a no-deal Brexit. But the government cannot prepare for things it doesn’t know will happen

Damascene conversions on civil service brilliance should be backed with proper recognition and reward, says Prospect deputy general secretary

Martin Stanley highlights some publications that could help get ideas flowing

Policy think tanks have become important in the development of policy in a relatively short space of time. Colin Talbot and Carole Talbot ask if this a good thing

Former civil servant Steve O'Neil takes a fresh look at the appliance of science at the heart of government