Thanks Ranil!!!!

Trying to get away from all things CF flavoured has been an uphill struggle, people still write to me asking to get things done, or for advice - and there has been a surprising amount of argy bargy on the forums. However, with the new job starting on Monday I'm trying extra hard to break free of the day-to-day stuff,

Two things have dragged me back.

1) This post by Caroline Hunt - a more balanced account on the good the bad and the ugly with CF so far this year.

2) A gift from an old friend

CF's latest project is the Blue Sky Foundation. A terrific effort by Ranil Jayawardena to get young people involved in policy. This is spot on stuff and a good move towards providing a legacy for CF. Whilst it pre-dates his election, the work (basically a subtle version of YBF with a policy research element added on) is ideal for someone looking to entrench some professionalism into the organisation. Well done Ranil!

Why's it a gift? Well as soon as I saw the website I thought of this, a post that I wrote whilst serving on the blog last year which I emailed to Ranil to say thanks. Blue Skies thinking was an idea used by Matthew Parris to illustrate the idea of thinking beyond the here and now. For the Conservatives this was ending the introspection and 'black sky thinking' that clouded their judgement (a precursor to the rise of Cameron), for CF this was trying to break the unhelpful cycle of mediocrity caused by short term thinking- now Ranil is putting his own spin on the idea, a fantastic effort. Best of luck!