Dr Dave McKenna
@drdavemckenna
Scrutiny geek. Local government fan. Freelance public servant. Occasional academic. 🕺💃
Next was The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison, about ‘the tragic torn lives of a poor black family… in post depression 1940s Ohio’. Engaging prose but the events of this short but thought provoking book made it tough to read at times. B+ for me.
First up was The Transit of Venus by Shirley Hazzard. It's about the lives and relationships of two orphan Australian sisters in post war England. I enjoyed this more than I thought I would - very rich prose, full of ideas and some surprises along the way. I gave it a B.
Have been reading more this year. And trying to read books I might not normally reach for. Anyhow, these are the ones I’ve read in the last 6 months.
In the old days, this was the tie I used to wear to work to mark special occasions. You can imagine me wearing it today if you like…
At the @cfgs.bsky.social conference with scrutiny on the big screen 🍿🎬
This benchmark (if you can spot it) adorns a Tudor mansion once visited by Shelley. It’s not clear if the purpose of the visit was to view the benchmark, but let’s say it was.
This one is on the gate post of a school. My old school actually, funny I never noticed it before 🤷♂️
This one is on a wall in front of a Sainsbury. Someone has tried to highlight it with white paint.
I’m at the National Tenant Scrutiny Conference. @louisemholt.bsky.social is doing the intro 💃🕺 #tpasconf25
This one was on a wall near me that I’d looked at a couple of times. Found it now.
Quietly sitting on a wall by a main road hoping nobody will notice.
Ah, finally found the one on the church. This is slightly unusual as it features a bolt in the centre. The groove in the bolt gives you a horizontal line.
This one has its own personal milestone*, tucked away close to a wall. (*benchmarks and milestones - sounds like local government performance management)
I've found three near me. The first is on the wall of the village hall, behind the bin.
I've discovered a new non-extreme, slow-sport that involves hunting down Ordnance Survey Benchmarks. It's like a laid back Pokémon Go I guess. I case you don't know, OSBs are marks or plates placed on buildings, walls etc to show the elevation above sea level. They often look like this...
There is similar ‘two-tone’ council housing built by Cuckfield UDC in West Sussex, late 1920s to early 1930s. Must have been trendy at the time.
New pens with the new @cfgs.bsky.social branding. That’s what I’m here for 💚 #cfgs2025
Here is Mel Stevens getting us organised for what promises to be a fabulous day of reflection and discussion all about scrutiny 💚 #cfgs2025
All aboard the scrutiny express 🚂 heading towards Birmingham for the CfGS annual conference See you there @cfgs.bsky.social 👋
Great to hear from @timcouncillor.bsky.social and colleagues today as part of the 21st century councillor workshop in Doncaster 🕺