I hope you had a good summer.

I've certainly had a good summer break and now I'm looking forward to a new season for these ‘Dear Scrutineer’ reflections.

So, welcome back to my existing subscribers and hello to those who have joined recently - I hope you all find these emails useful.

And I thought I’d start with a mini annual report.

Between September, when I started, and July, I shared 40 reflections via this email and on LinkedIn.

It's interesting to see what resonated, so here are the five most engaged with posts on LinkedIn:

1. ​“Less chalk, more talk”, in which chairperson Alex argues against long PowerPoints at the start of items.
2. ​Councillor Bob doesn’t go to scrutiny pre meetings
3. ​Good quality scrutiny support
4. ​“That the report be noted”
5. ​A funny moment before a meeting, in which Councillor Bob foils an attempt to change the seating arrangements

I’m pleased that I’ve managed to share about one a week although I’m also thinking that one reflection every two weeks might be abetter pace. I’ve found it a helpful process for my own reflection and thinking and I’ve also learnt a lot from the comments and feedback.

It's also been fun mixing up the formats. As well as thoughts and short stories I've also shared poems and even a prayer.

In terms of improvement, I’d like the topics to resonate more perhaps. The ‘bugbears’ and dilemmas seem to get more engagement than the ‘bigger picture’ reflections. So maybe more of that?

So, dear scrutineeer, how might these reflections be more useful for you?

Are there any dilemmas or topics you would find it helpful for me to cover? Perhaps there is something you are thinking about now?

Let me know by reply 🙏

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P.S. If you want to add/see comments on the LinkedIn version of this email you can find it here.

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