We publish worked-out ideas for making the country better. Each paper takes one problem, goes back to how it was set up in the first place, and redraws it.

The best papers work on you twice. They change how you see the problem, so that you finish reading with a thought you did not have an hour earlier. Then they set out a specific change to how the thing is run, in enough detail that a minister, a regulator or a council could pick it up and do it. Most public argument stays stuck on amounts, on budgets and rates and targets, while the design underneath goes unquestioned. We go after the design.

This rules a lot out. We do not run commentary, and we do not run analysis that stops just before the proposal. What we run is an idea somebody could act on, named alongside the person or body with the power to act.

Our writers come from all walks of life. Some of the sharpest people in the country have spent their careers nowhere near public policy, and that is exactly why they can see the current set-up with fresh eyes. We judge a paper on its idea and its argument. The author's job title does not come into it.

Send us the idea in a few sentences at ideas@thedrawingboard.org.uk. If it has legs, we will work it up with you. Papers carry the author's name by default. Where an employer makes that difficult, we publish unsigned, verify the author privately, and vouch for the work ourselves.