the ministry of detail // fixing the small stuff
quibble is a campaign to fix overlooked public interest and consumer issues
quibbles are low-grade nuisances that impact lots of people but don’t get fixed because they are seen as too minor… the Cookies banner on every webpage; redundant and excessive signage in public places; the light timings on pedestrian crossings; the frequency and quality of announcements on trains... there is a whole category of issues that we all just put up with in life, but if fixed would make a small difference to many.
Do you have a quibble? If so we’d love to hear from you. There is none too “petty” for us to consider working on, but there are two loose criteria to bear in mind:
It needs to impacts lots of people (ideally, more than tens of thousands), or fewer people but on a very frequent basis (e.g. hundreds of people, daily or weekly).
The person or entity who would fix the problem should generally be a public body or public decision-maker (e.g. a government agency, local authority, regulator, or the national government). This does not completely rule out quibbles on private products or services, as in some cases organised feedback or even regulation may be needed.
If you’re not sure, please just send it to us anyway - we can filter the rest!
The quibblers
Jonathan de Leyser. I have spent 12 years working in politics and public affairs, mostly in London and Brussels. It has been my job to understand how decisions get made, and how to influence them. I have seen the power of advocacy and campaigns to change things. I have also seen how some issues get overlooked, because their cumulative impact is not appreciated. This makes them difficult to organise around, and I have co-founded quibble to take up that challenge.
Abigail Bradshaw. I have spent most of my working life as a civil servant in Whitehall, with a focus on public policy design and implementation. It has been my job to ensure that policies are made well and working effectively, paying careful attention to the user’s experience of what the government does and how it impacts people. What the state does, including the small things, it should do excellently. I have co-founded quibble to help it in this direction - this time from the outside!
Our approach
“Small-picture”
quibble is non-partisan - where issues touch on wider political or ideological discussions, we stay focused on the immediate solution. We will not be focusing on “systemic change” per se - plenty of others are already doing the big picture stuff, and anyway this can often be exactly why the smaller issues get neglected - let’s call it “small-picture thinking”.
Perspective
By their nature quibbles aren’t necessarily that important. Our campaigns are self-aware, and sometimes semi-ironic. And given the challenges specific to quibbling, a light-hearted approach is sometimes needed. Computer-says-no decision-makers can be frustrating, but we focus on tackling decisions rather than individuals.
Persistence
Advocacy often demands persistence - “The Art of Not Letting Things Go”. We escalate when necessary, but to move in good faith, in many cases we prefer to first try formal and technical-level channels, which often involves repeatedly “knocking on the door” until we get answers. Change can sometimes take time… keep plodding on!
We explain our approach at greater length on our social media channels (linked in the footer!), so please do check those out too.
The quibbles
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The cookie banner
Millions of us deal with it dozens of times per day. This is not about whether our personal data should be protected, but how it is done. Is there a better way?
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Keying error fines
Did you know that accidentally typing a “0” instead of an “O” can land you with a hefty fine in some car parks? Being an obvious mistake, and the ticket having been purchased, we believe this is unfair.
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Childcare scheme misnomer
Of the estimated 1.3 million families eligible for UK’s “Tax Free Childcare” scheme, over half are not benefitting. Given that the scheme has nothing to do with tax, could a simple renaming help uptake?
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Phone boxes
While some phone boxes today still serve a purpose - from emergency connectivity, to the aesthetic (in the case of the old red kiosks) - we are taking a critical look at their numbers and condition.
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Your quibble!
We are really keen to hear your suggestions of quibbles to work on. Please message us with them via the form above - none will be too petty to consider!
Support quibble
The running costs for quibble are currently completely crowdfunded. We are hugely grateful for any donations, all of which are reinvested to allow us to keep doing this work.
(Currently, we are only accepting general donations rather than support restricted to specific campaigns, but that may change in the future.)