When we talk about innovation and regeneration, rarely do we talk about reintroducing extinct animals. However in Ealing, London - beavers have been reintroduced, with the help of public funding, to stop the local underground station flooding. www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home...

The door is now open - expect many more cases to follow. www.thelawyer.com/everton-fc-t...

Richard Desmond’s gamble fails as the Competition Appeal Tribunal rules against his Subsidy Control challenge… My thoughts on this case can be read at: www.linkedin.com/posts/alexan...

State funding for airports and airlines will be in the news next week - Bristol Airport is bringing a Subsidy Control case in the Competition Appeal Tribunal claiming £206m of public funding has been unlawfully awarded by the Welsh Government. www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk/projects-and...

There’s a knotty dilemma at the heart of devolution. Had the North had received the same per head public funding as London 2007 - 2017 then the region would be £59bn richer. To make up for this, more powers and funds have been given. But is that fair to London & can both areas grow simultaneously?

Re:State@re-state.bsky.social · 9mo ago

NEW REPORT - Capital at risk London is a global capital. But it doesn't have the governance to match. The Mayor is much less powerful than his international counterparts, with too many boroughs which hold too much influence. The city needs reboot. 🔗👇

Fraser Nelson’s article explains the X algorithm and why it is so damaging. Every post is scored for engagement, but then the algorithm rewards abuse / hollow claims - anything that draws a response from the original poster, amplifying whatever polarises the most… www.thetimes.com/article/d65a...

Revealed: Elon Musk’s anger algorithm that polarises our politics

Elon Musk lifts the lid on the code fuelling aggressive public discourse on X or TikTok. If not rewritten it will continue to stoke division and extremism

thetimes.com

Sad news that Sir Alec Reed has died. He genuinely did help revolutionise charitable giving. He died on #GivingTuesday when the charity he founded (the Big Give) runs a Christmas Challenge event - last year it raised £44.7m benefiting 1,267 charities. fundraising.co.uk/2025/12/03/b... #News

Big Give founder Sir Alec Reed dies at 91

Sir Alec Reed, knighted for services to business and charity, including founding Big Give, has died peaceful at the age of 91.

fundraising.co.uk

The EU has openly criticised the UK’s Subsidy Control regime at the WTO. There’s long been concerns that the UK’s enforcement regime is weak, but this public criticism marks an escalation and does not bode well for post-Brexit trade talks next year. www.lexxion.eu/uksci/the-eu...

The European Union publicly expresses concern about the effectiveness of the UK's Subsidy Control regime - Lexxion

The European Union has published concerns about the effectiveness of the UK's Subsidy Control regime – a strong indication that the enforcement provisions of

lexxion.eu

Subsidy control law – does the Zenobē case prove that the UK’s enforcement regime is finally taking off? Our article on this challenge to energy storage subsidies and what it means for the UK’s own post-Brexit State aid system. www.wardhadaway.com/insights/upd...

Subsidy Control law appears to protect the UK’s taxpayers from Donald Trump’s attempts to squeeze $5bn from the BBC. The organisation won’t have this kind of cash, so if the government wanted to step in it would have to justify such a payment, most likely to the CMA.

Delighted to be speaking at the Westminster Business Forum tomorrow on the subject of what’s likely to change in the UK Subsidy Control regime in the next 18 months. Hopefully policy makers will attend, because there’s an opportunity to create a more effective regime.

Apologies to Winston Churchill for “repurposing” his famous appeasement quote, but it sums up how many people see AI when it’s introduced to their businesses. The challenge is addressing those concerns in a way that gives assurance that the #AI being introduced in a manner that is beneficial.

Alexander Rose@alexanderrose.bsky.social · last yr.

An AI user is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last.

An AI user is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last.

Who marks the “I am not a robot” test? Surely it’s a robot… This is not the full-proof system it is being presented as.

Not how I remember Olaf Scholz, but I guess these things are subjective…

Today the EU publicly expressed concerns about the effectiveness of the UK's Subsidy Control regime. The weakness of the regime (in particular regulation and enforcement) is likely to be raised in the 5 year review of the #Brexit trade agreement in 2026.

The UK’s Subsidy Control regime helps ensure public funding isn’t wasted or used in ways that damages the competitiveness of businesses. Yet, there’s a big problem with the regime - the enforcement processes aren’t working in the way Parliament expected. A short 🧵….

The obvious point is that every Prime Minister is extensively lobbied & this one was open to it. Oh & he’s now a multi-millionaire…

Henry Dyer@direthoughts.com · last yr.

Johnson refused to answer specific questions or to provide factual denials to allegations of rule-breaking, while insisting all the rules had been followed at all times. His responses led Acoba’s chair, Isabel Doverty, to find him in breach of the rules. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

The government has launched the 'Pride in Place Programme' under which 339 deprived communities across the country will be entrusted with over £5bn of public funding. Decisions will be made by local people, but what safeguards will be put in place? lnkd.in/eKa9RtrS

Today the North East Combined Authority cabinet met to discuss: - a bid to host the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2035; - the creation of a Mayoral Development Corporation for Newcastle and Gateshead; and - something sufficiently secret to be exempt from disclosure…

Since 2012 only six Mayoral Development Corporations have been created - but that’s about to change with at least five about to be announced. That includes one in Birmingham that’ll help realise Tom Brady’s stadium plans & another co-chaired by Steve Coogan.

There’s a different angle to this story. In the digital economy the value of data is enormous & governments hold large amounts of data. EU State aid rules limit how EU member states can award data to businesses - so was this a meeting to share the spoils of the Brexit initiative?

Jessica Elgot@jessicaelgot.bsky.social · last yr.

And finally - by Rowena Mason and @direthoughts.com Johnson appears to have had a secret meeting with Peter Thiel, the billionaire co-founder of the controversial US data firm Palantir, the year before it was given a role at the heart of the UK’s pandemic. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

Has Liz Truss joined Reform yet? Or is that not allowed to happen in case people realise that Reform is basically the Conservative Party right wing from October 2024 plus UKIP’s Nigel Farage?

EU companies (as well as companies from other non-EU countries doing business in the EU) are also subject to EU competition and State aid law. It would be discrimination against *them* to exempt American companies doing business in the EU from these laws.

Rapporteur@euractiv.com · last yr.

Trump threatens retaliation against EU over Google fine

By Andy Singer

New post just out: "Britain isn't broken" We have our problems but the doomerism is getting out of hand. I look at the real picture on crime, migration, social cohesion and the economy - rather than the dsyoptian fantasies of the radical right. (£/free trial) open.substack.com/pub/samf/p/b...

Britain isn't broken

We have our problems but the doomerism is getting out of hand

open.substack.com

A year before MPs debate the effectiveness of the UK’s Subsidy Control regime, a case has emerged raising serious questions about whether an enforcement body is needed. The case involves Cambridgeshire County Council “restructuring” a £120m loan into a £60m grant. 🧵 1/6

Cambridgeshire Live@cambridgeshirelive.bsky.social · last yr.

The leader of Cambridgeshire County Council said the loan to This Land Ltd had been restructured, after facing accusations of ‘writing the loan off in secret’.

The US needs better laws to regulate subsidies - the Washington stadium deal is yet another example of this. A $1.1bn taxpayer subsidy has been offered to create a 65,000 stadium. Contrast that with the UK or EU where Subsidy Control / State aid laws stop such wasteful public funding.

Northern voters want greater devolution due to stories like this. In 2021, Ministers in London secretly cancelled plans to dual part of the A1 in Northumberland & kept it from voters. This was at a time when public funding for transport was £1,182 per Londoner but just £486 per Northerner.

ChronicleLive - The Chronicle@chroniclelive.co.uk · last yr.

The decision was not to dual the road between Morpeth and Ellingham has been branded as poor value for money

The FIFA Club World Cup could be a source of embarrassment for the European Commission. Qatari owned Paris St Germain are still under investigation under the EU Foreign Subsidies Regulation (although there are reports the European Commission is trying to quietly drop La Liga’s complaint).