I don't know Max personally but his research couldn't be more relevant to the direction of UK politics right now. Political leadership and devolution? Yeah I'm sure that won't be important in the next few years.

DrMaxPolitics@drmaxpolitics.bsky.social · 3h ago

Hi, I'm being made redundant by the University of Southampton at the end of this month. I'm desperately looking for work. I'll consider all offers but have particular skills in policy, strategy and research. I also have a consultancy service I offer. Please let me know if you hear of anything

sorry, what

FinTwitter@fintwitter.bsky.social · 4h ago

FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION CONFIRMS MARINE ONE WAS BRIEFLY TOO CLOSE TO PASSENGER AIRPLANE - STATEMENT

Good letter from Chi Onwurah seeking clarification about the split of DSIT’s responsibilities. The fact that there is still little clarity about the split is concerning, but it is a silver lining that the committee’s really good work will be continuing committees.parliament.uk/publications...

Only live a couple of miles from Headingley and spent some of that Sunrisers innings half expecting to see a cricket ball drop into the garden

At least once you've paid this kind of extortionate amount in a station cafe, you can get on a train with reliable wifi, that's on time, and for which the ticket wasn't expensi-

Paul Clarke@paulclarke.com · 5d ago

A salad, an open sandwich (piece of bread with some chicken on), 1 cup of tea, 1 apple juice, 1 pastel. £54. IN A STATION CAFE. London, I am finally done with eating out ever again. My Iranian beans and the 3.95 saino's sarnie lunch deal are all I need. Go out of business, all of you. It's over.

Here's one: make Iran listen to endless US food discourse

Shipwreck@shipwreck75.bsky.social · 2d ago

A senior officer in US Central Command’s (CENTCOM) intelligence branch emailed a broad group of military analysts seeking “new creative and unconventional ways to pressure and punish Iran.” A second source indicated a similar request went out the prior week.

Interesting piece on the results of the first three months of age-related social media policies in Australia

More than 80% of kids still using social media despite ban, new eSafety report finds

The report provides more evidence Australia’s world-leading social media ban isn’t going to plan.

theconversation.com

very cool, very normal

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 3d ago

Trump: “The Winning Shot in the Bedminster Club Championship! Thank you very much to all of those who participated. I won with a 70, & am so honored in that, unlike the rest of the field, I’m given very little time to practice, bc I’m focused on many other things. It’s called TALENT, and I have it”

It’s perfectly possible to make big changes to the UK’s “constitutional settlement” without a “written constitution”, in the sense of a single constitutional code. Most such changes would require legislation, like the 90s devolution settlements (which undoubtedly form part of our constitution now)

The Guardian@theguardian.com · 4d ago

Devolution plans strengthen case for written UK constitution, says Burnham

As somebody always several years behind the cultural moment, can now agree with all the takes that the Chernobyl miniseries is astonishingly good. (At this rate will have some thoughts on Nolan’s Odyssey/Emily Wilson’s review of Nolan’s Odyssey in roughly 2030)

An annual survey of MP staff, shared with PolHome, shows a record level of distress since the survey began in 2000 50.9 per cent of MPs' staff working across Parliament & constituency offices are experiencing psychological distress – higher than during the pandemic, reports @zoecrowther.bsky.social

MPs' Staff Report Record Levels Of Psychological Distress From Their Jobs

A majority of MPs’ staff are experiencing psychological distress as a result of their work, according to a new survey of employees working in Parli...

politicshome.com

Happy Yorkshire Day!

A reminder that one of the biggest daily political evening newsletters has a regular section entitled ‘where to find booze in Westminster tonight’

‘MPs have had their stomachs pumped’: concerns over ‘alcohol-soaked’ culture in Westminster

Alcohol is embedded in profession where long hours, loneliness and lobbying are the norm, report finds

theguardian.com

Newsnight has just shown the Manchester (city) result and thought it was doing the full Manchester (Combined authority) result. The giveaway is Bev Craig got way over 50% of the vote and they did a second preference count. Total chaos. @luketryl.bsky.social asked to comment on just 92,000 votes

Really interesting and thoughtful piece (also featuring memes and an enjoyable W1A reference)

Gavin Freeguard@gavinfreeguard.com · 6d ago

I have blogged! The State of the Present: Andy Burnham’s new government or - Why the abolition of DSIT is baffling and bad - Why I'm worried about what it means for civil service reform - Some opportunities for the new government around data, digital, open government medium.com/state-of-the...

EVENT | Andy Burnham: How is the new prime minister changing the direction of government? 📅Today, 13:00-13:50 Join us online this afternoon as an expert panel assesses Andy Burnham's early decisions, his key appointments, and the way he is approaching the job of prime minister.

Joe Root looking at the captain's armband again

The more I watch Hey Duggee the more I feel quite uncomfortably seen by the character of Betty

We've crunched the numbers on Burnham's new government to bring you up to speed with the new faces around the cabinet table, and what Burnham's choices tell us about how he wants to run his government. New from @meganbryer.bsky.social, @philipnye.bsky.social and I 👇👇

Six things we learned from Andy Burnham’s government formation | Institute for Government

What do Andy Burnham’s cabinet choices reveal about the priorities and direction of his new government?

instituteforgovernment.org.uk

Andy Burnham is setting out his approach to social care Our performance tracker from 2025 shows the damaging geographical and demographic ‘care gap’ in England. To take action government needs to understand how and where this care gap is forming www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/publication/...

FIFA after the 2026 World Cup: you know what the problem is? We’re just too popular. We’re just over-admired for our high ethical standards and for the decisions we make that are so clearly motivated by love and respect for the game. We must address this.

Maybe the real odyssey is the discourse we had along the way

Terrific thread this:

Dan Neidle@danneidle.bsky.social · last wk.

I have a modest proposal for a new tax. It involves a deck of cards and a monkey throwing darts. Here are the rules:

If I were a person in the past writing a document that may be looked at by historians one day I would simply have legible handwriting

Walked into a large multi-floor shop today that had a big digital sign up with a QR code you had to download to view a plan of the store. Instead of just putting the plan of the store on the sign.

New @instituteforgovernment.org.uk Inside Briefing podcast episode out now! With @manchestermill.bsky.social @joshih.bsky.social on Andy Burnham's first week as prime minister. www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/collection/p...

He wants to be adored – Burnham’s people-pleasing policy debut | Institute for Government

The Manchester Mill's Joshi Herrman joins the podcast team to explore Andy Burnham's first week as prime minister.

instituteforgovernment.org.uk

Just seen a comment about N10N saying “enjoy your Greggs steak bake” because, truly, that is the only food we have anywhere in the North of England

Turning to parliament @aliceolilly.bsky.social and I discussed what Burnham needs to do to make sure his commitments to work with parliament differently are more than warm words and last beyond this government to make a real difference in the future www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/article/comm...

Fixing relations with MPs will require more than warm words from Andy Burnham | Institute for Government

Andy Burnham should be prepared to redistribute power in Parliament.

instituteforgovernment.org.uk

Wedding anniversary planning when you have a toddler: realising you should probably buy each other cards so taking it turns to look after toddler/go into card shop and then complaining about the card selection

Talked about in here, but I think the interesting bit of the "how are things going to be different" in the Burnham message to the PLP was the stuff about ministers being available (rather than the things under the heading whipping). MPs should be trying to get concrete structures to back this up

Alice Lilly@aliceolilly.bsky.social · 2w ago

Partnered with the brilliant @rebeccamckee.bsky.social to look at Andy Burnham's stated approach to working with his backbenchers. While it's encouraging that the new PM is thinking seriously about this relationship, he could go further to truly embed different ways of working