We are seated for: Jet Lag Japanorama

Food desert discourse is fascinating as an extreme case of progressive policy breakdown: bad academic research, leading to bad policy papers, leading to (mostly) bad policy that wastes a lot of time/money, in response to a problem that either doesn't exist or is created by some other policy.

Stephen Jacob Smith@stephenjacobsmith.com · last wk.

Drives me nuts hearing about "food deserts" in this NYC-owned grocery store discourse. NYC does not have food deserts. It has expensive, low-quality groceries. The first city-owned store (La Marqueta) is in the middle; every red pin in a full-service grocery store. Not a bodega, not a greengrocer.

My immediate thoughts on today's Devolution Document It's a huge set of proposals that will fundamentally change British politics and the national economy Making mayors accountable for growing their taxbase + committing to giving them what they need to do this is a gamechanger Thread:

Centre for Cities@centreforcities.bsky.social · 5d ago

Quick analysis from @antbreach.bsky.social. 1/ Proposals = biggest transfer of power from national to local government in the history of the state.

Yes to bringing back the Audit Commission and standardising metro mayor accounts so Mr and Mrs Joe Public can understand and compare local taxes. No to worrying so much about scrutiny that we end up being less ambitious on devolution or permanently attaching a Whitehall leash to the metro mayors.

Jennifer Williams@jenwilliamsft.bsky.social · 6d ago

A bit on something that’s worrying me as.ft.com/r/9fe0cfe2-f...

Great thread below on the full gamut of powers coming down the track

Rob Johnson@rjson.bsky.social · 5d ago

The tax retention news is so big it has overshadowed some of chunky stuff in the press release that complements it and fills out the devolution strategy pursued by the new PM. Some initial reactions by me and some @centreforcities.bsky.social thinking below to get you started 👇

The tax retention news is so big it has overshadowed some of chunky stuff in the press release that complements it and fills out the devolution strategy pursued by the new PM. Some initial reactions by me and some @centreforcities.bsky.social thinking below to get you started 👇

Stephen Bush@stephenkb.bsky.social · 6d ago

This is a great move:

This is big deal. www.bbc.com/news/article...

Andy Burnham to give regional mayors share of income tax

The prime minister says the move will give power to "every postcode" but critics say the plans lack detail.

bbc.com

Important chart below from @centreforcities.bsky.social More fiscal devolution means more growth, and many reasons to think the effect could be even bigger in the UK.

Looking forward to hearing more about this tomorrow from the PM. Tax sharing is a very substantial pro-growth reform that will help reverse one of the biggest mistake of the Thatcher era.

The Guardian@theguardian.com · 6d ago

Burnham to free mayors from ‘Treasury death grip’ with new devolved powers

Important piece by @antbreach.bsky.social this -stamp duty is bad, we should replace it. Council tax could work better - but for god's sake don't centralise it:

Centralising council tax would make Burnham’s job more difficult - Centre for Cities

Proposals for replacing council tax are common and it should be reformed, but it shouldn’t be centralised.

centreforcities.org

This is still the best policy option re council tax (or indeed any property tax) reform IMO - would like to see it lifted up towards the top of the pile in the in-tray, not least because it could be introduced relatively quickly!

Ant Breach@antbreach.bsky.social · last wk.

Council tax is a bad tax. But most proposals to replace it get the wrong end of the stick. Rather than centralising council tax and handing out more grants, the solution is the opposite. If we devolve council tax we can cut bills for 2/3 of people across England. Quick thread:

Council tax is a bad tax. But most proposals to replace it get the wrong end of the stick. Rather than centralising council tax and handing out more grants, the solution is the opposite. If we devolve council tax we can cut bills for 2/3 of people across England. Quick thread:

Mark Byrne@markobroin.bsky.social · last wk.

Everyone hates stamp duty because it's a terrible tax. Replacing it would be good for the economy. But centralising council tax, says @antbreach.bsky.social - is a really bad idea. Not least because it hurts other parts of the devo agenda. www.centreforcities.org/blog/central...

For the first time, we're hiring an intern to join our external affairs team! If you or somebody you know would like to start their career in public affairs for a first rate think-tank working on topics at the top of the British political agenda, click below!

Mark Byrne@markobroin.bsky.social · last wk.

Do you know someone looking for a break into comms and policy? We're recruiting an external affairs intern at @centreforcities.bsky.social. I'm biased obviously but this is a great role. £28,860 pro rata per annum. Please share 👌 www.centreforcities.org/about/career...

Correct decision, obviously. Genuinely there are quite a few Labour MPs I just want to ask “without googling, how many parliamentary seats do you think there are in the south?”

Andy Burnham rejects northern Labour MPs’ call to abolish council tax

Downing Street says it is not considering replacing the levy and stamp duty with a new property tax

ft.com

Sets out the devo project clearly. Of the risks within, the RDA-lite quality of the geographies in some places worries me most. If you can't figure out a name for your new authority without the contortions of an '& !, 'of' or a point of the compass, you're setting up failure.

Sam Freedman@samfr.bsky.social · 2w ago

New post out "Burnham's defining project" Number 10 North isn't a gimmick, it's the start of first serious attempt to decentralise the state in England. I look at the five biggest challenges to getting it right and how best to manage them. (£/free trial) open.substack.com/pub/samf/p/b...

Excellent on both the detail and purpose of the devolution push. Including a helpful reminder (re: references to Scotland and Wales) that English regions are not countries. And as @samfr.bsky.social says, fiscal devo is about getting growth incentives right. (If you're not subscribed, do it!)

Sam Freedman@samfr.bsky.social · 2w ago

New post out "Burnham's defining project" Number 10 North isn't a gimmick, it's the start of first serious attempt to decentralise the state in England. I look at the five biggest challenges to getting it right and how best to manage them. (£/free trial) open.substack.com/pub/samf/p/b...

Do it.

Ant Breach@antbreach.bsky.social · 2w ago

This would be the most important local finance reform since Elizabeth I. Finally introducing local revenue sources that aren't property taxes will ensure places really benefit from local growth - more jobs and/or higher wages in a place will translate into more investment and services:

This would be the most important local finance reform since Elizabeth I. Finally introducing local revenue sources that aren't property taxes will ensure places really benefit from local growth - more jobs and/or higher wages in a place will translate into more investment and services:

Brian Groom@groomb.bsky.social · 2w ago

Burnham plans to give England's 14 regional and metro mayors a share of income tax revenue to spend on their cities. Unclear whether this will need legislation, or whether 'equalisation measures' will be needed to prevent poorer regions from losing out.

I do not know what trajectory Özgür Özel's new party will set for Turkey. Too early to tell. What I know is that the fact the 67 per cent of the CHP MPs joined it - knowing that they will highly likely face repression - is a strong democratic defence of political representation.

My favorite part is when Musk says more Europeans die from heat than Americans die from guns. Musk asks why The Economist doesn't write about air conditioning. She explains they do. "Pro-air conditioning?” asks Musk. “Very pro-air conditioning,” she responds. “You should read us sometime.”

Who are these weirdos? And why are the BBC interviewing them?

Drilling in the North Sea won't have any measurable impacts on British energy prices/terms of trade, but it will have measurable impacts on the global climate? Eh?

Caroline Lucas@carolinelucas.bsky.social · 3w ago

Hard to think of a more deeply damaging start to Burnham’s premiership than giving green light to new oil & gas in N. Sea, if true. It won’t lower bills or lead to greater energy security but will drive an even hotter planet. What a terrible signal to give to rest of the world #ClimateVandalism

Devolution is going to be at the core of the next Government's agenda for exactly this reason. Everything Burnham has said points towards building a system of local government that can be held accountable by voters for the state of both the local economy and local public services

Sunder Katwala (sundersays)@sundersays.bsky.social · 3w ago

"Britain took a series of wrong turns in the 1980s" when “political power was centralised and economic power privatised”, Burnham to say tomorrow as he becomes Labour party leader www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/poli...

Hmm. I think the issue within Labour has been, since the £28bn was first announced (and it was always more of an announcement than a policy) is not that some people in Labour think that a) net zero is the wrong aim or b) net zero is not popular.

Steve Akehurst@steveakehurst.bsky.social · 3w ago

Weird thing is most testing will show you that one of the most vote losing positions Labour could adopt is explicit anti-Net Zero signalling. This is because climate still disproportionately matters to Lab/Green voters while Lab/Reform voters don’t care either way...

Can't even get tickets for the Bayeux Tapestry any more. Because of Yoke.

Alex is right here. This "formula based" tax sharing (ie a fixed share of national tax revenues allocated to places by formula) is much worse for growth than "origin based" tax sharing (ie a fixed share of *locally generated* revenues of national taxes)

Alex Hern@hern.bsky.social · 4w ago

lot of punchy suggestions here but the most interesting is "scrapping stamp duty and council tax in favour of a national 1% levy on the value of property, with the proceeds remitted to local authorities, according to their population," and it _sucks_ www.theguardian.com/business/202...

"Former Bulk Distributor assistant editor Andy Burnham is set to become the next Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, marking an extraordinary journey from the pages of the tank container industry press to the steps of Downing Street." bulk-distributor.com/2026/07/form...

Former BD journalist set to become UK PM - Bulk Distributor

Former Bulk Distributor assistant editor Andy Burnham is set to become the next Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, marking an extraordinary journey from the pages of the tank container industry pre...

bulk-distributor.com

Trump: "Would you go to Moscow?" Zelensky: "It's difficult. There are a lot of Ukrainian drones there. It would be dangerous."

Harrowing accounts from Izolyatsia - the contemporary art gallery in Donetsk that in the first days of the Russian occupation in 2014 was singled out and transformed into a dungeon:

Eliot Higgins@eliothiggins.bsky.social · 4w ago

Jailers and officials at Russia's 'torture prisons' in Ukraine exposed by BBC www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Our briefing on fiscal devolution picked up in today's Observer - if mayors were responsible for their own budgets, they'd have much stronger incentives to grow their economy and taxbase:

The Observer@theobserveruk.bsky.social · last mo.

Ben Zaranko how Andy Burnham’s devolution revolution could drive growth Giving local leaders more control of taxation could help Andy Burnham unlock prosperity, but will it leave struggling areas further behind? It’s far from straightforward. https://bit.ly/4vLdYIC