Beth Kitson
@drbethkitson.bsky.social
Research Associate, Bennett School of Public Policy, University of Cambridge. Public Policy | Economics and History | Knowledge and Engagement
By coincidence, read this today. It’s a great study with lots of relevance to making the more ambitious devolution framework work. (The associated book has even more detail)
Giles Wilkes@gilesyb.bsky.social · yesterdayQuotes: "during our period of study (1993-2024), mechanisms designed to regulate spending tended towards input control and short-term decision-making, struggled to support strategic investment and often failed to deliver sustained improvements in outcomes."
'change rarely came from above. The support services, legal protections and opportunities available today were not simply gifts from an increasingly enlightened society. They were won through campaigns, protests and persistent challenges to exclusion.'
The Conversation UK@uk.theconversation.com · yesterdayFrom Tudor welfare claims to modern PIP assessments, disabled people have long faced suspicion and bureaucracy.
'Details, because they are fragments of a bigger picture, often leave such unanswered questions. But they also bring people to life precisely because they are fragments: another human being, they remind us, is always an unsolvable puzzle.' A wonderful wonderful piece.
Royal Historical Society@royalhistsoc.org · 6d ago"Details, in their singularity and idiosyncrasy, point to the capaciousness of human experience." New today in the Society's journal 'Transactions': Joe Moran 'On Detail in Historical Writing': bit.ly/44UMi8C Now available OA @joemoransblog.bsky.social @massobsarchive.bsky.social #Skystorians 1/2
One of the great joys of working in an interdisciplinary department!
Duncan Weldon@duncanweldon.bsky.social · 2d agoAs a general rule: explaining something you know well to smart people who ask good questions but do not know the topic well is a really useful exercise. If nothing else, they tend to ask interesting questions which you hadn’t considered.
How to end the cycle of mistrust between the Treasury and everybody else ft.trib.al/KvmNepY | opinion
How to end the cycle of mistrust between the Treasury and everybody else
The lesson from Manchester is that it takes time for public investment policies to show up in GDP
ft.trib.al
We're delighted to welcome Elise Antoine as an Assistant Professor to the Bennett School where she'll teach on our MPhil in Public Policy. Elise's research examines how politics shape the governance of new technologies, & how those technologies reshape policy processes.
The latest issue of the Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society is all about remunicipalisaiton -- in many different counties, including France, the UK, the US, Germany, Bolivia, Spain, etc.... See: academic.oup.com/cjres/issue
Issues | Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society | Oxford Academic
A journal of the Cambridge Political Economy Society. The journal publishes multi-disciplinary research on the spatial dimensions of contemporary socio-economic-political change, and examines the effe...
academic.oup.com
Now is the time to assess remunicipalisation (nationalisation at a local level) as local regions/cities take essential services back into public control. Article free to access. academic.oup.com/cjres/articl...
How places are contesting the privatisation of local public services
The provision of essential public services — water, energy, health, housing, education, transport, social care and infrastructure — is a crucial determinan
academic.oup.com
'In its rushed response to this crisis, FIFA has exposed how unprepared it was to explain itself. Within that perhaps lies a more alarming realisation. Maybe there was no planned communication strategy because when Gianni wants something to happen, that tends to be enough.'
Seb Stafford-Bloor@sebsb.bsky.social · 5d agoGianni Infantino’s Icarus moment. www.nytimes.com/athletic/748...
‘So this is not a sentimental point about local news, even if I would have loved to mingle in the smoky bars and newsrooms of the “other Fleet Street”. It is a modern problem, one whose need for solutions is immediate if decentralisation is the new prime minister’s agenda.‘
Jennifer Williams@jenwilliamsft.bsky.social · 6d agoA bit on something that’s worrying me as.ft.com/r/9fe0cfe2-f...
’The Treasury’s approach to public spending was designed for a world that no longer exists.’ www.bennettschool.cam.ac.uk/wp-content/u...
bennettschool.cam.ac.uk
Bennett School of Public Policy, University of Cambridge@bennettschool.cam.ac.uk · 7d agoNew research by top economists reveals the UK's spending system is no longer fit for the way public services are delivered today. Fundamental reform is needed to create a spending system that supports long-term investment, better public services and stronger outcomes. Report: bit.ly/4pMQ7WM
‘The switch-off came during an ongoing heatwave that is transforming the experience of living in London. Tuesday was the 24th day of this year in which the temperature in the capital hit 30C.… there were just 21 days in the whole of the 1980s when London was that hot.‘
Jim Waterson@jim.londoncentric.media · last wk.You’ve probably seen @peterwalker99.bsky.social’s story on the London flats where the temporary accommodation residents had their air con turned off in a heatwave; we had a look at what’s going on and who is responsible. www.londoncentric.media/p/air-condit...
’under Fifa statutes (Infantino) must stand down in 2031 after serving three full terms. The Times reported, however, that Infantino has aspirations to serve as chair of the new commercial company, which could earn him tens of millions of dollars.’ I see www.theguardian.com/football/202...
Fifa accused of ‘selling the soul of football’ over $20bn World Cup commercial rights sale plan
Fifa has announced plans to sell a share of its commercial operations to private investors, a deal that would include the media and sponsorship rights of the World Cup
theguardian.com
'the company’s self-mythology obscures "what is ultimately a rather mundane product".' www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
“The famine is over! The curse be damned!! Hit the nuclear button! Mayo have won the All-Ireland!!” An all-time great sports commentary moment from Stephen Grealis and Martin McHugh on Mayo’s Midwest Radio. #gaa
i love history for the same reason I love pop culture, I’m just nosy
Dr Lindsey Fitzharris@drlindseyfitz.bsky.social · 2w agoSome academics turn up their noses at movie adaptations or popular history books, but I call them "gateway drugs" into deeper scholarship. How many of us fell in love with history because a movie (or book) sparked our curiosity first? For me, it was Amadeus - it sent me down an 18thC rabbit hole.
I told you all that you need the humanities to navigate today’s complex world
Jennifer Williams@jenwilliamsft.bsky.social · 2w agoTo the point that I ended up in an existential conversation at one point about “when is a door a door”
A big week for the history doesn’t repeat itself but it rhymes crowd.
10. But other people - other translators, film directors, poets, novelists, the world at large - can and should recreate these sublime poems in any number of other ways. Homer contains multitudes. I am grateful to Mr Nolan for bringing more multitudes of people back to this great mythical world.
can‘t speak to whether they enjoyed it or not, but I was in a (packed!) cinema last night and probably half the audience were women so… www.theguardian.com/film/2026/ju...
Chastity, nodding and enormous pores: will women also love Nolan’s Odyssey?
Christopher Nolan’s epic adaptation has been met with almost universal acclaim – from mostly male film critics. Might women find the journey less comfortable?
theguardian.com
