Jon Chadwick
@jonchadwick.bsky.social
MD at Durham Distillery, craft spirits/food and drink. Durham City, England. Blogs at Jon-Chadwick.com.
Andy Burnham wants to devolve spending decisions to Local Authorities and Regional Mayors. But does this create more problems than it solves? #AndyBurnham jon-chadwick.com/2026/08/05/a...
Andy Burnham and the Treasury Death Grip - Industrial Estate of Mind
Andy Burnham wants to devolve Treasury powers to regional mayors. Is Britain ready for fiscal devolution, or will we repeat past mistakes?
jon-chadwick.com
Why did GPs stop making house calls? It wasn’t just funding. Medical advances, ageing population, changing expectations and political reform transformed general practice over decades. Having run NHS primary care services myself, here’s how it happened. #NHS #GP jon-chadwick.com/2026/07/29/w...
What Happened To GPs? - Industrial Estate of Mind
Why did GPs stop making house calls? How medicine, demographics, politics and the NHS transformed general practice.
jon-chadwick.com
Why does Northern Irish music sound distinctive? From the Miami Showband killings to Stiff Little Fingers, Ash and Kneecap; sharp lyrics, big melodies and guitars played as though somebody’s life depends on it. #punk #stifflittlefingers #theundertones #kneecap bbands.co.uk/alternative-...
Alternative Ulster: Why Northern Ireland Punches So Far Above Its Weight - File Under Popular
Northern Ireland has three UNESCO World Heritage inscriptions. The Giant’s Causeway is one of Europe’s great natural wonders. Gracehill’s Moravian Settlement is an exceptionally well-preserved eightee...
bbands.co.uk
Is America winning the fight against obesity—but only for those who can access the drug? What happens when one of the biggest medical breakthroughs of the century is distributed by income rather than need? #glp1 #MAHA #PublicHealth #NHS #Healthcare #Ozempic #Wegovy jon-chadwick.com/2026/07/25/g...
Make America Healthy Again? Obesity And The New Health Divide - Industrial Estate of Mind
GLP-1 drugs may be reversing America’s obesity epidemic, but unequal access risks creating a new health divide.
jon-chadwick.com
Last Saturday of the month, and it's quiz time! #quiz jon-chadwick.com/2026/07/25/q...
Quiz | July - Industrial Estate of Mind
jon-chadwick.com
The BMJ says the UK-US drugs deal could cost 200,000 lives. But if an economic model measures only the costs and ignores the benefits, how much confidence should we place in its conclusions? #NHS #healtheconomics #BMJ #pharmaceuticals jon-chadwick.com/2026/07/22/u...
UK-US Drugs Deal: When Bad Research Makes Good Headlines - Industrial Estate of Mind
The BMJ analysis of the UK-US drugs deal only measures the costs while ignoring the benefits of new medicines and pharmaceutical investment?
jon-chadwick.com
Everyone wants to bring back manufacturing. But can modern governments can actually do it—and what happens when they try? #manufacturing #IndustrialPolicy #productivity #economy #Brexit jon-chadwick.com/2026/07/18/b...
Bringing Back Manufacturing: Guns, Drugs, Whisky and Fast Cars - Industrial Estate of Mind
Can governments really bring back manufacturing? Why productivity, industrial policy, skills and investment matter more than slogans.
jon-chadwick.com
For forty years, privatisation was part of Britain’s economic consensus. That era is over, but what replaces it? #privatisation #economics #IndustrialStrategy #UKPolitics #Renationalisation #utilities jon-chadwick.com/2026/07/16/w...
Why Don't We Renationalise All Utilities? - Industrial Estate of Mind
40 after Thatcher’s privatisations, Britain is rediscovering industrial strategy & state intervention. The privatisation consensus is gone, but what takes it's place?
jon-chadwick.com
US businesses have been refunded around $81 billion after Trump’s tariffs were ruled unlawful. So why didn’t American shoppers see prices fall? The answer says a great deal about how tariffs really work. #Trump #tariffs #economics #inflation #USEconomy #TradePolicy jon-chadwick.com/2026/07/15/t...
Trump’s Tariffs Were Illegal. American Consumers Still Paid the Price. - Industrial Estate of Mind
US businesses have received $81 billion in Trump tariff refunds after the courts intervened. Why didn’t American consumers get the same relief?
jon-chadwick.com
The biggest question about World Cup refereeing isn’t whether FIFA gives orders. It’s whether football’s financial incentives mean nobody has to. #WorldCup2026 #FIFA #football #messi #argentina #england #PremierLeague #championsleague #FootballEconomics jon-chadwick.com/2026/07/14/f...
Does FIFA Tell Referees Who It Wants to Win? - Industrial Estate of Mind
Could commercial incentives influence FIFA referees without direct corruption? World Cup money, referee pay & football’s economic hierarchy.
jon-chadwick.com
God took Messi and Pele Mixed them up and made them one Called them Jude Bellingham Said “my work here is done” #judebellingham
The Durham Miners’ Gala and Horden represent very different County Durhams, but together they reveal what has happened to community, solidarity and civil society in Britain’s former mining towns. @durhamminersgala #DurhamMinersGala #northeast jon-chadwick.com/2026/07/12/h...
Horden and the Miners’ Gala - Industrial Estate of Mind
Two days in County Durham: photographs from Horden and the Durham Miners’ Gala explore community, solidarity, homelessness, Reform and the changing nature of civil society.
jon-chadwick.com
The traditional British seaside holiday was as much a victim of deindustrialisation as coal mines and shipyards. A history of works fortnight, and the towns left behind. #BritishSeaside #CoastalTowns #UKHistory #SocialHistory #Clacton #Tourism #Photography jon-chadwick.com/2026/07/11/t...
Works Fortnight: the forgotten casualty of deindustrialisation - Industrial Estate of Mind
The traditional British seaside holiday has faded away. Why did resorts like Clacton, Skegness and Great Yarmouth decline?
jon-chadwick.com
The British Israel movement is an obscure religious curiosity, but its ideas travelled from the British Empire to the Ku Klux Klan, Christian Identity and parts of modern Christian nationalism #britishisraelism #ChristianNationalism #PoliticsUK #religion #FarRight jon-chadwick.com/2026/07/09/b...
Christianity and the Far Right. The strange journey of the British Israelites - Industrial Estate of Mind
What is British Israelism? From its origins in the British Empire to its influence on Christian Identity and modern Christian nationalism, the story of one of Britain’s strangest political theologies.
jon-chadwick.com
Food Security is being used by Reform councillors to oppose net zero, but it has an older and nastier history, and huge implications for immigration #agriculture #farming #immigration jon-chadwick.com/2026/07/07/r...
Grow Your Own: Food Security and Immigration - Industrial Estate of Mind
Reform Councillors want to scrap Net Zero in the name of food security, an idea dating back to the 30s, which requires a lot more immigration
jon-chadwick.com
If you want some 4th July 250 anniversary USA quiz action here it is #quiz #usa #fourthofjuly jon-chadwick.com/2026/07/04/q...
Quiz | 4th July - Industrial Estate of Mind
12 questions hardly does justice to 250 years of history. Although I have books older than that....
jon-chadwick.com
As America celebrates its 250th anniversary, the 2026 World Cup offers a reminder that there are two competing visions of the country. Which America is the world really celebrating? #fourthofjuly #USA250 #WorldCup2026 #MAGA #USPolitics #IndependenceDay jon-chadwick.com/2026/07/04/a...
America’s 250th Birthday: Two Countries, One Flag - Industrial Estate of Mind
As America marks its 250th anniversary, the 2026 World Cup reveals two competing visions of the nation: democratic America and the rise of MAGA.
jon-chadwick.com
SpaceX is often held up as proof that free markets create innovation. Reality is more complex; government funding, defence contracts & industrial policy built 1 of the world’s most valuable companies #SpaceX #ElonMusk #AI #Economics jon-chadwick.com/2026/06/28/s...
Elon Musk and the Myth of the Free Market - Industrial Estate of Mind
SpaceX is often celebrated as a triumph of private enterprise. The reality is more complex. How government funding, industrial policy and public procurement helped create one of the world’s most valua...
jon-chadwick.com
Alliance for Responsible Citizenship conference shows the networks of wealth, media, lobbyists & politicians blurring the boundaries between mainstream conservatives & the far right. #PoliticsUK #BritishPolitics #conservatism #ReformUK #jordanpeterson jon-chadwick.com/2026/06/27/a...
How the Far Right Became Respectable - Industrial Estate of Mind
The Alliance for Responsible Citizenship conference, where politicians, billionaires and think tanks are redefining the boundaries between mainstream conservatism and the far right.
jon-chadwick.com
Ten years after Brexit, Britain is angrier, more divided and less trusting than the country that voted to leave the EU. Brexit changed our relationship with Europe, but also our politics, culture and sense of ourselves. #Brexit #ReformUK #NigelFarage #PoliticsUK jon-chadwick.com/2026/06/25/h...
What Brexit Did to Britain - Industrial Estate of Mind
Ten years after Brexit, Britain is more divided, angrier and less trusting.
jon-chadwick.com
Britain is about to get its seventh prime minister in little more than a decade. Is this really about the failings of individual leaders, or has politics itself become ungovernable? #UKPolitics #KeirStarmer #Brexit #democracy #government jon-chadwick.com/2026/06/22/w...
Why Do Prime Ministers Keep Failing? - Industrial Estate of Mind
Keir Starmer’s troubles are part of a wider pattern. Economic stagnation, political instability and unrealistic expectations are making Britain harder to govern.
jon-chadwick.com
Britain’s tax revenues are at their highest level since the Second World War, yet the average worker is relatively lightly taxed. Why are both the left and right looking for solutions that the maths doesn’t support? #Taxation #Economics #PublicSpending #UKPolitics jon-chadwick.com/2026/06/21/b...
Britain’s Tax Paradox: Why Taxes Are At Record Highs But Most Workers Pay Relatively Little - Industrial Estate of Mind
Britain’s tax revenues are at post-war highs, but average workers are lightly taxed by international standards. The maths behind the myths of left & right.
jon-chadwick.com
The Makerfield by-election tells us something important about British politics. Changing leaders won’t solve Britain’s problems of social fragmentation & political distrust. #AndyBurnham #KeirStarmer #LabourParty #ReformUK #UKPolitics #BritishPolitics jon-chadwick.com/2026/06/19/a...
Labour, Reform and the Limits of Politics - Industrial Estate of Mind
Could Andy Burnham replace Keir Starmer? Labour’s future, Reform UK’s challenges, and why changing leaders may not be enough to rebuild trust in politics.
jon-chadwick.com
I went to a far-right rally to hear about the failure of immigrant integration. I found people disconnected from Britain immersed in an online world of fear, outrage and conspiracy. #Immigration #Integration #BritishPolitics #FarRight #SocialMedia #CultureWars jon-chadwick.com/2026/06/16/r...
Does Britain have a problem with integration? - Industrial Estate of Mind
A Punjabi auntie in Essex, a far-right rally, and the surprising truth about integration in modern Britain.
jon-chadwick.com
The V&A East’s Music Is Black exhibition tells the story of how black music shaped modern Britain. It also raised questions about my generation - how did some of us grow up so differently? #MusicIsBlack #VAEast #TwoTone #TheSpecials #Ska #Windrush bbands.co.uk/music-is-bla...
Music Is Black - File Under Popular
“The English are not gifted artistically. They are not as musical as the Germans or Italians.” — George Orwell, The Lion and the Unicorn, 1940 Twenty-four years later British music dominated the world...
bbands.co.uk
For those who missed it (because it was buried in a blog) 12 questions on the World Cup #worldcup jon-chadwick.com/2026/06/13/q...
Quiz | World Cup - Industrial Estate of Mind
jon-chadwick.com
Crime in London has fallen massively, but people think that it has risen. Why did crime fall? Or did the Sweeney lie to us? #sadiqkhan #london #antmiddleton jon-chadwick.com/2026/06/13/w...
When London Stopped Robbing Banks - Industrial Estate of Mind
How the Economics of Crime Changed the Capital If you wanted to rob a bank in London in the 1970s, there was at least a certain logic to it. Cash was everywhere. Workers were often paid in cash. Pubs ...
jon-chadwick.com
Southgate’s greatest achievement wasn't tactical. It was convincing England that history doesn’t have to be a prison. Politics, football, patriotism and the stories nations tell about themselves. #England #GarethSouthgate #ThreeLions #WorldCup #EnglishIdentity jon-chadwick.com/2026/06/11/t...
Writing a New England - Industrial Estate of Mind
What Gareth Southgate understood about England: how history, patriotism and national identity shape the England football team and the country beyond it.
jon-chadwick.com
