Matthew Holehouse
@matthewholehouse.bsky.social
Public policy editor based in the Britain section at The Economist
"Whether Ms Truss and her fellow-travellers truly believe the paranoid MAGA worldview preached in Greenwich, or whether they just need the money, is hard to say." www.economist.com/britain/2026...
Postcard from the Liz Truss festival of ideas
British conservatism is weaker than you think
economist.com
It's not an original explanation for Badenoch, but it remains the best: she just really really likes Twitter
The Guardian@theguardian.com · 8h agoBadenoch defends decision to allow man jailed for antisemitism to stand as councillor
Sue Gray to do Political Currency. Perhaps we'll find out whether, as we were repeatedly told, it really was the job of one functionary alone to devise and prepare the agenda for an entire government.
"Six degrees of separation" - a party game in which players must find the link between a random news item and the cause of independence in the fewest steps possible
"The jobs that AI won’t do, like healthcare or the creative industries." An alarming line in an alarmingly shallow piece www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...
We must end this one-size-fits-all approach to education
Our school system has become too single-minded and is stopping children reaching their potential, says the education secretary
thetimes.com
On local jobs for local kids, and Westminster’s quixotic war on moving around In Britain, internal migration is out of favour economist.com/britain/2022...
In Britain, internal migration is out of favour
From “Billy Elliot” to “Everybody’s Talking About Jamie”
economist.com
Look at British employers’ record on training, especially smaller businesses and non-graduates, over the past two decades and it’s clear why you might have doubts about entrusting them with a greater role in delivering education
Rachel Coldicutt@rachelcoldicutt.bsky.social · last wk.One of the things I find odd about UK skills and jobs policies over the last 10 years is the idea that - for young people - place is destiny. It's like we've taken the Brexit memo and double stamped it into meaning you need to stay put to be a success. The geographical footprint of the UK is *tiny*
An interesting remark from Burnham at his gathering of English mayors. Some in the Scottish govt in particular chafed at Starmer’s invitation that they sit with (as they saw it, more lowly) regional English mayors on the CNR
A little piece on the world of @modernistestates.bsky.social and the quiet success of “Perambulations”. There is a lot of concrete, but a lot more than that too Grey expectations economist.com/interactive/...
Tours of British post-war housing are a quiet hit
Perambulations of the anti-Instagram kind
economist.com
But this is the upshot and the peril with the politics of “savings”, and particularly the centrepiece of your first week in office. If you treat the public as consumers to be won around with money-off vouchers then they will act as consumers.
Liam Thorp@liamthorp.bsky.social · 2w agoHave the British public always been so self centred? I’m staggered by how many people I’ve seen saying ‘I don’t use buses so what good is that?’ Or ‘pubs aren’t for me so who cares?’ Millions of people do use each and they are both pretty vital for our economy and society
I sat down with Elon Musk for The Insider this week. We discussed the future of AI—but also his foray into politics and his attitude towards Europe. Our exchange was extended and at times heated. Tune in on Thursday at 6pm London time (1pm New York): bit.ly/4fsnd9Q Photo: Cathlin McCullough
People said Andy Burnham didn’t get big business, but this is a great day for successful companies like Greene King, Whitbread, Wetherspoons and Stonegate Group
The Guardian@theguardian.com · 2w agoBusiness rates to be cut by 20% for England pubs, clubs and music venues
The problem is not that Britons are being lashed by the winds of globalisation. It is that they change jobs, switch between sectors and move home for work less than they used to. Stagnation, not disruption, is the disease. www.economist.com/leaders/2026...
Britain’s troublingly nostalgic new prime minister
In an era of change, Andy Burnham promises to rewind the clock
economist.com
No-one does appalled surprise at how things work like a former new labour special adviser
It's a large city to buy, but then he is very rich.
The Guardian@theguardian.com · 2w agoAmazon founder Jeff Bezos in talks to join consortium seeking 30% stake in Liverpool
So interesting. fwiw reckon Greece massively under-indexed relative to other factors as to why the EU looked an unsellable proposition to British voters in 2016
Nicolai von Ondarza@nvondarza.bsky.social · 2w agoAs someone who started working intensively on EU affairs in the 2010s, amazing to see Greece - then under Troika management and near state collapse - being heralded as an economic model to follow by British conservatives:
Scrapping structural reforms intended to save billions in efficiencies and fraud to fund a one off consumer subsidy. A statement of priorities
Clear pro-European line to Burnham’s first calls with EU leaders. Starmer’s July 22 summit now committed to later in the year
If you've been fired or resigned from Keir Starmer's cabinet, this is the government for you
New PM says we need to stop changing PMs so often 👍
Burnham’s self-branding as the PM for the north has been phenomenally successful. If you’re a Labour MP for the Thames estuary, perhaps too successful. By the great @owenwntr.bsky.social economist.com/britain/2026...
One of the problems with our current planning vetocracy is that it encourages an architectural monoculture that ultimately pleases no-one, with a high floor and a low ceiling. A better system would probably produce more clunkers and more gems economist.com/interactive/...
Of Burnham’s five priorities for office, four - or three if you’re generous - are essentially partisan and party-facing. Only devolution really constitutes a government agenda
A little piece on the world of @modernistestates.bsky.social and the quiet success of “Perambulations”. There is a lot of concrete, but a lot more than that too Grey expectations economist.com/interactive/...
Tours of British post-war housing are a quiet hit
Perambulations of the anti-Instagram kind
economist.com
The twin legs of Starmer's pro-business growth agenda were EU re-integration and planning reform. The fruits of both - the leaders' summit and the publication of the NPPF - were scheduled for this month. Both now on ice. www.planningresource.co.uk/article/1964...
New NPPF publication delayed until after start of summer recess, Pennycook announces
planningresource.co.uk
Take Back Control (Andy Burnham July 2026; Keir Starmer, Jan 2023). The idea that when people voted for Brexit, they were, deep down, expressing a wish for devolution and dirigisme is not a new one for the Labour Party.
Starmer’s continual references to “saving the Labour Party” in his “six years” of achievements more of an admission of defeat than he perhaps realises. Because in his old telling, the Labour Party could never be more than a means to an end and an instrument - to effective majority government
Stephen Bush@stephenkb.bsky.social · 3w ago"In one of those final interviews, Sir Keir was asked for his proudest moment. He chose walking up Downing Street the day after the general election. It was winning for the sake of winning. Why he wanted the job, Britain never quite learned." - fantastic column by @duncanrobinson.bsky.social:
