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Glad someone senior from the sector is pushing back. Labour MPs need to understand the serious real anger from graduates and the people who produce them. And the dangerous financial situation they have allowed to fester, or indeed worsened, in one of Britain’s leading sectors.
Labour has harmed universities as much as Trump, London School of Economics head says
LSE vice-chancellor Larry Kramer points to domestic student fees freeze, international student limits and rise in employers’ national insurance
ft.com
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 agoQuick analysis from @antbreach.bsky.social. 1/ Proposals = biggest transfer of power from national to local government in the history of the state.
I think we will all be disappointed if the next devo white paper doesn't include some references to mesopotamia or a graph of city sizes through history
This is crucial: Flexibility will help mayors provide leverage when they need to, and the system should provide strong incentives for growth
Thomas Pope@tompope.bsky.social · 5d agoFiscal devo could be a real gamechanger in terms of giving mayors flexibility to spend money and focus on the long term while rewarding growth-enhancing decisions. But the detail will be bedevilled with trade-offs, e.g. on incentivising growth vs equalisation, and dealing with volatility 6/
Some thoughts on the government's devo announcement today: Overall, this is a great start on the govt's flagship agenda 1/
Rewiring the State – Cabinet Statement (HTML)
gov.uk
On today's announcements from Number 10: scale of ambition is bold, pace of change rapid, but end result will be a more normal European country
Today’s set of announcements amount to the most significant rebalancing of power from Whitehall to local areas in a generation. www.centreforcities.org/press/centre...
Centre for Cities welcomes "unashamedly pro-growth" income tax sharing for mayors - Centre for Cities
"The devolution announcement today marks a new era for the British economy."
centreforcities.org
Allowing mayors to keep a share of local income tax is unashamedly pro-growth and will remove anchors that have held back the UK’s cities for decades. It will be the most significant and welcome transfer of fiscal powers since the foundation of the modern welfare state.
Burnham's fiscal devolution shouldn't be seen as radical - just a step towards making us a more normal country It will help but it's nowhere near a strategy for growth either
I am starting a new newspaper, sort of like the old newspaper, but better. Tell your friends
Coming soon: a new publication on research, higher education and industrial strategy from the guy who brought you the old one (me)
Research Professional News, which I founded, is being closed on 31 December. My new, independent publication will start up on 1 January
open.substack.com
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 agoBurnham 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.
🌊 𝗡𝗲𝘄 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗽𝗮𝗽𝗲𝗿 : " #𝗗𝗶𝗴𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀: 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗮𝗰𝗿𝗼𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗼𝗺𝗶𝗰 𝗰𝗼𝘀𝘁𝘀 𝗼𝗳 #𝘀𝘂𝗯𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗰𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗯𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗸𝘀" #Underseacables 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁-𝗺𝗶𝗹𝗲 𝗱𝗶𝗴𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗹 #𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸𝗯𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗴𝗹𝗼𝗯𝗮𝗹 𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗼𝗺𝘆, keeping cross-border payments flowing, enabling trade coordination, and supporting the data layer of production networks.
joelcariolle.github.io
Is the demise of the UK’s Department for Science, Innovation and Technology really the disaster that some commentators are suggesting? The nice people at @resprofnews.bsky.social gave me the space to explain why it really isn’t: www.researchprofessional.com/news-article... #scipolicy
Research Professional Sign-in
researchprofessional.com
“Der König des Nordens” - wonder what that means… Spoke to @zeit.de about what lessons @andyburnham.bsky.social is drawing from Germany Including devolution and equivalent living conditions - “growth felt in every postcode” - which draws on the German Basic Law www.zeit.de/2026/31/andy...
Andy Burnham: Der Labour-Rebell, der nun ganz Großbritannien regieren soll
Zweimal versuchte Andy Burnham erfolglos, Labour-Chef zu werden. Nun wird er Großbritanniens neuer Premier. Er will das Land umbauen – nach deutschem Vorbild.
zeit.de
Nice piece on Burnham’s agenda in the New York Times includes some stellar names like @dianecoyle1859.bsky.social and, er, me www.nytimes.com/2026/07/17/b...
New Prime Minister Faces Old Problems: How to Make Britain’s Economy Grow (Gift Article)
Conversations with economists, and people around him, shed light on how Andy Burnham might tackle entrenched challenges.
nytimes.com
This would extend the cliff edge problem and incentivise gaming/appeals - why not just bite the bullet and move to a simple % rate which is simple, fair, and much more in line with almost every other advanced economy? Why do we have to make things difficult for ourselves?
Dan Neidle@danneidle.bsky.social · 4w agoLast year's Budget introduced a “mansion tax” - an annual charge on homes worth £2m or more. The Mail on Sunday reported that Andy Burnham may lower the threshold to £1.5m. We've looked at how that could work, what it would raise, and which parts of the UK would pay the most.
Happy to share that I've (re)joined @aleininger.bsky.social at @uni-hamburg.de as a postdoc! I'll continue my research on party organizations, building on my dissertation @princeton.edu. My first dissertation spin-off examines how far-right parties tap into rural communities. 1/5
New Acemoglu and Autor paper finds that lower birth rates are associated with higher GDP per capita growth and falling fertility doesn't reduce economic wellbeing.
📢 We're hiring! Join us and work with @neillee.bsky.social on a funded project exploring how public green lending shapes private investment and local growth. A great opportunity for aspiring PhD students interested in green finance, data and applied research. 🍃 zurl.co/70mkq
Conceptualizing private military and security companies doi.org/10.1177/0738... Paper in @conflictmanagement.bsky.social by @nuffieldcollege.bsky.social student Thomas Brailey
Some important research on “Manchesterism” here:
The Productivity Institute@productivity.bsky.social · last mo.As Andy Burnham proposes moving No.10 functions north, attention turns to the “Manchester model”. 2 new TPI papers show how devolution, strong institutions & investment have boosted productivity for Manchester. 1: www.productivity.ac.uk/research/uk-... 2: www.productivity.ac.uk/research/the...
Devolution isn't a complete growth strategy, but: 1. Greater regional variety creates more chance of evolution/learning; we'll find out better what works & doesn't. 2. Local people should know better than Whitehall how to spend money - eg what type of transport links etc need to be improved.
London is no longer the growth driver of the UK Since 2016 the capital has lost a lot of ground relative to other UK cities This underperformance has been one of the key factors holding back the UK economy Please update your takes (doesn't mean devolution isn't still a great idea)
