Well the Bsky pile-on is a new experience for me. Original posts deleted and the less polite blocked. Doesn't seem in the spirit of this place really, but will be more careful next time.
Simon Parker
@simonparker.bsky.social
Public servant in search of a better future. Communities and service users first. Desires to unbuild walls.
The irony is business rates is that they were designed to be a massive giveaway. The overall take is capped in real terms. In a very real sense it never goes up!
Is there anything more tiresome than watching former lefties age into reaction?
David Higham@oldtrotter.bsky.social · 3d agoDear me.
We are finally abandoning our failed experiment with the radical centralisation of political and economic power. I have spent my whole career arguing for this. It's a good day. The question for me is what happens next with councils - more power for mayors goes nowhere if the tier beneath is bust.
Stephen Bush@stephenkb.bsky.social · 5d agoThis is a great move:
How not to do a national care service... I think more money and empowering #localgov are critical to success, especially if you want to contain cost.
Professor Peter Matthews@urbaneprofessor.bsky.social · last wk.Ok, so here's how I understand what happened. The SG proposed creating the NCS by creating regional Social Care Boards which would parallel the NHS Boards. They would commission all social care services in their areas. And EVERYONE hated this. Councils hated it because they would just become the...
Plenty of time in the schedule for Hugh Gaitskell to come over in the mid-afternoon and shag Ann while Ian's lobster hunting
Tansy Gardam@tansyg.bsky.social · last wk.obsessed with Ian Flemming's daily schedule - swim - brunch - write 1500 words no edits just freestyle - lobster hunting - pink gin - lunch - siesta - sit in garden - another swim - 500 more words - "a couple of powerful drinks" - dinner - scrabble with wife - sleep
This is very good. Local authorities are still going bust. www.themj.co.uk/burnham-boos...
Burnham to boost mayors' spending power
Prime Minister Andy Burham is preparing to announce a significant boost to mayors' spending power later this week, it has been reported. Burnham is expected to...
themj.co.uk
Counterpoint: this often happens because the important person is under a lot of pressure to make something change, and all they hear from their teams is that it can't happen.
fesshole 🧻@fesshole.bsky.social · 2w agoI work for a public sector body. Someone important has had an idea and wants us to do it. Everyone agrees the idea is not viable. But because we can't say no, we're paying a consultancy £100k to come up with the evidence to say its not viable. This happens a lot.
A bit from me about how the new northern No 10 is taking shape (and how Whitehall seems to be trying to Manchesterify) as.ft.com/r/a2d0b7a7-3...
Andy Burnham’s ‘Number 10 North’ is already up and running
Government intends Manchester office to be ‘engine room of devolution and good growth in every postcode’
as.ft.com
The new Department of the PM and Cabinet is genuinely a good development. It will allow much better coordination of whole-of-government strategy. Gold star. But the other thing the centre of government needs to do is reform the civil service. Important that side of the job not ignored.
How do you build No 10 North? PM Burnham has promised to create a new, powerful entity in Manchester to help drive his devo agenda & rebalance power in the country But what should it actually *do* & *how* can Burnham build it? 🧵
This is funny because Steve Reed accomplished his own version of the Thanos Snap by abolishing 96 councils #lgr.
Jack Tindale@jacktindale.bsky.social · 2w agoSteve Reed will return in Avengers: Doomsday.
Research has identified gaps between projected funding and projected spending needs of local government funding in England of £9.3 billion by 2026–27. But if fiscal devolution is the answer for English local government, what is the question? politicalquarterly.org.uk/blog/what-pe...
Mike Scott's increasingly frenzied releases of 'lost' Fishermen's Blues recordings are a reminder of why outtakes are a thing. The final album is a perfect gem. It captures an exquisitely balanced moment when roots, postpunk and rock and roll met in one place. Harsh pruning is part of the art.
I agree with this but am not sure it's really what Burnham is doing. The received wisdom of the 1990s onwards is that the left won culturally and the right economically. The right has noticed. Now, perhaps, so has the left.
James Austin@jamesdaustin.bsky.social · 2w agoIn general I think a speech in 2026, and a political mission, should not try and define itself against someone who left power before I was born. Defining yourself against Thatcher not onpy dismissed the (excellent) 97-10 govt but is just... irrelevant to anyone under 40
Ok I went to see The Odyssey and... a bit meh. Some genuinely excellent parts, but a few bits of plot left the four of us baffled, it was too long and the link with the bronze age collapse is both very clever and ultimately a bit didactic.
An interactive atlas of the British Empire's civil service: ~16,000 Colonial & India Office careers (1820–1966), every move an arc across the map. Rebuilt from the digitized Indian and Colonial Office Lists with a knowledge graph. WIP, feedback welcome: jimclifford.ca/col_matching/
The trade media version of this is 'Why Andy Burnham must prioritise my quite niche professional area, which I know won't happen but I said I'd do 500 words'. See also pieces such as 'what England's world cup performance means for local government' (which I have actually written).
Giles Wilkes@gilesyb.bsky.social · 3w agoThere's gonna be a new PM. What he needs is an op-ed telling him what to do, of which there's no doubt a lamentable absence. Here's the time-hallowed method for creating one: 1. Set out the problem cleanly, as if the PM had literally no idea that growth, the cost of living and deficit matter. 1/
Keep thinking about 'the lanyard class' as a sneer. You usually wear a lanyard to get into a building. So we're looking down on people who work in buildings, which is... quite a lot of us?
From London Left to Manchester Left. Whisper it, but they're not so different.
Elizabeth Taylor@elizabethtaylor47.bsky.social · 3w agoWill we ever ever get a PM who wants to support social liberal ideas or actually likes ‘metropolitan’ people again? I’m tired 🥲
What I find oddest about this is that - since the 2019 net zero target - the tech has moved decisively in the right direction. EVs are better and vastly cheaper, solar is significantly more efficient, electrification is proceeding nicely. It's starting to look like we're just making a tech upgrade.
Sam Freedman@samfr.bsky.social · 3w agoOr much of a drop in public support. Fascinating example of elite consensus switching despite popular opinion.
The police comms around this is awful beyond belief. The headline says 'leftwing motivation' but the quotes actually say 'early stage and investigating everything'. Just keep quiet until you actually know something! www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...
Ann Widdecombe killing: police investigating possible leftwing motivation
Detectives examining whether hatred of Widdecombe’s strong views or of Reform party were factors in killing described as a ‘targeted attack’
theguardian.com
FPTP is just absurd with this sort of spread. With these numbers Reform is comfortably the largest party. But with a three point bump for Labour and a 0.6 point fall for Reform, it's progressive alliance time. Broken system
YouGov@yougov.co.uk · 3w agoLatest YouGov Westminster voting intention, 12-13 July 2026 Reform UK: 24% (-1 from 5-6 Jul) Conservatives: 19% (-2) Labour: 19% (-1) Greens: 15% (+2) Lib Dems: 13% (+1) Restore Britain: 3% (=) SNP: 3% (=) Plaid Cymru: 2% (=) Your Party: 0% (=) Others: 1% (-1) yougov.com/en-gb/articl...
