Eradicating guinea worm will be a major victory - I look forward to the day, and thank everyone who funds and does this magnificent work, including @Unlimit_health, spun out of @ucl.ac.uk I think.

Our World in Data@ourworldindata.org · 3h ago

How close is the world to eradicating guinea worm disease? Guinea worm disease, also known as “dracunculiasis”, is a painful and debilitating parasitic infection. The guinea worm’s larvae can invade a person’s stomach and intestines when they drink contaminated water, such as from a stagnant pond.

www.ft.com/content/547b... <<< Me in the FT today, discussing qualifications, connections and job markets

Why Burnham is wrong about education and opportunity

Success in adulthood is not just about connections

ft.com

The relative importance of qualifications vs connections - me in the FT responding to @andyburnham.bsky.social m interview with Jimmy McLoughlin - www.ft.com/content/547b...

Why Burnham is wrong about education and opportunity

Success in adulthood is not just about connections

ft.com

Want to be a better driver? Take a speed awareness course. Only you can't. We should change that - my substack this week - timleunig.substack.com/p/speed-awar... Free to read

Speed Awareness Courses

Here is an idea…

timleunig.substack.com

Yes, improving schools and ensuring kids have qualifications matters a lot for their employment outcomes. As (particularly for lower skilled workers) does having a vibrant local economy. I think lack of driving test slots raises NEET rates too - something you could and should solve by Christmas.

Torsten Bell@torstenbell.bsky.social · 3d ago

More generally, moving macro to micro, I hope we all agree it’s clear individual educational experiences are highly correlated with NEET risk

The draft #LondonPlan introduces the concept of Broad Locations of Growth: areas of green belt expected to deliver 56,100 homes. There are ten BLGs, covering 50 stations in all. I've mapped every one—so come join me on a jaunt around the fringes of London. curtography.uk/2026/08/02/b...

BLG Gazetteer - Curtography

A long journey around the ten Broad Locations of Growth established by the draft London Plan.

curtography.uk

I am really not sure that is right, @torstenbell.bsky.social. Once we account for the difference in economic vibrancy, there isn't a lot of evidence that the very different education systems in Eng-Scot-Wales change NEET rates very much at all. (Participation does, but that is different issue)

Torsten Bell@torstenbell.bsky.social · 3d ago

It’s probably worth distinguishing between what explains the rise since the pandemic (clear role labour market change, building on weak performance in 2010s) with what drives UK’s higher level of neets internationally (education participation is absolutely part of it)

Just written my next substack - timleunig.substack.com - out tomorrow morning. Pleased to see that the AI checker thinks it was written by a human...

AI is very good at generating pictures - I use it for my substack sometimes - see this one, for example - timleunig.substack.com/p/a-plea-to-...

A plea to our new Prime Minister - abolish me!

Constitutional advice for Andy Burnham

timleunig.substack.com

Paul Fleetwood@macalbatross.bsky.social · 4d ago

Computers being good at doing calculations, and bad at creating art, should probably have been expected.

This is well worth reading, even if (like me) you will have to skip over the technical material. AI and LLMs really do work in maths.

Zach Weinersmith@zachweinersmith.bsky.social · 4d ago

There's lots of stuff LLMs can't do, but if you want to disbelieve all the recent math, you have to believe a bunch of Fields Medalists with long track records are just straightforwardly lying about the thing they care most about. Here's a recent blog by Gowers: gowers.wordpress.com/2026/05/08/a...

Surprising findings... Read on... Since 2000, the poorest tenth of people in Germany have hardly got any richer, while the richest have seen their living standards increase a lot...

Of course, if Andy Burnham really means this, he can legislate for a higher minimum wage for care workers. We used to have sector specific minimum wages, and I think the Netherlands still does.

Farrukh@implausibleblog.bsky.social · last wk.

Andy Burnham, "To me, carers should be the best paid people in society, not the worst" "Many people from other countries have been caring for my dad" Andy Burnham praises migrants to the UK who care for our elderly, a stark contrast to Keir-island-of-strangers-Starmer

Nobody seems to have clocked that "make the Boriswave leave" has led a Labour govt to propose the largest loss of legal status in history Whether it was conscious design or unwitting impacts, that govt's initial plan forces vets, architects, scientists to loss legal status in 2030 is still unknown

Were you able to use all of it? Or did you wish you had a bigger battery?

James O'Malley@jamesomalley.co.uk · last wk.

30.37 kWh! What a day! ☀️

Been busy with other stuff this evening. Boy the long end hated whatever was said at the presser.

You gotta think even Telegraph readers aren't buying this shit as their holiday home near Bordeaux goes up in flames...

Roland Smith@rolandmcs.bsky.social · last wk.

Nighty night.

I love the idea of your wanting to circumvent my paywall by asking me to read my substack in the House of Lords!

Left Outside@leftoutside.bsky.social · last wk.

What's the policy in the lords for speaking slots? How often can you get up and just read a blog post out? (This is my way of circumventing tour paywall by reading the posts in Hansard).

Incredible that this is still going on - and indicative of how little priority issues affecting young people are given that it isn't more of a national scandal

Tim Leunig@timleunig.bsky.social · last wk.

Last night I looked at the availability of driving tests at the 100 nearest test centres in the next six months. Number of centres with an test available? Not one. Our country is failing!

Exactly - if the govt really cared about NEETs it would sort this problem. All it has to do is increase the price of the test to the point where it can hire enough examiners to be able to test everyone promptly. They could even make a profit - a win-win

Kerry Ferguson@kickingk74.bsky.social · last wk.

More on the ridiculous situation with driving tests. This won't be helping the NEET problem. I know of several young ppl who've given up trying to get a test & are now limited to jobs/opportunities that are walkable or on bus route (not many in rural areas).

More low hanging fruit for @andyburnham.bsky.social ?

Tim Leunig@timleunig.bsky.social · last wk.

Last night I looked at the availability of driving tests at the 100 nearest test centres in the next six months. Number of centres with an test available? Not one. Our country is failing!

Last night I looked at the availability of driving tests at the 100 nearest test centres in the next six months. Number of centres with an test available? Not one. Our country is failing!

I have written about why I think the UK government's approach to heat pumps is failing, and what they can do about it. You can read about it in this week's substack - timleunig.substack.com/p/i-want-to-... (£/free trial)

I want to be cool

How air con can help save the world

timleunig.substack.com

On property, chief economist @timleunig.bsky.social explains why council tax and stamp duty are long overdue reforms. His ideas range from the immediate to the radical - from rebalancing council tax bands to ease regional inequalities to replacing council tax and stamp duty entirely ⤵️

Fiscal options: what to do about property taxes

Council tax locks in regional inequality, while stamp duty stops people from moving - policy tweaks and fundamental reforms can fix both.

nesta.org.uk

Yet another Brexit hit to the UK economy - US imposes a tariff hike on UK, but EU escapes... www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...

Trump’s latest round of tariffs ‘put UK at a disadvantage’

Britain must pay the levies on top of tariffs imposed on members of the World Trade Organisation — but the EU has an ‘all-inclusive’ deal

thetimes.com

Excellent take down by @danneidle.bsky.social

Dan Neidle@danneidle.bsky.social · 2w ago

Seen that opinion poll in which millionaires say they're in favour of a wealth tax on millionaires? It's an absolute masterclass in how to get the polling result that you want. And the detail shows the opposite of what we're told it shows. Thread:

I love medical advances - thanks @robblackie.bsky.social for spotting this one

Rob Blackie@robblackie.bsky.social · 2w ago

Progress in cancer treatment is incredible. Here's a new pancreatic cancer treatment that is *tripling* survival rates after a year compared to chemotherapy.

NEW: The opposition Conservatives are making a symbolic attempt to repeal the UK's Climate Change Act It will be debated on 2 September, after summer recess (and a series of deadly heatwaves)

I know that 'I have a salaried job and then do the occasional bit of paid TV or radio work' is a small group, but the thing I would like from HMRC is if I could just have an account I was paid into, and they just took an exorbitant flat rate of everything as it paid in, no forms, no thinking.

Job news - I am off to the @UKHouseofLords to join @eddavey.libdems.org.uk's team of peers. I look forward to working hard to hold the government to account...

People I trust tell me that Strasbourg is unlikely to rule against a govt that did this.

Andrew Garner@andrewbgarner.bsky.social · 3w ago

Interesting; do you have any analysis as to whether this would survive a challenge under Article 1 (right to peaceful enjoyment of property)? We may not like it, but investors have bought up those ground rent cash flows and sold them to pension funds etc.