Very interesting read. This phrase stood out for me: “This reflects a special quality of social capital: it is the only form of capital that grows when you spend it, and depletes when you don’t.”

Must read. I’ve spent much of the past year visiting Big Locals, and have never been more certain that its model would deliver significant results if backed at scale (as the government is doing with Pride in Place) It is remarkable what some places have done given just a little money and time.

A fumbling of the bag of truly historic proportions. From @ippr.org

Join us later this month in Westminster to launch our Main Report. You can register to attend here: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/launch-of-...

Great piece by @paulswinney.bsky.social raising serious concerns about the UK's sub-national productivity data and what it can tell us. I share his worry that misleading conclusions about a northern city miracle may already be skewing policy debates www.economicsobservatory.com/have-the-uks...

This is clearly depressing and radicalising in a way a tax wouldn't have been.

Nice to see govt thinking about growth in the North. But I'm finding it hard to see a vision - what is really wrong with the North's economy and how might it be better by 2030, 2040, 2050? How do we get there? What sectors might need to shrink and how will we manage change? What about people?

ICON's latest - and biggest - report to date will be published in Westminster, 28th Jan. It will be a packed out morning with some very special guests (to be announced!) joining us. Tickets are available below - get them while you can! www.eventbrite.com/e/no-short-c...

Extremely value research from Will that is worth reading in full

This is a good piece and I’m glad it mentions Nudge, who are doing amazing work in Plymouth and who I loved spending a day visiting last year. Very much inspiration for very soon-to-come @iconeighbours.bsky.social work on the conditions of our high streets today and what we can do to fix them.

‘If a drug boasted such benefits [as the arts] governments would be pouring billions into it. Instead, funding has been slashed across the culture sector.’ www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Reform councillors are trying to blame Labour's funding reforms for council tax rises It doesn't stack up. After those reforms, 5/10 Reform councils will receive above average funding increases and none get anywhere near a cut They are raising tax because they failed to deliver promised savings

Crazy stat in this excellent piece on the Docklands Canary Wharf generates around the same in gross value added (£40bn/yr) as Birmingham, the second city of the United Kingdom: www.economist.com/britain/2026...

Even if Labour could go on to deliver real improvements to public services, living standards, and the public realm by the time of the next election, how on earth does that stack up against things like this? Not even including X, Facebook, TikTok, Instagram... www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

Come join our team at FGF: * Communications Coordinator - who will devise & deliver communication campaigns to raise FGF's profile, reputation and reach * Researcher - who will conduct research & analysis in support of FGF projects and workstreams www.futuregovernanceforum.co.uk/vacancies/

This was always going to happen Reform promised to cut wasteful spending but never had any proper plan for how to do so. Instead, it was all populist nonsense about "DEI" programmes and lazy council staff www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Late to this excellent piece by @ben-glover.bsky.social on the reasons the post-1945 Britain looks more attractive to many young politicos than the post-1979 one. And on the thing that made that work, which we need to stop hating quite so much: www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-...

Very good post from Aveek on the (who I am v pleased is back writing!) on the longer term data on ethno-nationalist views in Britain, and what we might do to curb any future rises

A great two paragraphs on *everything*, from @chrisdillow.bsky.social

Good piece. If Labour politicians were less rigid and much more open, spoke in terms of real conviction and not hesitation, and could actually have a bit of a laugh once in a while, it would do more for their poll rating than any one programme or strategy could. open.substack.com/pub/peterhym...

Second point is completely correct. Algorithms are now way more important than any traditional media for political/policy comms. Political operators get this but the policy world does not. One semi-viral clip or post has 10x more influence potential than a journalist writing up your research.

Some pretty worrying shifts identified in this new @ippr.org @yougov.co.uk data: www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

We have so much good evidence for cash transfers but so many just refuse to accept that those in poverty can make good decisions.

This is a great idea. Naloxone is magic, perhaps the closest thing to a wonder drug I can think of, that has prevented countless unnecessary overdoses. Drug and alcohol charities have done a lot of good to get it out into communities, but more can be done! www.mirror.co.uk/news/politic...

“Economics brings a toughness of thought to policy making,through insisting on thinking about opportunity costs, the balance of costs and benefits, and the likelihood that people will respond to incentives” Diane Coyle in “Cogs and Monsters”

This paper argues building more large family homes would improve affordability more than starter homes. One of my favs this year Is it also one of the best pro-natal policies we’ve not tried? Much of fertility decline is the collapse of 3+ child families… www.publicfirst.co.uk/why-building...

One of the most persistent myths about the UK economy is that when places are invested in, growth “trickles out” to surrounding areas. Sometimes it does - but only where places have the right conditions to capture those opportunities. But what are those conditions? Our new paper explores...🧵

There is much more in the report, with @growthandreform.bsky.social, which you can read here: www.neighbourhoodscommission.org.uk/report/the-m...

One of the most persistent myths about the UK economy is that when places are invested in, growth “trickles out” to surrounding areas. Sometimes it does - but only where places have the right conditions to capture those opportunities. But what are those conditions? Our new paper explores...🧵

Today we publish a new report with @growthandreform.bsky.social on economic growth in disadvantaged neighbourhoods.

Exhibit #457 that Reform has broken its pledge to find "wasteful" council spending Cllrs in Worcestershire have asked for permission to raise council tax by 10% (rather than default maximum of 5%) to close their budget gap They are also asking for emergency funding www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

mixed use, walkable neighborhoods. rome, 1967

Noticing a larger number of shops and takeaways on London high streets advertising in their window that they only accept cash or bank transfer, never card payment Probably the most in your face tax dodging we’ve seen so far

2024-25 community life survey, which has a large sample of 175k, distributed at 500+ in each local authority area The findings are stable year on year & reflect the themes of the State of Us Generally high local belonging Mixed trust Varied civic participation www.gov.uk/government/s...

Very welcome. Can say from experience having had to negotiate a new allocations policy in a council, with social landlords, some will flat out refuse to play ball Some have their own internal policies - sometimes secret(!) - that exist solely to reduce how many homeless referrals they take.

This is a good reform. Free school meal take up has been a proxy for disadvantage for ages but as we know - and the article says - not all those eligible claim it, + this is most true for children beginning school, the point that additional support is most needed schoolsweek.co.uk/pupil-premiu...

Crazy chart - UK productivity growth has averaged only half a percent a year since the financial crisis, which is the lowest of all eras since the industrial revolution really started to take shape in the early 19th century.

"Business dynamism measured by the job reallocation rate was lower in 2024 than 2001 in every industry." This, IMHO, is the biggest potential blindspot in this government's growth strategy, not anything to do with taxes, borrowing or fiscal policy www.ons.gov.uk/economy/econ...

The Economist: Britain is currently the most politically fragemented it has been since WW2 (though this may go back further than the data allows) "Britons are increasingly voting for an array of parties as if they were modern Europeans while getting the two-party parliaments of Victorian England"

Great piece. Not a word I disagree with. I would add the "dumbing down" of politics has happened in part because the political class has wrongly convinced itself the public has no interest in ideas, or the attention span for longer-form thoughts and arguments. 1000% untrue. 1/?

No shortage of examples (others: ARIA, Vaccines Taskforce, AI Security Institute, Behavioural Insights Team, Social Exclusion Unit) that give us a crystal clear view of how to make the civil service effective at delivery. Yet >99% of government is stuck on the legacy set up, and struggling

This week @iconeighbours.bsky.social published a new paper from Adam Coutts and Diego Mauricio Diaz Velásquez exploring the links between social infrastructure, capital, and cohesion. In my opinion it is one of our best and most interesting papers so far. Three of my main highlights below 👇

Something I hadn't realised but @samfr.bsky.social has on his post-Budget Substack. The Chancellor/Treasury used the same tricks (delaying tax rises/spending cuts) to game the fiscal rules as we we saw under the Tories, but come the next Spending Review - in 2027 - that road will run out.

Can we not do policy change anymore? Can we not decide if something is good or bad and then make a call? Or are we just stuck on a forever pilot autopilot?

I am certain that each year that goes by the time between the Budget beginning, and then getting bored and just wanting to get to the documents already, gets shorter.

Also, I hear rates blamed all the time for empty units around here, but on the typical local high street outside of the more expensive areas, most small businesses will be exempt from business rates anyway.

Interesting piece that touches on something rarely ever said on the “death of the high street” - a lot of retail and hospitality firms that rely on low-middle earners have made *zero* effort to innovate while the world around it changed. Completely frozen in time. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Great piece on Municipal Bonds from Morgan Wild. I continue to be baffled every time I read a piece in this area that HM Treasury under Labour seems completely disinterested in going anywhere near ideas like this. A genuine growth, growth, growth idea. takes.jamesomalley.co.uk/p/municipal-...

My latest for @tribunemagazine.bsky.social On how Reform are making waves in towns like #Biddulph #NorthStaffordshire

Big fan of this piece. I have felt for a while that lots of public policy work is done in a "legacy" way that repeatedly delivers the wrong solutions to our biggest challenges. The media gets this and is changing. Government and everyone who works in and around it needs to change too, fast.