We will be in Bournemouth for the Lib Dem Conference from Sunday 21 September until Monday 22 September. Our first event will be an in conversation with Sir Nick Clegg on his new book on big tech, AI and political conflict - join us at 19:45 at Tregonwell Hall

I‘m heading to Labour Party conference! Thrilled to be speaking on this panel alongside prisons minister Lord Timpson and @fionarutherford.bsky.social from JUSTICE. Please come along, and drop me a DM if you want to grab a coffee and chat public services/criminal justice/digital reform.

The government is taking the right approach to sentencing reform It must resist pressure to water down its proposals, says @cassiarowland.bsky.social www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/comment/gove...

This is v.good by @cassiarowland.bsky.social on the Sentencing Bill, including the potential benefits of earned progression if it can be implemented properly if/when current pressures on the prison system subside.

Let's face it, it's not often I get to say nice things about what's happening in criminal justice. But the Sentencing Bill, up before the Commons today, is an exception! It's not perfect, but there's lots to like and the gov should hold firm against pressure to water down proposals. 🧵

This is moving in exactly the wrong direction! Education & meaningful activity in prison is crucial to reducing violence and improving outcomes

Worth saying bc I’ve seen a lot of people talking about this: it is much harder & more dangerous to do mass arrests (like c900 arrests at pro-Palestine Action protest last week) when crowd is violent and adversarial. That doesn’t mean arrests won’t happen later.

New NAO report finds the cost of a place in a children's care home has nearly doubled in 5 years. The biggest private providers make average annual profits of 22.6%, many backed by private equity. And many children aren't getting what they need, placed far from home, in unlawful settings

Angela Rayner's resignation on Friday means that a contest to replace her as deputy leader of the Labour Party has started. Read my first explainer at the @instituteforgovernment.org.uk to find out how the process will work, who is running, and when will we find out who Rayner's successor will be!

Honestly, it is absurd to publish a league table with confidence intervals so wide that a single trust could be in either the top 10 or bottom 10

Slightly diminish a book Wuthering Hillocks

With Rayner stepping down we have hit 10 minister's who have oficially resigned from this government. Make sure you are following @paddy-mcalary.bsky.social @timdurrant.bsky.social @rebeccamckee.bsky.social meganbryer.bsky.social for what Starmer will do next with his minsiterial team.

Explaining the day’s developments to a non-British friend:

Giving my live take on the government reshuffle to BBC news channel from the Reform UK conference… “There’s long been an expectation of a reshuffle around this time, but Starmer will be frustrated at being bounced into potentially wider changes than he had planned before Rayner’s departure…

And onto Lammy! Hopefully he'll feel the title of deputy PM makes up for being handed one of the trickiest portfolios in politics at the moment.

We've had a few surprising moves in this reshuffle so far - one of the big ones is Shabana Mahmood becoming home secretary. On our liveblog I've given a bit of an overview of what she'll face coming in: www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/live-blog/st...

As the second reshuffle of the week kicks off, we have launched our liveblog. We will be covering all the ins and outs as well as top analysis from our IfG experts. www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/live-blog/st...

Not sure the consequences are proportionate to the error here. Not in terms of consequences for Rayner’s career (can’t see this as the end) but harm it does to actual gov delivery. This stuff really matters! Building those houses, local gov reorganisation, new mayoralties all just got a lot harder.

We may find out today whether Sir Laurie Magnus concludes that Angela Rayner has broken the ministerial code. But what happens then? While this is a big test of Labour's bolstered ethics system, ultimately these things are all about the politics: www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/comment/ange...

Brill thread & report from my colleague @teodorgrama.bsky.social on the civil service fast stream, the challenges it's facing and how to fix it

Excellent (as ever) sleuthing by Penelope on one of the massive holes in available data in the criminal justice system — in this case yet another on the ‘single justice procedure’, the process for prosecuting low-level offences based on paper submissions, with no court hearing.

Facinating new evaluation on the impact of electronic tags for prison leavers on reoffending. Mandatory tags for serious acquisitive (theft, burglary etc) offenders cut from reoffending rate from 33% to 26%. Avg number of offences also fell, by 0.35. assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/68aef2...

People find this weird because half my job is reading/talking/thinking about crime, but I hate true crime & think morally corrosive is exactly right. I’ve had victims tell me things that have happened to them I’ll remember for the rest of my life. This stuff shouldn’t be a source of entertainment.

Pleased to see the gov is increasing prison sentences that can be ‘suspended’ (ie you don’t go to prison unless you breach terms of your sentence/commit another crime). We previously called for this — good evidence they’re cheaper & more effective www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

If you're in need of some light summer reading, check out this fab new report from my colleague @amberdellar.bsky.social on school performance. Which are the worst local authorities to go to school in? Why does London do so much better? And how can we improve outcomes for disadvantaged kids?

Great thread from Tom here — data suggests immigrants & those born overseas are less likely to commit crimes than UK-born citizens

It's like the literature simply didn't have a pure enough example of a debt fuelled bubble and wanted to create the Platonic ideal of one, just to help out future finance professors

NEW Are foreign nationals more likely to commit sex offences? The Centre for Migration Control says 40-47% of those charged in London in 2024 were foreign nationals, who account for only 25% of London population. Stats cited by Nigel Farage & Robert Jenrick . But it's not the whole story.

if Mayors ask to be allowed to levy tourist taxes, let them - @instituteforgovernment.org.uk blog by me and @tompope.bsky.social www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/comment/rach... - time to end HMT control freakery

Why I 🧡 the web. drawafish.com Just draw the fish. Trust me. 🐟

Great thread from Evie here that drives home the massive impact Trump’s actions have had on British public opinion.

I hate to say this (I mean I really, *really* hate to say this) but…I don’t think they do. If they did, they would have noticed by now! The one bit of criminal justice people ‘notice’ is rising crime…which hasn’t actually happened.

This is clearly never going to happen again so thought I’d share: Unzoomed #545 2/6 🟡🟢⚪️⚪️⚪️⚪️ unzoomed.com

In an effort that will no doubt torch my follower base, I have laid out some basic numbers around our fiscal situation. Obvious, but still a little sobering for me. freethinkecon.wordpress.com/2025/07/15/t...

This is an excellent analysis of the Leveson Review (and not only because it mirrors my own view as I wade through the report). The biggest problem in the courts, as any criminal barrister will tell you, is that things just don’t *work*. So much time is lost to systemic inefficiency.

ICYMI: I went through hundreds of pages of the Leveson review so you don't have to, and put it in context here

Story tonight about our joint open letter to The Times We’re calling for the guidance that is preventing civil servants from participating in public and stakeholder events to be withdrawn www.thetimes.com/article/2e4f...

My take on the Leveson review! Restricting jury trials would cut the case backlog & if you’re going to do it, this is a good model. BUT it isn't necessary. Leveson's argument is based on rising demand - when the real problem is poor productivity. 🧵 www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/comment/leve...

See also www.experimental-history.com/p/the-radica...

Cosplaying as Gen Z so I can show off my socks for the occasion

Really excellent bit of investigative journalism here. And a great illustration that functioning and accessible *civil* courts are also vital to preventing/remedying criminal behaviour!

An excellent question! Probably *not quite*. While clearly an opinion supportive of the organisation, the Met left out part of the definition for that: also requires you be “reckless as to whether a person to whom the expression is directed will be encouraged to support a proscribed organisation”.

I really like the sound of the Total Place-style pooled budget pilots that Angela Rayner announced today. Little detail provided so far but potentially huge. This is how @instituteforgovernment.org.uk think Total Place pilots should work: www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/publication/...

Hard to overstate how much goodwill the government has just managed to burn through with so many different groups — all in a totally unnecessary act of self-sabotage.

A little treat for a sunny Sunday afternoon

How do criminal courts work in England and Wales? Which crimes end up in the Magistrates' Court, and which in the Crown Court? @cassiarowland.bsky.social explains the difference in our podcast on the Crown Courts and their productivity slowdown. 🎧 Listen here: ifs.org.uk/articles/wha...

Excellent piece here from @alexgathomas.bsky.social and @drhannahwhite.bsky.social on why the new guidance banning civil servants & other officials from speaking publicly is a bad idea

Great write up of @stuarthoddinott.bsky.social’s new report which shows local authorities have been forced to ration access to publicly funded care. This has created a damaging geographical and demographic ‘care gap’ Full report here: www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/publication/...

I chatted to @pjtheeconomist.bsky.social and @benzaranko.bsky.social about the major problems in the Crown Court: what’s gone wrong, and how can we fix it? Have a listen to find out!

Excellent news for those of us who celebrate Census Data Release Day, a festival marked by spending all day playing with new data rather than doing any actual work.