Teachable moment this, going to use Harry Brook to explain to the toddler that she shouldn’t play reverse scoops early on in an innings

The BBC reports that the Speaker ‘had a word’ with Keir Starmer today about making policy announcements at the start of PMQs. Starmer has increasingly used his PMQs opening answer to make a statement on policy, as we explored in this @conunitucl.bsky.social blog: tinyurl.com/2t5jun9w

Yes inquiries cost a lot but the cost of the £ spent by government responding inquiries is a separate matter (solutions are not the same) The 'extra £100m' spent by government could have been lower if it had been better prepared & willing to engage with the inquiry www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

"Your listening age was 55" Thanks for nothing, Spotify

Government 2026: IfG's annual conference 🚨 Join us on Tuesday 13 January as we bring together influential speakers to explore the key questions for government over the next 12 months. Register to attend online 👇 www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/event/govern... With @grantthorntonuk.bsky.social

What is there to even say at this point

1/ Last month, the government released a new list of its parliamentary private secretaries and cabinet committees following September’s reshuffle. Our explainers are updated with the new numbers! Here are some key takeaways from the releases…

New from @alexgathomas.bsky.social and I on the missed opportunity of the covid inquiry's module 2 report to dig deeper into how decisions were made in government during the pandemic www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/comment/covi...

I'm really delighted to announce that- in a restructure of the @instituteforgovernment.org.uk’s senior team - I've appointed @gemmatetlow.bsky.social to the new role of Executive Director of Research & Innovation & @alexgathomas.bsky.social to the new role of Executive Director of Impact & Influence

Ah, RBR making accusations against a rookie driver from another team who is now getting hell on social media. Lovely team, RBR. Simply lovely.

Seeing a title race featuring Max Verstappen going to a decider in Abu Dhabi

How on earth have McLaren Ferraried this?!

Pet peeve: the degree to which people act as though Lando Norris is mentally ‘weak’ and not worthy of winning a championship simply because he’s always been very honest about when he’s struggling and is very self-critical

Friday night: it’s the weekend! We’re going to relax and do some lovely things after a long week Norovirus: lol about that

Exclusive: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth gave an order to “kill everybody” in the first strike on suspected drug boats in the Caribbean. After two men survived, the mission commander ordered a second strike to comply with Hegseth’s instructions, according to two sources.

The toddler has a book where if you press a button a dinosaur roars, only the sound has broken so- in order not to disappoint her- I’ve taken to making the noise myself every time she pushes the button. Let me tell you this was not my best idea

Away from the Budget... Nominations to be the next Lord Speaker close later on today. It's a role that's quite different from that of the Commons Speaker. Of course we have an explainer on it

Key chart for public services Govt is back to pencilling in undeliverable plans to hit its fiscal rules After taking out likely funding for protected areas, other departments will have to absorb 3.3% annual real terms cuts. That includes prisons, courts, and local govt, among others

Trying to catch up on what has been announced in the Budget and what it all means? Our top @instituteforgovernment.org.uk team has you covered- tune into this at 4pm for everything you need to know. And no, we will not accidentally be starting the webinar a couple of hours early.

Narrator: the government did indeed get another telling-off from the Deputy Speaker

Why do we have an annual (at minimum) Finance Bill? This is why

The Budget (whether details are published when expected or, erm, somewhat early) is obviously a moment of huge political theatre but it is ALSO the start of a parliamentary process, which we touch on on the @instituteforgovernment.org.uk liveblog

Went to look up last year's Budget statement in Hansard and was reminded of the Deputy Speaker, Nusrat Ghani, giving the government quite the telling off about pre-announcing/pre-briefing various elements of it

The Public Services Performance Tracker is regularly described as ‘sobering’ but this is definitely the first time we’ve had ‘almost lyrical’ www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

I would say this, but the IfG's budget live blog is already great, even before we get to the main event - where else do you get this kind of content?

Lots more on @instituteforgovernment.org.uk budget live blog today ▪️Our OBR forecasts explainer ▪️former ministers on treasury And the main event. We’ll have instant reaction, our first analysis in a webinar at 4pm and then deep analysis tomorrow. www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/live-blog/au...

It's Budget Day - follow my fantastic @instituteforgovernment.org.uk colleagues @gemmatetlow.bsky.social, @danhaile.bsky.social, @drbenpaxton.bsky.social, @philipnye.bsky.social, @stuarthoddinott.bsky.social and others for all the latest! And check out their live blog here for in-depth analysis:

Resetting the ‘days since our last nursery bug’ sign to 0 and going to go and scream into a pillow

Researching a bit of historic Budget trivia and TL;DR- it's Gladstone. It's always Gladstone. The red box? Gladstone. The tradition the Chancellor can drink while speaking? Gladstone. Longest Budget speech? Gladstone. Most Budget speeches? Gladstone.

EXCLUSIVE: US presidential envoy Steve Witkoff advised Russia on how to pitch Ukraine plans to Trump, in audio files reviewed by Bloomberg

Air Force One: The Sequel Not sure of the plot yet but maybe it could feature a plane that’s been donated by another state?

Looks like Lammy is going significantly further than the Leveson criminal courts review proposed on jury trials: abolished for anyone likely to face a sentence <5 years (Leveson suggested 3). You can make arguments for and against juries — but the claim it‘s *necessary* doesn’t stand up:

Will the government change its fiscal strategy in tomorrow's budget? Our chief economist @gemmatetlow.bsky.social shares her thoughts on our autumn budget 2025 live blog – follow along www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/live-blog/au...

In a new departure, we @instituteforgovernment.org.uk are going to be live blogging the Budget all through tomorrow. The live blog is now live and we will be sharing our pre-Budget thoughts there, followed by responses once we hear the CX's speech www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/live-blog/au...

What’s so odd about Budgets is how they are a mix of secrecy and weeks of leaks and pre-announcements

On Wednesday Rachel Reeves will deliver her second budget as chancellor. So what can we expect? From fiscal and tax strategies to the cost of living and public services, our IfG experts set out six things to look out for www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/comment/rach...

Sorry to miss this- looks a great event to sign up for!

New paper, 'Ministers reflect on the Treasury' from @paddy-mcalary.bsky.social and me for @instituteforgovernment.org.uk. Pre-budget, we've compiled insights from 10 years of Ministers Reflect interviews, plus rex from the IfG catalogue on HMT. Favourite quotes to follow! 1/🧵 tinyurl.com/38anhkc7

McLaren, are you quite well?

This is vital journalism. It is also incredibly distressing to read. And absolutely depressing and enraging.

They won by 98 wickets? Fair play that’s a huge defeat

Imagining the ticket sales department trying to find the ground staff in Perth to “just have a quick chat”

Absolutely defeated by this week. Hand foot and mouth has been brutal for the poor little one and we are all running on fumes

Looking forward to this discussion later - do join us at 12.30

The Covid Inquiry report has argued that government should have learnt lessons in mid-2020 to prepare for the second wave www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/comment/ther...

Well, what a rollercoaster day of cricket that was for England fans

Crucially, this is also a very funny day of cricket

What an astonishing individual Ben Stokes is.