You will learn more about the ongoing furore over asylum seekers in hotels from this incredible piece by @jenwilliamsft.bsky.social than from a hundred front page headlines.

By default, the tool includes a dozen example networks to give an idea of how it works. Take a look at for example: France railmapper.net/project/fran... US northeast railmapper.net/project/nort... Indonesia railmapper.net/project/indo... India railmapper.net/project/indi...

I built a web tool so anyone can design and evaluate ridership and costs of high speed rail networks anywhere in the world: railmapper.net

One of the reasons I'm cautiously positive about Reform's rise is that messages like this will reach different people and be believed by more people when Reform say it. And they have been saying it a lot, all over the UK, on many issues, since they gained power. www.bbc.com/news/article...

So THIS is what central government was using all these years whenever Leeds called asking for a metro system

Milwaukee & Chicago are a similar sized pair of cities a similar distance apart to Leeds & Manchester. The trains are half as frequent, but frequency doesn't seem to matter nearly as much as the trains being bigger, nicer, and cheaper. So US ridership is over twice as high. tomforth.co.uk/traindata/

In most of the world, bigger cities have stronger economies. It happens in France, the USA, the Netherlands, Belgium, and on, and on. But not in Britain. In Britain, the bigger a city gets the weaker its economy is, except for London. This costs us dearly.

In most of the world, bigger cities have stronger economies. It happens in France, the USA, the Netherlands, Belgium, and on, and on. But not in Britain. In Britain, the bigger a city gets the weaker its economy is, except for London. This costs us dearly.

Really pleased to see JP go for this. Behind the scenes he's got so much done to increase growth and accelerate devolution for North England. Consistently more right and more polite than me. A bit less gobby, but we can work on that.

I think it's more useful to think about productivity than wealth. And yes, very much a UK second city problem, as this plot I've pinched from @tomforth.co.uk makes clear

Is Manchester really turning into London? No. London is a very unequal city, but Manchester is both more equal than London, & significantly poorer. A plot comparing spatial inequalities in household incomes (after housing costs) in GM and London (inspired by an earlier version by @tomforth.co.uk)

Wrote a paper. Read the paper. Seems okay. You can read it too. The pub is now much fuller than my reading on X. niesr.ac.uk/publications...

How do we get great graduates into great jobs more quickly? We're trying a new thing at The Data City to make that happen. It might work, it might not. I guess we'll find out in 8 weeks when our first ever data science fellowship completes. Let's see. github.com/TheDataCity/...

Unsurprisingly the panel will not feature me, because I will not be there. Which probably means it will be even better and you should go!

Hahahahaha

Big thanks to @jamesomalley.co.uk and ‪@mjrobbins.com‬ for somehow editing our conversation about a National Data Library (datalibrary.uk) into something that makes me sound quite coherent and considered. I start chatting at 45 minutes if HS2 makes you too sad. www.abundancepod.com/p/why-hs2-is...

So I wrote a thing. Here is the gist. My provocation was a bit of heresy aimed at my own tribe of decent, evidence-driven, apolitical policy wonks who quite sensibly worship at the altar of the arms-length institution, the predictable rule, politics-free decisions and so on ... 1/

@jacktindale.bsky.social thinking of u.

us government went from telling miners “learn to code” to telling coders “learn to mine” in less than ten years

I read the new @labourtogether.bsky.social report --- Nation Rebalanced --- and I thought it was excellent. You can read it too, starting here. The foreword is a bit partisan, but the main report is much more,..... 😎,..... balanced. www.labourtogether.uk/all-reports/...

We're getting on with building The National Data Library here in Leeds. We've had huge interest and support from the private and public sector and it's growing fast. Learn more and join in! datalibrary.uk

Buuuuut, I got my team to do the same and we got v different numbers

Hi @samuelmarclowe.bsky.social -- I've seen this graph by "Bank of America Global Research" apparently. So not complete jokers. But the data,..... looks a bit jokery to me. Does the UK *really* have non tariff barriers so much higher than France?! What do you think?

I read 14 reports and blog posts on the idea of the UK government setting up a National Data Library. The equivalent of a 300 page book. And then I wrote up what I think in 2000 words. So if that's the kind of thing you like reading,... tomforth.co.uk/nationaldata...

I read 14 reports and blog posts on the idea of the UK government setting up a National Data Library. The equivalent of a 300 page book. And then I wrote up what I think in 2000 words. So if that's the kind of thing you like reading,... tomforth.co.uk/nationaldata...

"Why are North England's politicians repeating the myth that investing in the North is worse value for money than investing in the South?" > I wrote a thing. Maybe I'm wrong, but I think it's something a bit more tactical. tomforth.co.uk/northerntran...

"Why are North England's politicians repeating the myth that investing in the North is worse value for money than investing in the South?" > I wrote a thing. Maybe I'm wrong, but I think it's something a bit more tactical. tomforth.co.uk/northerntran...

1/ Go to Nomisweb. 2/ Select ASHE > workplace > annual pay > full-time > median > regions. 3/ Go to ONS, get CPIH deflator. Adjust for inflation. 4/ Set starting year at 100 for all regions. 5/ Draw graph (with bad X axis). Label Scotland. Polite "WTF?!" as the title. . . Have a nice weekend.

Well. Good that places are thinking more seriously about raising their own revenues rather than hanging on for HMT to send some money. Devolution only works with increased fiscal autonomy.

Trams are good. Nobody faffing for change or asking the driver if it stops at the co-op. Get on, ding ding, and we're off.

Did a capitalism. www.oxfordeconomics.com/resource/oxf...

There'll be many words and maps about how badly Germany has done at integrating its East since reunification. Here's the other side of it --- how well East Germany has done since reunification and how much better off it is than North England today. tomforth.co.uk/humancapital/

Yes it’s me, talking about halo effects from the BBC’s move to Salford. Details below 👇

"New Year Honours: Are top honours winners too posh and too southern?" > staggering stats, as they are pretty much every year. Recipients of top honours hugely skewed towards South East England. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

There he goes. Storming through doors. We tried to hold him back but he’d taken a drink and was in full DEBATE ME mode

Friends fear he's been snooping around.

🎒↗️🐈 -- we at The Data City are announcing a big partnership with Oxford Economics to help power the future of economic forecasting around the world. We're here at their Global Economic Outlook Conference 2025 to hear about how some traditional economic measures are losing power.

I read and listened to the feedback on my "Why the North is Poor" piece and I've transitioned to train beers brewed in countries with much higher productivity (+60% this one).

What are clusters? Why do they matter? Should we even bother? > I decided to write about economic geography as a special treat to the people in my replies furious that I don't have a degree in either economics or geography for some reason. tomforth.co.uk/clustersands...

John Prescott’s coffin has arrived at Hull Minster for his funeral. Appropriately, the hearse was a Jag, as is the family’s car. A knowing wink you suspect. Two Jags to the end.

Very interesting. I've been a polite thorn in our Mayor's side for a while asking her what taxes she's raise to boost investment that we agree is needed to boost growth in West Yorkshire. I think this is the first one she's been positive about. And it's a good (if small) one. Very very interesting.

In short…

"remarkably and calm and diplomatic" > many people are saying it. I do think Josey has a good point here. Each announcement that favours the South East, and each cancellation elsewhere, isn't much. But they all add up. And the sum is really really big now.

Interviewer: If you could build one thing…? Me (looking round like a Simpsons-meme classmate): He’s gonna say Leeds tram! He’s gonna say Leeds tram! Tom: …Manchester airport link for Bradford Me: (brain explodes) [great interview, anyhow]

Many people are asking did I 1/ Make a joke about Leeds beating Man Utd? 2/ Remind listeners that Hull and Middlesbrough are bigger economies than Oxford and Cambridge? 3/ Be surprisingly genuinely positive about Oxford and Cambridge? Go to 32:30 on here to find out. www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

Haway Cornwall! Up the pasties!

I live in Manchester, and work for a shrinking northern university I've spent too many hours driving around Glossop's back streets at 25mph, or on stalled trains, instead of at my desk Tom is right on fiscal federalism, R&D & higher education spending, & minimalist transport infrastructure >>

>> Tom came to speak to our PPE students last year, giving a version of this blog Our students may start their careers in the region because of housing costs but most will then head south (I'm probably the only person to have met both Tom Forth and Roy Foster - amused by the ref to 'Roy Himself'!)