They expect - they NEED - the people they threaten to fall in line, like the law firms and universities and media companies and billionaires and Congress did. If you say “No, make me,” they simply do not have a Plan B. TRUMP DOES NOT HAVE ENOUGH GUYS TO MAKE YOU.

Less than a year on, tariff discussions r back. Even if this can be defused, the government has to operate under the assumption that tariff could restart any time. We know the most exposed places and sectors, and we need to prepare accordingly (even if there r no good options).

New at Can We Still Govern? "I am writing as an ordinary citizen of Minneapolis/St Paul...to share with the outside world what is really going on ─ the terror being inflicted upon a U.S. city and state by our federal government." Please read, share, help. 🧵 donmoynihan.substack.com/p/dispatch-f...

Successful places (culturally and economically) attract talents and energy from everywhere. And everywhere does mean *everywhere*.

LOVED THIS by @paulswinney.bsky.social ! Worth noting that the GVA anomalies probably exist across geographies. This one surfaced because it happened at the right time and in the right place (a fast-growing Manchester), and thus received attention. Important context for local decision makers.

A couple of promising things in the ONS’s 2026 plan. LFS response rates have recovered. Some sensible choices with TLFS, meant to replace LFS (and APS?). The key thing is how both will perform at the local level. blog.ons.gov.uk/2026/01/12/d...

The (wrong) perception of London as both having too much wealth and being undesirable has consequences. A successful UK needs a successful London. And right now, the city, while still prosperous, is facing slow growth. We should not take London for granted, and the bad perception is not helpful.

Obviously, people will say this is Panglossian nonsense… .. I prefer, “factual” as.ft.com/r/f040c3e5-9... The UK economy is not nearly as bad as you’ve been told

I called Minneapolis-St Paul home for 4yrs. The city has suffered: George Floyd, Speaker Hortman and now Renee Good. But the city rebuilt. Its organizing capacity grew bigger. These responses r 5yrs of learning from pain and tragedy. I hope the next chapter of the city is a brighter one.

Melissa Hortman Died in a Shocking Act of Political Violence. This Is the Story of Her Life The Minnesota Speaker’s closest friends and family open up for the first time. Read @stephenrodrick.bsky.social's exclusive: www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...

Want to compare how dense cities are in Britain, France and Japan? You're in luck! @centreforcities.bsky.social just released our data As you can see, British big cities are very flat compared to their international peers. ... 🧵

A good policy hidden in the recent Budget is the Mayoral Revolving Growth Fund (MRGF), a part of the Government's Industrial Strategy. In short, this is a good place-based policy because it targets the right problems in the right way: shorturl.at/X8sDx

The ONS is taking a ‘quality over quantity’ approach in its ongoing reform. This is not itself an issue. But the current signs are that a lot of local/regional data could be at risk. This has big implications for policymakers at all levels and deserves more attention. A short thread:

What to see how I turned thousands of live buses into charts like this? And what it all means for mayors wanting to integrate their public transport systems? Come to see me talk about all this and more to our event at 1pm: www.centreforcities.org/event/report...

London is still one of the most productive places and a fiscal net contributor. But its economy has continued to slow. This has national implications: the UK's economy cannot prosper if the most successful ~25% of it is stagnant. Critics of London should be careful what they wish for.

We went through the labour data side of productivity recently. This one looks at GVA. The UK's secondary cities have higher economic growth than other places post-2019. This is a departure from the past.

I don't understand what is going on with sub-national productivity data in the UK. @centreforcities.bsky.social doing their best here, but I'd be wary drawing any substantive conclusions: www.centreforcities.org/publication/...

Minneapolis is showing up and showing out. #NoKings

Loved writing this. The local productivity data has got a lot of attention lately, and here I try to unpack what goes into the data

BLOG | What sectors will benefit from the Industrial Strategy? A place-based strategy means that what happens in the eight sectors does not have to stay in the eight sectors. Read our latest blog 👇 buff.ly/FDxHB7B

The spending review required MCAs to set out local growth plans, which are key to implementing the new Industrial Strategy. MCAs will be given resources (details TBD). They should focus on horizontal measures: skills, transport, etc. This would be more effective than targeting a few sectors.

NEW REPORT | Checking out: The varying performance of high streets across the country 🛍️ Our new report finds that that there is large variation between the performance of city centre high streets. 🧵👇 buff.ly/UfCfnlF

🆕 BRIEFING | Eight sectors, one story Our latest briefing sets out the geography of the eight chosen sectors in the Industrial Strategy and what this means for its implementation. Read the briefing 👇 buff.ly/eKA9qf4

First response: fine, as long as London is not ignored and/or is given greater powers to raise funds at regional level, because without a strongly-growing London you will not have a strongly-growing UK. www.theguardian.com/politics/202... #london

I was quite surprised by how little curiosity young British voters had towards the far right compared to similar demographics everywhere else. Then I saw the discourse on “working men’s club.” I wonder how many of these young voters would actually know what that is.

The cutting edge of the economy is increasingly based in cities 🏙️ The Government’s Industrial Strategy must work with that. Our latest bog from @yz18.bsky.social explains👇 buff.ly/oZQ2Kso

The unbelievable condescension we’re already seeing today towards working class people- suggesting they don’t travel to Europe or their kids might not want to go to university and study in Europe- is quite something to behold.

Not disputing that “left behind” places exist and need interventions, but our discourse on this in the aftermath of the local elections is misguided for two reasons.

There is an idealised Proper Working Class, who is heavily implied to be straight, white, working in manual labour and socially conservative with it. With no aspirations for their kids but to be the Same As Them. It exists predominantly in the minds of Blue Labour and post-liberals.

Get ready for an onslaught of “the rise of populism” stories again. 🇬🇧

Loved writing this. A key issue with the "left behind" theory is that, other than London, most big cities are simply not doing that well to leave surrounding towns behind. If anything, their underperformance contributes to the decline of nearby towns.

You probably get a similar result for other professions that are respected but not well paid (e.g. care workers or apprenticeships in the UK). Ultimately, people mostly choose jobs based on pay, not vibes. So people are happy to support more of these respected jobs, but not keen on taking them.

Honestly one of the most interesting analyses I have done. First time having to do research in response to real-world events. Everyone loses due to the tariffs. But already struggling or less productive British cities could be hit harder.

What’s £2 billion? 💵 This blog from @mauricelange.bsky.social looks at how recent Government announcements about Affordable Homes spending compare to recent and historic spending 🏡 Read now 👇 www.centreforcities.org/blog/whats-2...

The fact that a Black Senator breaks Strom Thurmond's record for longest filibuster, protesting the Civil Rights Act, makes it even more special. 😘

Not just because most of the British public, including 76% of Conservative voters and 52% of Reform(!) voters support net zero.

BLOG | Reaction to the Planning and Infrastructure Bill 📄 The Planning and Infrastructure Bill was laid in Parliament this week. Here are Centre for Cities’ 3️⃣ key takeaways 👇

Three of these seats come up in 26. Of those, Shaheen and Peters are retiring, and Durbin probably will too. The backlash may land on House Dems and other Senate Dems, who all voted against this.

LBJ’s first rule of politics just never gets old

The Die Linke number is 👀. The split from BSW may be making the party base more conventionally progressive and less Russophile. Could impact the party’s policy down the road.

Seems fitting to dedicate my first Bluesky post to my first blog at @centreforcities.bsky.social. I was a lucky resident of MSP when the big zoning reform happened. Good to see that it can now be an example for cities everywhere.