BBC really burying the lede there

Given that it’s Bonfire Night, has anyone bought/saved this place yet? Someone should… assets.savills.com/properties/F...

Not sure we get this level of coverage/analysis for mayoral elections in England? www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Professor Becky Francis has published her final curriculum and assessment review report. She spoke to Schools Week about some of its key recommendations and the thinking behind them https://schoolsweek.co.uk/interview-becky-francis-on-the-big-ideas-in-her-curriculum-review/

Unsurprising on one level - but in week of Farage’s speech on the economy (and release of new IMD data) it’s not obvious that there is much they can offer them? www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Tuesday’s @thetimes.com cartoon times.newsprints.co.uk/morten-morla...

DfE surely right to think more deeply/widely 1) on vfm grounds (not ‘free’ for DfE & scarce resource can be spent elsewhere - including in these towns) and 2) need much more detailed assessment of impact on existing 6th forms and FE (who could really do with the money)? apple.news/AL322Q5lwRbq...

David Willetts is spot on here (while demonstrating how incentives currently shape English higher education). on.ft.com/47Cwbxl It is time for business schools to think locally

Lewis is absolutely right here

Wherever we looked for the prominent flaggers and leaders of this movement, we found people smugglers and sex doll salesmen, people with dubious criminal pasts and people willing to put in a good word for Adolf Hitler. manchestermill.co.uk/the-men-who-...

I keep being told spending cuts are easy. Honest proposals such as those recently outlined by Policy Exchange show they are not My column www.ft.com/content/f086...

If you’ve not checked these out and you’re interested in anything to do with skills at a local/regional level, then you should! #SkillsEngland department-for-education.shinyapps.io/local-skills...

Thursday’s @thetimes.com cartoon times.newsprints.co.uk/morten-morla...

Just need to keep repeating this point. Stagnant zero sum economies create political ungovernability. Productivity growth has collapsed in many rich countries since the financial crash on.ft.com/4hwRuoB

🚨Breaking Dsit funding news🚨 UKRI allocated £39bn budget over next four years. National funder will receive around £9.2 billion next year, as Dsit plans “more agile” R&D funding. More details: www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-p...

I’ve written for @financialtimes.com about the need for belief in the future to get things built on.ft.com/47cO3Qs Why optimists build better infrastructure

We don’t need a revolution to address our biggest global economic challenges, only a reconfiguration of our priorities and policies, @drodrik.bsky.social argues. bit.ly/4oomh9J

Govt's post-16 education white paper plans spell "more efforts and powers behind the drive for both specialisation between institutions and for economic growth", including in research, writes @andywestwood.bsky.social. www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-v...

Just up on @resprofnews.bsky.social: analysis of the post-16 white paper from @andywestwood.bsky.social "Overall, the document says much more about R&D than many would have expected from a DfE-led white paper" www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-v...

It’s becoming quite annoying hearing Robert Jenrick moaning about the West Midlands. But if you want a more honest picture of Wolverhampton today, then watch and enjoy this (featuring one of my favourite matchday pubs)… Source: YouTube share.google/vR5w9oinieym...

Fantastic stuff here (even with the various caveats/methodology notes)!

The silver bullet fallacy on.ft.com/47qz19E | opinion

I've written about the UK's productivity problem for @theobserveruk.bsky.social. Come for the comparison of the UK economy to a hedgehog, stay for the comparison of Rachel Reeves to a Dickens character. observer.co.uk/news/busines...

Really? Did anyone who was paying attention actually believe that Hunt's cuts to NI were affordable? And if the OBR's assumptions about productivity have always looked optimistic, why base your fiscal strategy on them?

This is a superb photo. Hats off for spotting and waiting for it to materialise!

A memo sent to nine institutions called for 'institutional neutrality', in an unprecedented attempt by Donald Trump’s administration to impose control on the sector on.ft.com/4mQxxdw

In conference speech Bridget Phillipson announces return of maintenance grants for targeted courses, funded by international student levy. Now in @smfthinktank.bsky.social fringe on widening access, so will be interesting to hear what panel makes of that…

The influence of ‘geoeconomics’ is growing on.ft.com/4gLqMs3 | opinion

New town locations now out: - Adlington, Cheshire East - South Gloucestershire - Enfield - Heyford Park in Cherwell - Leeds - Manchester, Victoria North - Marlcombe, East Devon - A ‘Renewed Town’ in Milton Keynes; - Plymouth - Tempsford - Thamesmead, Greenwich; - Worcestershire Parkway, Wychavon

I’m with him on ‘Fortunate Son’ (but slightly surprised he didn’t touch very much on education). www.ft.com/content/3a24...

this is an extraordinary canary in the coal mine

Quite surprised he didn’t make the team.

I’ll be on one soon. Changing at this station too. Luckily there are one or two decent pubs (and some currywurst) in case of delays…

🌍 New from The Productivity Institute: UK Trade and Productivity Across Space shows exporting is easier for firms in dense cities, while smaller regions face disadvantages. Levelling up trade access could boost productivity across the UK. 🔗 www.productivity.ac.uk/research/uk-...

Bosh.

Loving this @manchestermill.bsky.social and @wonkhe.bsky.social crossover on HE franchising in Manchester (featuring the intrepid @jimdickinson.bsky.social )… manchestermill.co.uk/the-global-b...

Wolves win football match.

As the late, great Tommy Docherty used to say ‘I’d rather have them in front of me (so I can see what they’re up to)’…’

My Sunday Times piece: Weak productivity, poor resilience and self inflicted damage mean UK GDP per capita, properly measured, is falling well behind the US. We’ve closed the gap before, can we again? America is leaving the UK economy behind. How can we catch up? www.thetimes.com/article/54cd...

This is brilliant - and actually rather useful for anyone teaching methods (correlation isn't causation etc.) to undergraduates.

😢

Banks tighten debt terms as squeezed UK universities refinance loans on.ft.com/41Vxsxt

Apprenticeships have collapsed in England – Labour needs to fine-tune the solution, fast | Heather Stewart

Which one is @oldtrotter.bsky.social?

There's a very good example of that kind of thing... niheritagedelivers.org/case_studies...

Yes it’s funny the big Harold Wilson link to both that and the Adelphi. There’s so much that’s highly political about these buildings. When I wrote a news piece about the metropole over the summer @georgewparker.bsky.social remembered it well from the conference years

Fantastic piece on Britannia (and their hotels in Blackpool, Scarborough, Liverpool etc) from @jenwilliamsft.bsky.social in Weekend FT. on.ft.com/3Kk3Bsp The crumbling seaside palaces at the centre of Britain’s asylum crisis

Charlie Kirk Was Practicing Politics the Right Way www.nytimes.com/2025/09/11/o...