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...

Productivity isn’t everything, but in the next few weeks, it’s almost everything… on.ft.com/4mcQSFp The ‘educated guess’ set to decide Keir Starmer’s fiscal fate

Quite a big deal this - there will be a few VCs and governing bodies across UK reading the fine print… @wonkhe.bsky.social wonkhe.com/blogs/the-fi...

Marking time already? Goodbye Blackboard and hello Canvas…

Breaking: REF 2029 paused for three months to review whether metrics are aligned with national priorities www.timeshighereducation.com/news/patrick... via @jgro-the.bsky.social

Great podcast - which I finally listened to during a biblical downpour while driving up the M6 last night. Amongst other things it reminded how good a read the Augar Review still is…

Great piece from JP (and thread/summary) explaining why GM might be doing well…

Our panel - Is the Productivity Puzzle still a Puzzle? - features @joshmartinecon.bsky.social, Kate Penney, Catherine L Mann, Mary O'MAHONY and Chander Velu, with @bartvanark.bsky.social moderating. A great line-up for the Productivity Research Conference.

REF 2029 ‘should recognise regional impact of research’. Academy of Social Sciences says local benefits should be celebrated. www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-c...

not sure you’d be allowed to write this in North Korea, lads

Confirming HuffPost UK's scoop from yesterday, Rachel Reeves announces that the Budget will take place on November 26 www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/exclus...

Takes time and effort. Yes. It does. The time and effort involved is meeting the humans. Other humans. Understanding why certain communities do what they do and their representatives say what they say

A reshuffle *is* happening this week then in No 10. Darren Jones and James Murray will attend Cabinet. Jones' Chief Sec role is new: "[He] will work collaboratively across UK Govt to drive forward progress in key policy areas, reporting directly to the PM." No mention of 'missions' anywhere though

A great many more people protested the plight of Sheffield Wednesday this month than have attended any protest against asylum hotels www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

@gavin-kelly.bsky.social on the mark here (and these options will improve the offer for many more). on.ft.com/3UB0YEP Let’s not forget the young people without GCSEs

New post: UK Growth, Productivity and Investment mainlymacro.blogspot.com/2025/08/uk-g...

Many people in Britain sense the relationship between them and others has changed. Populists speak directly to this, but progressives can too My piece in today's FT on.ft.com/4or0GxW

‘…the number of independent schools still rose slightly over the same period.’ www.thetimes.com/article/19ef...

Sort out grim Terminals 2/3 & decaying jumble of buildings around them too? They don’t really inspire huge confidence in ‘Heathrow bosses’.

Missed this excellent chart from @financialtimes.com showing both the UK’s collapse in productivity growth since the Financial Crisis and the OBR’s continuing over-optimism. www.ft.com/content/7841...

It is possible - and desirable - to build both. This should not be framed as a choice.

This is England!

"I think people should demand of their politicians a vision." @helenmiller.bsky.social describes the sort of questions we should be asking our government about how it raises money, in our podcast about the big economic pressures facing the UK. 🎧 Listen here: ifs.org.uk/articles/pau...

absolutely here for the @londonist.com deep dives on locations used around London in Human League videos

From pubs to populism: what the decline of community space means for democracy Rosa Marks explores how rebuilding social & cultural infrastructure can help reverse the UK’s slide into distrust, division & populist politics? www.bennettinstitute.cam.ac.uk/blog/social-... @britishacademy.bsky.social

"The UK is systemically underinvesting in learning and skills, holding back productivity and opportunity. That needs to change." ✍️ L&W chief exec @stephenevans.bsky.social responds to the latest skills survey data from the Department for Education.

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)

Fiona Hill, a former aide to President Trump, recently returned to her roots in northeastern England, advising Britain on defense. She still has her eye on global threats.

DTI, BERR, BIS, BEIS (aka 1 Vic) Going. Going. Going. Gone.

Horribly accurate observation @jonnelledge.bsky.social: "...as councils make their final metamorphosis from the once proud local corporations that built this country, to struggling and underfunded social care funding bodies with an occasional sideline in bins." www.newstatesman.com/comment/2025...

Jacques Chirac lager? I don’t mind if I do…

Camera photobomb 🎥💛 #TDF2025 | #TDFLive

‘England’s higher education system risks long-term decline unless ministers overhaul their “confused, if not incoherent” approach to universities’ FT interview with outgoing @britishacademy.bsky.social President Julia Black where she pulls no punches! www.ft.com/content/3162...

Lad from Stourbridge currently leading the Tour de France (taking yellow jersey on Black Country Day). Chapeau Ben Healy! #TDF2025

Twas the night before Bastille Day… #TourdeFrance25

🚀 We’ve officially launched the South West Productivity Forum! Based at @bristoluni.bsky.social, the Forum will drive inclusive growth, tackle regional inequalities, and support #NetZero goals across the South West. 🔗 www.productivity.ac.uk/news/the-pro... #SouthWestUK #Productivity

A cracking (and suitably forward looking) last column as @theifs.bsky.social director from @pjtheeconomist.bsky.social

Martin Wolf stating what should be obvious - at root of UK's malaise is a failing economy; most fundamental symptom a collapse in productivity growth since 2007. All else follows from this: stagnant/falling living standards, inability to fund public services, sour politics www.ft.com/content/8a49...

Big day @leverhulme.ac.uk - we are celebrating our centenary by investing £100m in blue skies research and doctoral centres. Here I explain why... @wonkhe.bsky.social Research funding requires research capacity wonkhe.com/blogs/resear...

🚨 Total Place klaxon 🚨 The government have said they will work with mayors on a total place basis in the ten year health plan. 🥳