This is bloody good. And why we should value local government & local politicians. "It was Maureen who put roads policy & children’s policy together & made sure children with serious health conditions could be reached by ambulance when it snowed. And this is what politics can do: it connects."

Govt's decision to cut "back-office" staff is misguided. Sure, there is some duplication that could be trimmed But most services are already undermanaged after austerity-era cuts Govt needs those staff to make services more devolved, integrated and preventative. Cutting them is a false economy

Totally this. Too often we assume digital exclusion is about age. Well, the digital revolution was kicked off by people now 70+, grandma can probably manage an app if she can see the phone. We don't think nearly enough about digital exclusion caused by disability, affordability & language barriers.

Just getting to yesterday's paper, what an utterly joyful picture @nhsrobw.bsky.social!

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It honours the experiences of so many to spend a few moments remembering what it was really like. What it felt like. Please take a minute or two to read this from Dr David Oliver. Some time to reflect. So many people still affected. www.bmj.com/content/378/...

Spring is springing... rhubarb forcing its way out!

🎉 Congratulations to Gemma Peters at Macmillan Cancer Support and Maddy Desforges OBE at NAVCA on their appointments to the new Civil Society Council. This announcement marks an important moment for engagement between government and civil society.

Would you like to help improve the quality of care patients receive at the time of surgery and anaesthesia? The @rcoanews.bsky.social is looking for a new Chair of PatientsVoices@RCoA to lead a diverse group of volunteers and champion meaningful patient involvement. Find out more: buff.ly/pciWVtR

Wishing everyone a happy International Women's Day. To celebrate I'm giving away a pair of my books which recover pioneer women's voices and engineering, exploration, journalism, politics, and conservation to a school, or library, or teacher. I'll pick a winner from replies. Please repost!

It's been so hard to sit on this news! I'm really proud of the whole @nationalvoices.bsky.social team who have worked closely with partner organisations to design a programme enabling a diverse and vibrant network of VCFSE organisations to work alongside the CQC to ensure all voices are heard.

This year's @favlit.org shelf... smaller than it might have been because I was away last weekend, sad to miss Marina Warner, Natalie Haynes, Ben Okri & more. And even this week can't see everyone! A whole universe of imagination & humanity spiralling out from this small North Kent town.

Dare we...?

Aside from question of whether you can meaningfully hold NHS accountable for labour market outcomes, my main issue with this is it’s yet another ‘priority’. Waiting lists, three shifts, structural reform, getting people into work etc. There’s not enough money to do everything. Ministers must choose!

Yup. Mostly the problem is not 'what should the policy be?' but rather 'how do we implement this policy?'. Or sometimes 'how do we stop this mad idea which has emerged because someone in charge has demanded a new policy rather than understand why the previous ones haven't been implemented well?'

Beautiful response from Joanne Harris when asked about Magic Realism. 'Magic' is about creativity and believing you can influence the world. Because 'monsters' still exist [insert topical reference...].

Your move, USA...

New podcast episode! Emma Dodsworth and Sophie Julian from the Nuffield Trust showcase their latest research on the decline of district nursing and what it means for the ambition to shift more care into the community. 🎧 Listen here qicn.org.uk/news-and-eve... Thanks to our sponsor Hallam Medical.

I'm going to laugh myself to death if all the boys leave and they replace them with their overlooked female deputies (quite plausible because they won't be able to recruit externally) and the whole thing starts running better

And it can take years to find the missing piece.

Out on the edge with my tribe...

This was an inspiring blog six months ago from one of the new joint PM’s Chief of Staff

Presumably, because of lead times, this interview was conducted, a few weeks ago, and laid out and printed several days ago but someone in charge should have pulled it. Better to have no magazine this week than this. Hope everyone at the Times is terribly embarrassed

What if we had let a by all accounts superb female career diplomat do her job in Washington? What if we had listened to Sue Gray, who had been leading on ethics and standards for years? What if we acknowledged that many women know how to deal with difficult men and high stakes situations? If only...

I practically grew up in that library. Carnegie left a phenomenal legacy. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnegi...

Sir Ian McKellen performing a monologue from Shakespeare’s Sir Thomas More on the Stephen Colbert show. Never have I heard this monologue performed with such a keen sense of prescience. Nor have I ever been in this exact historical moment.TY Sir Ian, for reaching us once again. #Pinks #ProudBlue

I'm not sure I entirely regard this as good news...

"...perfectly decent quantitative metrics become corrupted once they’re pressed into service as targets." Don't we know it... and yet standards matter. And so the answer is not, I think, not to have targets and standards, but to wrap the right behaviours around them so we get the right outcomes.

Once again, stuff like this should always be based on need, not clinical condition. Excluding parents of children with other conditions that require frequent visits to regional centres creates a two-tier health system.

Don't conflate digital exclusion and agism.

This whole article was so much what I needed to read today. Just one quote of many I could have picked: "hope does not mean saying this is not bad, and it does not mean saying that we can defeat it. It just means saying we will keep showing up. That we will not give up."

Generally, if people have agency over their own lives and communities, they use it to do good things. I know that might be a little hard to believe given world events over the weekend, but the psychopaths are the exception not the rule. And a little investment into communities can go a long way.

@nigel-edwards.bsky.social made me think of Ptolemy!

DHSC published its impact statement for the 10 Year Health Plan this week (yes, that is 6 months after it published the plan) It's more measured and clear-eyed than the original document and quite a contrast to some of the effusive optimism in the plan Some of the things that caught my eye 👇

So much this. @samfr.bsky.social sets out a practical way to think about getting the basics right. It isn't new and shiny, politicians can't have their photos taken by a piece of kit or unveil a plaque on a new building, but it would make so much difference to so many people.

Get the basics right before overlaying the shiny stuff...

File the carbon copies here. It's half day closing. Always carry 10p for the phone. Oh so many more... Equally there will be a million things which, without revealing their age, a younger person could say to the bemusement of an older person.

Well this looks interesting.

I know 2025 was difficult for the world, but it's been good to me, personally. I've loved touring Wildly Different, from the Hay Festival, by way of Edinburgh, Sheffield and elsewhere and had the pleasure of speaking about it to so many lovely people. So I'm giving away a signed copy (UK) to 1/2

This is something I worry about a lot - missing groups in samples is even more important when we are making claims about public opinion than when we are predicting vote shares.

I also get very grumpy about bad admin, so glad to celebrate good admin! Human admin - makes a big difference. @jacoblant.bsky.social

When one day a government finally decides to act on social care reform, all the research they need will already be there, because Natasha has done it. And not only is she expert in social care, she's a genuinely lovely person. An honour greatly deserved.

I am so lucky to work with such an inspiring person - congratulations Natasha!!

Looking forward to it kicking in.

Excellent thread. Do click on the alt text.

Seriously good advice 👇

One of my favourite insights from this Working Paper on Big Local: the power of taking a more organic approach to governance. Rather than designing governance in Whitehall - a chart that looks neat on paper - cultivate it as a local capability. 🧵

I have much sympathy with the Trustees who will be able to do a lot with £5m. But the film of this would end with the purchaser leaving the triptych on permanent loan and covering the insurance cost...