Terrific column by @robertshrimsley.bsky.social- this is essentially a Milibandite government, but one that is so in denial about it that it can’t even appeal properly to the coalition *for Milibandism*:

Like the true self parody I am, I wrote a travel feature from Manchester and spent most of it going on about rail investment on.ft.com/4otjcoL

With integrated modes, increased bus frequency and reduced journey times #Liverpool could see 160,400 more people connected to the city centre 📢

With Merseyrail already under local control, and bus franchising soon to be completed, the future looks bright for integrated transport in Liverpool. Our modelling suggests the city could see an increase in city centre connectivity by a third, just through improvements on its existing network

BIG NEWS On 7/12/25, GM sees the biggest change to rail services for 30+ years. A new fairer, simpler fare system will come in across our 96 stations. 🐝 Singles will be half the price of returns 🐝 Tickets will be valid on any operator 🐝 Average fare will fall by 5.6% 1/2

London is a great city. It didn't invent the steam locomotive or start the industrial revolution. That's fine. Its fans shouldn't claim it did. I wrote about that. tomforth.co.uk/greatestcity...

Big cities like Birmingham could get many more people well connected to its city centre by a 30 minute public transport journey. But this doesn't involve expanding the network - no new trams or new bus routes. This is simply from making the existing network function better: integration. Thread 🧵

Sub-national experimentation hailed by Dani Rodrik: "in advanced and developing economies alike, there are many subnational experiments in which partnerships between government agencies and the private sector or civic groups are delivering meaningful economic transformations."

Particularly fine piece by @noahsmith.bsky.social this morning - www.noahpinion.blog/p/the-giant-... (Big overlap with one of my standard guest lectures)

Join us for the launch of our new report exploring how transport integration could improve public transport 🚀 We will be joined by @ruthcadbury.bsky.social MP, Rebecca Fuller of @utg-uk.bsky.social, @rjson.bsky.social and @andrewcities.bsky.social. Register your place👇 buff.ly/UIMm8MD

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...

NEW - Seeking Opportunity in the Knowledge Economy: Moving Places, Moving Politics? - https://cup.org/3LgxVos "moving to opportunity results in... more left-leaning self-identification, and lower support for far-right parties" - @valentinaconsiglio.bsky.social & @thmskrr.bsky.social #OpenAccess

Today www.hks.harvard.edu/events/share...

Come up with some ideas and we'll tell you if we like them is no way to approach something of this magnitude against a background of people feeling a lack of agency and disillusioned with politics and the political process.

This is very good on the importance of the "local" in politics. Good to see the new Pride in Place initiative but it does rather suggest building an alternative to, rather than an enhancement of, local government labourlist.org/2025/10/loca...

Young people not in education, employment or training are more likely to have low qualifications than all young people, and these gaps widen with age. This widening divide underscores how low qualifications can trap young people, limiting their opportunities for stable, secure and well-paid work.

Do you know anyone who wants to work in urban policy at the UK's leading think tank in this area? We're #hiring a new Analyst to join the Centre for Cities Research team 💼 Apply today 👇

Since 2019, large cities’ economies have decoupled from the national trend and grown faster than the rest of the country 📈 What is driving the recent growth of large cities? 👇 buff.ly/MStC5PZ

🚨 New research 🚨 Our latest report looks at the nearly one million young people aged 16-24 in the UK who are currently not in education, employment or training. Why are an increasing number of young people NEET? Can the Government do more to support them into education and work? buff.ly/kIei4lG

As always, well worth a read.

Excellent Inside Politics by @greenmirandahere.bsky.social today:

Long(ish) thread by my colleague @antbreach.bsky.social setting the story and analysis from our latest briefing on big city productivity.

Do you know anyone who wants to work in urban policy at the UK's leading think tank in this area? We're #hiring a new Analyst to join the Centre for Cities Research team 💼 Apply today 👇

PODCAST | Big cities are catching up 🎙️ @andrewcities.bsky.social discusses the findings of our latest briefing ‘How productive are the UK’s big cities?’ with Centre for Cities Analyst @yz18.bsky.social. Listen to the podcast🎧👇 buff.ly/9hlgyXt

The official data suggests a productivity convergence between London and other large cities for the first time in more than a decade 📊 ⚠️ But there are reasons to be cautious about this trend. Read more👇 buff.ly/rIYgRG9

NEW | How productive are the UK’s big cities? 🏙️ We've taken a look at the latest subregional productivity data to understand the trends over the past 20 years and what it can tell us about local and national economic performance. Read the briefing👇 buff.ly/9TjZ7t8

What does a Nobel Prize on ‘innovation-driven economic growth’ actually reward? A historian’s perspective on how to deal with the Nobel frenzy beatricecherrier.wordpress.com/2025/10/13/w...

Spot on @stephenkb.bsky.social on why Brexit has fatally wounded the Conservative Party. To succeed in Tory politics now, you have to pretend not to know stuff. The successful mid-career people who used to form the Tory base are not prepared to do that. on.ft.com/42AKpx5

Thing by me on today's Econ nobel in @alphaville.ft.com : www.ft.com/content/b8aa...

Aghion (et al) have a paper on China, they recognised long ago & before many that the Chinese model departs from the East Asia model in having a Darwinian struggle-to-the-death competition of firms behind a wall of protection. It pairs Schumpeterian growth theory w the economics of industrial policy

I anticipate some sneers thrown Mokyr's way so my preemptive comment... What ever else he might have done, what ever faults he might have, Mokyr has performed a tremendous service simply by stressing the great importance of the Scientific Revolution to the birth of the modern economy.

For our first fringe event at Conservative Party Conference, we are now starting our In Conversation event with Mayor of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Paul Bristow.

he first fringe session of the day sees @andrewcities.bsky.social CEO of @centreforcities.bsky.social in conversation with Mayor Paul Bristow of Cambridge and Peterborough Combined Authority #CPC25

184 years earlier than predicted, London has met the legal limits for toxic NO2 for the first time. This historic milestone proves that bold action like expanding ULEZ works, protecting children’s health and giving millions cleaner air to breathe.

It's fundamentally impossible to do this kind of politics with a state as centralised as we have. You have to give more power to mayors and councils. Including the ability to raise funds.

I’m immensely grateful to the New Towns Taskforce, under the expert leadership of its Chair, Sir Michael Lyons, and Deputy Chair, Dame Kate Barker, for producing such a considered and comprehensive set of final recommendations 👇🏻 www.gov.uk/government/p...

Good morning. There are overnight Big Media reports that the Crews Hill area of #Enfield is at the top of the government's list for getting a New Town development going. May I modestly point out that you read it here first: www.onlondon.co.uk/where-in-lon.... #london #newtowns

I’m not going to rant endlessly about this but Labour came into power on a vague ticket to improve northern rail connectivity and over a year later is still wondering what it means on.ft.com/4pAIfaJ

I’m so annoyed by this I’m going to performatively burn all of my copies of the Green Book in protest.

I don’t know whether VFM is good on this scheme or where the BCR is more than 1, but it doesn’t (really) matter. The decision to proceed, or not, with this scheme (and every other scheme) is a political one made by politicians.

Read Brian's brilliant book and listen to him on @centreforcities.bsky.social podcast talking about it www.centreforcities.org/podcast/city...

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...

'Made in Manchester' paperback is now number seven English history bestseller at Waterstones.

Ministers need to pay more attention to local government finance and powers than they seem minded to do.

If you want government to work with local areas - whether it’s Greater Manchester or Cornwall - you need a team on the ground, building a local relationship. You also need people in Whitehall on the same team, who can pick up issues and fight battles around Whitehall. This is exactly what CLoG did

The New Towns Taskforce is expected to publish their findings in the next few weeks 📅 This blog reviews what we can expect and what Centre for Cities is hoping they decide 👇