Labour market stats wonk: default mode: cynical. Boosts are not endorsements and may be ironic. Also on avian-dinosaur-site @PaulBivand
Quotes: "during our period of study (1993-2024), mechanisms designed to regulate spending tended towards input control and short-term decision-making, struggled to support strategic investment and often failed to deliver sustained improvements in outcomes."
Giles WilkesThis is the Nuffield research that the incredibly productive Diane Coyle refers to in this article. www.bennettschool.cam.ac.uk/publications...
Given we are approaching that time of the year, my big piece from years back on the 1983 Cold War Crisis (and the role of Stanislav Petrov in it) over onto authory as a free-to-read. Over the years, the myth of what happened has been simplified. The reality was scarier. Because: Ronald Reagan.
The Day the World Didn’t EndAt the height of the Cold War, with alarms screaming, one Soviet officer stopped to think. It cost him his career. It may also have saved the world. The morning of the 26th September 1983 had started ...authory.com
“It’s perverse that people who want to walk and cycle are penalised because the motor traffic is too polluting". National Highways closes cycling and walking routes beside heavily polluted roads lauralaker.substack.com/p/national-h...
National Highways closes walking and cycling routes beside heavily polluted roadsRoads body accused of 'perversely penalising' walkers and cyclists for motor traffic pollutionlauralaker.substack.com
2/5 Dunwich Heath From a few weeks ago before the devastating wild fire. Purple, greens and golds - but the gold mostly means dried out and inflammable. #DunwichHeath #photography #suffolk
The Milburn review on NEETs team has been quietly publishing a series of takes on Substack. Some of these emerge onto established media some don't. The latest is a set of views from young people on their Youth Panel. Worth a look. onemillionfutures.substack.com/p/what-young...
What young people actually needThe Milburn Review Youth Panelonemillionfutures.substack.comUseful labour market trends report from Indeed. www.hiringlab.org/uk/blog/2026.... Coverage in FT highlights job postings with 'graduate' in the job title - a tiny proportion of jobs taken by graduates - and very seasonal. UK job posting trends worse than EU or US since 2023.
Indeed’s 2026 Mid-Year UK Jobs & Hiring Trends Report: A Labour Market Under Pressure – And in Transition - Indeed Hiring Lab UK I IrelandThe UK labour market continues to navigate a difficult economic environment, with little sign of near-term relief.www.hiringlab.org
Thatcher tackled the inflation problem by allowing unemployment to rise and breaking the power of TUs. I’ve never understood why ending public sector house building, destroying local bus services and hollowing out local government are seen as good things.
2. There *is* an important point here about context! The rise in racism against NHS staff is driven in large part by the simultaneous sharp growth in both non-white NHS staff *and* the growth in explicitly xenophobic/anti-immigrant rhetoric in UK politics. A point worth making!
A stranger stopped me in the centre of Kyiv and invited me to a bell-ringing and carillon performance at St. Michael’s Golden-Domed Monastery. I followed her. The full letter is for paid members www.patreon.com/strategywoma...
Vince Maple says there is “no secret deal with Lewisham” over Medway housing and wants a Chatham Business Improvement District before the council disappears. Plus mayoral rules, potholes, faith and karaoke in part two of our interview with Medway Council's leader.
“I'm quite boring”What Steven asked Vince Maple in the second of our two-part interview with the Leader of Medway Councilwww.localauthority.newsThis is a *really* good episode, and I love the finding that WFH is good for fertility (what a way to confuse the natalist anti WFH gammons...)
Soumaya KeynesStruggling to cope with work from home? Maybe your business has a deeper management problem... New episode of The Economics Show with @NickBloom.bsky.social Transcript: www.ft.com/content/17c3... Listen: podfollow.com/economics-show
So, do recall this isn't "giving degrees" but "permitting non-poshos to take degree courses and earn degrees". The side effect is low-functioning poshos face more competition-not a perfectly level playing field but a much more even one since they can't sail through cause Daddy got them into Oxford.
Omg this is adorable. We gotta be kinder to each other and more encouraging of fun and silliness.
John O'ConnellYour Much Needed Afternoon #TimelineCleanser ... Have fun at work, and if you can, make someone's day.
New at Tetrapod Zoology, a longish discussion of what happened at #DinoConUK 2026.... tetzoo.com/blog/2026/8/...
DinoCon 2026, a Giant Event at Hilton Birmingham Metropole — Tetrapod ZoologyBigger, better… in fact, around twice the size of DinoCon 2025. Let’s discuss what happened at DinoCon 2026…tetzoo.com
I don't see how this differs to Grammar Schools which progressives generally oppose? Make the school system serve all abilities more effectively absolutely but channel kids at 14 into pathways that are not easily later changed no.
This happens by stealth in Scottish schools with the Nat4/Nat5 choice. It's horrendous
Sam FreedmanOne reason I'm so opposed to early selection is it means the sorting process is essentially done in advance by teachers/parents and so kids aren't even given a chance on the route that leads to the high status and well paid jobs.
In Cornwall anyone who actually needs a car like this drives the most beat up, muddy iterations imaginable. The 2nd home owners on the other hand drive in the middle of the road & aggressively refuse to reverse in lanes because they don't want their *off road, specialist farm tanks* to brush a hedge
1/5 Dunwich and Minsmere Wildfire has ravaged Dunwich Heath - an area of coastal heathland in Suffolk. I was there a fortnight earlier. This was a gloomy overcast day, but you can see the grass is tinder dry. And that's Sizewell in the background. #DunwichHeath #photography #suffolk
Climate science denial in physical form. The Land Rover Defender X (yup - they've gone full Musk). Price: £103,460, plus a few kids' lives. 🧵