Have loved working at @Policy_Exchange with fantastic colleagues. Excited to announce a book deal with @politybooks 'Make Bureaucracy Great Again' on the collapse and rebuild of UK state capacity (due mid 26), and thanks to @tylercowen for EV support. Other projects to follow!

wow. quite the handbrake turn. good for LL

"she's no angel, she's just a toerag" is quite the comment from your mum.

Can we trust the MoD to spend the money wisely? Bit of an artillery bombardment from @stephenfhwebb sfhwebb.substack.com/p/hike-…

Good for @dcsandbrook for giving Dorian Gray a low rating. If only the authorities had charged Oscar Wilde with conspiracy to pervert the course of justice, of which he was guilty, we might have been spared the endless tales of martyrdom @TabithaSyrett

Writing in @thetimes today about the wider circumstances surrounding the Henry Nowak and Stephen Lawrence cases I say: “…rebalancing British policing away from its adopted radicalism will take a lengthy campaign that will be tirelessly resisted.” thetimes.com/comment/columni…

The Seventh Edition of Heywood Quarterly – History’s lessons – is out now! Explore articles on lessons from the past and what’s shaping the future. heywoodquarterly.com/edition… @UKAMREnvoy @stephenfhwebb @MennaRawlings #CivilService #Government #History #PublicSector #Policy #AI

"UK Government confirms ban on new North Sea drilling licences" "UK waters down Russian oil sanctions amid fuel crisis brought on by Strait of Hormuz closure"

To be clear, as there were a lot of mistaken tweets doing the rounds, there is no question that several hundred million pounds have been spent on fish mitigations at Hinkley Point C. The fish disco cost £50m and the retrieval and return system cost £150m. The first debate is over the extra large intake, which cost £500m. Some fraction of this would have been necessary either way. My guess is about £50m of it, based on the gauge compared with other cases. I could be part wrong, but not hugely. If I’m right, then £650m of it was spent purely on fish mitigations. There is no chance that only £50m was, but perhaps only £600m was. On the other hand, maybe £675m was spent on fish. The second question is the number of fish. There is no question that only a handful of protected fish are being saved, no one disputes this. The 0.083 salmon per year and 100 twaite and allis shad numbers are not disputed. The ‘millions’ of fish people mention are river lampreys and similar, basically microscopic eels, of which there are trillions in the sea. They are therefore not protected and no one realistically thinks we should protect them. Some people are muddying the waters by trying to make this unclear.

Josh Breslaw’s full speech from the @Freedom_in_Arts parliamentary launch of The New Boycott Crisis. A powerful speech on Oi Va Voi, cancellation, Jewish cultural life & what happens when artists are judged through identity, political assumption rather than artistic merit.

Can the @NewStatesman podcast manage a whole 46 minute episode on rising anti semitism without mentioning immigration and demographic changes over the past 20 years?... Of course they can! @TomMcTague @chakelian @mishtal

'As one colleague realised too late, the correct answer to the question 'Do you have any bizarre sexual preferences?' is 'No'. Not: 'It depends what you mean by bizarre...'' @stephenfhwebb good on how vetting works, and why it's not the be-all and end-all sfhwebb.substack.com/p/do-yo…

pleased to have a piece in this edition of the @HeyQuarterly, a taster for the forthcoming book!

these guys remind me of the American Catholic Church breakaway in Walter Percy's Love in the Ruins, who play the Star Spangled Banner at the elevation of the Host @FUDdaily @TonySeruga

Collins was killed by anti-Placement forces: I thought this was well known?