Helen Buckingham

It wasn't a thing when I was at school... I never had my nose out of a book, but also never felt the need to dress up as any character. I wonder what the evidence is that the whole dress up hoo ha actually encourages any child who doesn't already read to start.

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.

A bookshelf filled with books bought at the Faversham literary festival, food & wine writing, poetry, fantasy, politics, art and more.

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...?

...between teams, and it's hard to short circuit the time needed to do that. Of course you can learn from experience elsewhere, but relationships aren't built overnight.

It's still totally the right approach, and you accurately describe what's needed to give it a chance of success, so 🤞

This is really good James. But I think maybe you have underplayed the challenges in the 'grow' bit for the NHS. It's not as simple as 'not invented here' syndrome, although that's real. So much about delivering better pathways and Integrated care relies on changing culture and behaviour in and...

NHS in England to be set targets on getting people back to work Ministers also planning to link patient data to benefit claims and employment statistics

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!

Those too!

Buds bursting all over!

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.

Dr Miranda Davies

I'm sure you're aware of Miranda Davies substantial work on prison healthcare at @nuffieldtrust.org.uk? www.nuffieldtrust.org.uk/person/dr-mi...

My walk in venue of choice is Brasserie Zedel. Huge, stylish, they keep tables for walk ins or can usually squeeze a space at the bar, and it's great people watching as well as eating.

@sarahscobie.bsky.social

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.

The bluesky map, me on the outer southwest side.

Zooming in on the bluesky map, me with the charity and social impact sector.

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 was warned off by the previews so can't confirm similarity, but I have to tell you the original plot was also fairly mad.

It was quite a moment for me when I realised I was in Saga's age bracket...

An envelope with "There's good news for anyone aged 50 or over..." written at the bottom and "Pure Cremation" written at the top.

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.

Rules are for little people.