New hard edged law:
no column or analyst note is ever allowed to contain a phrase like "whether X or Y happens remains up be seen/only time will tell".
Literally the most empty-headed non thought you could possibly commit to paper.
New hard edged law:
no column or analyst note is ever allowed to contain a phrase like "whether X or Y happens remains up be seen/only time will tell".
Literally the most empty-headed non thought you could possibly commit to paper.
All governments say they want “better regulation”.
An easy way for them to do that is to give more powers to the Regulatory Policy Committee - the most important quango that most people have never heard of.
I’ve written about it at @re-state.bsky.social
open.substack.com/pub/restate/...
It’s a shame to see standards sliding backward on open competition of roles in the senior civil service.
22.02.2026 19:13 — 👍 0 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
The Re:View is out! 🎉
This week, Director of Policy and Research, @stkaye.bsky.social unpacks the Government’s latest move in the devolution agenda, as the MHCLG seeks to “fill in the map” of England with a new wave of Strategic Authorities.
👉Read it here: bit.ly/4auVwuB
London needs a chief executive, not an ambassador.
For my column in CityAM this week, I've written about how our research @re-state.bsky.social shows the Mayor of London is under-powered and needs to level-up so the city stops punching below its weight.
www.cityam.com/london-doesn...
V exciting to have shifted our @re-state.bsky.social blog, Re:Think, to Substack.
Even more exciting to have such a corker for a first post from @jo3hill.bsky.social dissecting why mission government has failed 👇
substack.com/home/post/p-...
Four our first Re:Think blog on Substack, @jo3hill.bsky.social has written about why 'mission government' seems to have failed, why it matters, and what should come next.
restate.substack.com/p/why-missio...
Why 'mission government' failed.
For our first long read on Substack, I've written about why the Government's philosophy of missions has sunk without a trace, why that matters, and what comes next.
restate.substack.com/p/why-missio...
Always nice to read about the @re-state.bsky.social team’s research on my commute!
03.02.2026 07:29 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0Huge day as we launch our first paper of 2026 - a deep dive into how to fix London's government!
02.02.2026 09:05 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
London has 33 boroughs. Paris has 20, Berlin has 12, New York has just five. This matters because in London the boroughs hold all the power & they are too fragmented to act city-wide.
It's time to change that. Our report 'Capital at risk', calls for centralising power in London.
We've moved to Substack! Our popular newsletter, the Re:View, and our blog Re:Think are now both hosted on the platform.
If you don't subscribe, this is the best place to go for big-picture ideas about remaking public services.
First up this week, @stkaye.bsky.social on govt policing reforms.
You can sign their open letter here lookingforgrowth.uk/heidi-help-us
30.01.2026 09:30 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
How to rebuild Hammersmith Bridge.
New from me for the Greater London Project. We're supporting Looking for Growth's campaign to get Hammersmith Bridge reopened for everyone.
www.greaterlondon.co/p/a-bridge-t...
The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.
For this week's Re:View, I wrote about why the Government should pay attention to the failures of past attempts to regulate better for innovation and growth!
Great to see Mel Stride quoting research from our @re-state.bsky.social paper 'Making the grade' on the absence of good performance management in the civil service.
It's demoralising to the best officials that they get treated the same as the worst ones - this needs to change!
Paper linked below!
The sharply bimodal response to Paul Ovenden's piece represents a real political divide.
Not between right and left.
But between those who think shifting power from politicians to bureaucrats, quangos and courts was right, and those who see it as central to our problems.
As we sum up 2025 in policy, have a read to find out our:
💬 Quotes of the year
🔢 Stats of the year
👍 Best policies of the year
👎 Worst policies of the year
... along with seeing who got our Reformer of the Year and Reactionary of the Year awards!
Twelve days to remake the State!
Over the next twelve (working) days we're going to be publishing our own twelve ideas to remake the State, to make sure our festive season isn't without a dash of public service reform!
Day 1 is Sean on why Britain needs Governors.
Feel like you missed the highlights (and lowlights) of the Chancellor's Budget yesterday? Don't worry, we have you covered!
Our Re:Act analysis covers the main measures, and what our team made of them.
And that’s the Budget!
Read our Re:Act to find out where we think the Chancellor has ducked the big decisions, and where the jury is still out.
Easy to miss on Budget day, but the supporting documents are always the best bit. Pleased to have contributed a little to this one, and glad to see the Treasury taking up the reforms of liberalising many spending controls which we've written about at @re-state.bsky.social.
26.11.2025 17:43 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
The UK has some of the most successful businesses in the world - with the right policy approach, I believe we could 10x this.
Real privilege to be looking at this over the course of events in partnership with Workday.
The NHS has failed to contain the growth of hospitals and inpatient care over more suitable settings. The growth of resources in secondary care has outstripped demand for two decades.
Important from @rosiebeacon.bsky.social in our final 'Hospital of the future' paper
re-state.co.uk/publications...
Procurement markets are very strange when you think about it. For our Re:Think blog, I've written the 'Policy Director's cut' of our procurement reform paper published last week.
17.11.2025 09:54 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
The Government is writing cheques it can't afford with this Budget - particularly now the Chancellor is meant to be ripping up her income tax plans.
Great piece from @charliepickles.bsky.social in the Telegraph
The 'write round' process used in Whitehall is arcane, but it serves a purpose - failing to make Cabinet smaller, you need them to take decisions together. There's much more you could do to speed up Whitehall - consultations for a start!
www.politicshome.com/news/article...
