Joe Sarling

*Major swoon*

Instagram Create an account or log in to Instagram - Share what you're into with the people who get you.

And if you haven't seen his account, where have you been?!

Link: www.instagram.com/_stephenspen...

Meet the Dad Making Music from Toddler Twaddle Stephen Spencer is a college music lecturer, but his side gig is producing songs written by his three-year-old. “Apple The Stoola,” Record of the Year?

“I need a bold harmonic shift here, when we learn the man drived the rainbow car.”

Very pleased to see this little profile of Stephen Spencer. His IG brings joy 🙏🏻

Buxton looking at becoming UK Town of Culture 2028 Work is happening to put forward a bid to make Buxton the UK Town of Culture for 2028.

Keeping this long thread going!

"We want to hear from you: the creators, the doers, the dreamers, the community champions, the everyday Buxton believers."

It's Charlie's manor 🤣

🤣

Peaceful forest walks are good for the soul ❤️

Driver who crashed while gambling on mobile is jailed after pregnant woman suffered premature birth Jack Bentley admitted driving into the back of a stationary vehicle on the A50 in Derbyshire in April 2025.

Separate to the prison sentence, I'm always shocked when someone can categorically demonstrate they cannot be trusted to control 1,500kg of metal and *not* be banned for an extremely long time.

Only hitting one of these today.

Yesterday evening I spoke to an Indian investment delegation as part of their three-day UK visit exploring real estate opportunities.

There was a brilliant positive buzz in the room as we talked all things economic performance, structural reforms, and investment opportunities.

Great view too!

Sir Michael Lyons discusses why JVs can ease the viability squeeze The viability of development is no longer a challenge in just some areas – it is now a pressure being felt across the country, even in places with stronger market demand, driven by rising construction...

"Build to rent is no longer a secondary option and in many places it is becoming a core delivery route, providing stability when sales markets are constrained. More broadly, tenure flexibility and realistic assumptions about risk are essential if regeneration is to remain investable."

So good you have to get out twice! Sunny hills and a blustery wind to blow away cobwebs. 10/10 would recommend.

Glorious sunny Sunday 😍

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Will I be jinxing it if I say it feels like spring in the hills today?

I replied before seeing you'd already got there! Damn.

'Super forecasters', you say...?

Could Manchester be a model for the UK to kickstart growth? With an annual growth rate of 3.1%, Manchester's economy has performed twice as well as that of the UK as a whole.

"It has been an exercise in what economists call "comparative advantage" & "agglomeration"...Manchester has young people, workers, space & lots of globally important cultural assets, from music to football & cycling. Above all, it has long had Europe's biggest university campus"

Completely agree. Requires a strategic authority with budget to make this type of thing happen across a functional area.

This. 100% this. It can be achieved.

From a case-making perspective, I'm excited about Green Book changes to emphasise being 'place based': making the case for multiple connected investments that alone might not deliver enough outcomes but as a collection could be transformational.

Whole system x spatial economics.

Spot on! I worked with both @hayleylever.bsky.social and @warrenheppolette.bsky.social at @gmmoving.co.uk - learned so much about what this takes and what can be achieved from them.

It's a big moment for places!

Essentially, to be transformational will require places to avoid simply recreating the current silo-ed decision-making process seen across Whitehall. Who is translating across topics, priorities, and budgets? Who is providing leadership agency to 'do things differently here'?

For any but particularly new strategic authorities building the team will determine how quickly you can realise transformation.

Skills x behaviours & culture are central to this. You need a blend of skills/disciplines but everyone needs to work in a open & curious way. All following a North Star.

From a case-making perspective, I'm excited about Green Book changes to emphasise being 'place based': making the case for multiple connected investments that alone might not deliver enough outcomes but as a collection could be transformational.

Whole system x spatial economics.

This is why I'm fascinated by the economics x whole system overlap. (Some might simply call that 'political economy'.) But I do think it's a bit different: it's practice, it's learning-by-doing. How quickly can new combined authorities bring this to bear?

None of this is easy. It requires relentless and transparent conversations across places. It demands a focus on inequalities to avoid areas falling behind. It needs an open approach and a division of political and administrative power. It lives through everyone pointing in broadly the same direction

This is the potential combined (/strategic) authorities have. What are those things that straddle mutliple council areas that can be catalysed by an organisation that connects, invests, humbly enables? And can it think sufficiently holistically? Can it work in a 'whole system' way?

Having worked in Manchester and across Greater Manchester there is much to be proud of. Connecting ideqs, people, and work together in a 'whole system' way is central to this. 'Everything is connected'. Both culture and ways-of-working-culture is strong, galvanising, and inspiring.

Could Manchester be a model for the UK to kickstart growth? With an annual growth rate of 3.1%, Manchester's economy has performed twice as well as that of the UK as a whole.

"It has been an exercise in what economists call "comparative advantage" & "agglomeration"...Manchester has young people, workers, space & lots of globally important cultural assets, from music to football & cycling. Above all, it has long had Europe's biggest university campus"