Phil Swann

The Covid Inquiry has missed vital lessons on how to make better decisions | Institute for Government We have not learnt much that is new from the inquiry’s Module Two report.

The Covid Inquiry has missed vital lessons on how to make better decisions

We have not learnt much that is new from the inquiry’s Module Two report, say @rebeccamckee.bsky.social and @alexgathomas.bsky.social www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/comment/covi...

Interesting (and depressing?) that the status of the government’s mission boards is now unclear.

Absolutely…..

The deadliest wait: five women on death row Up to 1,000 women globally await execution in prison, with mitigating factors such as child abuse and coercion ignored

www.theguardian.com/global-devel...

Judge me at next election, Keir Starmer tells doubters The PM tells the BBC he has made

"Sir Keir told the BBC: 'Every minute that is spent talking about anything other than cost-of-living is a wasted minute in my book.'"

OK, so why does his government keep banging on about immigration?

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Not just in Cambridge. Lack of scrutiny is bad for local government and politics.

Reform Is Losing Councillors Elected In May At An 'Unusual' Rate Reform UK has lost more than 5 per cent of the councillors it had elected six months ago, an analysis by PoliticsHome has found.

Reform has lost over 5% of councillors it had elected six months ago

A @matildamartin.bsky.social deep dive into the councils won by Farage's party in May found what a local government expert called "unusual" levels of churn

Exclusions, suspensions and resignations have taken place nationwide

Absolutely…but ministers have to make a start….

I can’t disagree with that, but so many failures now are due to fundamentally broken systems making operational failure more likely. Hence my comment.

In an earlier era the minister responsible would have resigned. A return to that principle may force ministers to fix our broken systems.

Rob Lane obituary Other lives: GLC director of highways and transport who hoped to curb car use and promote public services

Sad to see that Rob Lane has died. I can remember working with him when I led on transport stuff at the AMA in the 1980s.

Rob Lane obituary www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Riba Stirling Prize 2025: Appleby Blue Almshouse named Britain's best new building Appleby Blue Almshouse in London wins the Royal Institute of British Architects' Stirling Prize.

A great choice….

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

English councils to remain poorer than in 2010 despite funding rise, says report Exclusive: Impact of austerity cannot be undone by end of parliament despite above-inflation funding, analysis finds

This is a grim read. I stick to my view that the wilful blindness of the government to the financial crisis in local government will cost them their majority at the next election. Why not roll the dice for change when the local public realm is falling apart? www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

No need for a moral panic about the welfare system It’s far from perfect, but the UK’s spending is broadly controlled and employment is high

A piece of myth-busting essential reading….

on.ft.com/48sdQoR No need for a moral panic about the welfare system

Greek-style tall pointed obelisk in polished pink granite standing in a kirkyard. Most of the other gravestones are smaller and grey. The tower of the Kirk is prominent in the background. There are green shrubs and several bare-branched trees in the background.

Jean Payton Reid, architect and town planner (1917-97). Liberton Kirkyard, Edinburgh. Thought to have been Scotland's first female town planner. Family monument - pink granite obelisk.
#31DaysOfGraves day 12 notable women. #herstory
thepastandotherplaces.wordpress.com/2023/01/14/a...

Love this street name in Montréal…made even nicer by the fact it crosses a street named after JFK.

The supreme folly of a Labour civil war A leadership battle could hand No 10 to Nigel Farage

Some wise words from Andrew Marr in this week’s New Statesman
magazine.newstatesman.com/2025/09/24/t...

A half length portrait painting of a man in front of a dark brown background. He is wearing a lighter brown jacket with a white frilled collar shirt underneath. He is wearing a long grey wig.

Born #OTD 1665, John Hervey, 1st earl of Bristol. MP for Bury St. Edmunds for nine years, he was described as "preferring the environment of home or the race course" to Westminster in #HistParl's Commons 1690-1715 volumes. Read his full biography here: ow.ly/LwTI50T35kK

And the future of local government hinges on fundamentally reforming its financial systems!

Absolutely outrageous!

Car culture is insanity. Dad is 82, has stopped driving and sold the car. Last bit of admin was to cancel the AA. They tied to convince him he should continue driving. 🙃

This is a stunning exhibition. A must see!

www.npg.org.uk/whatson/exhi...

Suspended Reform councillor appears in court over ‘threats to kill wife’ A councillor suspended by Reform UK has appeared in court accused of making threats to kill his wife.

Reform suspended one of the Kent County Councillors who was elected for the party in May, after 3 charges, including threatening to kill his wife + coercive behaviour. He denies the charges, and is now an independent councillor while the case + trial proceeds
www.kentonline.co.uk/thanet/news/...

Low turnout and an unfair voting system: UK elections ranked in the bottom half of countries in Europe British voters are moving away from the two-party system, but their electoral system hasn’t kept up.

“It is estimated that there are around 7 million to 8 million people not correctly registered or missing from the registers entirely. This is not many less than the 9.7 million people whose votes gave the government a landslide majority.”

The Treasury’s Long Shadow: Why Local Government Needs Its Own Barber Philip Swann The extent to which the Blair government’s delivery unit became the focus of tension between No 10 and the Treasury is a key theme in Michelle Clement’s fascinating history[1] of the u…

@swannphil.bsky.social‬ examines what happened to Missions in the spending review?

inlogov.com/2025/06/26/t...

The government should not ban public servants from speaking in public | Institute for Government New guidance will damage the quality of government and public discourse.

No10 has issued odd internal guidance banning officials speaking at public events

It means more closed govt & worse policy decisions-the opposite of what ministers say they want

From @drhannahwhite.bsky.social & me @instituteforgovernment.org.uk

www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/comment/gove...

INLOGOV Blog The Institute of Local Government Studies, University of Birmingham

What lessons are there from Blair’s delivery unit for the current government’s missions?
Some thoughts in my INLOGOV blog

inlogov.com

Great write up of @stuarthoddinott.bsky.social’s new report which shows local authorities have been forced to ration access to publicly funded care. This has created a damaging geographical and demographic ‘care gap’

Full report here: www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/publication/...

@alexgathomas.bsky.social and I take a look into Georgia Gould's announcements last week and ask the question: what does this mean for the government's missions?

From LA to Paris, the populist right hates cities – and it’s fuelled by a sense of bitter defeat | Andy Beckett LA was once a conservative stronghold; now the military is occupying it. Liberal cities have become targets for politicians looking to stir up their voters elsewhere, says Guardian columnist Andy Beck...

A worrying populist dimension to the already challenging central-local government relations. Well worth reading From LA to Paris, the populist right hates cities – and it’s fuelled by a sense of bitter defeat | Andy Beckett www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...