Fabian Cooper-Chaudry

Trust declines as income declines

Last month, the government published a new Pride in Place Strategy. I was really struck by the graph below.

There is a very clear and worrying link between incomes and social trust in an area.

www.gov.uk/government/p...

1/3

Reform UK’s ex-leader in Wales Nathan Gill pleads guilty to bribery charges Gill admits to eight counts of bribery relating to pro-Russia statements made in the European parliament and articles

Nathan Gill, Reform's leader in Wales at the last Welsh parliament election, has pled guilty to 8 bribery charges, taking Russian cash while he was one of Nigel Farage’s MEPs to speak in favour of Putin's Russia in that parliament
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

Andy Burnham is not gonna become Labour's next leader, come off it, I mean how would that work, needs a winnable by-election in frankly, a handful of seats, to be able to quit as mayor, this is 'Ruth Davidson to save the Tories' all over again.

I am hardly a natural Rayner cheerleader, but genuinely furious that she's gone. Laurie Magnus's verdict confirms she acted on advice, she just missed the disclaimer saying she should get extra advice. Not just an honest mistake - a mistake literally anyone could make. There but for the grace etc...

get why she had to go but irksome she lost her job to something quite complex and, let's be honest, reasonably minor in the grand scheme of things, when shadow cabinet members get to merrily hang out with Eddie Swastika without any repercussions

Just read this, great piece! A lot of it rang true as an outsider living in the city (I am a beneficiary of its resurgent dynamism). I think regardless of Liverpool's catch up growth, it is still uncertain at this point what it is for (economically) which makes its resurgence fragile.

I think there is nothing, absolutely nothing, which would stop the government (or many organisations which should know better) from posting on X.

It directly incited one of the worst far-right riots in a generation last summer, if that wasn’t a tipping point then what is?

If the government was as committed to "daring iconochlasm", "smashing liberal pieties", and "adapting to the world as it is" as it pretends to be, it would lead the country in a patriotic campaign against the tech platforms and their cartoon-villain owners

Increasingly of the view that British democracy is straightforwardly doomed because we have given politicised tech platforms total impunity to promote libel, conspiracy, violence, and race hatred

Evergreen. Government is powerful when I want it to do something. Government is powerless when I am not sure/don't care.

Main Characters and Supporting Cast: Who Really Gets Talked About in Westminster Who are the main characters in Westminster politics? Explore which cities, regions and issues dominate debates, and which remain supporting cast.

Who really gets talked about in Westminster?

London dominates. Manchester makes the script. Carlisle’s on the rise. Leeds is fading.

@jonathanconnolly.bsky.social asks: are towns & regions main characters — or just extras?

Read more ➡️ www.inflect.co.uk/main-charact...

Labour to revive Northern Powerhouse Rail project Starmer and Reeves expected to announce move before Labour conference, with aim of boosting backbench morale

Great news. The pros and cons aside, it is really quite important that when government says it will Do a Thing, that it Does that Thing.

As @moreincommonuk.bsky.social's research has suggested, failing to Do the Thing corrodes trust in democratic government.

www.theguardian.com/business/202...

I always knew I wasn't White British! 😂

This is just embarrassing (from the Govt). These are in no way similar. Just let the story die or apologise if you feel bad. This half and half keeps the story alive and makes you look not credible.

Can Public-Private Partnerships Fix Britain's Infrastructure Crisis? Britain’s infrastructure is crumbling. Could a reimagined public-private partnership model be the bold solution Labour needs?

Britain needs bold ideas to fix its crumbling infrastructure. Could modern PPPs help?

Read more🔗https://bit.ly/45daHY9

Catch @harryshackleton.bsky.social at #UKREiiF next week where he is keen to talk #Infrastructure & #investment

School fees leave families on £100k ‘with less than minimum wage’ The analysts behind the calculation say professionals like doctors and lawyers are being priced out

If I exclude from my income all my expenses I'm earning less than the minimum wage. This is a disgrace. I blame the government.

www.thetimes.com/uk/education...

Ed Balls

Inflect’s guide to the Mayoral and Local Elections - Inflect An insightful guide to the 2025 local elections, spotlighting key races, party dynamics, and what they reveal about the future of UK politics.

What do May’s local elections tell us about the future of UK politics?📊

@fabiancooperc.bsky.social has provided a useful guide which breaks down the key battlegrounds, leadership challenges, and emerging players in the 2025 Mayoral and Local Elections.

Find out more🔗https://bit.ly/3S5Mpri

Screams in Paul Johnson

The Aeropress is (I say wistfully) a magical feat of engineering because it solves the coffee-making problem of pressure with a free resource: air. But it's a terrible consumer product because it's a one-off purchase. One will last decades.

Rachel Reeves should not turn her Spring Statement into another budget | Institute for Government The chancellor should stick to holding one fiscal event a year.

Caveat: if the revision is big and she thinks the failure to act now would spook markets, she should act. But a strong commitment to act in Autumn would maintain credibility in her and her rules. 3/3

www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/comment/rach...

What I’d really like to see is government/parliament: a) focus on reviewing the regulations it sets out via legislation, and change it where necessary; and b) engage more with the trade offs between regulations it sets.

That is a better approach than taking on regulators I think.

The Times is reporting next up is a hiring freeze

This is a DISASTER

We know Whitehall has a deficit of particular skills & desperately needs to bring in exceptional talent

The Gov has ambitious plans. Having the right people to drive & deliver them is the difference between success & failure

Some thoughts from me about how local Government reform should do more to build capacity in the local state - which primarily means strengthening the political infrastructure of local councillors.

Can't see how Europe and the US can reconcile frankly. The reception to Zelensky among EU leaders vs this doesn't seem bridgeable. This is going to play awfully in every chancellery across Europe. A big split is coming

This is wild and gross... Also minor point, what's with the bearded lady belly-dancer? I thought republicans thought that was bad?

The problem isn’t the fiscal rules.
The problem is a reluctance to raise taxes.

Press release from FDA Union launching new report: The future of office work in the civil service

Our new report featuring a survey of 7,000 civil servants finds that they do not oppose office work. Instead they want effective hybrid working arrangements which focus on what they do, not where they do it. They do not want a policy that’s been determined by tabloid headlines.

One of my best friends is from a sleepy, wealthy small town in the south-west of Germany. He said, so many of my parents’ neighbours are rich and bored, with little to complain about, and they’ve radicalised themselves at dinner parties and online. In their aimlessness, they’ve bonded over hate.

It means “I dislike immigration from certain countries because they don’t agree with British liberalism, an ideology and mode of living that I am explicitly hostile towards”.