Leighton Andrews

Please define Britishness:

Can you imagine how Reform UK would react if a Welsh leader of any other party had been sentenced for 10 years for taking bribes?

Nathan Gill once said he "would never apologise for being patriotic".

Tbf he never said to which country...

The football chant at countless referees ‘you don’t know what you’re doing’ comes to mind.

Closely followed by ‘Sacked in the morning, you’re getting sacked in the morning’.

Police and crime commissioners to be scrapped in England and Wales The government says it will save £100m over this Parliament and less than 20% of voters can name their PCC.

Good.

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

New from me www.ukania.substack.com

Remembering Sarge, eight years on.

US election results live: Zohran Mamdani wins New York City as Democrats also take Virginia and New Jersey races Results in off-year elections deliver rebuke to Donald Trump

on.ft.com/49B25Ne US election results live: Zohran Mamdani wins New York City as Democrats also take Virginia and New Jersey races

Election 2025 live updates: Mamdani wins NYC mayor race, Democrats take governor races in N.J., Va.; Prop 50 to be decided Voters in states across the country head to the ballot box in the first election since President Donald Trump returned to the White House.

www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

Don’t let Europe’s deregulatory temptations weaken its democracies A good tech strategy would aim not just to catch up but to cultivate better alternatives

on.ft.com/48Zd5E2 Don’t let Europe’s deregulatory temptations weaken its democracies

This should be a worry for @WelshGovernment - if you don’t get literacy right, it’s hard to get anything else right in education, no matter how impressed you are by your new Curriculum

Caerphilly just popped Reform's bubble.

Caerphilly, Senedd constituency by-election result:

PC: 47.4% (+19.0)
REF: 36.0% (+34.2)
LAB: 11.0% (-34.9)
CON: 2.0% (-15.3)
GRN: 1.5% (+1.5)
LDEM: 1.5% (-1.2)
GWL: 0.3% (+0.3)
UKIP: 0.2% (+0.2)

Plaid Cymru GAIN from Labour.

Maybe!

On the way into Copenhagen we had to undergo the new EU ETIAS ststem.

Contrary to all the doom and gloom, it took 30 seconds to have faces and fingerprints scanned.

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

This is good from former Welsh Govt SpAd Paul Griffiths

t.co/37eYlvK2He

Starmer and Badenoch are handling the far-right march all wrong A look back to the days of Enoch Powell suggests a better model

This is very good from Stephen Bush

on.ft.com/4pq7NHo Starmer and Badenoch are handling the far-right march all wrong

An historical note from me….

Perpetual story of at least the last 60 years, but great for teaching.

An interesting overview from @leightonandrews.bsky.social of the first meetings of the Welsh ‘cabinet’ in 1999 as it sought to navigate its role and working practices amidst the broader infancy, and constitutional complexities, of Welsh devolution

#senedd #devolution

Just read a wonderful quote from James C. Scott on Bourdieu

The first meetings of the Welsh Cabinet May to July 1999

How do new political institutions evolve their practices? I take a look at the first meetings of the Welsh Cabinet in 1999.

ukania.substack.com/p/the-first-...

Transforming Government - new @carr-lse.bsky.social discussion paper on contemporary public sector reform. With @leightonandrews.bsky.social, Roland Koch, Daniel Werfel and Richard Mottram

www.lse.ac.uk/accounting/a...

I have a short essay in this collection on Transforming Government from The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) CARR centre. My theme is ‘Priductive Government’ - and of course, its opposite! @martinlodge.bsky.social

www.lse.ac.uk/accounting/a...

In the US. Other approaches needed elsewhere across diverse regulators.

“We need public debates about AI governance that go beyond technical jargon to examine fundamental questions about power, justice and human agency”

Thanks for sharing this article @leightonandrews.bsky.social👇🏻

Why politicians need to get over their tech insecurity Those in the political sphere should not be ridiculed for asking important questions — even if they do lack technical expertise

on.ft.com/40hM8Gw Why politicians need to get over their tech insecurity

Ukraine is the frontline of European democracy Mick Antoniw MS As Ukraine reaches the three and a half year point since Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine, support from the people of Wales has never waned. The war may not be making headline news...

nation.cymru/opinion/ukra...

Universities in England at risk of long-term decline, says British Academy Outgoing president Dame Julia Black calls on ministers to overhaul their ‘confused’ approach to higher education

Not just England

on.ft.com/4ePKVfy Universities in England at risk of long-term decline, says British Academy

New post from me on ukania.substack.com