Andrew Carter

Not to overplay (at this point) what they can do but Metro Mayors and City Leaders are ideally placed to deliver improvements that are/would be seen and felt by people where they live and work.

They could/would do more but need government support to do it

Is "deliverism" dead? Lawrence gave his first take on Iran at the weekend and will return to it later this week.

New post just out

"Is 'deliverism' dead?"

A guest post from the brilliant @dmk1793.bsky.social on one of the main points of strategic confusion within the Labour party.

Is winning just about delivery or more about narrative?

(£/free trial)

open.substack.com/pub/samf/p/i...

Alongside fusion of powers across track and train, Great British Railways could put mayors on track to have European-style powers over local trains.

Quick thread on my latest piece setting out what the Railways Bill could mean for greater control of commuter rail in England's secondary cities. 🧵

📅 In conversation with @mayorofgm.bsky.social

Joins us to hear from the Mayor on Greater Manchester’s journey so far, lessons for other mayoral strategic authorities, his ambitions for Greater Manchester and the English devolution agenda more broadly👇
www.centreforcities.org/event/manche...

‘Every hermit crab in the bucket benefited from vacancy chains when a ‘luxury’ shell was dropped into the mix’

‘Is university still worth it?’ is the wrong question The graduate earnings premium isn’t really measuring what most people think

Really good piece. The falling graduate premium is a consequence more than a cause of low growth

‘Is university still worth it?’ is the wrong question - giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/... via @jburnmurdoch.ft.com

The link between material and moral flourishing is real [FREE TO READ] Two decades after he wrote it, an economics professor’s thesis is still one of this century’s most prescient

My vote for the most prescient book of the century so far...
as.ft.com/r/5ca641f2-4...

Agree, and to add - political choices highly constrained by there not being much you can do about strong and complex social and market forces, without wasting a lot of money trying to find the answer and sacrificing funds towards public goods we are much better at providing.

I completely get why the BBC has used this picture. It suits the story.
But…

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

It’s now quite hard to sustain that ex-mining, pro-Brexit, Labour-to-Reform swing seats (via levelling up) have been overlooked or forgotten by Westminster. They’ve been the axis of politics 15 years. Why it hasn’t worked is the question

Breaking: UK government is confirming it’s dropped plans to delay local elections at 30 English councils

At long last, we’re launching in Leeds! Ever since I started The Mill, people have asked us to create a publication across the Pennines.

If 500 people pledge to become members, we’re going to hire two journalists and do it. Please share with Leeds friends.

leeds.ghost.io

It’s time to call out “Tesco derangement syndrome”! The growing fad of blaming supermarkets for higher food prices suggests an alarming ignorance of the real world, let alone basic economics.

Julian Jessop wrote a good piece on it here: julianhjessop.substack.com/p/its-time-t...

Growth that people can see and access - Centre for Cities Why economic growth must be rooted in place if it is to raise living standards and feel meaningful in UK cities.

My attempt to bring together findings from @centreforcities.bsky.social Cities Outlook 2026 with @drjennings.bsky.social recent excellent report Perspectives on Place www.centreforcities.org/blog/growth-...

Be more Roy Jenkins on the absence of "win wins", Growth, Labour's predicament

I just now read @stephenkb.bsky.social quick piece on "Convenientism" - and so have piggybacked my own comment, on unavoidable dilemmas in growth policy
gileswilkes.substack.com/p/be-more-ro...

Croydon shows that small-site housebuilding can respond quickly when planning rules reduce uncertainty.

This briefing looks at what made that possible, and where replication would be harder👇
buff.ly/vLNo0r9

Thread on HMT response to @financialtimes.com on growth intentions. @abbyinnes.bsky.social @edconway.bsky.social @duncanrobinson.bsky.social @greenmirandahere.bsky.social @marymcd.bsky.social @jenwilliamsft.bsky.social

How to get England building more homes, not ‘bat tunnels’ Croydon’s surge in development on small sites shows how a rules-based system can unlock housebuilding

Today's newsletter: some thoughts on two excellent reports, one by @dsquareddigest.bsky.social and one by @centreforcities.bsky.social that I think provides excellent collateral and a worked example of his thesis about how to get better at building infrastructure:

NEW REPORT out today. TLDR: Rules-based planning works and we can introduce it in British cities relatively easily.

A small thread on Croydon’s 3-year planning ‘experiment’ and what it means for urban planning…

We had a fantastic panel discussion to launch #CitiesOutlook2026 last week with @andrewcities.bsky.social, @allymcgovern.bsky.social, Oliver Coppard and @stephenkb.bsky.social 👇

There are agglomeration economies for superstar singers as well 😉

NEW PODCAST | Perspectives on place 🎙️

@andrewcities.bsky.social is joined by @drjennings.bsky.social to discuss his latest paper Perspectives on Place and delve into peoples pride in their places and what this can mean for boosting growth.

Listen now 🎧👇
buff.ly/k336JbJ

City Talks: Perspectives on Place - Centre for Cities Andrew Carter is joined by Professor Will Jennings to discuss his latest paper Perspectives on Place: what the English think about their local area.

Good morning! If you want to hear more about place, towns and high streets - and the findings from my recent report - this podcast with @andrewcities.bsky.social @centreforcities.bsky.social is now available to listen to...

Read the full report here -> www.southampton.ac.uk/publicpolicy...

Civic Rewilding: Applying the lessons from Big Local — Kinship Works In this final report we synthesise the evidence from Big Local, providing a practical guide to the craft of ‘civic rewilding’. This is a revised and expanded version of our earlier Working Paper, addi...

🎉 Launch day! 🎉 Today at @kinship.works we're publishing Civic Rewilding, our final report on the craft of civic renewal. We've synthesised the lessons from Big Local, one of the biggest ever experiments in rejuvinating the civic capacity of neighbourhoods. 1/n
www.kinship.works/publications...

📢#CitiesOutlook2026 launch event today at 12pm!

@rjson.bsky.social, @antbreach.bsky.social and @andrewcities.bsky.social will be taking an in-depth look at the findings from the 19th edition of our annual flagship publication.

Don't miss out on the launch event👇
buff.ly/I2fExHa

Cities sit at the heart of the UK economy.

Cities Outlook 2026 looks at what that means for growth and household living standards ▶️

Short thread: how does Government raise living standards across the country?

Lots of recent evidence shows that local initiatives are an important part of that.

What do these need? It basically boils down to funding and flexibility. In essence this means local devolution backed by economic growth

Spot on.

Lots of links @drjennings.bsky.social latest fascinating report on how people view and feel about their place www.southampton.ac.uk/leaf_content...

City Talks podcast about this coming soon.

A small crumb of optimism - we don't and wont use AI to rank CVs.

Sadly, we do get lots (and lots) of AI generated applications which makes our approach much longer