I tried to tell the world, but no one believed me.

UK government is mostly satirical performance art these days.

We have lost a national treasure. The breadth of his poetry, from the serious & profound to the silly & fun, meant that no one could leave an encounter with Professor Benjamin Zephaniah without a deeper sense of the power & beauty of our language.

Another big urban authority in England has effectively declared bankruptcy. We are now long overdue a reform of the local finance settlement and local governance.

What a treat to join Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire & West Yorkshire Combined Authority to launch the Fair Work Charter this morning at University of Bradford.

Employers of all sizes & sectors are backing it.

Proud to have led TPXimpact | B Corp™’s co-design work with SMEs to make it relevant, accessible & impactful.

Great news for public participation in policy making. Well done Miriam Levin & Polly Curtis.

“The fact that we can’t possibly consider substituting the word ‘person’ for service user/client/customer/patient/case… speaks volumes about how distant and detached we’ve become.”

Dehumanising language is endemic in so many sectors and professions (not just social care).

💯 Agree with Jessica Studdert here. National govt centralisation creates a self fulfilling prophesy that leaves local places without the wealth or power to tackle the problems they face.

✍🏾 In 2012 we paid the deposit & signed a contract for a flat.

🔑 On moving day we packed our bags and rushed to the estate agent to pick up the keys.

🚪 The estate agent walked us to the flat & opened the front door.…

🙃 …only to find someone else had already moved in!

Keep thinking about our “illustrative” northern transport projects. basically transport policy as performance art

📢 Have your say on how buses are run in West Yorkshire!

Today, we've launched a public consultation about how buses are run in the region.

Have your say here 👉 yourvoice.westyorks-ca.gov.uk/busreform #BusReformWY

Just imagine: a train which looks like this will rocket out of London, reach Birmingham and then more than halve in speed all the way to Manchester.

‘Welcome to the North’. 🤦‍♀️

In that case we should not have to chose between long-distance connectivity & local transport improvements.

Remember when London was forced to choose between HS1, Crossrail, Jubilee Line Extension, Thameslink, Overground, bus franchising, DLR extensions? No neither do I.
🧵1/2

crowdfunder.co.uk/p/leeds-commun…
Help us build new affordable homes in Armley by investing in our Crowdfunder UK community share offer! please share Mike Chitty (he/him) Climate Action Leeds BBC Leeds Fabian Hamilton lou cunningham

Very proud to be helping design & deliver this important Citizens' Assembly with colleagues from TPXimpact | B Corp™.

🚲 Just had my first go on #LeedsCityBikes .

🌧️ On a wet & windy day like today, they are an absolute game changer.

⛰️ Practically flew up a big scary hill.

👏🏾Well done Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire West Yorkshire Combined Authority Leeds Council News Beryl!

🙏🏾Please bring them to Chapeltown & Harehills next.

Thought I could outsmart the inevitable TransPennine Express delays & cancellations between Leeds & Manchester by leaving *an hour* earlier than required this morning.

But, of course, hubris calls for nemesis. So I’m wasting that hour on platform 16 waiting for a train.

🧵As has happened when other councils have gone through this, efforts will now be made to delve into any specific bad decisions that have been made by the council.

These will be red-herrings. The fact of the matter is we do not fund local government properly. We do not..