I'm on the zoom this aft, talking about how we transform the governance architecture of England.

"While elected mayors are commonplace around the world, they are still relatively new in this country, and, arguably, they are the first qualitative change in the governance of England since the suffragettes" #AMPwy thestateofthearts.co.uk/features/can-w…

Very interesting chat this aft with Andy Mycock of Politics at Huddersfield about mayors, mayoral politics, things West Yorkshire could learn from Greater Manchester and the West Midlands. The Andy Street experience (two different parties) might hold more potential insight than from Gtr MCR

With Open Source Arts we're submitting a hybrid event as part of this. We've been having a discussion today about whether to call it "hybrid", which is a term I think of from computer science, meaning distinct from virtual reality, or "blended", borrowed from @LeedsQuakers.

“It’s impossible to do as good a job from a call centre hundreds of miles away... The government is insisting on spending public money with Sitel and Serco for reasons that can only be ideological.”

Worth noting that ideology here doesn't just mean privatisation, austerity, neo liberalism, etc. It also means centralisation. And the traditional English left is just as guilty of that as the right. They'd just replace Serco with a ministry in central London.

West Yorkshire devolution 2021: How can we make it work for migrant communities? First steps in our #AMPwy partnership with Asylum Matters, individuals & organisations in the region migrationpartnership.org.uk/west-yorkshire…

This is our contribution to #letterstopower, organised by Culture Declares Emergency We've written to the future mayors of West Yorkshire, for seven generations to come. sameskiesthinktank.com/letter-to-our-…

Is West Yorkshire a real place? Weekend cycle ride round the boundary of the functional economic area sameskiesthinktank.com/is-west-yorksh…

Project I organised to re imagine the safe distance markings on the floor of Café Ollo in The Media Centre All the creative and hard work done by Helen Williamson, photos by Laura Mateescu Thanks to the Media Centre for being great hosts of Hannah Festival and many other things

Thank you, that's a nice surprise this morning and very kind. And a great way of doing the "nominate..." online challenge thing.

Still keeping a safe distance.

I'm hosting this conversation on zoom tomorrow at 2pm. All welcome. Registration closes at 11am

If you were interested in this afternoon's Turning Arts and Cultures Upside Down session, but couldn't join, we've uploaded the zoom recording to YouTube. More here: sameskiesthinktank.com/themes-quotes-…

No. It is has nothing to do with ignorance. You dont maintain such power by being stupid. It is longstanding, well thought through, systemic and intentional protection of centralised financial power and wealth.

All welcome to join us for a discussion about how German local and regional government works and how that could inform what happens in West Yorkshire. In collaboration with Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, the oldest political foundation in Germany FES London eventbrite.co.uk/e/what-can-wes…

What are we going to do about hate crime in our region? Please join us for a discussion about practises that local leaders and organisers can implement to curb divisions. eventbrite.co.uk/e/what-are-we-…