'If you want something to happen, please remember these four points: ban, mandate, tax and subsidise. Which of these levers do you want government to pull?'

🗣️ Tim Leunig
feweek.co.uk/the-sector-mus…

Nope. The background papers have exactly the same issues that I raised in my column, David Hughes CBE

'What exactly are the authors asking the government to do?'

🗣️ Tim Leunig
feweek.co.uk/the-sector-mus…

Interesting speech from Bank of England deputy governor Dave Ramsden here in DC:
“For me the balance of domestic risks to the outlook for UK inflation… is now tilted to the downside, with a scenario where inflation stays close to the 2% target…”
bankofengland.co.uk/speech/2024/ap…

A very fine article.

✍️ 'I'm not writing you a sick note. If you were really ill you wouldn't have the stamina to get a GP appointment'

My latest cartoon for tomorrow's The Telegraph

Buy a print of my cartoons at telegraph.co.uk/mattprints

Original artwork from chrisbeetles.com

I love what Boyan Slat & The Ocean Cleanup are doing.

The slow build out rate in England results from both market and policy failures, say Michael Ball, Paul Cheshire Christian Hilber and Xiaolun Yu

Read: ow.ly/5Fcg50RgTCJ

Ok just seen the front pages about 'sicknote culture'. These arguments are just full of holes.
Yes we should care about work and health, but top priority should be helping people *out of work already* not those who take time off sick.

First on Fit Notes, this is data since 2019:

We did a letter to the The Times and The Sunday Times on the tragedy that so few sheep will get to enjoy the shade and shelter of solar panels

🐑 😢

ECIU

Single disabled people are NINE TIMES more likely than others to be going hungry

(Good day to recall these Joseph Rowntree Foundation Peter Matejic numbers which we wrote up here jrf.org.uk/deep-poverty-a…)

Read the whole thread for a lot of important points. (H/t Tim Leunig )

Even by his own high standard, Stephen Bush on the smoking ban and what it tells us about Conservative Politics is outstanding. ft.com/content/38abc3…

British workers are LESS likely to take sick leave than in any other rich developed country. #FactsMatter , thank you Ben Page

New Municipalists running cities and boroughs are performing better on decarbonisation and road safety than any national government in the U.K.

The closer you are to the people, the more people-centred your decisions tend to be.

'The $60bn US package has been stalled for months by what, for Americans, is domestic politics; for us Ukrainians, it is a matter of life and death.': Oleksandra Matviichuk for Financial Times
ft.com/content/e63d6b…

Nothing wrong with being a commuter town - or a suburb. By definition city centres (and cities) will have more jobs than people, so other places will be commuter towns at least in part.

📉Ipsos UK have been polling for 45 yrs but in my mere seven I've seen...

💥Most unpopular Opp. leader ever (Corbyn)
💥Joint most unpopular PM ever (Sunak)
💥Joint most popular Opp. leader ever (Starmer*)
💥Joint lowest economic optimism ever (2022)
💥Lowest Con VI ever (now!)

This is the right decision from Department for Education. I think our children's education and life prospects will suffer if Progress 8 does not return afterwards.

Everyone’s dunking on this, but it’s admirably honest that the alternative to building more is no one having a guest bedroom, a home office, or space for kids they haven’t had yet. And that permanent flat sharing into middle age will be the norm.

Refreshingly straightforward!