David Higham
@oldtrotter.bsky.social
Former economist and civil servant. Former (age related) national cycling champion. Still a music fan. Sewn up member of the Zipper Club.
Pinned
David Higham
@oldtrotter.bsky.social
· Jan 21
Beyond ‘Levelling up’: how to improve regional policy in England: 10 lessons from 20 years
‘Levelling-up’ as a political slogan in the UK may be finished, but a commitment to reducing regional inequalities remains, as highlighted in the 2024 Green Paper on Industrial Strategy. This paper...
www.tandfonline.com
A short summary of my thoughts on regional policy. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
This is excellent although the problem isn’t the Treasury but Chancellors who complicated and bent the tax system out of shape to disguise tax increases and/or draw political dividing lines Whatever Brown’s many achievements they didn’t include a simple tax system open.substack.com/pub/iandunt/...
Budget 2025: This is how you lose the world
Populism has damaged the economy. And to fix the economy, you have to damage populism.
open.substack.com
November 28, 2025 at 5:04 PM
This is excellent although the problem isn’t the Treasury but Chancellors who complicated and bent the tax system out of shape to disguise tax increases and/or draw political dividing lines Whatever Brown’s many achievements they didn’t include a simple tax system open.substack.com/pub/iandunt/...
Another reminder today of how good the NHS can be. Blood test bang on appointment time and another tweak to my pacemaker settings with a follow up appointment in two months to check on progress. Profuse in my thanks to both, although keeping on the right side of phlebotomists is always wise.
November 28, 2025 at 4:51 PM
Another reminder today of how good the NHS can be. Blood test bang on appointment time and another tweak to my pacemaker settings with a follow up appointment in two months to check on progress. Profuse in my thanks to both, although keeping on the right side of phlebotomists is always wise.
Reposted by David Higham
I don't think it's all of it by any measure but I do absolutely believe that the political media's raging anti-intellectual streak has got worse with time and has ended up influencing the way MPs talk, and what they choose to talk/think about
I don’t think this is a “politicians have got dumber” issue for the most part. If you look at the *actual CVs* of previous cohorts of MPs, their background is not radically different when you account for, you know, the fact the economy is different! It is primarily a media and ecosystem issue.
We have got to make politics intellectual again. It is the only way that societies thrive is when politicians have the capability to actually think and reflect deeply:
November 28, 2025 at 3:09 PM
I don't think it's all of it by any measure but I do absolutely believe that the political media's raging anti-intellectual streak has got worse with time and has ended up influencing the way MPs talk, and what they choose to talk/think about
The Rolling Stones
Creedence Clearwater Revival
Steve Earle
Richard Thompson
Paul Simon.
Creedence Clearwater Revival
Steve Earle
Richard Thompson
Paul Simon.
Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine
Primal Scream
Manic Street Preachers
REM
The Rolling Stones
Primal Scream
Manic Street Preachers
REM
The Rolling Stones
Edgar Broughton
ac/dc
Alanis Morissette
Metallica
Stray Cats
ac/dc
Alanis Morissette
Metallica
Stray Cats
November 28, 2025 at 3:11 PM
The Rolling Stones
Creedence Clearwater Revival
Steve Earle
Richard Thompson
Paul Simon.
Creedence Clearwater Revival
Steve Earle
Richard Thompson
Paul Simon.
This is a country that we still pretend in an ally?
November 28, 2025 at 1:19 PM
This is a country that we still pretend in an ally?
Reposted by David Higham
The version of the Gospels where the Samaritan crossed the road to kick the robbery victim in the head and go through his pockets for loose change was suppressed by the woke fathers of the early church.
Kemi Badenoch says welfare spending is unchristian
Kemi Badenoch says welfare spending is unchristian
Kemi Badenoch says welfare spending is unchristian
www.thetimes.com
November 28, 2025 at 11:05 AM
The version of the Gospels where the Samaritan crossed the road to kick the robbery victim in the head and go through his pockets for loose change was suppressed by the woke fathers of the early church.
Reposted by David Higham
Kinnock voice - "I’ll tell you what happens with impossible promises. You start with far-fetched resolutions....and you end up in the grotesque chaos of a Labour government, a *Labour* government, rejecting visas for homeless 8 yr olds trying to joing their parents"
November 28, 2025 at 10:43 AM
Kinnock voice - "I’ll tell you what happens with impossible promises. You start with far-fetched resolutions....and you end up in the grotesque chaos of a Labour government, a *Labour* government, rejecting visas for homeless 8 yr olds trying to joing their parents"
Reposted by David Higham
It's not quite that Labour subcontracted to focus groups - as Alex says, the affiliated trades unions are a really important power broker. It is that the Starmer approach is to go 'sure, whatever you want', and the combined effect of 'sure, whatever you want' did not get the balance right.
Sub-contracting policy to focus groups last year led Labour to
- promise beyond what was plausible on employment rights
- promise less than was necessary on tax & spend
Events have now forced it to strike a better balance
But the politics of the recalibration are ghastly
- promise beyond what was plausible on employment rights
- promise less than was necessary on tax & spend
Events have now forced it to strike a better balance
But the politics of the recalibration are ghastly
November 28, 2025 at 10:55 AM
It's not quite that Labour subcontracted to focus groups - as Alex says, the affiliated trades unions are a really important power broker. It is that the Starmer approach is to go 'sure, whatever you want', and the combined effect of 'sure, whatever you want' did not get the balance right.
Wonderful thread here.
I heard a story about a female academic giving a paper at the IHR who, after receiving a long and aggressive question from a senior male professor, simply leaned back with her hands behind her head and replied “Oh, do fuck off.”
One of my colleagues went to a seminar at Berkeley and when someone asked a question Derrida brushed it off saying ‘what you ask may be important but it is not interesting’.
November 28, 2025 at 11:00 AM
Wonderful thread here.
Reposted by David Higham
Very good by @rmcunliffe.bsky.social. This country's deternination to consume its own young is both disgusting and, i suspect, self defeating.
Rachel Reeves hits young graduates with a double stealth tax
The Chancellor plans to raise as much money from freezing loan repayment thresholds as from the mansion tax
www.newstatesman.com
November 28, 2025 at 9:55 AM
Very good by @rmcunliffe.bsky.social. This country's deternination to consume its own young is both disgusting and, i suspect, self defeating.
Reposted by David Higham
Labour convinced itself it couldn’t win the last election without promising not to raise taxes. In actual fact, it shouldn’t have been able to win *without* promising to.
✍️ www.linestotake.com/p/labour-bud...
My newsletter, out now.
✍️ www.linestotake.com/p/labour-bud...
My newsletter, out now.
November 28, 2025 at 9:32 AM
Labour convinced itself it couldn’t win the last election without promising not to raise taxes. In actual fact, it shouldn’t have been able to win *without* promising to.
✍️ www.linestotake.com/p/labour-bud...
My newsletter, out now.
✍️ www.linestotake.com/p/labour-bud...
My newsletter, out now.
Reposted by David Higham
The IFS's Paul Johnson was pretty excoriating during the campaign:
"Delivering genuine change will almost certainly also require putting actual resources on the table. And Labour’s manifesto offers no indication that there is a plan for where the money would come from to finance this."
"Delivering genuine change will almost certainly also require putting actual resources on the table. And Labour’s manifesto offers no indication that there is a plan for where the money would come from to finance this."
Labour Party manifesto: an initial response | Institute for Fiscal Studies
An assessment of the tax rises and spending changes proposed in the 2024 Labour Party general election manifesto
ifs.org.uk
November 28, 2025 at 9:37 AM
The IFS's Paul Johnson was pretty excoriating during the campaign:
"Delivering genuine change will almost certainly also require putting actual resources on the table. And Labour’s manifesto offers no indication that there is a plan for where the money would come from to finance this."
"Delivering genuine change will almost certainly also require putting actual resources on the table. And Labour’s manifesto offers no indication that there is a plan for where the money would come from to finance this."
Of course they do. Suggests that the industry isn't as competitive as it likes to suggest UK gambling groups warn punters will bear the brunt of tax rises - on.ft.com/3McRYod via @FT
UK gambling groups warn punters will bear the brunt of tax rises
Industry chiefs say they will offer worse odds and direct investment out of Britain after being targeted at the Budget
on.ft.com
November 28, 2025 at 8:35 AM
Of course they do. Suggests that the industry isn't as competitive as it likes to suggest UK gambling groups warn punters will bear the brunt of tax rises - on.ft.com/3McRYod via @FT
Reposted by David Higham
One part of the jigsaw involves the extortionate gouging and rent seeking by the private equity-owner providers that councils are dependent on www.ft.com/content/fb3d...
The booming business of special needs education in England
The public spending watchdog warns that the system is becoming ‘financially unsustainable’ for councils
www.ft.com
November 28, 2025 at 8:24 AM
One part of the jigsaw involves the extortionate gouging and rent seeking by the private equity-owner providers that councils are dependent on www.ft.com/content/fb3d...
Spot on thread by David. The only point I would make is that Thatcher had a simple message to sell in 1979 backed up by an economic model (making no judgement on whether that model was plausible).
Increasingly obvious yet usually badly discussed. The 1960s / 70s was the ending of the post-war European industrial growth era, 2010s the breakdown of its free market replacement together with the fraying of 1940s rules indirectly by 21st century technology.
I really do think you can see 2008-2025 as a period of rupture in the same sort of way as the 1960s and early 70s. A period of rupture characterised by the disruption of globalism (financial crisis etc) combined with political populism (ostensibly anti elites) and distrust in government (eg Covid).
November 28, 2025 at 8:23 AM
Spot on thread by David. The only point I would make is that Thatcher had a simple message to sell in 1979 backed up by an economic model (making no judgement on whether that model was plausible).
Reposted by David Higham
It's such a bizarre framing. Labour MPs think taking 450k kids out of poverty is putting the country first! That's why they wanted it to happen! It's not because they personally benefit.
Headline on The World at One just now:
"Sir Keir Starmer has denied putting the Labour Party before the country by ending the two-child benefit cap".
Can we please go back to reporting the actual news, not someone's partisan take on it?
"Sir Keir Starmer has denied putting the Labour Party before the country by ending the two-child benefit cap".
Can we please go back to reporting the actual news, not someone's partisan take on it?
November 27, 2025 at 1:16 PM
It's such a bizarre framing. Labour MPs think taking 450k kids out of poverty is putting the country first! That's why they wanted it to happen! It's not because they personally benefit.
Has the Budget secured Reeves’ (and Starmer’s) position? Yes, it’s kept the PLP onside
Has the Budget improved Labour’s prospects in May?Probably. It’s given a list to sell on the doorstep
Has the Budget improved Labour’s chances in 2029. No. There still isn’t a coherent plan for growth.
Has the Budget improved Labour’s prospects in May?Probably. It’s given a list to sell on the doorstep
Has the Budget improved Labour’s chances in 2029. No. There still isn’t a coherent plan for growth.
November 27, 2025 at 12:45 PM
Has the Budget secured Reeves’ (and Starmer’s) position? Yes, it’s kept the PLP onside
Has the Budget improved Labour’s prospects in May?Probably. It’s given a list to sell on the doorstep
Has the Budget improved Labour’s chances in 2029. No. There still isn’t a coherent plan for growth.
Has the Budget improved Labour’s prospects in May?Probably. It’s given a list to sell on the doorstep
Has the Budget improved Labour’s chances in 2029. No. There still isn’t a coherent plan for growth.
Reposted by David Higham
Excellent piece as usual.
This observation about constraining domestic consumption to increase investment - and the vicious politics of that - is particularly important. It is manifestly not grasped by many - including, concerningly, government ministers.
This observation about constraining domestic consumption to increase investment - and the vicious politics of that - is particularly important. It is manifestly not grasped by many - including, concerningly, government ministers.
November 27, 2025 at 8:45 AM
Excellent piece as usual.
This observation about constraining domestic consumption to increase investment - and the vicious politics of that - is particularly important. It is manifestly not grasped by many - including, concerningly, government ministers.
This observation about constraining domestic consumption to increase investment - and the vicious politics of that - is particularly important. It is manifestly not grasped by many - including, concerningly, government ministers.
Reposted by David Higham
Britain's left-wing government is left-wing www.economist.com/britain/2025...
Britain’s left-wing government is left-wing
An obvious fact. But still an overlooked one
www.economist.com
November 27, 2025 at 8:36 AM
Britain's left-wing government is left-wing www.economist.com/britain/2025...
And a very good morning as Allister Heath delivers his verdict on the budget.
November 27, 2025 at 8:00 AM
And a very good morning as Allister Heath delivers his verdict on the budget.
Have always thought this was one of his best albums. Bought this mono first pressing back in 1968 and it's survived the years and a series of not always great turntables remarkably well.
November 26, 2025 at 10:10 PM
Have always thought this was one of his best albums. Bought this mono first pressing back in 1968 and it's survived the years and a series of not always great turntables remarkably well.
Reposted by David Higham
Farage came out with his worst shit 50 years ago, whereas Matt Goodwin is just getting going at age 43.
Reflections on the budget from the head of Students4Reform
November 26, 2025 at 6:42 PM
Farage came out with his worst shit 50 years ago, whereas Matt Goodwin is just getting going at age 43.
Reposted by David Higham
Lots of good stuff in the Budget, but bad news for graduates.
Luckily, it's not like Labour is relying on the votes of young university educated professionals...
www.newstatesman.com/politics/eco...
Luckily, it's not like Labour is relying on the votes of young university educated professionals...
www.newstatesman.com/politics/eco...
Rachel Reeves hits young graduates with a double stealth tax
The Chancellor plans to raise as much money from freezing loan repayment thresholds as from the mansion tax
www.newstatesman.com
November 26, 2025 at 5:52 PM
Lots of good stuff in the Budget, but bad news for graduates.
Luckily, it's not like Labour is relying on the votes of young university educated professionals...
www.newstatesman.com/politics/eco...
Luckily, it's not like Labour is relying on the votes of young university educated professionals...
www.newstatesman.com/politics/eco...
Reposted by David Higham
This is a massively dumb way to fund things. Just fund local government properly through fiscal devolution, council tax reform, and social care reform. Oh, wait, you ducked all of those again....
November 26, 2025 at 3:28 PM
This is a massively dumb way to fund things. Just fund local government properly through fiscal devolution, council tax reform, and social care reform. Oh, wait, you ducked all of those again....