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Paul Bivand @paulbivand.bsky.social · 2h

Local income tax relies on HMRC applying the local element and transferring it to LA. The Council Tax lists are owned and controlled locally. I'd want a locally controlled road pricing system, with flows upwards to national to replace Vehicle Excise Duty and fuel taxation.

Reposted by Paul Bivand

Hetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 3h

Non-pensioner benefits have been stable (roughly between 4-5% of GDP) over many decades
on.ft.com/4hfE9kr

Chart showing: Non-pensioner benefits have been stable over many decades

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Tom Clark @tom-clark.bsky.social · 7h

In one crisp para — & the 2 charts he highlights — @chrisgiles.ft.com bursts a huge number of “welfare” myths www.ft.com/content/ee67...

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Jonathan Portes @jdportes.bsky.social · 11h

A much needed corrective by @chrisgiles.ft.com to the "welfare is out of control" narrative, drawing on research by my colleague @benbgeiger.bsky.social

www.ft.com/content/ee67...

No need for a moral panic about the welfare system

It’s far from perfect, but the UK’s spending is broadly controlled and employment is high

www.ft.com

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Stephen Evans @stephenevans.bsky.social · 1d

Skills have been in a lot of Departments over the years. But here's some things DWP could do including:
1. Devolving more & reducing the proliferation of plans
2. Simplifying & boosting provision esp for young people.
3. Greater focus on career change & essential skills
4. More evidence & open data

Learning and Work Institute @learnworkuk.bsky.social · 1d

"If the Government wants to grasp the opportunity, there’s a chance to take some genuine steps forward."

What difference could moving skills to DWP make?

📝 L&W chief exec @stephenevans.bsky.social tackles this in @fenews.bsky.social, looking at six areas where a real difference can be made.

What Difference Could Moving Skills to DWP Make? | FE News

| What Difference Could Moving Skills to DWP Make?

www.fenews.co.uk

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Paul Bivand @paulbivand.bsky.social · 1d

Maybe also learning from Wales, Scotland and NI, which have had different sets of changes since DfEE ran youth and adult skills in GB - none with the major changes every Parliament. Wales in particular more evolution than revolution(s).

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Chris Hanretty @chanret.bsky.social · 1d

This is word salad designed to sound tough. SELT is basically IELTS with extra security elements, and there's no IELTS to A-level equivalency. It would be a lot clearer -- but potentially less discouraging -- if they just gave the required IELTS score (or CEFR band)

András Forgács W @andraswf.bsky.social · 1d

Well this will certainly do it www.gov.uk/government/n...

Migrants will be required to pass A Level standard of English

Migrants will be required to pass tough new English language requirements under a law introduced in Parliament today.

www.gov.uk

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Paul Bivand @paulbivand.bsky.social · 1d

So that's where the 'A level' designation came from. A level English being mostly literature and drama of course, rather than the standard actually required. If they wanted this for restricting immigration, would be more effective to require the current standard in 2 UK languages.

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Paul Bivand @paulbivand.bsky.social · 1d

Except it took longer than using WordPerfect....

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Stephen Evans @stephenevans.bsky.social · 1d

Meantime there's still 1.2m 16-24 year olds not in full-time education or work, storing up trouble for them & society. Conference announcements around paid work placements for LT NEETs & higher HE participation are welcome. But we must go further & faster. learningandwork.org.uk/resources/re...

Learning and Work Institute's vision for a Youth Guarantee

learningandwork.org.uk

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Stephen Evans @stephenevans.bsky.social · 1d

Falls in employment seem to be easing, but the labour market is flat. Employment falls, and perhaps not uncoincidentally wage rises (linked partly to NMW rises), largest in sectors like retail & hospitality. Reminder: we need 2m more people in work to hit the Government's 80% employment target.

Learning and Work Institute @learnworkuk.bsky.social · 1d

"Sectoral differences remain with payroll employment down 110,000 in retail and hospitality compared to a year ago."

L&W chief exec @stephenevans.bsky.social responds to today's labour market statistics released by ONS. ✍️

Sign up to receive our full briefing: learningandwork.org.uk/supporter-ne...

Labour market analysis, 14 October 2025

Learning and Work Institute's response to the labour market stats for October 2025, released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

learningandwork.org.uk

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Paul Bivand @paulbivand.bsky.social · 2d

Remember councillors used to have a lot of their casework on council housing issues, which Large Scale (in)Voluntary Transfer moved out of their jobs, meaning they had far less casework left.

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Paul Bivand @paulbivand.bsky.social · 3d

They need to replace motoring taxation with road pricing (due to electric vehicles). I'd want to vary that by pothole-causing factor (4th power of vehicle weight) plus local authority plussage to influence where traffic flows.

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Fietser Steve @fietsersteve.bsky.social · Jul 16

National Highways have a habit of preventing active travel routes from progressing, they need a total change of management and a corruption investigation. bsky.app/profile/theh...

The HRE Group @thehregroup.bsky.social · Jul 14

What this delightful scene in #StowMariesNatureReserve needs is a big batch of concrete, courtesy of National Highways.
Fortunately, that's what the company hopes to inflict on this elegant bridge before removing its emergency road closure.
Cost to the taxpayer: £500K.
Lovely.

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Tom Sasse @tomsasse.bsky.social · 3d

A new disruptive transport technology is rapidly changing cities across the rich world. It is not the self-driving electric car, but the humble bicycle, writes @dlknowles.bsky.social www.economist.com/internationa...

Forget EVs. Cycling is revolutionising transport

Pedal power is booming, spinning up a new culture war

www.economist.com

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Paul Bivand @paulbivand.bsky.social · 3d

As a clownish amateur, repeating (R) forecast::auto.arima() on different iterations of thee data time series would get you a very passable hedgehog, with the bristles getting less bristly as the period of flat productivity lengthens.

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Mark Copelovitch @mcopelov.bsky.social · 5d

👇🎯🧵

The Narrative™️ cannot fail. It can only be failed. "College isn't worth it for employment anymore & AI is taking all the jobs" edition.

Sam Thorpe @samthorpe.bsky.social · 5d

It turns out that once you correct for this error, unemployment is actually rising faster for NON-degree workers - meaning that explanations in terms of AI replacing the college-educated workforce don't make much sense, and this looks a lot more like an across-the-board labor market slowdown.

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Tim Leunig @timleunig.bsky.social · 4d

Outstanding from @jburnmurdoch.ft.com - the best way to get a job is to get a degree. You will almost almost always earn more as well.

Ben Ansell @benansell.bsky.social · 4d

Really interesting article from @jburnmurdoch.ft.com but especially intriguing to me is the number of comments below that are essentially 'OK the data don't agree with my hunch but here's an unrelated statement that proves that I'm right about AI, the death of higher education, etc'

What the graduate unemployment story gets wrong

People with a degree are faring better, not worse than their non-graduate counterparts

www.ft.com

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Reposted by Paul Bivand

Ben Ansell @benansell.bsky.social · 4d

Really interesting article from @jburnmurdoch.ft.com but especially intriguing to me is the number of comments below that are essentially 'OK the data don't agree with my hunch but here's an unrelated statement that proves that I'm right about AI, the death of higher education, etc'

What the graduate unemployment story gets wrong

People with a degree are faring better, not worse than their non-graduate counterparts

www.ft.com

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Reposted by Paul Bivand

Frances 'Cassandra' Coppola @francescoppola.bsky.social · 5d

Economic lessons from a Biblical fable: my latest piece at
@themintmag
.
Pharoah, advised by the talented Joseph, stored up enough grain to survive a famine, and in so doing engineered a fundamental change in the organisation of Egyptian society.

www.themintmagazine.com/from-reserve...

From Reserves to Repression – The Mint Magazine

www.themintmagazine.com

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Anna Dent @annadent.bsky.social · 5d

ICO orders DWP to

"disclose the list of all AI tools DWP plans to place on the Algorithmic Transparency Recording Standards Hub"

I.e. publish details of all the AI they are using unless there is a valid reason to keep it secret

h/t @rightsnet.org.uk

Department for Work and Pensions (DWP)

ico.org.uk

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Mark Sutton @marksuttonbike.bsky.social · 5d

Something like this?

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John Pring, DNS @johnpring.bsky.social · 6d

Alarm over government’s choices to lead ‘over-diagnosis’ review that could help ministers cut benefits
#MentalHealth #DisabilityBenefits
@ritb.bsky.social @dis-ppl-protest.bsky.social
www.disabilitynewsservice.com/alarm-over-g...

Alarm over government’s choices to lead ‘over-diagnosis’ review that could help ministers cut benefits

The government’s decision to commission a review of alleged “over-diagnosis” of mental health conditions and neurodivergence has caused alarm among many disabled people, with fears that it will all…

www.disabilitynewsservice.com

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Daniel Knowles @dlknowles.bsky.social · 6d

By me this week - the happiest thing I've got to report of late, with a glorious trip over the summer to Montreal

"Forget EVs. Cycling is revolutionising transport."

www.economist.com/internationa...

Forget EVs. Cycling is revolutionising transport

Pedal power is booming, spinning up a new culture war

www.economist.com

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Paul Bivand @paulbivand.bsky.social · 6d

Did US railroads use 1 chain measuring tapes?