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Britain’s economic decline is an emergency – like war or a pandemic. If we don’t put an end to it, Nigel Farage will be Prime Minister. The system is addicted to inertia. It needs shock therapy, now. Chris Curtis MP and others tell Jessica Elgot for The Guardian 1/2

The ETO will: - Have the flexibility to design packages to incentivise exceptional talent to relocate to Britain - Cover all STEM fields (including AI, fusion, quantum, and engineering biology) - Target the diaspora as well as international talent. - Provide a fast-tracked ETO

In an era of geopolitical competition, exceptional talent is fundamental to growth. 15% of UK residents are foreign-born, but they account for founding 39% of the our fastest-growing startups. An important piece from Julia Willemyns for Centre for British Progress, published today ⏬

Interest rates rose EIGHT times under Truss and Sunak – rising from 1.75% to an eye-watering 5.25% – causing misery for mortgage holders. Today’s interest rate cut is the fourth under this Labour government. Our Plan for Change is working, and brighter days are ahead.

Come to the UK and build the future!

Hi Financial Times I fixed your headline for you

NEW: in a *major* policy shift, Mayor of London Sadiq Khan will today announce plans to build hundreds of thousands of homes on the London green belt!

What a lovely gift! Massive thank you to Brandon Jackson for this beautiful print from the Illustrated London News of the 1851 Crystal Palace.

Some may find this a helpful way to think about the relative benefits of reducing the barriers to doing high return capital projects (like building more homes where most needed) versus forcing pension funds to invest in projects that haven’t found investors.

Britain’s planning system is broken, and working people are paying the price. High bills. Low wages. Sky-high house prices and rents. A system built for blockers, not builders. It doesn’t have to be this way. 🧵

It’s worth thinking about who this will benefit. If it does move UK share prices up, it will mainly benefit older wealthier non-ISA investors and non resident owners of UK shares. If it doesn’t, because others rebalance away from the UK, then it is a pure loss to ISA holders.

We hear that a few conservation officers dislike this because it although it does not harm any historic buildings it would change some of their settings. But preferring decline to improvement is not conservation!

Lots of people have told me "the UK should have billboards all along the highway in SF with nice pictures of King's Cross and EASY VISA in big letters"

National prosperity and security depend on strategic capabilities – eg vaccine production. Britain’s capabilities have been allowed to wither. I wrote for Centre for British Progress with Ben Johnson, Louise + Andrew Bennett about how the Industrial Strategy can rebuild them.

Lots more to come here too, inc. how to ensure the UK's funding ecosystem & institutions (e.g. British Business Bank) can better support growth of strategic, sovereign capabilities.

Labour is right to pursue supply side reform for growth. But the upcoming industrial strategy is an opportunity to strengthen state capacity & build strategic capabilities. Deployed well, this could support growth & sovereignty. New briefing from Sam Currie Centre for British Progress

I'm typically no fan of 'industrial strategy'. It tends to mean govt consulting for ages, then playing back concerns while gesturing at solving serious issues, all while spreading the jam. Industry does not reward such behaviour with investment, esp. when jam is scarce. BUT:

In the 1960s, the computer artist Hiroshi Kawano created a statistical prediction of Piet Mondrian's iconic abstract paintings. Kawano's program estimated the proportions of new Modrian paintings and then Kawano would paint the results by hand. Did he steal from Mondrian?

Tips for new advisers in government (or, what I wish I'd known…) johnsonb.substack.com/p/tips-for-new…

This is what progressive YIMBYism looks like. Pro-environment planning reform to make life easier 👇