Helen Buckingham
@hbuckingham.bsky.social
Expert by experience in healthcare management & policy, Chair National Voices, Trustee RVS, NED PHIN. Also cook, wine drinker, reader, gardener, walker, armchair art critic.
If you care about official statistics this is an opportunity to join the Regulation Committee of the UK Statistics Authority. It meets 5 times a year. Members receive a £3k fee
uksa.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/news/vacancy...
uksa.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/news/vacancy...
Vacancy: Regulation Committee independent members
The closing date for applications is 6 March 2026 at 23:55pm
We are looking to appoint two independent members to the Regulation Committee of the UK Statistics Authority.
The UK Statistics Authority ...
uksa.statisticsauthority.gov.uk
February 10, 2026 at 8:31 AM
Reposted by Helen Buckingham
I'm going to laugh myself to death if all the boys leave and they replace them with their overlooked female deputies (quite plausible because they won't be able to recruit externally) and the whole thing starts running better
EXCL: Chris Wormald, the most senior civil servant in Downing Street, is negotiating his exit as part of a wider shakeup of Keir Starmer’s operation after dramatic day - @kiranstacey.bsky.social
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
Top civil servant could become third key No 10 departure in days
Exclusive: Cabinet secretary Chris Wormald is expected to follow Morgan McSweeney and Tim Allan out the door
www.theguardian.com
February 9, 2026 at 8:31 PM
I'm going to laugh myself to death if all the boys leave and they replace them with their overlooked female deputies (quite plausible because they won't be able to recruit externally) and the whole thing starts running better
Reposted by Helen Buckingham
And it can take years to find the missing piece.
People are like jigsaws, they have defined boundaries and those are often the first thing you discover about them.
February 9, 2026 at 1:32 PM
And it can take years to find the missing piece.
Out on the edge with my tribe...
February 9, 2026 at 9:00 AM
Out on the edge with my tribe...
Reposted by Helen Buckingham
This was an inspiring blog six months ago from one of the new joint PM’s Chief of Staff
'Too often, government is looking for one answer to a problem that it can scale; the perfect pilot that can make a difference everywhere. It still sees change as an industrial process.' Electric blog from Vidhya Alakeson, Deputy Chief of Staff to the PM www.powertochange.org.uk/evidence-and...
The leaders who make things happen: lessons in governing from community business - Power to Change
Community businesses drive change where it matters most—locally. From leading Power to Change to advising Number 10, Vidhya Alakeson knows more than most th ...
www.powertochange.org.uk
February 8, 2026 at 7:37 PM
This was an inspiring blog six months ago from one of the new joint PM’s Chief of Staff
Reposted by Helen Buckingham
Presumably, because of lead times, this interview was conducted, a few weeks ago, and laid out and printed several days ago but someone in charge should have pulled it. Better to have no magazine this week than this. Hope everyone at the Times is terribly embarrassed
I deleted my post from before…
I thought it was fake
So I went to WH Smith and here it is
An unbelievable attempt to sanitise this man and normalise what’s he’s done.
I thought it was fake
So I went to WH Smith and here it is
An unbelievable attempt to sanitise this man and normalise what’s he’s done.
February 7, 2026 at 10:36 AM
Presumably, because of lead times, this interview was conducted, a few weeks ago, and laid out and printed several days ago but someone in charge should have pulled it. Better to have no magazine this week than this. Hope everyone at the Times is terribly embarrassed
Reposted by Helen Buckingham
What if we had let a by all accounts superb female career diplomat do her job in Washington? What if we had listened to Sue Gray, who had been leading on ethics and standards for years? What if we acknowledged that many women know how to deal with difficult men and high stakes situations? If only...
February 6, 2026 at 6:01 PM
What if we had let a by all accounts superb female career diplomat do her job in Washington? What if we had listened to Sue Gray, who had been leading on ethics and standards for years? What if we acknowledged that many women know how to deal with difficult men and high stakes situations? If only...
I practically grew up in that library. Carnegie left a phenomenal legacy.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnegi...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnegi...
February 6, 2026 at 8:26 AM
I practically grew up in that library. Carnegie left a phenomenal legacy.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnegi...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnegi...
Reposted by Helen Buckingham
Sir Ian McKellen performing a monologue from Shakespeare’s Sir Thomas More on the Stephen Colbert show. Never have I heard this monologue performed with such a keen sense of prescience. Nor have I ever been in this exact historical moment.TY Sir Ian, for reaching us once again.
#Pinks #ProudBlue
#Pinks #ProudBlue
February 5, 2026 at 11:50 AM
Sir Ian McKellen performing a monologue from Shakespeare’s Sir Thomas More on the Stephen Colbert show. Never have I heard this monologue performed with such a keen sense of prescience. Nor have I ever been in this exact historical moment.TY Sir Ian, for reaching us once again.
#Pinks #ProudBlue
#Pinks #ProudBlue
I'm not sure I entirely regard this as good news...
February 4, 2026 at 9:02 PM
I'm not sure I entirely regard this as good news...
"...perfectly decent quantitative metrics become corrupted once they’re pressed into service as targets."
Don't we know it... and yet standards matter. And so the answer is not, I think, not to have targets and standards, but to wrap the right behaviours around them so we get the right outcomes.
Don't we know it... and yet standards matter. And so the answer is not, I think, not to have targets and standards, but to wrap the right behaviours around them so we get the right outcomes.
February 4, 2026 at 8:04 AM
"...perfectly decent quantitative metrics become corrupted once they’re pressed into service as targets."
Don't we know it... and yet standards matter. And so the answer is not, I think, not to have targets and standards, but to wrap the right behaviours around them so we get the right outcomes.
Don't we know it... and yet standards matter. And so the answer is not, I think, not to have targets and standards, but to wrap the right behaviours around them so we get the right outcomes.
Reposted by Helen Buckingham
Once again, stuff like this should always be based on need, not clinical condition. Excluding parents of children with other conditions that require frequent visits to regional centres creates a two-tier health system.
Families of children with cancer to have travel costs covered
The government sets aside £10 million a year to help families and young people under 24 access cancer treatment.
www.bbc.co.uk
February 3, 2026 at 7:37 AM
Once again, stuff like this should always be based on need, not clinical condition. Excluding parents of children with other conditions that require frequent visits to regional centres creates a two-tier health system.
Don't conflate digital exclusion and agism.
Today’s octogenarians invented modern computing
January 20, 2026 at 6:21 PM
Don't conflate digital exclusion and agism.
This whole article was so much what I needed to read today. Just one quote of many I could have picked:
"hope does not mean saying this is not bad, and it does not mean saying that we can defeat it. It just means saying we will keep showing up. That we will not give up."
"hope does not mean saying this is not bad, and it does not mean saying that we can defeat it. It just means saying we will keep showing up. That we will not give up."
If you haven’t seen Rebecca Solnit's Meditations in an Emergency, you might want to! www.meditationsinanemergency.com
Meditations in an Emergency
Essays and analyses by Rebecca Solnit
www.meditationsinanemergency.com
January 20, 2026 at 6:00 PM
This whole article was so much what I needed to read today. Just one quote of many I could have picked:
"hope does not mean saying this is not bad, and it does not mean saying that we can defeat it. It just means saying we will keep showing up. That we will not give up."
"hope does not mean saying this is not bad, and it does not mean saying that we can defeat it. It just means saying we will keep showing up. That we will not give up."
Generally, if people have agency over their own lives and communities, they use it to do good things. I know that might be a little hard to believe given world events over the weekend, but the psychopaths are the exception not the rule.
And a little investment into communities can go a long way.
And a little investment into communities can go a long way.
A new guest post I’ve written for Sam Freedman’s Substack, exploring the evidence on civic renewal and Labour’s communitarian turn… 👇
New post just out:
"Power to the People"
Today we have a guest post from @jamestplunkett.bsky.social on how Labour can counter the "Britain is Broken" narrative by investing in civic life and giving people more control over their community.
(Free to read)
open.substack.com/pub/samf/p/p...
"Power to the People"
Today we have a guest post from @jamestplunkett.bsky.social on how Labour can counter the "Britain is Broken" narrative by investing in civic life and giving people more control over their community.
(Free to read)
open.substack.com/pub/samf/p/p...
January 19, 2026 at 6:50 AM
Generally, if people have agency over their own lives and communities, they use it to do good things. I know that might be a little hard to believe given world events over the weekend, but the psychopaths are the exception not the rule.
And a little investment into communities can go a long way.
And a little investment into communities can go a long way.
@nigel-edwards.bsky.social made me think of Ptolemy!
The thing I like particularly about the fact that Isaac Newton invented the catflap is it gives the image of him trying to lay the foundations of classical mechanics but getting distracted by having to let a cat out then in again 40 seconds later and thinking, “Shit, I really need to sort this.”
January 18, 2026 at 8:05 PM
@nigel-edwards.bsky.social made me think of Ptolemy!
Reposted by Helen Buckingham
DHSC published its impact statement for the 10 Year Health Plan this week (yes, that is 6 months after it published the plan)
It's more measured and clear-eyed than the original document and quite a contrast to some of the effusive optimism in the plan
Some of the things that caught my eye 👇
It's more measured and clear-eyed than the original document and quite a contrast to some of the effusive optimism in the plan
Some of the things that caught my eye 👇
January 15, 2026 at 10:25 AM
DHSC published its impact statement for the 10 Year Health Plan this week (yes, that is 6 months after it published the plan)
It's more measured and clear-eyed than the original document and quite a contrast to some of the effusive optimism in the plan
Some of the things that caught my eye 👇
It's more measured and clear-eyed than the original document and quite a contrast to some of the effusive optimism in the plan
Some of the things that caught my eye 👇
So much this. @samfr.bsky.social sets out a practical way to think about getting the basics right. It isn't new and shiny, politicians can't have their photos taken by a piece of kit or unveil a plaque on a new building, but it would make so much difference to so many people.
New post just out:
"Troubleshooters"
How fixing the many small frustrations - that make up most of our interactions with the state - can give people faith in goverment's ability to make things work.
And help create a different Whitehall culture.
(£/free trial)
open.substack.com/pub/samf/p/t...
"Troubleshooters"
How fixing the many small frustrations - that make up most of our interactions with the state - can give people faith in goverment's ability to make things work.
And help create a different Whitehall culture.
(£/free trial)
open.substack.com/pub/samf/p/t...
Troubleshooters
How to get people believing in the state again
open.substack.com
January 13, 2026 at 9:07 PM
So much this. @samfr.bsky.social sets out a practical way to think about getting the basics right. It isn't new and shiny, politicians can't have their photos taken by a piece of kit or unveil a plaque on a new building, but it would make so much difference to so many people.
Get the basics right before overlaying the shiny stuff...
In this @bmj.com opinion piece, we propose that infrastructural support, mundane process improvements, and better use of available capacity could deliver more value than some of the headline-grabbing "solutions." We propose a learning system model to help. www.bmj.com/content/392/...
We're seeing an unprecedented increase in cancer incidence (prostate cancer diagnoses alone in England up by 25% since 2019), huge growth in complexity of treatment regimes, shortages of specialist staff, and massive variations in time to first treatment. www.bmj.com/content/392/...
January 11, 2026 at 11:19 AM
Get the basics right before overlaying the shiny stuff...
File the carbon copies here.
It's half day closing.
Always carry 10p for the phone.
Oh so many more...
Equally there will be a million things which, without revealing their age, a younger person could say to the bemusement of an older person.
It's half day closing.
Always carry 10p for the phone.
Oh so many more...
Equally there will be a million things which, without revealing their age, a younger person could say to the bemusement of an older person.
Without revealing your actual age,what's something you remember that if you told a younger person they wouldn't understand?
January 9, 2026 at 10:16 AM
File the carbon copies here.
It's half day closing.
Always carry 10p for the phone.
Oh so many more...
Equally there will be a million things which, without revealing their age, a younger person could say to the bemusement of an older person.
It's half day closing.
Always carry 10p for the phone.
Oh so many more...
Equally there will be a million things which, without revealing their age, a younger person could say to the bemusement of an older person.
Well this looks interesting.
My co-edited book, Posters, protests, and prescriptions: Cultural histories of the National Health Service in Britain, is £18 in the MUP January sale! manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526163462/ I would LOVE to see it used in teaching and am always happy to chat about its wonderful chapters!
Manchester University Press - Posters, protests, and prescriptions
Posters, protests, and prescriptions - Browse and buy the Hardcover edition of Posters, protests, and prescriptions by Jennifer Crane
manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk
January 6, 2026 at 5:30 PM
Well this looks interesting.
Reposted by Helen Buckingham
I know 2025 was difficult for the world, but it's been good to me, personally. I've loved touring Wildly Different, from the Hay Festival, by way of Edinburgh, Sheffield and elsewhere and had the pleasure of speaking about it to so many lovely people. So I'm giving away a signed copy (UK) to 1/2
December 31, 2025 at 5:37 PM
I know 2025 was difficult for the world, but it's been good to me, personally. I've loved touring Wildly Different, from the Hay Festival, by way of Edinburgh, Sheffield and elsewhere and had the pleasure of speaking about it to so many lovely people. So I'm giving away a signed copy (UK) to 1/2
Reposted by Helen Buckingham
This is something I worry about a lot - missing groups in samples is even more important when we are making claims about public opinion than when we are predicting vote shares.
So we are missing the views of many non voters, who skew younger and more ethnically diverse when generating 'national' headlines for attitudes this matters even more than for voting figures.
December 30, 2025 at 6:42 PM
This is something I worry about a lot - missing groups in samples is even more important when we are making claims about public opinion than when we are predicting vote shares.
I also get very grumpy about bad admin, so glad to celebrate good admin! Human admin - makes a big difference.
@jacoblant.bsky.social
@jacoblant.bsky.social
I complain a lot but today my GP receptionist really made a difference and it was so appreciated. Having had to ask for an additional prescription, I then went to the adjacent pharmacy to collect others and the lovely receptionist brought the additional one to me so I didn't have to queue twice.
Back battling the palliative care system. We really need to do so much better for people. Sick of platitudes about care standards that mean nothing.
December 30, 2025 at 7:20 PM
I also get very grumpy about bad admin, so glad to celebrate good admin! Human admin - makes a big difference.
@jacoblant.bsky.social
@jacoblant.bsky.social
When one day a government finally decides to act on social care reform, all the research they need will already be there, because Natasha has done it. And not only is she expert in social care, she's a genuinely lovely person. An honour greatly deserved.
We are so proud of our fantastic Deputy Director of Policy Natasha Curry who has been awarded an MBE in the King’s New Year Honours for services to social care policy.
Congratulations Natasha! www.nuffieldtrust.org.uk/news-item/na...
Congratulations Natasha! www.nuffieldtrust.org.uk/news-item/na...
Natasha Curry awarded MBE
We are delighted that Natasha Curry has been awarded an MBE in the New Year Honours.
www.nuffieldtrust.org.uk
December 30, 2025 at 6:15 PM
When one day a government finally decides to act on social care reform, all the research they need will already be there, because Natasha has done it. And not only is she expert in social care, she's a genuinely lovely person. An honour greatly deserved.