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....
Reposted by David Higham
Well, well Big Jim....
How's the Old Trafford project going?
How's the Old Trafford project going?
February 12, 2026 at 8:33 AM
Well, well Big Jim....
How's the Old Trafford project going?
How's the Old Trafford project going?
Reposted by David Higham
Public reporting deters crime. We urge it for burglary, assault, fraud — so why not road danger?? Reporting helps tackle reckless driving and save lives. The Daily Mail mocking this as “villainy” misses the point. Accountability on our roads protects everyone.
www.the-londoner.co.uk/jeremy-vine-...
www.the-londoner.co.uk/jeremy-vine-...
Jeremy Vine loves him, motorists hate him. Is this man London’s most controversial cyclist?
How Cycling Mikey's quest for road safety divided London
www.the-londoner.co.uk
February 11, 2026 at 6:45 PM
Public reporting deters crime. We urge it for burglary, assault, fraud — so why not road danger?? Reporting helps tackle reckless driving and save lives. The Daily Mail mocking this as “villainy” misses the point. Accountability on our roads protects everyone.
www.the-londoner.co.uk/jeremy-vine-...
www.the-londoner.co.uk/jeremy-vine-...
Reposted by David Higham
A bit long but here’s Marx from the 1844 manuscripts providing an exposition of Goethe and Shakespeare on the power of money that all happens to sum up exactly where we are right now. (Reminded of this passage by Epstein’s capture of prominent academics.)
![That which is for me through the medium of money - that for which I can pay (i.e., which money can buy) - that am I myself, the possessor of the money. The extent of the power of money is the extent of my power. Money's properties are my - the possessor's - properties and essential powers. Thus, what I am and am capable of is by no means determined by my individuality. I am ugly, but I can buy for myself the most beautiful of women. Therefore I am not ugly, for the effect of ugliness - its deterrent power - is nullified by money. I, according to my individual characteristics, am lame, but money furnishes me with twenty-four feet. Therefore I am not lame. I am bad, dishonest, unscrupulous, stupid; but money is honoured, and hence its possessor. Money is the supreme good, therefore its possessor is good. Money, besides, saves me the trouble of being dishonest: I am therefore presumed honest. I am brainless, but money is the real brain of all things and how then should its possessor be brainless? Besides, he can buy clever people for himself, and is he who has [In the manuscript: "is. - Ed.] power over the clever not more clever than the clever? Do not I, who thanks to money am capable of all that the human heart longs for, possess all human capacities? Does not my money, therefore, transform all my incapacities into their contrary?](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:givg3amslsq46o3f25ga5esh/bafkreig4odpf2rmnmzzaiw45dbmsiiltel6wiv4sv32o7ojwdz3vpuf34q@jpeg)
February 12, 2026 at 6:35 AM
A bit long but here’s Marx from the 1844 manuscripts providing an exposition of Goethe and Shakespeare on the power of money that all happens to sum up exactly where we are right now. (Reminded of this passage by Epstein’s capture of prominent academics.)
Reposted by David Higham
This is an extraordinary interview in which the former FCDO perm sec basically tells No 10 not to appoint Antonia Romeo to be cab sec, and that they should talk to him about her record.
‘Due diligence vitally important’ in next top civil servant appointment – Lord McDonald
www.channel4.com/news/due-dil...
www.channel4.com/news/due-dil...
‘Due diligence vitally important’ in next top civil servant appointment – Lord McDonald
Another high profile departure from No 10 in the wake of the Mandelson scandal is due to be Britain's top civil servant.
www.channel4.com
February 11, 2026 at 8:42 PM
This is an extraordinary interview in which the former FCDO perm sec basically tells No 10 not to appoint Antonia Romeo to be cab sec, and that they should talk to him about her record.
Dear me. This really isn’t going well.
Almost impossible to get across how strongly a former foreign office head must feel about Antonia Romeo's potential appointment as cabinet secretary to make this intervention (from 11 mins in or so)
youtu.be/4QCFOKd8hlg?...
youtu.be/4QCFOKd8hlg?...
More scandal for Starmer over vetting of another aide’s links to sex offender
YouTube video by Channel 4 News
youtu.be
February 11, 2026 at 10:32 PM
Dear me. This really isn’t going well.
Reposted by David Higham
Why 'island of strangers' and the 'incalculable damage' of immigration (as stated by Starmer) was so catastrophically wrong.... in one tweet.
February 11, 2026 at 10:20 PM
Why 'island of strangers' and the 'incalculable damage' of immigration (as stated by Starmer) was so catastrophically wrong.... in one tweet.
Commendably quick out of the blocks here. Ratcliffe might just have created a problem for himself here when he seeks public funding for his Old Trafford scheme.
'Offensive And Wrong': Starmer Says Jim Ratcliffe Should Apologise For Migrants Comment
www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/offens...
www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/offens...
'Offensive And Wrong': Starmer Says Jim Ratcliffe Should Apologise For Migrants Comment
The billionaire co-owner of Manchester United said the UK "is being colonised".
www.huffingtonpost.co.uk
February 11, 2026 at 10:19 PM
Commendably quick out of the blocks here. Ratcliffe might just have created a problem for himself here when he seeks public funding for his Old Trafford scheme.
Reeves in October 2025 www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Rachel Reeves clears planning blockage amid ‘good relationship’ with developer
Exclusive: Chancellor says 20,000 homes were being held up due to ‘some snails that are a protected species or something’
www.theguardian.com
February 11, 2026 at 10:15 PM
Reeves in October 2025 www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Judging by the BTL comments FT readers are as sympathetic to his whinging as everyone else .
February 11, 2026 at 10:04 PM
Judging by the BTL comments FT readers are as sympathetic to his whinging as everyone else .
This is great stuff.
February 11, 2026 at 7:00 PM
This is great stuff.
Reposted by David Higham
It is so embarrassing that it has taken nearly a decade for a British minister to say this, a statement of the absolute bloody obvious
February 11, 2026 at 7:40 AM
It is so embarrassing that it has taken nearly a decade for a British minister to say this, a statement of the absolute bloody obvious
Doesn't pay UK taxes but does expect UK taxpayers to support his business plans. I guess that's how you become rich. www.theguardian.com/football/202...
February 11, 2026 at 5:49 PM
Doesn't pay UK taxes but does expect UK taxpayers to support his business plans. I guess that's how you become rich. www.theguardian.com/football/202...
People make fun of Andy Burnham’s barely disguised ambition, but Streeting gives him a run for his money.
“One of the most interesting subplots in British politics over the next decade will be the coming-of-age of Wesley Streeting”, wrote Ian Leslie in 2023 for Prospect. Could Streeting be Starmer‘s next contender?
The man who would be Keir
Wes Streeting could be Labour’s next leader. His new memoir tells us much about
what he is—but not why
www.prospectmagazine.co.uk
February 11, 2026 at 4:07 PM
People make fun of Andy Burnham’s barely disguised ambition, but Streeting gives him a run for his money.
Reposted by David Higham
In which Meg Hillier pulls no punches in her disapproval of the Treasury and the chancellor over deregulation of financial services and the balance of risks - www.ft.com/content/8172...
The City should not have a monopoly on the chancellor’s ear
Consumer protection is being downplayed in favour of relaxing the rules for financial services
www.ft.com
February 11, 2026 at 4:03 PM
In which Meg Hillier pulls no punches in her disapproval of the Treasury and the chancellor over deregulation of financial services and the balance of risks - www.ft.com/content/8172...
"Talking right, acting left and leaving almost everyone disappointed is the road to defeat" Strangely, in the key policy area of housing, it is talking left and acting right. substack.com/@georgeeaton...
Morning Call: Labour’s stealth leftism
The party’s next era will be defined by a shift in vibes, not policy.
substack.com
February 11, 2026 at 3:28 PM
"Talking right, acting left and leaving almost everyone disappointed is the road to defeat" Strangely, in the key policy area of housing, it is talking left and acting right. substack.com/@georgeeaton...
Reposted by David Higham
Irresponsible to do this without releasing the Support, Assault and Recon beavers at the same time.
February 11, 2026 at 8:47 AM
Irresponsible to do this without releasing the Support, Assault and Recon beavers at the same time.
This is good news but small change in the bigger picture. The CRT spent £60 million on winter maintenance alone last year, with a further £21 million on upgrading reservoirs www.gov.uk/government/n...
Iconic canals to be better protected with £6.5 million investment
Funding will support repair, maintenance and long-term projects.
www.gov.uk
February 11, 2026 at 11:27 AM
This is good news but small change in the bigger picture. The CRT spent £60 million on winter maintenance alone last year, with a further £21 million on upgrading reservoirs www.gov.uk/government/n...
Here we go again www.theguardian.com/politics/liv...
Lib Dems call for ‘anti-growth’ Treasury to be split up – UK politics live
Liberal Democrats call for Treasury to be replaced with big growth department, and smaller spending department
www.theguardian.com
February 11, 2026 at 11:00 AM
Here we go again www.theguardian.com/politics/liv...
Reposted by David Higham
It is cope to believe this is all confected. My whole job is talking to MPs and ministers, I talk to a dozen different ones every day, I spend the week in Parliament in the same corridors, same coffee queues. Sometimes even I have been taken aback by the strength of feeling about the need for change
Getting really tired of "this is all a media concoction"...
Starmer has the lowest approval rating of any PM in history bar Truss. Senior ministers are openly and unsubtly positioning. His Chief of Staff, Director of Comms and Cab Sec have all resigned on the same day.
I mean come on...
Starmer has the lowest approval rating of any PM in history bar Truss. Senior ministers are openly and unsubtly positioning. His Chief of Staff, Director of Comms and Cab Sec have all resigned on the same day.
I mean come on...
February 10, 2026 at 9:49 AM
It is cope to believe this is all confected. My whole job is talking to MPs and ministers, I talk to a dozen different ones every day, I spend the week in Parliament in the same corridors, same coffee queues. Sometimes even I have been taken aback by the strength of feeling about the need for change
Reposted by David Higham
'Always verify your references' was his sage advice to younger scholars. Still apposite in our current information age ... his personal library is a jewel of @dulib.bsky.social
This daguerreotype of Magdalen's President Martin Routh was taken on his 99th birthday on 18 September 1854. In it, he can be seen wearing his famous wig, more typical of fashions of the 1750s than the 1850s.
See this, and the wig itself, in our Old Library.
📍Old Library
📆🕑 OPEN Today, 2-4:30pm
See this, and the wig itself, in our Old Library.
📍Old Library
📆🕑 OPEN Today, 2-4:30pm
February 11, 2026 at 10:17 AM
'Always verify your references' was his sage advice to younger scholars. Still apposite in our current information age ... his personal library is a jewel of @dulib.bsky.social
Reposted by David Higham
Streeting did this to the entire staff of NHS England, who found out their dept was being abolished and they were losing their jobs via BBC push notification. As someone once said: you can't play politics with people's jobs and people's lives.
One of the things that ought to change in any Number 10 shake up is this sort of thing. Whatever you think of whether he’s the right person for the job he’s dedicated his life to public service and no one (in any job!) deserves to be treated like this.
February 11, 2026 at 10:31 AM
Streeting did this to the entire staff of NHS England, who found out their dept was being abolished and they were losing their jobs via BBC push notification. As someone once said: you can't play politics with people's jobs and people's lives.
What sort of person buys their dog a personalised toy?
February 11, 2026 at 10:17 AM
What sort of person buys their dog a personalised toy?
Those great inter war years. And people wonder why Attlee won in 1945.
February 11, 2026 at 9:05 AM
Those great inter war years. And people wonder why Attlee won in 1945.
From the latest Andrew Adonis newsletter. This is a major weakness of the current government: a weak cabinet, made weaker by the last reorganisation. This is not a Team of Rivals
February 11, 2026 at 8:54 AM
From the latest Andrew Adonis newsletter. This is a major weakness of the current government: a weak cabinet, made weaker by the last reorganisation. This is not a Team of Rivals
Reposted by David Higham
Labour's problem isn't merely one of personnel. It's that the main factions of the party lack an analysis of capitalism, & therefore an awareness that boosting growth (the answer to many problems) requires a lot of work. Here's one I wrote 5 years (!) ago: chrisdillow.substack.com/p/starmer-an...
Starmer and the C-word
Starmer's Labour is incurious about the nature of capitalism.
chrisdillow.substack.com
February 11, 2026 at 8:47 AM
Labour's problem isn't merely one of personnel. It's that the main factions of the party lack an analysis of capitalism, & therefore an awareness that boosting growth (the answer to many problems) requires a lot of work. Here's one I wrote 5 years (!) ago: chrisdillow.substack.com/p/starmer-an...