Tim Leunig
timleunig.bsky.social
Tim Leunig
@timleunig.bsky.social

Policy thoughts: http://timleunig.substack.com Chief Economist Nesta, Director Econ PublicFirst, Vis Prof LSE Sch Public Policy, Vis Fellow Inst for Govt

Timothy Charles Leunig is an economist at the London School of Economics's Department of Economic History. After a long career as a special advisor, he became a director at the economic consultants Public First. .. more

Economics 62%
Political science 13%

I am pretty sure Vanguard have the lowest charges in the industry for tracker funds, so yes, I would get lower returns with L&G.

So how would my moving money from vanguard to L&G help persuade Trump to behave differently? It would make me poorer, obviously.
Did you know Vanguard Group holds around $440 billion in investments from European customers?

Hard not to feel like the strongest signal we can send Trump for threatening tariffs if we don’t hand over Greenland is to divest as much as possible from U.S companies.

Reposted by Tim Leunig

Did you know Vanguard Group holds around $440 billion in investments from European customers?

Hard not to feel like the strongest signal we can send Trump for threatening tariffs if we don’t hand over Greenland is to divest as much as possible from U.S companies.
If you listen very carefully, you can hear Charles de Gaulle screaming I BLOODY TOLD YOU SO from some rural French cemetery.

Outstanding work by Paul Swinney on why the Manchester economic boom is probably just a series of data errors aligning. www.economicsobservatory.com/have-the-uks...

Reposted by Tim Leunig

Chart of how offshore wind CfD prices have changed over time, now updated for the AR7 results released today

public.flourish.studio/visualisatio...

Reposted by Tim Leunig

[Corrected]
Results of the AR7 auction for offshore wind contracts for difference are out. The main strike price is £91.20 per MWh (in 2024 prices)…
… which is higher than I expected tbh.

Quite a rise from £81.50 at the previous auction in late 2024

www.gov.uk/government/p...
Contracts for Difference (CfD) Allocation Round 7: results
Outcome of Contracts for Difference (CfD) Allocation Round 7 which commenced on 24 July 2025.
www.gov.uk

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Btw I think it was £58.87 in 2012 prices for new fixed bottom floating in AR6 - £54.23 was for the permitted reductions I believe

It would not be big in Sussex, but in some parts of Scotland? I would have thought someone turning up with a photo ID staff pass would be good enough...
I'd need to know potential candidates in advance so I could check ID against some sort of safeguarding record - for something that might happen on one day in a decade here.
And I'd need to coordinate it all before 7.30am!

Reposted by Tim Leunig

I'd need to know potential candidates in advance so I could check ID against some sort of safeguarding record - for something that might happen on one day in a decade here.
And I'd need to coordinate it all before 7.30am!

I always like it when someone tells me that my idea is not new - and I LOVE IT when they tell me that the idea has been tried before and has worked!!! Thanks @njdmarlon.bsky.social. You should write an @instituteforgovernment.org.uk blog on the nuts and bolts...
On his always interesting substack @timleunig.bsky.social proposes that on snow days teachers unable to get to their school should be supply teachers for other schools to keep them open

A friend grew up in rural Isle of Wight and this is what happened there. Chaotic classes but kids were taught
Snow days in schools
A policy idea to reduce the likelihood that snow will close schools
timleunig.substack.com
🧵A political/media guide to the "truth" about net-zero

1) Add up costs to install & run a net-zero energy system
2) Pretend fossil-fuelled alternatives wld be free
3) Do say "eco zealots are bankrupting us"
4) Don't say "free cars if we scrap net-zero" cos it sounds ridiculous
5) That's it!

1/10

Reposted by Tim Leunig

On his always interesting substack @timleunig.bsky.social proposes that on snow days teachers unable to get to their school should be supply teachers for other schools to keep them open

A friend grew up in rural Isle of Wight and this is what happened there. Chaotic classes but kids were taught
Snow days in schools
A policy idea to reduce the likelihood that snow will close schools
timleunig.substack.com

Reposted by Tim Leunig

Very sorry to hear that Sir James Munby has died. He presided over the Howard League’s successful judicial review against the government on child protection in custody, one of the most important child protection judgments ever made

Reposted by Tim Leunig

Prices will not go back to where they were a few years ago. A new normal will be established writes
@timleunig.bsky.social.
https://bit.ly/3NyilFI
Starmer says more of us will feel richer this year. Most ...
Prices may fall this year but without growth it won't be enough to win the prime minister any new friends
bit.ly

The government's emphasis on inflation is understandable given the polling, but while falling inflation is welcome, growth matters most - me in @theobserveruk.bsky.social - observer.co.uk/news/nationa... \
Starmer says more of us will feel richer this year. Most ...
Prices may fall this year but without growth it won’t be enough to win the prime minister any new friends
observer.co.uk

Others can get half of them for free, but you need to pay to read them all. Last year I made £6426.06 - all of which I donated to @againstmalaria.bsky.social laria. So if you subscribe, you help to save lives.

Are you a civil servant in search of new policy ideas? Here are 116 ideas for you. Sign up to a free sub and I will give you a complementary upgrade so that you can read them all. timleunig.substack.com/p/my-policy-...
My policy ideas so far
An index of my post from 2023, 2024 and 2025
timleunig.substack.com

Feel sad for the idea you can use it for news. It’s hopeless for that now.
If there is an argument then this is the argument. But lol I can’t find where this obviously false stat is coming from. And if the government does believe more than half the families in the UK are using it as their primary news source then woah maybe time to up the scrutiny of it!

@torstenbell.bsky.social is spot on - and I wrote a column in the @theobserveruk.bsky.social on what his government could do about it! observer.co.uk/news/busines...
Feel sad for the idea you can use it for news. It’s hopeless for that now.
If there is an argument then this is the argument. But lol I can’t find where this obviously false stat is coming from. And if the government does believe more than half the families in the UK are using it as their primary news source then woah maybe time to up the scrutiny of it!

Really? By their deeds shall you know them...
The problem with making political decisions on this basis is that it’s a little tricky for the rest of us to check his workings….

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The problem with making political decisions on this basis is that it’s a little tricky for the rest of us to check his workings….

Reposted by Tim Leunig

I wish the UK were rich enough to be able to afford to pay for people to study for degrees as a retirement hobby, but we are not...Government should therefore have an age restriction on student loans for university fees.

Sensible from @timleunig.bsky.social.

timleunig.substack.com/p/student-fe...
Student fees and loans
Some government spending should not happen
timleunig.substack.com
"Trump’s new world order is now very much a reality. It has no obvious rules, no real allies, celebrates the jungle and is almost always about money. There is a lot of wealth under Venezuela’s soil. Trump is now committed to extracting it." My column. Free to read. as.ft.com/r/08b22b7a-4...
Trump now owns Venezuela
[FREE TO READ] The US president has a growing appetite for military adventure
as.ft.com

The company is still liable, however, if you do something wrong, so I don't think this can be it. @missmc.bsky.social @rmappleby.uk
From working in a big corporation, we had so much “mandatory training” they built a system to track it all.

IMHO, at least 90% was only there to ensure we were liable, and our execs arses were legally covered, in the event of anything bad happening. Which is nice, right?

Reposted by Tim Leunig

From working in a big corporation, we had so much “mandatory training” they built a system to track it all.

IMHO, at least 90% was only there to ensure we were liable, and our execs arses were legally covered, in the event of anything bad happening. Which is nice, right?

When I was in DHSC I thought we could change the law to reduce or eliminate a lot of this tick box training. Found out there is no law requiring it. No DHSC policy either. Or NHS-England policy. It has just become commonplace - people think it is required, so they arrange it, but it isn't.
A year or so ago a Question Time audience member suggested the NHS could save millions by having doctors & nurses do quizzes at start of annual mandatory training courses - and only make you do it if you fail.

I think it could go for most jobs tbh.

Reposted by Tim Leunig

A year or so ago a Question Time audience member suggested the NHS could save millions by having doctors & nurses do quizzes at start of annual mandatory training courses - and only make you do it if you fail.

I think it could go for most jobs tbh.

Reposted by Tim Leunig

On the 34th anniversary of the collapse of the Soviet Union, I am deeply thankful to the generations of Finns before me who fought courageously to ensure that Finland was never part of the inhumane, deadly experiment that was the Soviet Union