Reclaiming the Future How progressives can defy populism and fatalism – the founding essay of Arguably

www.arguably.uk/p/reclaiming...

A great paragraph in this essay from @georgeeaton.bsky.social.

A vision of the good life is the thing that is most clearly missing from progressives at the moment.

Believing that life is for living and our best times are ahead of us, not behind us, is what gets societies through troubled times.

Boost for thousands of aspiring health professionals from deprived areas New measures to tackle inequality of opportunity and breakdown barriers to healthcare careers

Some good news from government this Friday!

A new scheme will create 2000 nursing apprenticeships for young people living in the most deprived parts of the country. There will also be funding for a further 2000 young people in these areas to study medicine at university.

www.gov.uk/government/n...

Good pamphlet this. In particular, this point from @jeevunsandher.bsky.social, as he makes the case for a community led economy.

Civic assets are economic assets.

That's why we need policy attention on community ownership, civic high streets.

Worth noting ICON's attempts at forecasting future health inequalities between neighbourhoods found that, based on current trends, we are unlikely to see real improvements in tackling the health divide by 2030

Some worrying new data from the ONS today.

- Healthy Life Expectancy in the most deprived areas has *fallen* for both men and women, compared to both 2019 and 2021 data

- Life Expectancy in the most deprived areas has still not recovered since COVID

The constant Westminster-based attacks on S. Cambs by Conservatives and Labour are both depressing and incredibly boring

It’s good for councils to try new things!

Evidence suggests the 4 day week scheme has been successful!

If residents don’t like it, they can vote out the Lib Dems next month!

It’s been over a week and I still cannot find anything explaining what this policy actually is, what it wants to achieve, and who will receive this investment.

Nothing at all.

Really, really, really bad form.

And as I say this is not a one off - it is happening all the time!

This isnt a one off it is quite literally everything.

Press release a very vague policy - get the Minister on the broadcast round - but don't actually publish any detail until later in the day/that week

It is ridiculously lazy and, I imagine, done on purpose to evade actual scrutiny

High streets revived and children given safe places to play New initiative will support local areas to reimagine and revive their struggling high streets

Govenernment have got into an absolutely god awful habit of press releasing policy announcements without publishing anything about what the policy even is.

£300mn yesterday for a high streets policy, with Steve Reed on the broadcast round, and NO TELLING YOU WHAT IT IS?

www.gov.uk/government/n...

I have read all sorts about Reform "professionalising" their operation and starting to get serious about policy.

It is not obvious any of that is going to start showing up in their plans - be it for councils, or countries - any time soon.

Does anyone know of any work looking at the loss of 'working men's clubs' and their replacement with digital spaces?

Have been struck several times recently by how the comments under facebook posts resemble the kind of comments I would hear in these spaces as a teenager.

Fiscal devo was a "not in the first term, maybe the second" policy option for Labour when plans were being made for government prior to taking office (2023ish!) So, yes..

Funding fair growth How to transform the UK economy

Bags and bags of intel in the full paper: www.progressive-policy.net/publications...

Glad the Chancellor has asked the Treasury to look at fiscal devolution ahead of the Autumn budget.

A model we developed at CPP in 2023 is one I still have confidence in.

Prioritises growth *while* supporting poorer areas to make bigger investments sooner, pulling regions together not apart!

Government taking action on heating oil is correct.

During the last energy crisis the price of home heating oil had already spiked, and falling, by the time government had made an intervention.

For places such as Northern Ireland that depend on it much of the damage had been done.

Would be a huge injustice of power if the outcome benefits only Plan 2 holders and not current students on Plan 5, who are on far worse terms and do not have jobs in politics/media, so cannot make their voices heard. If we don't fix it for them, we'll be back here once again in a few years time

Govt’s Pride in Place targets areas with economic deprivation and weaker social infrastructure. Yet, our analysis reveals 2 challenges.

We find 430 doubly disadvantaged neighbourhoods in England (home to approx 3.5 million people) are unfunded, incl many ranked as facing the greatest challenges 1/3

Are you using Codex on ChatGPT? The difference comes when you give AI access to your computer, be it Codex on ChatGPT or Claude Code/Cowork. This is purely for quantitative research. But it is like having the most efficient researcher in the world working for you. They can pull off very complex work

A very useful resource from @rmudie96.bsky.social and the ICON team: www.neighbourhoodscommission.org.uk/pride-in-pla...

You can access it here: www.neighbourhoodscommission.org.uk/pride-in-pla...

Shares for this one would be very welcome. There are lots of people involved with the programme in many different ways, all over the country, so we want to spread this as far as we can!

We've built a data explorer for every neighbourhood receiving funding through the Pride in Place programme. You can map, zoom in, and compare every neighbourhood with data on deprivation, need, social capital, and social infrastructure. You can download it all

It's completely free to use, too.

👇

BRITAIN'S AI BEAR CASE

What happens, if AI takes off, to an economy that is...
... highly dependent on exporting professional services?
... Too energy-scarce to build many data centres?
... Less dynamic than ever?

I work through those questions here:
notes.archie-hall.com/p/britains-...

I'm a Plan 2 loan holder. I wish we had a better deal. But ours is nowhere near as bad as current students, on Plan 5s.

Yet they do not have jobs in politics or the media, so no one is representing them.

Even if we find a Plan 2 solution we will be back here, once again, in a few years time.

Some of the FT comments section is higher quality than nearly all the paid for opinion writing in the 'quality' papers

This will be a very good event, on what has been one of the most ionteresting research programmes we've run at ICON.

Do sign up and tune in!

'Labour's creative destruction dilemma' - LabourList Ross Mudie writes for LabourList on Labour's need to deal with the issue of creative destruction amid uncertainty around unemployment...

Hiring costs are up, unemployment is climbing. Could this be deliberate - a bet that squeezed employers will invest in technology and create better jobs, for displaced workers?

My latest for @labourlist.bsky.social sets out why I'm skeptical.

labourlist.org/2026/03/labo...

As Gornton and Denton shows, populists on both the right and left are speaking to people who are disslusioned with the economy. Time is running out to deliver new job opportunities in these places.

Cynics might say government isn't truly trying. They may be right. By 2029, we might know.

Some might say this is tough, but necessary, for Labour to bring growth back to the economy.

But it is worth remembering that the pain will fall on those living in deindustrialised parts of the country who have seen this before.

It is beggars belief that jobs will magically appear here.

Allowing lower productivity firms to fail without any infrastructure to support those workers into new roles is not "creative destruction", as the economy theory goes, it is just "destruction".

With vacancies down, it is not obvious there is demand in the economy for those workers.