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David Higham

@oldtrotter.bsky.social

6.7K followers 620 following 16K posts

Former economist and civil servant. Former (age related) national cycling champion. Still a music fan. Sewn up member of the Zipper Club.

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David Higham @oldtrotter.bsky.social · Jan 21

A short summary of my thoughts on regional policy. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

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

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Reposted by David Higham

David Klemperer @dmk1793.bsky.social · 2h

In piece for @renewaljournal.bsky.social, I suggest Labour conference saw the emergence of two distinct approaches to practicing politics in a broken public sphere:
- YIMBYs and Growth Groupers pursue disruption
- "progressive communitarians" seek re-connection

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David Higham @oldtrotter.bsky.social · 4h

Re our recent exchange @planningtransport.co.uk

Jonathan Portes @jdportes.bsky.social · 20h

This from Andy Haldane gets some basic stuff wrong, notably this:

"A £30bn will need to be filled in this year’s Budget,e ven though a stalled economy needs a 1% of GDP fiscal tightening like a hole in the head."

Just wrong. Not how the fiscal framework works at all.

www.ft.com/content/1c4d...

The UK’s failing fiscal framework is a Brexit tribute act

The path and peak of policy uncertainty over the past year eerily mimics sentiment at the time of the 2016 referendum

www.ft.com

David Higham @oldtrotter.bsky.social · 4h

A trap so obvious that it was visible from space and yet one that Labour happily leapt into and then used every opportunity to limit their ability to climb out of it.

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David Higham @oldtrotter.bsky.social · 5h

Stop it 😂

David Higham @oldtrotter.bsky.social · 5h

Holding former PMs to account for breaking the rules? Where will it all end?

David Higham @oldtrotter.bsky.social · 5h

Why say it at all in the context of standards in public life?

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David Higham @oldtrotter.bsky.social · 5h

Leaving aside the fact that the time to show leadership on this was before the GE, he's not going to change now, unless , as with Wilson in 1967, change is forced on him.

David Higham @oldtrotter.bsky.social · 5h

This is outrageous. And is the government only in the "service of working people" ?

Writing to Darren Jones, the chief secretary to the prime minister, Doverty said: "Mr Johnson is aggrieved that Acoba sought to investigate these allegations, given how the information behind them was obtained." But she said there was a public interest in investigating any breach of the rules and a duty to do so.

She concluded: "Mr Johnson's lack of cooperation with Acoba and failure to deny the allegations has led me to report this to you as a breach of the government's rules."

A government spokesperson said: "As announced in July, new arrangements for the administration of the business appointment rules will take effect from Monday 13 October, as part of our commitment to restore trust and ensure the government is in the service of working people.

"As part of the new arrangements, Acoba will be closed, and former ministers found to have seriously breached the rules may be asked to repay any ministerial severance payment."

However, a source indicated that no further action would be taken against Johnson, who is no longer subject to the business appointment rules, for the breach.

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David Higham @oldtrotter.bsky.social · 5h

The ghost of John Smith waves. Preparing the ground for major tax changes takes years. I think there’s a good chance that they’ll move in this direction by the wheeze of cutting NI and raising income tax but there needs to be a clear long term goal.

David Higham @oldtrotter.bsky.social · 5h

At some stage the UK politicians are going to realise the full implications of the destruction of DB pensions. @flipchartrick.bsky.social has written several blogs on this.

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Reposted by David Higham

Roland Smith @rolandmcs.bsky.social · 7h

Morning.

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David Higham @oldtrotter.bsky.social · 5h

But they’ve said that they have. Why won’t the OBR give them credit? It’s all so unfair.

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David Higham @oldtrotter.bsky.social · 5h

These are always well worth a listen. Very accessible for the non specialist.

EconomicsInTen @economicsinten.bsky.social · 7h

On this day in 1996, Edith Penrose died. We have to admit, we didn't know much about this remarkable woman until @dianecoyle1859.bsky.social recommended her for a podcast episode. Her work on firms is as relevant now as they have ever been. Have a listen. #EconSky open.spotify.com/episode/3rpp...

Season 8 - Episode 2 - Edith Penrose

open.spotify.com

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David Higham @oldtrotter.bsky.social · 5h

If true, that was even worse. Deluded or dishonest? Take your pick.

David Higham @oldtrotter.bsky.social · 5h

There are no easy or quick solutions and there are none that don’t including increased taxation. The choice is whether that’s done in the normal piecemeal way or part of a genuine programme to deliver a fair and efficient tax system. They’ve not prepared the ground for the latter.

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David Higham @oldtrotter.bsky.social · 5h

Are we to assume that bond traders are too busy making money to read newspapers?

David Higham @oldtrotter.bsky.social · 6h

Join the club. Misstep after misstep. I’m beginning to think that Starmer did actually believe that there was a big lever marked “growth” that no one had ever thought to pull.

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David Higham @oldtrotter.bsky.social · 6h

I understand that and look forward to Labour’s well honed comms team explaining the subtlety to the British public.

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David Higham @oldtrotter.bsky.social · 6h

As does the Museum at Lancaster, another major port at that time.

David Higham @oldtrotter.bsky.social · 6h

Really? Did anyone who was paying attention actually believe that Hunt's cuts to NI were affordable? And if the OBR's assumptions about productivity have always looked optimistic, why base your fiscal strategy on them?