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Polly Mackenzie @pollymackenzie.bsky.social · 1d

@mysociety.org or @goodthingsfdn.bsky.social also worth asking?

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Polly Mackenzie @pollymackenzie.bsky.social · 2d

A dragon slide alone is a remarkable legacy!!

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Polly Mackenzie @pollymackenzie.bsky.social · 2d

Have you read it? My favourite bit is when he plays saxophone on late night tv

No good for the analogy but just tickles my fancy

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Reposted by Polly Mackenzie

Polly Mackenzie @pollymackenzie.bsky.social · 2d

My hero is a farmer, not a duck. Which will only make sense if you read this new piece by me, the start of a new substack which I am bravely calling How To Run A Country.

howtorunacountry.substack.com/p/its-the-de...

It’s the despair that’s going to kill us

Time to cheer up

howtorunacountry.substack.com

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Polly Mackenzie @pollymackenzie.bsky.social · 2d

Yeah, I think it went over the kids' head. They liked Click Clack Moo much better. Duck is more likeable in that one.

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Polly Mackenzie @pollymackenzie.bsky.social · 2d

thanks David

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Polly Mackenzie @pollymackenzie.bsky.social · 2d

And yes, I did torture myself about the title.

But then I remembered that women are less likely to write on substack, less likely to write about politics, less likely to charge for their writing, and less likely to confidently assert they have answers to intractable problems.

So I got over it.

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Polly Mackenzie @pollymackenzie.bsky.social · 2d

It's a 100% unauthorised spinoff of the podcast I do with @hugorifkind.bsky.social, Danny Finkelstein and Sally Morgan on Times Radio. It's part of my grand project to cheer myself up by reminding myself once a week that this country is not ungovernable.

We have had enough gloom.

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Polly Mackenzie @pollymackenzie.bsky.social · 2d

My hero is a farmer, not a duck. Which will only make sense if you read this new piece by me, the start of a new substack which I am bravely calling How To Run A Country.

howtorunacountry.substack.com/p/its-the-de...

It’s the despair that’s going to kill us

Time to cheer up

howtorunacountry.substack.com

5 10 33

Polly Mackenzie @pollymackenzie.bsky.social · 2d

Thanks Hetan!

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Hetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 2d

'Join in. Running a country is not the job of the government. It’s the job of all of us.' Amen
@pollymackenzie.bsky.social is doing a bit of writing again
howtorunacountry.substack.com/p/its-the-de...

It’s the despair that’s going to kill us

Time to cheer up

howtorunacountry.substack.com

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Reposted by Polly Mackenzie

gquaggiotto.bsky.social @gquaggiotto.bsky.social · 4d

[Great post] "The most important part of a system is often the person who keeps it from breaking today" blog.ronbronson.com/design-as-re...

Design As Repair - Ron Bronson | Ron Bronson

Note: These are the prepared remarks I wrote for my talk at IxDA Oslo. In the end, I spoke more extemporaneously, but I thought at least I could

blog.ronbronson.com

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Polly Mackenzie @pollymackenzie.bsky.social · 4d

Or just do some geometry

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Polly Mackenzie @pollymackenzie.bsky.social · 4d

% crust is lower on a large pizza creating differentiated value

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Reposted by Polly Mackenzie

Giles Wilkes @gilesyb.bsky.social · 7d

"“Everyone thought we’d come in and there were going to be these huge costs we could cut away but there just aren’t,” said a third senior Reform cabinet member in Kent - "
on.ft.com/3KDLMVu

Reform at least have the excuse of never having been in government.

Other parties should know better...

Reform likely to raise Kent council tax after cost-cutting drive falters

Nigel Farage’s party promised to revive local authority finances by slashing wasteful spending

on.ft.com

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Reposted by Polly Mackenzie

Political Therapy @politicaltherapy.bsky.social · 8d

Five years in Downing Street, running a think-tank, starting a new political party,
@pollymackenzie.bsky.social
has what it takes to get to the bottom of the madness of politics. Political Therapy returns on 28 October.

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Polly Mackenzie @pollymackenzie.bsky.social · 8d

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Polly Mackenzie @pollymackenzie.bsky.social · 8d

OMG this is the same dress Liz Truss wore on her first, and her last day as PM. It’s from The Fold.

PoliticsHome @politicshome.bsky.social · 8d

EXCL: “I’m not somebody who peaks on day one”

As Tory conference prepares to get underway, Tory leader Kemi Badenoch talks to @siennarodgers.bsky.social about being "proved right" on culture wars, hits back at briefings against her, and reveals the limits she has put on her screentime

Kemi Badenoch: “I'm Not Somebody Who Peaks On Day One”

Can she turn her party’s fortunes around? Kemi Badenoch talks to Sienna Rodgers about being ‘proved right’ on culture wars, hits back at the briefi...

www.politicshome.com

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Reposted by Polly Mackenzie

Hetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · Jul 10

We are calling on the UK Government to not introduce a levy on higher education provider income from international students, reduce visa costs to attract global talent, and to review higher education funding to create a sustainable model
www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/documents/58...

• Discontinue the idea of introducing a levy on higher education provider income from international students.
• Reduce visa costs to ensure they are at least as competitive in cost as other leading science nations, and preferably have a target to become the mos competitive in the G7.
• Provide immediate clarity that the current time length for Indefinite Leave to Remain is kept in place for current and future Global Talent visa holders and their dependents.

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Polly Mackenzie @pollymackenzie.bsky.social · 12d

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

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Polly Mackenzie @pollymackenzie.bsky.social · 12d

Obviously not.

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Polly Mackenzie @pollymackenzie.bsky.social · 12d

There is a truly terrible Netflix rom-com called My Oxford Year which gets almost nothing right about English culture but still sets the meet cute with the Oxford-phd-student-slash-aristocrat in a chippy.

Stephen Bush @stephenkb.bsky.social · 13d

"It's genuinely hard to imagine today's Labour activists going to a northern fish and chip shop" is a really self-incriminating sentence. Yeah, when I sit down in The Scrap Box in York or, frankly, anywhere in Whitby, I think 'I can't imagine a middle class person eating here'.

Robin Wilde @robinwilde.me · 13d

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Ben Ansell @benansell.bsky.social · 13d

On the morning of Keir Starmer's conference speech here's a new post on an odd psychopathology in British politics - our main parties don't like the people who vote for them - the dreaded Professional Managerial Class. And so they are acting out like a divorced dad seeking cooler voters. 1/n

British Politics' Midlife Crisis

Why British Parties Can't Make Peace with Their Actual Voters

benansell.substack.com

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Reposted by Polly Mackenzie

Toby Nangle @tobyn.bsky.social · 13d

Enjoyed this gem from @alphaville.ft.com Further Reading amateurcriticism.substack.com/p/how-to-lik...

How to Like Poetry

A sympathetic guide for the perplexed

amateurcriticism.substack.com

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Reposted by Polly Mackenzie

gquaggiotto.bsky.social @gquaggiotto.bsky.social · 14d

"Sometimes parts of government have wanted to support alternatives, but have not known how to go about it, or have done so clumsily. Even rarer are the examples of alternatives being integrated into the way public institutions work" medium.com/@jamestplunk...

The Centre for the Edge

A new initiative to help public sector leaders support emerging alternatives

medium.com

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