Martin Stanley
@ukcivilservant.bsky.social
I write about, and for, the UK civil service and regulators. Author 'How to be a Civil Servant' and 'How to Succeed in the Senior Civil Service'. Previously Business Department and CMA.
Reposted by Martin Stanley
Massive shoutout out to whoever handles the Royal Canadian Air Force’s social media account. They responded to every single comment on their already very solid Trans Day of Remembrance post and they responded like this…
November 22, 2025 at 1:03 AM
Massive shoutout out to whoever handles the Royal Canadian Air Force’s social media account. They responded to every single comment on their already very solid Trans Day of Remembrance post and they responded like this…
Reposted by Martin Stanley
Hello, is that Russian Supreme Military Command? SACEUR here. Now, about your invasion of E. Europe. Could you possibly put it off for a month and a half so we can get our troops and armour over from the North Sea ports?
on.ft.com/4oP5Jbc via @FT
on.ft.com/4oP5Jbc via @FT
The surreal 45-day trek at the heart of Nato’s defence
Europe wrestles with crumbling bridges, narrow tunnels and red tape as it plans how to move an army eastward
on.ft.com
November 19, 2025 at 1:56 PM
Hello, is that Russian Supreme Military Command? SACEUR here. Now, about your invasion of E. Europe. Could you possibly put it off for a month and a half so we can get our troops and armour over from the North Sea ports?
on.ft.com/4oP5Jbc via @FT
on.ft.com/4oP5Jbc via @FT
Banx, briilliant as ever, in the @financialtimes.com last week.
November 18, 2025 at 2:14 PM
Banx, briilliant as ever, in the @financialtimes.com last week.
Reposted by Martin Stanley
Intrigued that the Labour Party has a Denmark policy - seize jewellery and assets from asylum seekers - and also an anti-Denmark policy - don’t tax middle earners enough to support welfare state.
November 17, 2025 at 7:39 AM
Intrigued that the Labour Party has a Denmark policy - seize jewellery and assets from asylum seekers - and also an anti-Denmark policy - don’t tax middle earners enough to support welfare state.
Reposted by Martin Stanley
Talking to my mum she's mentioned a few times that, in the fairly quiet town where she lives, it's more and more common for the older people she chats to when out and about to say increasingly racist and ill-informed things mixed in with morning pleasantries. What are Labour playing at?
Govt minister Alex Norris is asked if the govt will take jewellery from people [fleeing war and persecution]. Norris says the govt won't be taking peoples wedding rings but they will seize assets.
November 17, 2025 at 9:00 AM
Talking to my mum she's mentioned a few times that, in the fairly quiet town where she lives, it's more and more common for the older people she chats to when out and about to say increasingly racist and ill-informed things mixed in with morning pleasantries. What are Labour playing at?
Reposted by Martin Stanley
The best way to understand what is actually “driving the small boats” is “if something carried a one in a 100 risk of death, would you do it it it gave you ten more years of healthy life?”
Shabana Mahmood tells Sunday Times it should take 20 years for somebody granted refugee status in UK to secure permanent status (ie, reapply 6 times) if came without permission.
Paper says Denmark has toughest settlement timeline (8 years) but UK govt wants longer
www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...
Paper says Denmark has toughest settlement timeline (8 years) but UK govt wants longer
www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...
Shabana Mahmood: ‘Illegal migration is tearing Britain apart’
The home secretary is planning to introduce a 20-year wait for permanent stay to end a ‘golden ticket’ for asylum seekers
www.thetimes.com
November 15, 2025 at 11:59 PM
The best way to understand what is actually “driving the small boats” is “if something carried a one in a 100 risk of death, would you do it it it gave you ten more years of healthy life?”
Reposted by Martin Stanley
A counter-claim here would be a last resort. The objective should be to extract BBC from litigation, not tie it in more messily and expensively.
A counterclaim would give Trump all the rights of a defendant as well as a plaintiff.
Would be a nightmare, given his litigation game playing.
A counterclaim would give Trump all the rights of a defendant as well as a plaintiff.
Would be a nightmare, given his litigation game playing.
November 15, 2025 at 5:34 PM
A counter-claim here would be a last resort. The objective should be to extract BBC from litigation, not tie it in more messily and expensively.
A counterclaim would give Trump all the rights of a defendant as well as a plaintiff.
Would be a nightmare, given his litigation game playing.
A counterclaim would give Trump all the rights of a defendant as well as a plaintiff.
Would be a nightmare, given his litigation game playing.
There are now >5,000 individuals whose ISAs are worth >£1 million.
Hardly surprising that Ms Reeves is considering limiting this tax exemption.
Hardly surprising that Ms Reeves is considering limiting this tax exemption.
November 15, 2025 at 5:48 PM
There are now >5,000 individuals whose ISAs are worth >£1 million.
Hardly surprising that Ms Reeves is considering limiting this tax exemption.
Hardly surprising that Ms Reeves is considering limiting this tax exemption.
Reposted by Martin Stanley
The Resolution Foundation should take this as a sign of support from the editor of the Times that they haven't chosen to send out one of their credible, economically rated writers, but someone who's actually run a similarly-redistribution minded think tank, and former Tory candidate to boot
At last, a fearless @thetimes.com enquiry into the Institute of Economic Affairs’ economically disastrous effects and Policy Exchange’s pernicious legacy of division? No, just an attack one of the few think tanks that did not shape Labour’s toxic inheritance.
www.thetimes.com/comment/colu...
www.thetimes.com/comment/colu...
Meet the elite think tank responsible for Britain’s decline
The Resolution Foundation wants to make life better for the poorest in society but its noble aims result in policy that stifles growth and penalises the rich
www.thetimes.com
November 15, 2025 at 1:19 PM
The Resolution Foundation should take this as a sign of support from the editor of the Times that they haven't chosen to send out one of their credible, economically rated writers, but someone who's actually run a similarly-redistribution minded think tank, and former Tory candidate to boot
Reposted by Martin Stanley
Reform's plans for the civil service (and for the House of Lords and Judicial Review) are discussed here:-
ukcivilservant.substack.com/p/reform-uks...
ukcivilservant.substack.com/p/reform-uks...
Reform UK's Plans for the Civil Service
And farewell the Lords and Judicial Review!
ukcivilservant.substack.com
November 13, 2025 at 1:29 PM
Reform's plans for the civil service (and for the House of Lords and Judicial Review) are discussed here:-
ukcivilservant.substack.com/p/reform-uks...
ukcivilservant.substack.com/p/reform-uks...
Reposted by Martin Stanley
Please God can we go back to the days of Budget purdah. Two months of quiet from Treasury ministers, spads, and officials whilst they put the budget together might help to wind down this incessant speculation.
The United Kingdom really does have an unnecessarily complex tax system and adding c£20bn of fun little revenue raisers will not help. Today's newsletter:
Budget U-turn hammers UK competitiveness
Risky to raise revenue via tweaks and novel taxes, especially through rushed changes
www.ft.com
November 14, 2025 at 2:43 PM
Please God can we go back to the days of Budget purdah. Two months of quiet from Treasury ministers, spads, and officials whilst they put the budget together might help to wind down this incessant speculation.
This chart may surprise younger generations but, as Iain Mansfield points out in the 🧵, it's not all good news.
For all the talk of 'Broken Britain', so many things have got better.
Even a simple factoid like this gets overlooked, but it was not long ago that *everyone* directly knew multiple examples of people taken away by this at something preposterous like age 22
November 14, 2025 at 5:29 PM
This chart may surprise younger generations but, as Iain Mansfield points out in the 🧵, it's not all good news.
Reposted by Martin Stanley
Former UVA president Jim Ryan, who resigned over the summer due to pressure from the Trump Administration, just shared this 12-page letter with the Faculty Senate, detailing his experience with the Board of Visitors and DOJ.
It's a surreal--and troubling--read.
drive.google.com/file/d/1Is6x...
It's a surreal--and troubling--read.
drive.google.com/file/d/1Is6x...
November 14, 2025 at 2:15 PM
Former UVA president Jim Ryan, who resigned over the summer due to pressure from the Trump Administration, just shared this 12-page letter with the Faculty Senate, detailing his experience with the Board of Visitors and DOJ.
It's a surreal--and troubling--read.
drive.google.com/file/d/1Is6x...
It's a surreal--and troubling--read.
drive.google.com/file/d/1Is6x...
Reposted by Martin Stanley
A friend of mine job hunting this year eventually concluded that the only way to get a job in her sector now is to get friends/contacts to vouch for you specifically. Any open advertised job is basically so overwhelmed by assisted applicants it's impossible to stand out
November 14, 2025 at 11:22 AM
A friend of mine job hunting this year eventually concluded that the only way to get a job in her sector now is to get friends/contacts to vouch for you specifically. Any open advertised job is basically so overwhelmed by assisted applicants it's impossible to stand out
Reposted by Martin Stanley
The @nestauk.bsky.social & IFS "Be the Chancellor" tax calculator is just as nerdy! (We calculate the tax for the exchequer, rather than the individual) Prettiness is in the eye of the beholder, but our pink is lovely @danneidle.bsky.social @helenmiller.bsky.social www.nesta.org.uk/data-visuali...
November 13, 2025 at 3:30 PM
The @nestauk.bsky.social & IFS "Be the Chancellor" tax calculator is just as nerdy! (We calculate the tax for the exchequer, rather than the individual) Prettiness is in the eye of the beholder, but our pink is lovely @danneidle.bsky.social @helenmiller.bsky.social www.nesta.org.uk/data-visuali...
Reform's plans for the civil service (and for the House of Lords and Judicial Review) are discussed here:-
ukcivilservant.substack.com/p/reform-uks...
ukcivilservant.substack.com/p/reform-uks...
Reform UK's Plans for the Civil Service
And farewell the Lords and Judicial Review!
ukcivilservant.substack.com
November 13, 2025 at 1:29 PM
Reform's plans for the civil service (and for the House of Lords and Judicial Review) are discussed here:-
ukcivilservant.substack.com/p/reform-uks...
ukcivilservant.substack.com/p/reform-uks...
Reposted by Martin Stanley
There's a certain type of politician that needs to believe themselves to be too moral to get involved in the dirtiness of politics and gets caught in the cognitive dissonance of hiring other people to do it for them.
Gordon Brown was like that with Ed Balls and Damian McBride.
Gordon Brown was like that with Ed Balls and Damian McBride.
November 13, 2025 at 1:09 PM
There's a certain type of politician that needs to believe themselves to be too moral to get involved in the dirtiness of politics and gets caught in the cognitive dissonance of hiring other people to do it for them.
Gordon Brown was like that with Ed Balls and Damian McBride.
Gordon Brown was like that with Ed Balls and Damian McBride.
Reposted by Martin Stanley
This is an appalling judgment to read. Two Chief Constables found in contempt of court for misleading the court about the existence of video footage. But this was only discovered when the matter made it to the Court of Appeal. Incredible perseverance.
www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWC...
www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWC...
Judges set to decide fate of police chief constable guilty of contempt of court
Exclusive: Ivan Balhatchet, Northamptonshire’s chief constable, could face up to two years in jail or a fine for repeated failure to obey rulings
www.theguardian.com
November 12, 2025 at 9:07 AM
This is an appalling judgment to read. Two Chief Constables found in contempt of court for misleading the court about the existence of video footage. But this was only discovered when the matter made it to the Court of Appeal. Incredible perseverance.
www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWC...
www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWC...
Interesting exchange below. I agree that many specialist leaders of specialist Arms Length Bodies are poor managers. (ONS = recent example?) It can be a good idea to ensure they are supported by an experienced manager who does not need to have similar professional expertise.
November 12, 2025 at 11:36 AM
Interesting exchange below. I agree that many specialist leaders of specialist Arms Length Bodies are poor managers. (ONS = recent example?) It can be a good idea to ensure they are supported by an experienced manager who does not need to have similar professional expertise.
Lots of generations can be experienced in/near the Tower of London. This photo contains parts of the Tower itself, its Armistice Day poppy display and the Shard.
November 10, 2025 at 5:49 PM
Lots of generations can be experienced in/near the Tower of London. This photo contains parts of the Tower itself, its Armistice Day poppy display and the Shard.
Reposted by Martin Stanley
Crisis at the Critic Sketchcasting Corporation!
Crisis at the CSC | Robert Hutton | The Critic Magazine
From the desk of Lord Kronsteen, founder and proprietor of the Critic Sketchcasting Corporation. To all staff, It is with a heavy heart that I take pen in hand to inform you of the resignation of both…
thecritic.co.uk
November 10, 2025 at 5:00 PM
Crisis at the Critic Sketchcasting Corporation!
Reposted by Martin Stanley
Maybe Keir should demand the heads of major US news networks any time they imply Britain is on the brink of civil war or that we live under sharia law. Or does it not work both ways?
November 10, 2025 at 11:29 AM
Maybe Keir should demand the heads of major US news networks any time they imply Britain is on the brink of civil war or that we live under sharia law. Or does it not work both ways?
Reposted by Martin Stanley
Depressing that the BBC has so little inherent institutional strength, it is kicked about so easily.
This is not good sign for our polity.
This is not good sign for our polity.
November 9, 2025 at 8:13 PM
Depressing that the BBC has so little inherent institutional strength, it is kicked about so easily.
This is not good sign for our polity.
This is not good sign for our polity.
Reposted by Martin Stanley
Just absolutely classic BBC. You've just broadcast the most successful programme of the year, uniting Gen Z kids online and Boomers on broadcast in a return to appointment television. And instead of celebrating, your DG reigns due to a made-up right-wing scandal.
November 9, 2025 at 8:10 PM
Just absolutely classic BBC. You've just broadcast the most successful programme of the year, uniting Gen Z kids online and Boomers on broadcast in a return to appointment television. And instead of celebrating, your DG reigns due to a made-up right-wing scandal.