Annoyingly, I've taken this month off of writing my Substack to finish other work stuff, and since doing that I've had about ~ten thousand ideas for things I should write.

The difference between this (good) criticism and the incredibly stupid criticism made by (eg) the likes of Jacob Rees-Mogg was essentially that civil servants were lazy or feckless, which is just obviously nonsense.

eg, everyone at Natural England is following the rules – and applying them vigorously! But the problem is we have a arms-length body with a veto over development in the first place!

I don't think it's a contradiction to argue we shouldn't criticise the civil service, but criticise 'the system' as currently configured.

Civil service has lots of people who work very hard – the problem is the 'rules' of the system which make it difficult for the state to do anything.

It’s like if you legally required proof that you could drive, but didn’t want a driving licence, so instead carried around an iPad containing videos that evidence that you know how to drive a car.

Of course you'd have known this might happen months ago if you'd been reading my newsletter.

takes.jamesomalley.co.uk/p/northern-p...

As of today!

Why didn’t the Grammys mention the licensing terms of the Postcode Address File?

Nah, abundance has been used in this space for years.

And if you do too, you might enjoy listening to the podcast I make with @mjrobbins.com, YIMBY Pod.

This week, we talk in more detail about the badger story – and so much more.

Go have a listen.

yimbypod.com

Also on Apple, Spotify, and wherever you get your podcasts.

That's why we need to fix the way the British state works. I'm not complaining about the state because I want to tear it down, like some people on the right do. I'm complaining because I want a state that works. Which can do things effectively. Which can build.