Polly Mackenzie
@pollymackenzie.bsky.social
Co-founder and CEO, Zinc Innovation Partners - helping turn science into real-world change. Fomerly Demos, UAL, MMHPI, No10. Adviser at Future Governance Forum, Family Business UK, Door10 Recruitment. Writes at https://howtorunacountry.substack.com/
very interesting
November 29, 2025 at 1:27 PM
very interesting
But there’s no evidence of improved outcomes from later life financial education either!
No-one (that I have ever found) has studied it. They just ask follow up surveys about whether the participant felt it was good.
No-one (that I have ever found) has studied it. They just ask follow up surveys about whether the participant felt it was good.
November 29, 2025 at 10:03 AM
But there’s no evidence of improved outcomes from later life financial education either!
No-one (that I have ever found) has studied it. They just ask follow up surveys about whether the participant felt it was good.
No-one (that I have ever found) has studied it. They just ask follow up surveys about whether the participant felt it was good.
financial education gets quite a lot of money because it is more convenient for the people who produce complex products to fund a bit of education (to fix the consumers) than build products consumers understand or take the liability of providing guidance to them
November 29, 2025 at 10:01 AM
financial education gets quite a lot of money because it is more convenient for the people who produce complex products to fund a bit of education (to fix the consumers) than build products consumers understand or take the liability of providing guidance to them
oh I mean - at any stage of life, anywhere in the world. Not schools level only.
November 29, 2025 at 9:57 AM
oh I mean - at any stage of life, anywhere in the world. Not schools level only.
There is no evidence of financial education having any impact on financial outcomes.
Absence of evidence is not… etc
But all the studies measure things like confidence not future behaviour/decisions/outcomes.
Absence of evidence is not… etc
But all the studies measure things like confidence not future behaviour/decisions/outcomes.
November 29, 2025 at 9:48 AM
There is no evidence of financial education having any impact on financial outcomes.
Absence of evidence is not… etc
But all the studies measure things like confidence not future behaviour/decisions/outcomes.
Absence of evidence is not… etc
But all the studies measure things like confidence not future behaviour/decisions/outcomes.
It’s rather amusing to have constructed the entire edifice of the OBR to prevent chancellors from gaming the system, only to create a new game.
November 29, 2025 at 9:34 AM
It’s rather amusing to have constructed the entire edifice of the OBR to prevent chancellors from gaming the system, only to create a new game.
Yes but remember that financial education has been in the curriculum since 2014, since he was 10.
November 29, 2025 at 9:28 AM
Yes but remember that financial education has been in the curriculum since 2014, since he was 10.
A big problem is incentives for councils: no-one wants to build homes that would lead to net inward migration of people with high care needs.
November 29, 2025 at 9:22 AM
A big problem is incentives for councils: no-one wants to build homes that would lead to net inward migration of people with high care needs.
Nearly a decade old but this is still pretty good. demos.co.uk/wp-content/u...
demos.co.uk
November 29, 2025 at 9:21 AM
Nearly a decade old but this is still pretty good. demos.co.uk/wp-content/u...
A sensible council tax would also be a good thing
November 28, 2025 at 9:43 PM
A sensible council tax would also be a good thing
In policy terms it depends what you’re comparing it with. The realistic alternative was a 2nd election leading to a Conservative majority. That government would have been worse.
November 22, 2025 at 7:21 PM
In policy terms it depends what you’re comparing it with. The realistic alternative was a 2nd election leading to a Conservative majority. That government would have been worse.
Thinking like campaigners not thinking like a government.
(Obviously the Lib Dems played the politics of government badly, I have no delusions about that)
(Obviously the Lib Dems played the politics of government badly, I have no delusions about that)
November 22, 2025 at 7:17 PM
Thinking like campaigners not thinking like a government.
(Obviously the Lib Dems played the politics of government badly, I have no delusions about that)
(Obviously the Lib Dems played the politics of government badly, I have no delusions about that)
This immigration stuff is bad politics because they’re
A) trying to make it into a sword issue when at best it can be a shield
B) trying to win the politics of it today rather than to get the substance in shape for a contest in 40 months from now.
A) trying to make it into a sword issue when at best it can be a shield
B) trying to win the politics of it today rather than to get the substance in shape for a contest in 40 months from now.
November 22, 2025 at 7:16 PM
This immigration stuff is bad politics because they’re
A) trying to make it into a sword issue when at best it can be a shield
B) trying to win the politics of it today rather than to get the substance in shape for a contest in 40 months from now.
A) trying to make it into a sword issue when at best it can be a shield
B) trying to win the politics of it today rather than to get the substance in shape for a contest in 40 months from now.
Labour has no such excuse.
And no ability to see (or take advantage of) the political power that comes from being in charge.
Like controlling the parliamentary agenda, hundreds of billions of public spending, hundreds of millions of comms spending, and the actual law.
And no ability to see (or take advantage of) the political power that comes from being in charge.
Like controlling the parliamentary agenda, hundreds of billions of public spending, hundreds of millions of comms spending, and the actual law.
November 22, 2025 at 7:15 PM
Labour has no such excuse.
And no ability to see (or take advantage of) the political power that comes from being in charge.
Like controlling the parliamentary agenda, hundreds of billions of public spending, hundreds of millions of comms spending, and the actual law.
And no ability to see (or take advantage of) the political power that comes from being in charge.
Like controlling the parliamentary agenda, hundreds of billions of public spending, hundreds of millions of comms spending, and the actual law.