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Ross Mudie

@rmudie96.bsky.social
669 followers 619 following 436 posts

Currently exploring England with @iconeighbours.bsky.social, former think tanker. Into political economy and social policy, ideas, and making things better. Views my own

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Ross Mudie @rmudie96.bsky.social · 13h
Perhaps slightly unfairly, too, i think AI raises the bar massively for new grads/junior researchers to be AI-native, which to be good requires you still understand in good detail theory around economics/social science/statistics/data science While *also* needing political nous etc. Very tough.
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Ross Mudie @rmudie96.bsky.social · 13h
Great work/piece. As AI makes quant research far quicker and easier, I agree it will i) massively raise the bar for think tank work, and ii) shift the emphasis towards developing more sophisticated arguments, political nous, and comms/vibes. chaitanyakumark.substack.com/p/what-are-t...
chaitanyakumark.substack.com
What are think tanks for anyway?
How AI is set to disrupt this niche sector and what does the future hold for it? Four experiments and their results.
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Ross Mudie @rmudie96.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
Great piece. Always read Chris. I am also concerned that the Conservative leadership has mistaken tax policy as economic strategy. Tax is important of course, both for setting the business environment and for public investment. But it is one of several factors, and certainly not *everything*
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David Higham @oldtrotter.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
The Tories are not ready for the battle of ideas, unless you count a reheated, fantasy version of Thatcherism as the answer to the problems of 2029 rather than 1979. And I would suggest that's quite a brave assumption given the situation in housing, transport and energy substack.com/@capx/note/p...
substack.com
Andrew Griffith: we’re ready for the battle of ideas
The Shadow Chancellor talks to Liam Halligan about stalled growth, the fiscal cliff edge and the coming battle of ideas
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Ross Mudie @rmudie96.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Such an interesting article. And what a shame this sense of duty among politicians to not talk down your country has been lost. worksinprogress.co/issue/the-se...
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Ross Mudie @rmudie96.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
What about this is clever? Genuine question, no shade intended. The Tories have held this attack line basically forever and Labour are still topping polls. Separately, several Tory governments have also struggled to materially reduce welfare spending, and current thinking seems only part developed
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Ross Mudie @rmudie96.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
✍️ On the weekend of Labour conference, Ive written for @politicshome.bsky.social on where the devolution agenda needs to go next so that it can satisfy Andy Burnham’s very own “Makerfield Test” www.politicshome.com/opinion/arti...
politicshome.com
Burnham must act to ensure devolution can pass the Makerfield Test
In the 19th century, Manchester earned the nickname Cottonopolis, such was its reputation as a global centre for the cotton and textiles industries...
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Ross Mudie @rmudie96.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
He is generally just one of the best media reporters out there. Every time you hear him speak he is so ridiculously clear-sounding and to the point.
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Ross Mudie @rmudie96.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
I've got a pretty big new report out today, trying to join the dots between the devolution agenda and the Prime Minister's dual ambitions of delivering 'good growth in every postcode' and greater power to communities. It is a bit of a mixed bag report and imo quite unconventional... Few things:
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Ross Mudie @rmudie96.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Full report can be found here: www.neighbourhoodscommission.org.uk/report/power...
neighbourhoodscommission.org.uk
Power to communities? Realising the potential of Devolution to serve the most disadvantaged places in England - Independent Commission on Neighbourhoods
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Ross Mudie @rmudie96.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
There are also ideas in there on fiscal devolution and developing new Good Growrh Funds Perhaps biggest of all -we need to expand political capacity within Number 10 North to drive this agenda forward, perhaps appointing a dedicated Chief Secretary of the Nations and Regions who attends Cabinet.
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Ross Mudie @rmudie96.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
For national government? We recommend devolving targeted employer NI/business rates relief powers, to support firms hiring from or investing in deprived neighbourhoods; establishing JobsPlus as a permanent national model of employment support; and further devolution of community transport powers.
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Ross Mudie @rmudie96.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
(My favourite idea I'd like to see taken up here is Mayors of the major authorities setting up their own Pride in Place Councils, with the Chair of each neighbourhood board having a seat!)
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Ross Mudie @rmudie96.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
We've taken all the good in there to create a new playbook for Strategic Authorities, taking many examples of the good already being delivered by Mayors. The report also has a load of principles for how we can reform SAs over the long term to make them more able to deliver for such palces.
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Ross Mudie @rmudie96.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
This holds up strongly. We ran a number of trade-off exercises with people, and found that time and time again they wanted to see more investment into poorer places even if, for example, that meant less £ distributed across a region.
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Ross Mudie @rmudie96.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
This is where the public want devolution to go. Our new polling finds majority support (52%) of devolution. They also want to see devolution prioritise deprived and deindustrialised places, and a majority of these residents expect devolution to deliver directly for their areas.
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Ross Mudie @rmudie96.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
There is often a disconnect between the direction of travel Strategic Authorities have set for their broader regional economies and what these places are expected to contribute to it. Ambitions for disadvantaged places need to shape decisions about regional investment and jobs more consistently.
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Ross Mudie @rmudie96.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
For the paper we analysed dozens of strategies published by Strategic Authorities across econoic growth, skills, and transport, finding plenty of great examples of them trying to make a difference to the most disadvantaged and marginalised places they represent. But...
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Ross Mudie @rmudie96.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
I've got a pretty big new report out today, trying to join the dots between the devolution agenda and the Prime Minister's dual ambitions of delivering 'good growth in every postcode' and greater power to communities. It is a bit of a mixed bag report and imo quite unconventional... Few things:
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Ross Mudie @rmudie96.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
And iiii) recreational cocaine use, which may be the biggest challenge of them all, which is quietly destroying many many people.
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Ross Mudie @rmudie96.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
I am not sure we have any actual answer to i) kids getting very into ketamine and benzos at a young age as is becoming a more regular thing seen in addiction services, ii) gambling addiction and particularly apps hosting sports betting and slots, and iii) screen time Very much a new frontier.
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Ross Mudie @rmudie96.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
It is astonishing that addiction is not a higher public policy priority, that so little work seems to be done on it, and no major party seems to have a view on what to do. It is one of the crises of our times and it is changing rapidly, and getting much worse. www.theguardian.com/society/2026...
theguardian.com
Children as young as 13 being referred to UK hospital suffering from ‘ketamine bladder’
County’s first such clinic, at Alder Hey in Liverpool, treating children suffering from chronic bladder problems with severe cases needing dialysis
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Ross Mudie @rmudie96.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Probably the best titled fringe event at Labour Party conference this year, I reckon.
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Ross Mudie @rmudie96.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
With a few exceptions (includes IfG, Think Labour), this list from A to E probably isnt just a mark of funding transparency but also quality (although most of the B's are A tier, imo)
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Ross Mudie @rmudie96.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
We may not have just come out of a war, but I do feel this quote is just as relevant at this point in the 21st century as it was here, in the 20th century.
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Ross Mudie @rmudie96.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
Was late to saying this, but I just do not understand how the website of The Sensibles is so blind ignorant to what’s actually going on. Having no curiosity to try to understand a very real issue because you see it as tech bro PR is extremely bad vibes and unserious bsky.app/profile/rmud...
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Ross Mudie @rmudie96.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
The OAI/Hugging Face incident in particular is one of the craziest things I have ever read. OAI developed a solution to a Millennium math problem in three days. There are currently 3 agent worker days per 1 human worker day at OAI. We are scaling this rapidly with more powerful agentic models…
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Ross Mudie @rmudie96.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
Bluesky AI discourse is beyond parody for a user base that prides itself on being Very Sensible Indeed. Anyone who thinks the calls for slow down from AI leaders yesterday are founded on nothing fundamentally does not understand, in any sense, the technology that is being built here.
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Ross Mudie @rmudie96.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
I'll be at Labour Party Conference, keen to chat to anyone interested in communities and neighbourhoods, industrial strategy and reindustrialisation, devolution, and housing/high streets Coffee, pints, if that is of interest to you then drop me a message🌹
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Ross Mudie @rmudie96.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Full proof, for any doubters.
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Ross Mudie @rmudie96.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Think we've finally hit peak LinkedIn. I have just seen someone use AI to redesign an Oasis album cover to be about local government reorganisation. Don't really see how we come back from this, or where we go next.
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Helen Barnard @helenbarnard.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Excellent LabourList article from @chriswebbmp.bsky.social "Conversations about bringing down the social security bill are starting in the wrong place – arguing about what can be cut instead of asking why so many people need support in the first place." labourlist.org/2026/09/labo...
labourlist.org
'We won’t cut the welfare bill by making people poorer – we need to tackle the causes of poverty' - LabourList
Conversations about bringing down the social security bill are starting in the wrong place – arguing about what…
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Ben Cooper @bencooper1995.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
"There is a new generation of slum landlords across the country who exploit people’s need for housing, just like their Victorian + post-war counterparts. Except this time, the state is funding them" Read my @labourlist.bsky.social column on tackling slum landlords labourlist.org/2026/09/ben-...
labourlist.org
Ben Cooper column: 'End the slum landlord subsidy' - LabourList
Andy Burnham has promised greater public control over the essentials. That must mean taking control of housing back from slum landlords.
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Ross Mudie @rmudie96.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Yes quite low for what is normally a very good magazine. Very very vibes based, but not even good vibes
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Ross Mudie @rmudie96.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
In the early austerity years my local council removed all of the benches from our local park because they said they were enabling anti social behaviour. A decade later and it is all overgrown and barely used. Feels like a metaphor for lots of things.
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Ross Mudie @rmudie96.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
A welcome corrective riancwhitton.substack.com/p/the-econom...
riancwhitton.substack.com
The Economist’s view on Reindustrialisation
Vague allusions to a manufacturing renaissance have given the venerable magazine a license for straw-manning
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Ross Mudie @rmudie96.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
The Tory Party desperately needs to improve its economic policy offer and that requires a new load of people not yet near the frontbench. It is not good enough to just say "taxes too high, state too big" and think that cuts it. The politics of 40 years ago is ill equipped for todays challenges.
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Ross Mudie @rmudie96.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
I find it hard to believe you find the morality of that an actual real issue, and instead you're just instinctively anti data centre. Sorry
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Ross Mudie @rmudie96.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
Populists consistently prioritising popularity (social media, polling) has led them to pursue a vibes-based politics over all else. That comes ahead of wanting to think through policy problems in the level of depth necessary to find the best outcomes for the country. I find it deeply immoral, TBH
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Ross Mudie @rmudie96.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
Data centres' impact on water security is hugely overblown and rooted in misinformation, fear, and hostility to technology, not evidence. National politicians have a moral obligation to engage with these issues in a serious way, and advocate positions that will improve the country. This isnt one.
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Ross Mudie @rmudie96.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
This would be a disaster. I suspect AI's impact on the labour market will eventually raise demand for creative education, too. The English Baccalaureate is being scrapped, but what a mistake that it excluded creative subjects. Arts and music enrollment collapsed. www.thetimes.com/culture/musi...
thetimes.com
Is A-Level music about to disappear from state schools?
If the new education secretary, Lucy Powell, doesn’t act, arts subjects will soon be the preserve of private school pupils alone
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Hetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
This is a lovely site which helps remind us of much of what we take for granted in material progress ordinaryabundance.com (HT @aveek18.bsky.social)
ordinaryabundance.com
Ordinary Abundance
A walk through a modern apartment, through the eyes of the people for whom everything in it was new.
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Ross Mudie @rmudie96.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
That there are so many charity shops on high streets is evidence that so much 'high streets policy' massively favours incumbent businesses over new ones. It is mad - we will not improve places by subsidising what is already there, and then not bothering to encourage new entrants to the market.
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Ross Mudie @rmudie96.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
It is impossible to sell a high street to young people when they yearn for hot honey and sushi rolls, if all of the cafes/third spaces there simply offer them Jacket Potato With Beans
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Ross Mudie @rmudie96.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
Definitely right. One thing I've observed is in poorer market towns the shops went and cafes arrived, which older generations complain about. But lots of those cafes are very basic/dated and sell quite plain food (mostly to older people!), so they dont interest younger people. Worst of both worlds
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Ross Mudie @rmudie96.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
On the topic of high streets, worth looking at this paper we commissioned from Popular, who went to 5 places with formerly run down high streets that are now thriving. The paper sets out how they did it, with *lots* of ideas for government! www.neighbourhoodscommission.org.uk/report/pride...
neighbourhoodscommission.org.uk
Pride in Parades II: Strategies for Renewing Neighbourhood Social Infrastructure - Independent Commission on Neighbourhoods
Are there examples of local shopping parades in deprived neighbourhoods that have declined, but come back to life? How did they do it?
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Ross Mudie @rmudie96.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
I think the same about 'Turkish' barbers. The ones in my town centre are mostly full of people, especially on weekends
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Ross Mudie @rmudie96.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
I am not against any of these measures and recognise people don't like high streets full of vape shops However, public policy seems to struggle responding to vapes being a legitimate product, with legitimate demand - which might lead you to very different solutions www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
Councils to get more powers to stop vape and betting shops, PM announces
Prime Minister Andy Burnham said town centres had been "hollowed out" by decades of decline.
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Ross Mudie @rmudie96.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
Nice moment being at home this weekend and going to my friends house seeing this - a Pride in Place leaflet with the postcode that we grew up in on the sign 🙌
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Ross Mudie @rmudie96.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
A great piece. I could only ever hope that lots of businesses, and their trade associations, who cry wolf about 'skills shortages' being what holds them back, could just look in the mirror from time to time www.ft.com/content/1c4a...
ft.com
To fix education, fix the economy first
Weak educational outcomes often owe more to economic performance than education policy
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