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Originally published in the Municipal Journal – 05/07/2024 In ‘Beyond Good and Evil: prelude to a philosophy for the future’, Friedrich Nietzsche observed that if you stared long enough into the abyss, then the abyss, eventually, would also eventually stare into you. The woefully conceived and managed Conservative campaign has over the past six weeks […]
Originally published in LocalGov – 24/06/24 There’s a whole policy world of difference between what the next government should do and what it most probably will do to drive the devolutionary road in the next parliament. Let’s assume that the desired end goal of devolution is simultaneously to achieve two goals – to both advance […]
Originally Published by the Local Government Chronicle – 10/06/2024 The opening salvoes of the general election have been as predictably dismal and dispiriting as one can imagine, as we reach the midway mark of what has turned out to be a rather low, dishonest decade. With the masking of very imminent choices over increasing tax […]
Originally published in the Local Government Chronicle – 14/05/2024 Whatever you call it, ‘levelling up’ depends on solving the housing crisis – a feat that can’t happen without subregional planning, argues Localis head of research, Joe Fyans. Last Thursday’s local elections spelled the beginning of the end of the current political cycle and, it seems extremely […]
Originally Published by the MJ – 07/05/2024 Jonathan Werran sets out what is needed during the next political cycle if regeneration is to be successful, including a return to regional spatial planning. The results of the recent local elections are counted. All that remains is for the date of the next General Election to be […]
Originally published by the MJ – 07/05/2024 The election results should give greater purchase for pushing through Rachel Reeves’ take on industrial strategy and addressing the continued national productivity failure, says Jonathan Werran. If, according to President Lyndon Baines Johnson, when he was master of the U.S. Senate, the first rule of politics is to […]
Originally Published in the MJ – 03/05/24 Jonathan Werran picks out the highlights from the local and mayoral poll results so far, and he argues the case for a more stable set of electoral cycles. The first rule in commenting on local elections is to declare that they should not be treated as ‘glorified national […]
Originally Published in the MJ – 30/04/2024 Forty years for the passing of the Rates Act 1984, how relevant are the provisions designed to give central government control over the governance of local taxation and expenditure, asks Jonathan Werran Among the many anniversaries we are celebrating this year, the fortieth year of the passing of […]
Originally published in Public Finance Magazine – 24/04/24 The best way to break the cycle of dependency issues and poor health outcomes isn’t more money for treatment programmes – though it’s badly needed. The starting point is creating an environment in which people thrive from the outset. Homes, schools, the local environment – or place, […]
Originally published in LocalGov – 10/04/24 The trite received wisdom that ‘all politics is local’ is a self-evident truth that in England is observed almost wholly in the breech position. For what passes for the ‘local’ in our local elections perennially fights against the Death Star like tractor-beam pull of our political media elite’s obsessive […]