Hi Sky Sports Tennis - do you really think most tennis fans want to watch Norrie v Ruud rather than Rafa?

Here is our explainer on how the SNP and Scottish Parliament selected Humza Yousaf to replace Nicola Sturgeon last year (by Duncan Henderson & me) instituteforgovernment.org.uk/explainer/snp-…

We will be updating this asap! Didn't expect another leadership contest quite so soon but there you go.

My book is called 'Why Politicians a Lie About Trade', so 2,229 of you have the opportunity to do the funniest thing...

👀

My rant against the dodgy government presentation of its defence numbers. we should not have to rely on Ben Chu Ben Zaranko to decode the figures for us. Come on HM Treasury - get a grip.

📢Application deadline for our next round of Institute for Government research internships is next week! We recently spoke to current interns Finn Baker, Callum Parris, Sameer Aiyar-Majeed, Jeremy Pattison, Darwin Kim, Briony Allen and Anna Whitehead about their experiences - highlights below⬇️

SV, ID, Houchen, Street, Hall....?. and Reform in Blackpool South - your chance for a top advance briefing to impress your friends on 3 May.

🎧 The rules of Rishi’s flight club

Loads to discuss as guest Zoë Grünewald joins the Institute for Government pod team

- Will Sunak’s Rwanda plan work?
- May 2 elections preview
- Regulator scrutiny

With Hannah White Jill Rutter Matthew Gill Akash Paun

podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/ins…

Three years after Brexit and Tim Doggett, boss of Chemical Business Association Chemical Business Association warns progress on UK REACH is “frustrating and painfully slow” — that’s the voice of the actual SME supply chain speaking. 🤯😖😡

As Polly Mackenzie said on Tuesday's How to Win an Election pod:

'Keir Starmer or any incoming PM needs to think deeply about how they'll set standards & a culture of behaviour for their parliamentarians'

Find out how at this Institute for Government event👇

instituteforgovernment.org.uk/event/general-…

Standards in government and parliament are in the news again - as luck would have it, we've got an event at lunchtime today to discuss just that! instituteforgovernment.org.uk/event/general-…

Important by Alan Beattie The implics of EU stipulations on emissions, deforestation etc on low and middle income countries, have not been properly thought through. Which of course is another old EU tradition. ft.com/content/d67665…

I know everyone's moved onto defence spending, but I've been thinking a lot about Sunak's announcement on disability benefits, work and the war on 'sick note culture', through the lens of my own experience with an energy-limiting disability.

🍻 We are buzzing for Anand Menon to interview Sir John Curtice tonight...

🎟️ This event is SOLD OUT and oversubscribed so make sure you get there early to guarantee a seat.

👉 And if you weren't lucky enough to get a ticket you can follow online: youtube.com/live/W4C4fAZMJ…

Jill Rutter I agree. It also reflects a wider malaise in official government comms, which is increasingly captured by dubious political presentation of data, evidence, and analysis. Officials seem to no longer know where to draw the line or even if there should be a line.

Ben is 100% right.
Numbers used in describing increase in defence spending are impenetrable, misleading & internally inconsistent.
Committing to 2.5% of GDP on defence is big and important. There is no need for this profusion of overblown and inconsistent numerical claims.

1/ Another addition to the list of 'things the UK does worse than peer countries for foolish political reasons': VAT.

My latest is on why the UK should be putting VAT on pretty much everything, and how VAT exclusions distort the economy and politics.

economist.com/britain/2024/0…

one for Dr Joelle Grogan Catherine Barnard