David (Doomster and Naysayer) Higham @oldtrotter Twitter profile

Pinned Tweet

David (Doomster and Naysayer) Higham

@oldtrotter

1 year

If you’re interested in my views on regional policy, here’s a blog I did for @ukcivilservant

How To Improve Regional Policy In England: Ten Lessons from 20 Years

This blog has been moved to Substack, here. This page will be deleted in or after June 2024.

ukcivilservant.wordpress.com

8

19

86

Last Seen Profiles

@M_altmimi96

@ginzasumire

@pastoreconner

@Huzaifaazimbutt

@TheRhetorRick

@jan1ahszn

@rxyvB7UZlZQY2IW

@mtz_football

@uraakanourako

@DravenNoctis

@nwffest

@Wana____

@stylenat_

@mwhiting12

@ChicOp__

@fwoggymilk4

@StrAightMARVIN

@AgusSuar4

@historyscientis

@stewartiddon

@EbonyConna38381

@Anam18975654076

@PWUFSD

@mamayulli

@dul_turkporno

@zhanghaosky

@ilyaerkan

@literalmexico

@UpSocialBCN

@dog_erc

@dotdump

@itsbadmercy

@JuanSGalt

@kevinjpapa

@ray9610shin

@rap_aeong

David (Doomster and Naysayer) Higham

@oldtrotter

7 months

Letter of the week (from the Guardian)

48

2K

11K

David (Doomster and Naysayer) Higham

@oldtrotter

1 year

Letter in this week's New Statesman.

50

2K

7K

David (Doomster and Naysayer) Higham

@oldtrotter

1 year

Some personal news. My long delayed heart surgery is scheduled for tomorrow so I will be off this site for a little while.

1K

175

4K

David (Doomster and Naysayer) Higham

@oldtrotter

2 years

A reminder that however bad your day, it’s unlikely to be as bad as Colonel Ponsonby’s.

122

712

4K

David (Doomster and Naysayer) Higham

@oldtrotter

2 years

Quite an opening paragraph from ⁦ @andrewrawnsley ⁩

18

724

2K

David (Doomster and Naysayer) Higham

@oldtrotter

3 years

Your regular reminder that the fuel crisis in 2000 led Blair and Brown to construct an extensive resilience network which the Coalition - and specifically Eric Pickles - dismantled on ideological grounds.

20

593

2K

David (Doomster and Naysayer) Higham

@oldtrotter

4 years

@davidallengreen Not sure who was responsible for this cartoon but it’s depressingly accurate

17

492

1K

David (Doomster and Naysayer) Higham

@oldtrotter

3 years

A perfect example of the economy of expression that characterises the topic the civil service. I only wish that I could write like this.

15

225

836

David (Doomster and Naysayer) Higham

@oldtrotter

2 years

Let’s not forget what the Levelling Up Agenda has delivered so far.

50

138

809

David (Doomster and Naysayer) Higham

@oldtrotter

8 months

Cheered me up no end

10

93

792

David (Doomster and Naysayer) Higham

@oldtrotter

4 months

Quite the exchange here

20

159

767

David (Doomster and Naysayer) Higham

@oldtrotter

3 months

Seems an appropriate time to repost this letter to the New Statesman from a year ago. The centre of British politics moves ever rightward.

9

239

616

David (Doomster and Naysayer) Higham

@oldtrotter

2 years

Quite the paragraph from ⁦ @rafaelbehr ⁩ Think it might answer that question you asked ⁦ @drjennings ⁩

14

237

560

David (Doomster and Naysayer) Higham

@oldtrotter

3 years

That is quite some opening paragraph.

Naomi Rovnick 歐蜜

@naomi_rovnick

3 years

Excellent this by @TorstenBell

9

269

822

4

176

529

David (Doomster and Naysayer) Higham

@oldtrotter

1 year

"Furious activity is no substitute for understanding". Ten lessons from 20 years working on regional development as a civil servant based initially in Whitehall and latterly in the NW of England. Long thread.

15

125

531

David (Doomster and Naysayer) Higham

@oldtrotter

10 months

I assume she means Lord of The Flies 🤔

92

38

522

David (Doomster and Naysayer) Higham

@oldtrotter

1 year

Call me old fashioned but I expect senior ministers to be capable of carrying out policies without getting “carried away”.

Kwasi Kwarteng says he got carried away as chancellor

Kwasi Kwarteng says Liz Truss’s short-lived government was “too impatient” with its economic plans.

www.bbc.co.uk

28

106

491

David (Doomster and Naysayer) Higham

@oldtrotter

10 months

What is the Western canon of music and drama?

431

50

455

David (Doomster and Naysayer) Higham

@oldtrotter

2 years

That’s quite the interview with Peter Hennessy in the FT. Britain is suffering from the economic malaise of the late 1970s and the political malaise of the mid 1990s, with a political class limited in outlook. He’s also a *bit* angry

12

106

433

David (Doomster and Naysayer) Higham

@oldtrotter

4 years

@MikeHolden42 @bbclaurak And didnt one of his aides tell a reporter to "**** off" on live TV? Surely that's as much of a story as one of Hancock's aides not been assaulted 🤔

3

45

427

David (Doomster and Naysayer) Higham

@oldtrotter

2 years

From four years ago. Nothing has changed. Levelling Up 🤔

5

92

424

David (Doomster and Naysayer) Higham

@oldtrotter

10 months

This is from the PM's official account. Extraordinary.

Rishi Sunak

@RishiSunak

10 months

This is what we’re up against. The Labour Party, a subset of lawyers, criminal gangs - they're all on the same side, propping up a system of exploitation that profits from getting people to the UK illegally. I have a plan to stop it. Here’s how 🧵

15K

2K

9K

21

68

396

David (Doomster and Naysayer) Higham

@oldtrotter

2 years

@Mr_John_Oxley @Frances_Coppola And national service was only abolished in 1960 and theatre censorship ended in 1968 but why let facts get in the way?

1

21

386

David (Doomster and Naysayer) Higham

@oldtrotter

2 years

From today’s FT.

17

74

383

David (Doomster and Naysayer) Higham

@oldtrotter

2 years

@Otto_English I think the Right need to decide whether being sent to Rwanda is a punishment or a reward.

14

25

360

David (Doomster and Naysayer) Higham

@oldtrotter

1 year

The conclusion from today’s piece by Martin Wolf.

13

151

374

David (Doomster and Naysayer) Higham

@oldtrotter

2 years

Are the Tories really going to go down this route?

Dave Roberts ♿️🔸

@disableddad48

2 years

So here is Mp Richard Bacon saying @BBCLookEast have failed to investigate 1.5 million @NHSuk staff to find out if they let there hair down during Covid Lockdowns. @theRCN @unisontheunion

382

325

412

59

96

347

David (Doomster and Naysayer) Higham

@oldtrotter

2 years

Still makes me smile

10

93

349

David (Doomster and Naysayer) Higham

@oldtrotter

2 years

@alexhallhall Keep ranting. About time people held Johnson and Frost accountable for their actions.

3

28

338

David (Doomster and Naysayer) Higham

@oldtrotter

3 years

You get a superior class of trolling in the FT.

5

74

321

David (Doomster and Naysayer) Higham

@oldtrotter

3 years

This is quite an opening paragraph.

18

144

325

David (Doomster and Naysayer) Higham

@oldtrotter

10 months

What Twitter is for.

1

57

318

David (Doomster and Naysayer) Higham

@oldtrotter

5 years

@mikegalsworthy @BBCr4today Yet another illustration of Asimov’s warning about the dangers of anti-intellectualism “my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge” The BBC should not be encouraging this trend.

5

54

308

David (Doomster and Naysayer) Higham

@oldtrotter

3 years

That is quite some charge sheet from ⁦ @soniasodha ⁩

9

118

308

David (Doomster and Naysayer) Higham

@oldtrotter

2 years

@Sime0nStylites @katie_martin_fx Wouldn’t it exclude Liz Truss who has been extremely critical of government policy🤔

3

18

299

David (Doomster and Naysayer) Higham

@oldtrotter

9 months

Good morning from @rafaelbehr

15

146

309

David (Doomster and Naysayer) Higham

@oldtrotter

10 months

@Bob__Hudson They don’t like lots of people being educated? The idea that you only educate people to the level needed to do a job has been a theme in RW thinking since at least Victorian times.

3

29

303

David (Doomster and Naysayer) Higham

@oldtrotter

2 years

All those Tory Party members and MPs who dislike wind and solar farms because they're unsightly are going to have a shock when they discover what's involved in fracking.

11

64

284

David (Doomster and Naysayer) Higham

@oldtrotter

2 years

In Cheshire they use actual potholes. Saves money all round.

Brian Roemmele

@BrianRoemmele

2 years

Some areas in Canada have used 3D images of Potholes to slow down traffic in some areas. They are extremely effective. Have a lowered average speed than Speed-bumps.

32

56

277

8

23

281

David (Doomster and Naysayer) Higham

@oldtrotter

2 years

Tell me you've never ridden a bike without telling me you've never ridden a bike. Cyclists can "easily" exceed 20 mph. Let's put Shapps on a bike on a level road and see how he gets on.

49

32

279

David (Doomster and Naysayer) Higham

@oldtrotter

2 years

Quite the opening paragraph in this piece. Extraordinary (at least to me) that anyone thought that EU membership was a threat to British identity. Those debates had been had in the 1950s and 1960s

12

111

270

David (Doomster and Naysayer) Higham

@oldtrotter

3 years

Private Eye continues to do more to hold the Government to account than most of the media.

5

78

265

David (Doomster and Naysayer) Higham

@oldtrotter

4 years

I’ve worked for many ministers. Can’t recall many that liked long briefings and can think of one or two who would have thought even one side of A4 was far too long. Conveying complex arguments concisely is a key skill of the civil service which it has become fashionable to deride

Times Politics

@timespolitics

4 years

Boris Johnson’s aides have been ordered to send him shorter memos, limiting papers to just two sides of A4. Civil servants have also been told to cut the number of documents put into the prime minister’s red box to “make sure that he reads them”

609

1K

2K

22

45

244

David (Doomster and Naysayer) Higham

@oldtrotter

1 year

I think it’s fair to say that Martin Wolf isn’t impressed by the Tories’ record in office.

3

119

236

David (Doomster and Naysayer) Higham

@oldtrotter

3 years

So let me get this right, Brexit has reduced the attractiveness of the U.K. for international investment so we’ve launched a new fund to attract it and we’re going to claim that’s a benefit of Brexit 🤔

Rishi Sunak to launch £1.4bn fund to attract more overseas investment

Money earmarked by chancellor in budget will have particular focus on electric vehicles and life sciences

www.theguardian.com

10

81

224

David (Doomster and Naysayer) Higham

@oldtrotter

2 years

Raab “scientists make assumptions, we rely on hard facts” #R4 Ministers have clearly learnt nothing during the pandemic.

26

34

227

David (Doomster and Naysayer) Higham

@oldtrotter

3 months

The weakness of Starmer’s current election strategy summarised (Martin Wolf in the FT)

12

90

222

David (Doomster and Naysayer) Higham

@oldtrotter

3 years

Yet more #winning #BrexitReality We have made it as hard to sell to the EU as to the rest of the world and sold it as a move towards free trade. Extraordinary.

Cheshire Cheese Co

@1CheshireCheese

3 years

We are sorry to say that we have been forced to immediately abandon all direct deliveries from our website to Canada. This was meant to be an emerging market to replace the loss of the EU but is equally impossible for us to access due to high cost of delivery & customs duty🇨🇦👋😥

193

3K

5K

4

115

213

David (Doomster and Naysayer) Higham

@oldtrotter

2 years

From a few years ago but still makes me simile.

0

45

211

David (Doomster and Naysayer) Higham

@oldtrotter

2 years

And that’s a criticism 🤔

15

41

206

David (Doomster and Naysayer) Higham

@oldtrotter

9 months

How about just attempting to run the country, like an actual government?

16

49

209

David (Doomster and Naysayer) Higham

@oldtrotter

3 years

The conclusion of the latest blog from @davidallengreen illustrates the extent to which this Government’s priorities continue to be distorted by Brexit and the need to show that it was necessary.

1

73

196

David (Doomster and Naysayer) Higham

@oldtrotter

3 years

@patricksturg @drjennings @thesundaytimes Shouldn’t the headline read “most privileged” rather than “brightest”?

4

3

199

David (Doomster and Naysayer) Higham

@oldtrotter

4 years

@ThomasBridge3 @tompeck Both World Wars were followed by major social change. This pandemic will be no different. There will be a renewed focus on inequality the like of which we haven't seen for over 70 years.

8

16

188

David (Doomster and Naysayer) Higham

@oldtrotter

6 months

Given 🚌 are back in the news following the excellent piece by @JenWilliams_FT , and this striking graph, a 🧵 on how we got here.

11

87

192

David (Doomster and Naysayer) Higham

@oldtrotter

2 years

Anthony Seldon on how Johnson is approaching his last few weeks in office. It’s not odd at all. Sometimes the simplest explanations are the best. He only ever cared about the trappings of being PM rather than the hard work of governing.

13

46

188

David (Doomster and Naysayer) Higham

@oldtrotter

2 years

There’s a much stronger case for tax reform to boost growth than there is for tax cuts. If Truss doesn’t mind being unpopular then reforming the taxation of property would be the place to start.

Jill Rutter

@jillongovt

2 years

Agree with @TorstenBell - there are lots of useful tax reforms Ministers have shied away from as unpopular. If you are willing to be unpopular, do some seriously useful tax reform. sorting property tax would be a great start.

2

34

108

11

42

187

David (Doomster and Naysayer) Higham

@oldtrotter

8 months

Being impartial means not letting your personal views influence your professional judgement (as Simon McDonald explains and which Kuenssberg knows). Looks like we’re in for another round of the “enemy within” coinciding with Sue Gray taking up her post with Starmer.

Laura Kuenssberg

@bbclaurak

8 months

Civil servants are meant to be totally impartial … but here’s what the former foreign office chief did in the aftermath of the EU vote

2K

388

1K

10

37

183

David (Doomster and Naysayer) Higham

@oldtrotter

2 years

Sam Brittan giving remarkably prescient evidence on the limitations of a simple inflation target to the Lords Committee on Economic Affairs back in 2004

23

48

182

David (Doomster and Naysayer) Higham

@oldtrotter

2 years

One thing that I didn’t have on my Bingo Card was Nick Timothy morphing into Tony Benn @StuartWilksHeeg

35

49

180

David (Doomster and Naysayer) Higham

@oldtrotter

2 years

Excellent piece pointing out that Truss needs to relearn what Macmillan learned all those years ago: that Britain’s strength lies in being part of Europe. She needs to stop treating the EU as the enemy.

Philip Stephens

@philipstephens

2 years

"Truss may refuse to claim France Emmanuel Macron as a valuable ally. Biden has no such hesitation." The prime minister is heading for talks in NY with the US president. My take in latest Inside-Out

2

39

134

10

44

175

David (Doomster and Naysayer) Higham

@oldtrotter

3 years

@sarahoconnor_ At least we know now why "Government sources" thought Southgate's letter was suspiciously well written.

1

7

169

David (Doomster and Naysayer) Higham

@oldtrotter

3 years

@RobDotHutton @TheCriticMag This cartoon still rings true

1

37

167

David (Doomster and Naysayer) Higham

@oldtrotter

3 years

Is ⁦ @stephenkb ⁩ an Arsenal fan by any chance?

7

166

David (Doomster and Naysayer) Higham

@oldtrotter

3 years

Alok Sharma on tackling climate change. “It’s not the Government’s job to tell people how to behave” Err, it is. That’s why they make laws, impose regulations and levy taxes.

7

31

164

David (Doomster and Naysayer) Higham

@oldtrotter

3 years

If you're in the Home Office and being relocated to Stoke this is a sample of the grimness that awaits you.

11

24

163

David (Doomster and Naysayer) Higham

@oldtrotter

3 years

On Times Radio just now “David Cameron didn’t want his legacy to be defined by Brexit” 😂😂😂😂😂

25

161

David (Doomster and Naysayer) Higham

@oldtrotter

2 years

There you have it.

15

71

158

David (Doomster and Naysayer) Higham

@oldtrotter

2 years

And after all that he died suddenly “at an inn near Basingstoke”

14

9

157

David (Doomster and Naysayer) Higham

@oldtrotter

1 year

“The Party told you to reject the evidence of your own eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command”

Politics Hub with Sophy Ridge

@SkyPoliticsHub

1 year

"It's not fair to say this is an adverse effect of Brexit." Home Secretary @SuellaBraverman says leaving the EU is not to blame for queues at Dover despite warnings from the port's chief executive. #Ridge 📺 Sky 501, Freeview 233 and YouTube

750

327

1K

6

45

158

David (Doomster and Naysayer) Higham

@oldtrotter

2 years

"Naive to expect anything but a start tomorrow " The Conservatives have been in power for 12 years.

Robert Peston

@Peston

2 years

So much to do to fix the NHS and it would be naive to expect anything but a start tomorrow from the new health secretary Therese Coffey. My understanding is there will be help to speed up transfer of elderly patients into social care, to free up desperately needed hospital...

331

82

355

4

34

156

David (Doomster and Naysayer) Higham

@oldtrotter

1 year

So the BBC reporting that Sunak’s favourite author is Jilly Cooper and Seldon saying this will have been dreamt up by his PR team to make him more relatable. Not sure which is worse.

24

38

152

David (Doomster and Naysayer) Higham

@oldtrotter

4 years

Just two paragraphs from the latest zinger of a blogpost from @chrisgreybrexit We are in truly alarming times given the challenges of Covid, Brexit and climate change.

7

76

153

David (Doomster and Naysayer) Higham

@oldtrotter

2 years

So let me get this right. Truss wants to abandon the planned increase in NI, put all the money it would have raised into social care (which is what Johnson originally promised) and fund the resulting shortfall in the NHS from general taxation, which she’s proposing to cut.

15

55

148

David (Doomster and Naysayer) Higham

@oldtrotter

2 months

Football supporters added to the “deep state”.

Tim Shipman

@ShippersUnbound

2 months

The Liverpool end at Wembley strikes up a chant of "fuck the Tories" and the Chelsea end fights back with a chant of, er, "fuck the Tories". Look away now prime minister

302

2K

12K

5

32

147

David (Doomster and Naysayer) Higham

@oldtrotter

2 years

Narrator: this won’t boost the economy.

8

28

141

David (Doomster and Naysayer) Higham

@oldtrotter

3 years

Flying to Cornwall to urge the world to tackle climate change 🤔

Boris Johnson

@BorisJohnson

3 years

I’ve arrived in Cornwall for this year’s @G7 where I’ll be asking my fellow leaders to rise to the challenge of beating the pandemic and building back better, fairer and greener. It will be a busy and important Summit, and I can’t wait to get started. #G7UK

11K

1K

10K

15

38

145

David (Doomster and Naysayer) Higham

@oldtrotter

2 years

That’s a pretty revealing comment about grammar schools.

7

25

140

David (Doomster and Naysayer) Higham

@oldtrotter

11 months

Policy since 2010 has been to save the cost of the civil service estate by providing fewer desks than people. The Coalition even had a major upgrade to the IT system to allow more remote working.

10

32

142

David (Doomster and Naysayer) Higham

@oldtrotter

4 years

The Telegraph setting a really high bar for a successive lockdown.

14

29

135

David (Doomster and Naysayer) Higham

@oldtrotter

2 years

So basically what local government used to do before a decade of austerity stripped services back to their statutory core. Well done Eric (now Lord) Pickles.

7

44

141

David (Doomster and Naysayer) Higham

@oldtrotter

4 years

Best thing that I’ve read on the data.

3

76

134

David (Doomster and Naysayer) Higham

@oldtrotter

5 years

@MrDanDonoghue Perhaps it's a cry for help 😂

1

36

127

David (Doomster and Naysayer) Higham

@oldtrotter

2 years

“London, Wales and a few university towns”. What a patronising ***.

Best for Britain

@BestForBritain

2 years

LOVE this line of defence: "The voters wanted to give the gov't a kicking. They've done that. Now they'll move on." 🤣 Moylan then calls Labour "the party of Mayfair". That's Mayfair, represented by Tories until quite literally 10 hours ago, for *checks notes* 58 years. ~AA

95

301

1K

5

19

132

David (Doomster and Naysayer) Higham

@oldtrotter

2 years

There’s journalism and then there’s this. Andrew Neil in today’s Mail.

23

14

126

David (Doomster and Naysayer) Higham

@oldtrotter

3 years

If you’ve ever climbed Winnats 😂

8

9

125

David (Doomster and Naysayer) Higham

@oldtrotter

4 years

Still mystified as to what has changed in the way we manage R to justify this. We don’t yet have a system of test, trace, isolate nor do we have a working app or a reliable antibody test. Ease lockdown = more cases. Anyone know?

Coronavirus lockdown roadmap: PM says some measures may be eased from Monday

Boris Johnson thinks it will be "a good thing if people had an idea of what's coming" the day after his announcement on Sunday.

news.sky.com

23

53

122

David (Doomster and Naysayer) Higham

@oldtrotter

2 years

Satire is truly dead. "Vested interests dressed up as think tanks"

Lewis Goodall

@lewis_goodall

2 years

Truss: “I will not allow the anti-growth coalition to hold us back. Labour, Lib Dems, the SNP…vested interests dressed up as think tanks…some of the people we had in the hall earlier.”

30

11

46

5

28

123

David (Doomster and Naysayer) Higham

@oldtrotter

11 months

Back home now. Just had the most delicious cheese omelette I've ever tasted, two cups of coffee and now sat in the dying embers of the sun in the garden. Thanks for all your messages of support. They really did help. And the NHS is wonderful.

16

7

125

David (Doomster and Naysayer) Higham

@oldtrotter

1 year

Well said by Francis Maude. Another phrase I never expected to have on my bingo card.

3

31

124

David (Doomster and Naysayer) Higham

@oldtrotter

2 years

Michael Howard “this isn’t as bad a humiliation as Suez”. Now that’s a line that didn’t feature on my bingo card.

3

21

119

David (Doomster and Naysayer) Higham

@oldtrotter

1 year

Tim Harford’s comments on the gap between Sunak’s rhetoric and the reality of policy applies across a whole range of policies.

6

55

119

David (Doomster and Naysayer) Higham

@oldtrotter

5 years

@nickchamberlin2 @willfoth In a field near Burnley .......

6

50

118

David (Doomster and Naysayer) Higham

@oldtrotter

4 months

Wine by the pint? Amateurs

1

27

120

David (Doomster and Naysayer) Higham

@oldtrotter

10 months

Saving the canal system for leisure use was one of Barbara Castle’s greatest achievements as Transport Secretary. Depressingly predictable that this most destructive of Governments should wish to sweep away that legacy.

@andybrockman.bsky.social 🦋

@pipelinenews

10 months

Environment Secretary Therese Coffey announces Canal and Rivers Trust is to lose as much as £300m, around half of its funding, and is told to move to new funding models. Trust warns the move could lead to less maintenance and even canal closures.

5

42

27

3

71

120

David (Doomster and Naysayer) Higham

@oldtrotter

6 months

No you weren’t, he didn’t and you can’t. Apart from that, spot on.

Conservatives

@Conservatives

6 months

We were told it wasn’t possible to halve inflation. But @RishiSunak did it. Now we can cut taxes. Conservatives will always ensure hard work pays.

5K

213

760

5

33

120

David (Doomster and Naysayer) Higham

@oldtrotter

4 months

When did the British people say they wanted to undermine British universities? What a sad and mean spirited thing to boast about.

Rishi Sunak

@RishiSunak

4 months

From today, the majority of foreign university students cannot bring family members to the UK. In 2024, we’re already delivering for the British people.

12K

2K

7K

6

28

116

David (Doomster and Naysayer) Higham

@oldtrotter

1 year

Stop reinventing the wheel. There is an endless churn of both policies and institutions.

5

16

117

David (Doomster and Naysayer) Higham

@oldtrotter

2 years

@Frances_Coppola @JXB101 Macmillan’s application to join the EEC wasn’t all - or even primarily - about economics. The idea of Global Britain was dead in the 1950s, never mind now.

1

16

113

David (Doomster and Naysayer) Higham

@oldtrotter

11 months

Since it’s Waterloo Day, time to remember how Colonel Ponsonby spent the day.

4

26

114