Richard Williams

Comms and policy pro. Former Cllr. Perfect dinner party guest: interested in politics, pensions, business, war and Christ… Usual disclaimers about RTs etc apply

[Richard Williams @RichardWillyums]

Feels like there would be a great piece for @AleemMaqbool to do for the BBC World Cup coverage about this which would work really well across global audiences

[The Kings Return @_TheKingsReturn]

One game. Two nations. One King. 👑✝️

#TheKingsReturn

[Richard Williams @RichardWillyums]

@SW_Help Usual post cricket chaos at Vauxhall Unless you fix the layout and barriers someone is going to get hurt - you can’t have crowds flowing into narrowing spaces, meeting other crowds head on and having to make tight turns This is pretty basic crowd safety stuff.

[Henry Winter @henrywinter]

England would not be here in Dallas today in this better shape and with this quality of player and mood without the vital work Gareth Southgate did in tackling a distressed team and dysfunctional system. He made the talent pool deeper. He made players and fans care about England again.

As FA’s head of elite development in 2011 and 2012, Southgate persuaded counties to have kids playing smaller-sided games, enhancing technique. He worked with academies on developing more technical players. He worked with the Under-21s (37 games), building a supply-line of talent.

On becoming England head coach, he worked on rebuilding the relationship between players and fans broken amidst the pain and anger of Nice at Euro 2016.
Southgate worked on England’s culture and restored some identity. He ended club cliques, improved relations with England club managers and their medical staff. He went into club boardrooms and rebuilt trust and support between owners, directors and England.

Southgate smoothed the pathway from Under-21s to seniors and made reporting for international duty something to look forward to again. A joy, not a chore. He brought focus and some fun, real togetherness with inflatable unicorns. He worked on penalties. Marginal gains and more.

He took England from 13th in the world to third. He took England to a World Cup semi-final and quarter-final and to back-to-back Euro finals (102 games, 61 wins, 24 draws, 17 defeats). He just couldn’t get England over the line whether through quality of opposition player and manager or tactical. Like many, I was critical of him at times, in crunch moments of games. But his impact is undeniable and should be respected and celebrated.

England continue to struggle against top-20 sides. France and Argentina yesterday showed the scale of the challenge for Thomas Tuichel and his team here at the World Cup. But England start their latest World Cup finals journey with more belief and quality because of Southgate’s work from 2011 to 2024.

Southgate will doubtless be watching his dear England from afar, wishing them well. He will doubtless take pride in players he knows well. And, although he is too self-effacing and team-minded to talk about it, let alone shout about it, Southgate should certainly take quiet pride in his own immense contribution to England becoming a respected force again. #ENG #FIFAWorldCup

[David Frum @davidfrum]

You'd think by this late date in history the Far Left would have figured out that opening the door to political violence is not a contest they will win.

[Wes Streeting @wesstreeting]

Case in point: the Prime Minister just said defence is "a number one priority".

Growth was meant to the number one priority, is it still?

There's not enough money for defence, but today the Government announced £4.5 BILLION for walking and cycling.

Make choices. Decide. Lead.

[Deborah Haynes @haynesdeborah]

Extraordinarily - and this seems to demonstrate a complete disregard of the seriousness of defence at the heart of government - John Healey was only told what the offer was for additional defence funding on Monday afternoon.

I am told Number 10 then tried to rush and publish the Defence Investment Plan on Thursday.

Then a handbrake was applied by Mr Healey and his military chiefs. The (now ex) defence secretary made clear that racing to release the blueprint without a settlement that had been accepted by him and his team would be a risk for defence and for its soldiers, sailors and aviators.

You can only imagine the tone of the exchange that must have taken place - and I know that people were in the MOD until very late last night.

But John Healey firmly believes the settlement was inadequate and, if left unchallenged, would not enable the UK to keep the country safe or meet its international commitments - such as help defend Ukraine in the event of a ceasefire with Russia.

A key detail is that Mr Healey believes defence spending must be increased to 3% of GDP by 2030, up from 2.3% now. This would guarantee tens of billions of additional pounds for defence.

But - despite the stakes and the position of the defence secretary - the Prime Minister and Chancellor agreed just to inch it up to 2.68% of GDP within that time frame, after hitting a new target of 2.6% next year (which is already being inflated by lumping in the 0.1% that is spent on the intelligence agencies).

Utterly incredible.

What must our allies and our adversaries be thinking, let alone everyone in the UK armed forces and, frankly, everyone in our country?

We all rely on a secure UK to live, work, go to school, enjoy holidays, access healthcare, spend time with friends and families.

This is not a divine right. It happens because we have security - something that might not be apparent until or unless it is compromised...

[Richard Williams @RichardWillyums]

@haynesdeborah When UK service personnel start dying because the Government failed to invest enough in the DIP the disclosures in any Smith & Others type case are going to be absolutely damning…

[Richard Williams @RichardWillyums]

@TheFCA Are you investigating under Section 25 of the FSMA yet?

[Richard Williams @RichardWillyums]

Loads of reporting direct to them and acres of media coverage and still zero action by @x on these crypto/investment scams - given they’re taking a fee to promote them it must now be getting into criminal complicity? @TheFCA

[Helen Lewis @helenlewis]

Turns out Chesterton's Fence was keeping out the screwworms.

[Richard Williams @RichardWillyums]

@LondonWaterloo Not sure having a small robot floor cleaner cleaning at the bottom of a busy flight of stairs during the rush house is a great idea

[Richard Williams @RichardWillyums]

Rail renationalisation only works if things get better (and not just shiny new paint jobs) - experience so far is that @SW_Help customer experience has got worse Does need attention and a plan @Heidi_Labour @transportgovuk @RyanDenston

[Richard Williams @RichardWillyums]

@Ofcom continuing to be as much use as a chocolate teapot on either preventing or policing @x happily taking money to allow scam adverts to be promoted at will

[Richard Williams @RichardWillyums]

@TfL Understood on current position but given line is not listed here assumed trains are expected to be running later? https://t.co/3tVh27TRVR

[Richard Williams @RichardWillyums]

@tfl Your strike information page still doesn’t list the Waterloo & City line as one of the lines expected to be closed today. Could you confirm whether it will be running?

[Richard Williams @RichardWillyums]

@TfL Thanks for letting me know - really disappointing though that I planned my week around the information TfL still has live here https://t.co/3tVh27TRVR which is wrong on line closures

[Richard Williams @RichardWillyums]

@TfL In your pre-strike advice the Waterloo & Line isn’t listed as going to be closed today but it is - will it open later today or is it closed all day What about Thursday?

[Andrew Kersley @AndrewKersley]

In November 2023, police found the decayed corpse of Tracey Turnell in Walthamstow Market.

She had no phone, job, passport, friends or lovers. There wasn’t a single photo of her.

I pieced together who she was and who was responsible for @_TheLondoner

https://t.co/Jxv5fnW0u3

[Luke Tryl @LukeTryl]

Restore Britain is a good eg of the Netflixification of British politics, where social media has reduced the barriers to entry so much you can now find and vote for a political party that is most entirely attuned to your preferences without needing to swallow bits you don’t like.

Why Netflixification? In the past with TV you’d have to watch one of four or five channels with content tailored to the median viewer. Some were habitual channel hoppers but for most you’d like some of it not all of it and switch between them if you were really unhappy.

Netflix, Disney, Prime change all of that, rather than watching median content you can watch exactly what you want when you want, no compromises needed.

So too with political parties. In the past most would stick with the big 3 or 4. Some people were habitual swing voters, most stuck with parties even if they didn’t like everything they advocated. It was best fit rather than perfect match.

Social media changes that, it reduces barriers to entry for new parties and enables more choice. Increasingly we find can vote for parties that directly fit our world view because of the platform
They are given to reach people directly as Lowe has shown.

Reform was a product of that opening, but what’s striking is Restore shows it’s not the end point. For some Reform involves too much compromise and so they are able to go for a more “full fat version” and so rather than the 7 party system in Britain being the new end point it could just be the start (an extreme end point is a form of direct democracy where parties are perfectly attuned to individual voter preferences).

Obviously there are still factors which pull against the personalisation of politics, greater fragmentation also incentivises more tactical voting which squeezes that individual choice.

Nor is social media the sole reason for fragmentation, the failure of the main parties to deliver post 2008 and the broken social contract are clearly the biggest drivers of the turn away from traditional mainstream, but social media enables it more.

In fact the internet/social media have enabled (for good or ill) more personalisation in every other area of life, politics was a bit slower getting there.

[George Eaton @georgeeaton]

We shouldn’t get trapped in a false choice between higher growth and lower inequality. Many western states are richer *and* more equal than the UK.

The task, as ever, is to combine a dynamic economy and a good society.