Tom Forth

CTO and co-Founder @TheDataCity. Did data @OpenInnovates and @imactivate. I block anons for even the slightest rudeness.

[Tom Forth @thomasforth]

@cooksimon @jburnmurdoch @FT @annastansbury The line has always been that it does have to be South East England because that's where the high productivity is and that's where the restrictions on planning permissions are supressing growth. So it would be a change in argument to extend that elsewhere.

[Tom Forth @thomasforth]

"To fix education, fix the economy first" > a fantastic piece by @jburnmurdoch. As a long-time dissenter in this field of economic growth and skills I add only some seasoning,... https://t.co/dW2I74hZGp via @FT

[Tom Forth @thomasforth]

@jburnmurdoch @FT @annastansbury "we just need to force through permission to build lots of homes and lots of offices and lots of labs and expand the airports and build the reservoirs and build the electricity cables in the South East of England" has been the plan for thirty years. We didn't. Why would we now?

[Tom Forth @thomasforth]

@jburnmurdoch @FT @annastansbury I don't think I can support the "don't abandon the skills, just create the economy that makes use of the skills" line. What is the plan to create that economy? Because I'm still hearing mostly skills or things I really don't think will work (energy and planning reform).

[Tom Forth @thomasforth]

It could be worse. https://t.co/3UySq2AjK7

[Leeds United @LUFC]

📸 | Our new crest #MOT #LUFC

6 months of research
10,000 people consulted
Ready for the next 100 years

Watch video ➡️ https://t.co/rIIdL2Yz9F

[Tom Forth @thomasforth]

My thoughts are with @northumbriana at this difficult time if the pictures I've just seen of the proposed "simplified crests" of NUFC are correct.

[Tom Forth @thomasforth]

An excellent piece this. A good reminder --- however awkward it may be --- that Scotland's economic overperformance of the rest of Britain since the late 1990s is overwhelmingly thanks to the success of just two cities and their economic city regions.

[Edinburgh Evening News @edinburghpaper]

Scotland’s route to growth runs through our two principal cities - Donald Anderson https://t.co/KEHoQ4Bdpq

[Tom Forth @thomasforth]

@atomicjoy @cooksimon @jburnmurdoch @FT @annastansbury Is it impossible to get permission to build anything? We're building loads in Leeds.

[Tom Forth @thomasforth]

@EdSacredProfane @jburnmurdoch @FT @annastansbury The time when skills was meant to pay off was in the longer term. Basically now. We should be basking right now in the economic afterglow of our great work on skills right now, and we aren't.

[Tom Forth @thomasforth]

@EdSacredProfane @jburnmurdoch @FT @annastansbury And again, I'm pretty sure I have my facts right. Growth was good under Blair, absolutely. But that probably wasn't because of skills because the skills were still being developed. The schools were getting better, graduate rate was increasing, but it hadn't happened yet.

[Tom Forth @thomasforth]

@cooksimon @jburnmurdoch @FT @annastansbury Yep, I don't see any evidence of that in the wages of construction workers data.

[Tom Forth @thomasforth]

@cooksimon @jburnmurdoch @FT @annastansbury "obviously skills hugely important" > to growth? Why do you think that? Doesn't the evidence from the UK really strongly push against that idea?

[Tom Forth @thomasforth]

@ElectionNight5 @jburnmurdoch @FT @annastansbury I'll be a disappointment to you then. I think where people live and work is important when considering their opinions and we have made a big error in downplaying it. One reason I don't use Bluesky is because it doesn't promote location as a top tier feature of its bios.

[Tom Forth @thomasforth]

@rcolvile I don't remember that passage from the Bible.