England’s over-centralisation – Part 2: It IS instinctive

There was much in Jessica Studdert’s recent post on this blog to agree with and applaud, but one sentence particularly struck me – the one opening her fourth paragraph: “The centralised response isn’t just structural, at times it has felt deeply instinctive.” So, equally instinctively, I did what even an erstwhile academic does during a lockdown – some heavyweight research, naturally.

England’s over-centralisation – Part 2: It IS instinctive

There was much in Jessica Studdert’s recent post on this blog to agree with and applaud, but one sentence particularly struck me – the one opening her fourth paragraph: “The centralised response isn’t just structural, at times it has felt deeply instinctive.” So, equally instinctively, I did what even an erstwhile academic does during a lockdown – some heavyweight research, naturally.

England’s over-centralisation isn’t just a governance issue now – it’s a public health emergency

The concentration of power at Westminster and Whitehall has long frustrated those of us who engage closely with the structures of governance and compare it to decentralised norms across much of Europe. Now, as with so many facets of the Covid-19 crisis, the pandemic has exposed national vulnerabilities and left us grappling with the consequences. The grip on initiative that rests in SW1 is one such weakness, which is impacting how our system is responding to the virus, in turn perpetuating the public health emergency we find ourselves in.