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This blog post terrifies me. "Whitehall policy makers do think about the appropriate balance of central prescription and local discretion, partly in recognition of local difference" --- really?! No. No no no no no.
I have explained to a secretary of state for transport why their laws make an Oyster card for Manchester & Birmingham illegal. I have explained to National Infrastructure Commission and to very senior academics and civil servants the same. In all cases they were fucking clueless.
And I have many more examples. I have been asked by three central government bodies/departments how to expand our Real Journey Time work to all UK cities. In all here cases, invited to London to do so. I've invited all three to Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, Sheffield. None come.
They should all know why our work is only possible in Birmingham. They don't have a fucking clue. "Whitehall policy makers do think about the appropriate balance of central prescription and local discretion, partly in recognition of local difference" = bullshit.
We currently have a fucking consultation coming out of DEFRA about national waste collection standards. We have new national #opendata standards for buses. We have new huge expansion of central government while local government is destroyed. No. No no no no no no no no.
"Whitehall policy makers do think about the appropriate balance of central prescription and local discretion, partly in recognition of local difference" > maybe they do. If they do, they're a minority, or thick as shit. I prefer to think that they don't think about it.
And now for 1h40 sat outside the toilets on the train from Birmingham to Manchester, following in the footsteps of @emmerich_mike the other week. A train which, because it doesn't go near the civil servants responsible in London is a sack of shit. 
I shall use this time to ponder if "Whitehall policy makers do think about the appropriate balance of central prescription and local discretion, partly in recognition of local difference".
I am 10% more Brexit having read that blog post. Good grief.
A question I ask myself often.
What should I do about this?
What can I do with my life to make Britain Great?
What should I do about this?
What can I do with my life to make Britain Great?
Just read it again. It gets worse every time.
"while national analysts can be reasonably dispassionate, local decision makers will tend to be biased in favour of the local solutions led by people they know." > the opposite of my experience. So many shit pompous analysts in London think they're unbiased because "London".
"you are biased because you're in Birmingham/Leeds/Manchester/Scotland --- whereas I am impartial because I am in Oxford/Cambridge/London" > rare you see it written down. But the attitude is institutional. Burn it all. Revolution. Start again.
