If you had to live and work in any non-Western country for the rest of your life (with no opportunity to travel to or visit any western country), which would it be and why?
How does the country move away from lopsided policies that are borne out of class wars? Thinking primarily around social engineering, what are the long term effects of it? Is it not discrimination when for example, Universities ignore grades of their exams, national exams, etc and use imperfect metrics to give out contextual offers prone to gaming the system?
In an era of rising populism and seemingly irrevocable division in politics nowadays, do you think there is much of a future for the pragmatic, thoughtful, compromise-based politics and policy that you generally advocate for?
Are there any commentators (be it X-posters, Substackers, or old school journalists) whom you respect enough to follow, and even recommend, from the other side of the political spectrum to you?
In the engineering community around HS2, it is widely though that some of the greatest problems with the project have been, at least in part, caused by excessive meddling by the government, and the lack of enough ambition to invest in the long term capacity to deliver such projects more cheaply in the future. One of the most radical solutions to this, and other infrastructure problems, which I have seen is to abolish the Treasury (assumedly meant more as a way to stimulate conversation than a firm proposal). As someone involved in the civil service, what are your thoughts on this?
If you had to live and work in any non-Western country for the rest of your life (with no opportunity to travel to or visit any western country), which would it be and why?
Apart from the birth of your son, what was your most memorable experience when you were based in Manila?
How does the country move away from lopsided policies that are borne out of class wars? Thinking primarily around social engineering, what are the long term effects of it? Is it not discrimination when for example, Universities ignore grades of their exams, national exams, etc and use imperfect metrics to give out contextual offers prone to gaming the system?
In an era of rising populism and seemingly irrevocable division in politics nowadays, do you think there is much of a future for the pragmatic, thoughtful, compromise-based politics and policy that you generally advocate for?
What do you think the UK will look like in a couple of decades given various possible approaches to immigration?
Are there any commentators (be it X-posters, Substackers, or old school journalists) whom you respect enough to follow, and even recommend, from the other side of the political spectrum to you?
If Reform wins a majority government in 2029, what do you think Britain looks like in 2034? What's changed, what's stayed the same?
What's the best new board game/board game mechanic you've played recently?
To what extent will the UK be able to remain as a highly-developed state, given the coming demographic crisis?
In the engineering community around HS2, it is widely though that some of the greatest problems with the project have been, at least in part, caused by excessive meddling by the government, and the lack of enough ambition to invest in the long term capacity to deliver such projects more cheaply in the future. One of the most radical solutions to this, and other infrastructure problems, which I have seen is to abolish the Treasury (assumedly meant more as a way to stimulate conversation than a firm proposal). As someone involved in the civil service, what are your thoughts on this?
What do you think of the Chagos deal? Is there some secretive reasons we don't know of? Or is it simply "international law told us so"