[Tubby Isaacs]

Strong defence of the Palantir NHS contract here by a former very serious NHS IT manager.

He's very sure that there's no alternative to it, at least not before the break in the contract can be exercised. He says data protection arguments are mistaken anyway, akin to thinking that using Word means that Bill Gates has your data. I've great frustration with the way these sort of issues get pushed now (normally with Jolyon Maugham and a predictable group of backbench MPs in the vicinity) with no sense of trade offs. If a load more people die because of bad data, that's not on them- they'll probably trace the problem back to Wes Streeting's donors anyway.

I do think there is a stronger case with new Palantir contracts though. And I think pushing longer term independence from US tech is a sensible idea.

https://www.bartlettdata.co.uk/post/blog-coming-soon

[The Weeping Angel]

Yeah, Starmer gets easy media coverage.

This "scandal" was all about process. That's why people are concentrating on it. If the argument were that Starmer had to resign for appointing Mandelson, that would have been made months ago, when it wasn't. And lots of media types said it was a good appointment, so calling for resignation over it would be a stretch even for them.

I have no idea what Starmer has done to Stephen Bush.

Bush dislikes Starmer full stop, so nothing he ever does is right.

[Youngian]

Looks increasingly unlikely that tangible results in office are enough to secure re-election.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Agree. There’s always going to be wedge issues nowadays. If you improve waiting lists, you’ll still get it in the neck for not cancelling the Palantir contract or whatever.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Getting back to policy, this is not particularly encouraging on dynamic alignment.

https://ukandeu.ac.uk/the-limits-of-dynamic-alignment/

This would be a massive political undertaking, and will set all the Brexiters off as being a "rule taker", but likely has limited economic effect, certainly before the next election. And this is way further than anybody else has been prepared to go on meeting EU standards since we left.

The optimistic view is that it sets up a pivot to Single Market or membership in the next Parliament.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Removing mines from busy shipping lanes is bad now.

[Tubby Isaacs]

I don't know if the Burnham news will finally enable the Government to talk about governing (at least till Andy has either returned in triumph or crashed and burned), but I'm going to do my bit. The Institute of Government (who've been very critical of some stuff) like what was in the King's Speech about civil service reform.

https://www.instituteforgovernment.org. ... ice-reform

The monarch said that the government:
“will bring forward proposals that strengthen the delivery, accountability, innovation and productivity of the civil service. These proposals will also seek to safeguard its impartiality and core values, to enhance trust and confidence in the institutions of government.”
Senior Whitehall figures are talking about this as a ‘Northcote-Trevelyan moment’, referring to the 19th century report that founded the civil service in its current form, enshrining merit-based appointments and impartiality. Including such a commitment in the King’s Speech also suggests that the government is seriously – and rightly – thinking about legislating to address these issues. We can expect progress over the course of this year – ideally a rapid white paper followed by legislation.

Starmer's got a reputation as a ditherer, but I wonder if the Ollie Robbins business might focus his mind? I hope so.