Dear friends,
Like last month, we are writing to you from yet another heatwave. And as luck would have it, today is exactly one year since we published our research into how air conditioning can save lives, boost productivity and help the UK achieve net zero. It’s worth a re-read.
Anyway: keep cool and carry on. It’s been a busy month, to put it mildly, and we have lots of news to share.
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🪛 Our latest work
Dispatches from the research coalface
Quid pro quo: Cheaper electricity now, for longer term market reforms – UK households are being hit by another bout of energy cost inflation. Moving levies out of the electricity system and into general taxation will encourage electrification, delivering longer term energy security and insulation from future price shocks. But Ed argued in this new report that there is a quid pro quo - in exchange for near-term bill relief, we must exercise much greater cost discipline when procuring new generation and network infrastructure in the future.
Building more for less: A cost-free path to European levels of public investment – Working together with Britain Remade, we uncovered some of the reasons why the UK gets less infrastructure than its peers while paying a steep premium.
How the WFH factor complicates the AI jobs story – Pedro concluded his series about the effects of AI on the labour market with a hard look at what’s really eroding the first rung of the career ladder.
Britain’s brain drain, measured in mathematical olympians – By examining the careers of Britain’s former International Mathematics Olympiad medallists, Julia found some early evidence of intensifying competition for high-end talent.
The way the UK counts carbon is bad for the climate and for growth – To make the UK’s energy transition a success, David and Pedro argued, we must stop counting our successes as a cost to the world.
What might markets look for in Burnham’s choice of Chancellor? – How can the presumed next Prime Minister win market confidence to deliver on his goals? David and Pedro spoke to several economists, bond traders and investors, to ask them how markets might respond to a Burnham premiership.
🧭 On our radar
Policy changes and projects of note
Tighter control on wind farm costs - Cost will be “the absolute central factor” in the next round of offshore wind subsidy contracts, the energy minister has confirmed. We’ve previously proposed imposing cost discipline on new Contracts for Difference.
DIY grid connections – Utilities regulator Ofgem said in the latest update on its demand connections reform efforts that it is consulting on letting industry build their own grid connections. This is something we’ve long pushed for to address the constraints on grid connections.
🪪 New team members
We recently welcomed three new people! To introduce them, we asked a few questions from our Pen Portrait series – plus added a couple of special summer topics
Martha Dacombe
Joining as Programme Manager for Technology & State Capacity, Martha previously led policy developments on AI, compute, and other novel technologies at Startup Coalition. She is also a columnist for and writes her own newsletter Marthastack.
Q. Where do you find new ideas?
A. Substack, probably. I am aware this is a totally self-serving answer as someone who writes on here, but the quality of writers is actually great.
Q. What makes you optimistic about the future?
A. Reading about the past and how much worse they had it.
Q. What’s the best place for a summer staycation?
A. Northumberland. White sandy beaches line the coast, you can find gorgeous pubs by the sea, and a trip to Barter Books in Alnwick is always a lovely way to spend an afternoon if it dares to rain.
Shaamini Prinja
Shaamini is a Chemistry with Computing graduate from the University of Bristol whose work centres on making complex data accessible to decision makers in public services. She is our new Data Engineer.
Q. What makes you optimistic about the future?
A. Developments in STEM. I think it easy to forget how much good and consequential research is being produced, alongside some of the gloomier stuff.
Q. What’s the best flavour of ice cream?
A. Cookies and cream, by miles.
Q. What’s the best place for a UK staycation?
A. Dartmouth, it’s a small town on the Devon coast and is relatively easy to get to with public transport. It has some amazing beach walks, the pubs in nearby towns (shoutout Strete!) have beautiful terrace views, and the town itself could be anywhere in the Mediterranean.
Bel Guillaume
Bel was previously Director of Partnerships and Development at ThinkLabour, where she led the organisation’s fundraising and commercial partnerships programme. Before that, she worked at Onward in events and development. She started this week as our Head of Partnerships & Fundraising.
Q. What makes you optimistic about the future?
A. The idea that jobs will exist in 20 years’ time that we couldn’t imagine or predict now.
Q. What got you interested in policy and politics?
A. A combination of my family and an incredible philosophy teacher I had at school, who believed that politics underpins everything and encouraged me to ask questions at every opportunity.
Q. What’s your favourite cold drink for a hot day?
A. Potentially controversial, but I always reach for a cup of tea on a hot day… but if I have to have a cold drink then lemon iced tea or Dash water are my favourites.
🗞️ In the press (highlights)
Our work with Britain Remade about the cost of public investment made the front page of The Times (read online here). It was also covered by the Daily Mail.
The Telegraph covered our recent work on energy bills.
Our proposals for rethinking stamp duty made an appearance in The i Paper’s analysis of the issue.
Julia argued against veto-cracy in an essay extract published by City A.M.
📚 Bookshelf
Julia is catching up with the zeitgeist and reading The Infinity Machine by Sebastian Mallaby. This makes for an interesting pairing with her other read, Why Nations Fail by Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson.
Together they are making her think a lot about how AI interacts with our institutions. “Feeling the exponential acutely! Afraid and excited!” she says.
Several of us have been enjoying the latest issue of . David recommends and Kara Dimitruk on how 17th century Nimbyism was defeated. And our office neighbour has a piece about how the remarkable Vancouver housing project being built by the Squamish Nation.
Alys is about to start How to Survive in the Woods – not a handbook but a twisty thriller – by .
David recently bought The Age of Hitler by Alec Ryrie, presumably for some light summer reading. He also finally began Brave New World, which he suspects he’ll finish it by the time his children have all left for university.
🎲 Off-topic
What else is on our minds and in our feeds: Everything is TV | “In a way, blogging is like DARPA” | Dogs in the office – yay or nay? | Romanian apricot cake | Even C.S. Lewis is on Substack
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