Tim Leunig

Big news, I just wish the UK was better suited to solar!!

Perhaps the government should also ask us to split wood as well…

Sadly the house building section of Labour’s manifesto should have been entitled continuity, not change…

What were they thinking? My ConHome piece on the pro-Ukrainian British politicians who backed Trump in 2024 and how their tribalism got the better of them. conservativehome.com/2026/10/26/d...

The Wikipedia community has built a tool that makes it possible to embed our interactive Our World in Data charts right in any Wikipedia page. I have always admired Wikipedia and all the people contributing to it. And I'm very happy that our work now can get used this way!

Now we know what her new job will be, @jkaconductor.bsky.social …

Evergreen message from the Financial Times to its readers www.ft.com/content/88c8...

Glad to see that, like me, like Nigel Farage wants to abolish the House of Lords! @pickardje.bsky.social

I have a solution: kangaroos. @timleunig.bsky.social's plan to make Britain a hoppier place. timleunig.substack.com/p/i-love-kan...

You want thinking outside the box? This week I have written perhaps my most esoteric policy idea - the case for kangaroos in Britain - timleunig.substack.com/p/i-love-kan... (free to read)

A fine piece of writing by @simonkuper.bsky.social, on how to understand France at the moment - www.ft.com/content/62b8...

Pleased to say @veoliauk.bsky.social agree that despite this letter being posted to my home, I am not responsible for an unpaid rubbish bill for a Chinese restaurant 75 miles away...

My proposal since 2014. Whether governmentd want low, medium or high immigration, they should have a process of policymaking & parliamentary scrutiny. Whether specific choices are good/bad, an acccountability problem if set pledges/targets + then do the opposite www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/...

Is there better evidence of a financial market bubble than this?

Good picture of my office…

The banks say they’re overtaxed. The TUC says they’re undertaxed. We did the sums across nine countries, and we're going to annoy *everyone*. The UK isn’t a high-tax outlier. There *is* a case for increasing bank tax. But it comes with risks - and could hit households. 🧵:

This is a very depressing outcome for the borough. I'm sure more will be said but it's difficult to follow the logic of the council's position here.

fascinating that Reform's priority seems to be going to war with ITV over its documentary rather than cracking down on the root problem www.ft.com/content/3d67...

I support the policy - I think it is perfect sensible for taxes on volatile price commodities to vary inversely with the underlying price, thus giving people consistent price signals. It is effectively a form of insurance

This money @chrisgiles.ft.com has cheered me up no end with this well-researched and well-argued piece about the future of European gas prices. www.ft.com/content/31df... #ReasonsToBeCheerful

It took the city of Dijon 4 years to build 20km of tram. Birmingham's 1.7 km Eastside tram extension required nearly 6,000 pages of planning documentation and more than three years to secure approval. Thirteen years after it was first proposed, planning approvals were still ongoing.

Alberta votes 3:1 to stay part of Canada! What interests me is the low proportion who voted either way on all the other questions - www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cq...

It is hard to read this without becoming enraged, but important not to look away www.economist.com/europe/2026/... From The Economist

It is utterly mad to move in next to Brixton market and then complain about noise that finishes at 10pm. 10pm! www.brixtonbuzz.com/2026/10/brix...

This is a very silly story. There is no "plot" and no "raid". Just a hysterical misunderstanding of a technical consultation. There *is* a real issue - but it's likely unintended and I expect it will fixed in the legislation. A 🧵 on what's really going on

I'll take it as a compliment that I move so quickly through the ONS website they think I'm a bot

anti-immigration guy threatens to emigrate

never heard this zinging PJ O’Rourke quote before

I find this despicable. If you’re someone, who can’t help being nosy, know yourself. Choose to do a job like mine. Not one that requires the utmost discretion and professionalism. apple.news/AijbAwSLCR6y...

Europe having a stronger tech industry is a national security issue: We need to have better alternatives to US tech as much as is practically possible.

Today @timleunig.bsky.social took his oath and joined the Lib Dem team in the Lords. The economist spent over a decade in the civil service, advising two Chancellors and serving as chief scientific adviser at the Department for Education. Now that expertise goes to work in the chamber.

timleunig.substack.com/p/a-plea-to-...

timleunig.substack.com/p/a-plea-to-...

Off to join the House of Lords!

No - they add you to the waiting list at the hospital. That is what I am asking them to do.

Public executions were not abolished out of tenderness towards the criminal. They were abolished because of the effect on the people watching, and the dangers of making human death a source of commercial entertainment. Here's Charles Dickens in The Times, after witnessing an execution in 1849.

The reality is that I am rich enough to pay for the operation. But it is depressing to think that the NHS thinks it is ok for someone to be in abject pain for an extra month.

Hydro-dilatation is needed. I recommend it to you if you have a frozen shoulder.

I have prescription painkillers from the last frozen shoulder. What I need is hydro-dilatation!

What did a&e do for a frozen shoulder?

I am in severe pain with (another) frozen shoulder, which will only get worse. I have just tried to book to see a GP and been told that the next appointment is 11 November. The NHS is failing.

Dear tv and radio producers. Thankyou for the invitation. But, no, I do not want to appear on your show to defend the idea that I am English, after 50 years of living and working here, because the increasingly feral right want to turn this into a "debate" and you cannot see how you're being played

Absolutely damning comments on #Newsnight about Polanski, leadership and the Green Party’s “Zionism is racism” motion, from @carolinelucas.bsky.social

By weird coincidence I was at an event yesterday discussing how to tackle money laundering and one of the weirder, but quite effective, measures is just getting rid of high value notes because despite being, at least in the US, the most common type printed they are mostly used for crime.

The Tories need to listen hard to what high end buying agent Henry Pryor told me when I reported on downsizing trends: “If people only leave their family homes with a lift from an undertaker, the housing market shudders to a halt.”

In other words, a 10 percent contraction in one of Britain’s most successful exports. If it were steel or fish or other infinitely less profitable sectors, people would be having a meltdown.

In which @pickardje.bsky.social shows he is a better economist than everyone in the conservative party put together...

Parish council selection? Local council election? Police and crime commissioner election? I am sure @markpackuk.bsky.social can come up with others . . .