Jabs for the rich, moralising for the poor
Plus why the government's new app starts the transformation of the British state
On The Abundance Agenda podcast this week:
Martin digs into the Ten Year Plan for the NHS (which is more important than whether Rachel Reeves was smiling) – and we get mad at the stupid moralising about the use of weight loss drugs like Wegovy and Ozempic.
James explains why the innocuous new GOV.UK app is actually a major step towards the total transformation of the British state.
And we speak to Ant Breach from the Centre for Cities about his recent report on housing supply bottlenecks – and how to fix them.
James’s exhaustive piece digging into the digital government blueprint is here.
Richard Pope’s Platformland is here.
The New Statesman abundance piece that is… a bit frustrating… is here.
Martin’s latest on the unfixable road with no owner is here.
James’s latest, on how Universal Credit went from being a disaster to a wild success is here.
Don’t forget to tell your friends about the pod – and leave us a nice review on Apple Podcasts!
The Abundance Agenda is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Substack and hopefully wherever you get your podcasts!
The idea that a state is 'transformed' by a new IT system is a delusion. Government actually depends on human beings working well together: making the relationship go via an impersonal, unthinking system makes it worse not better. JM
Okay, this is weird. I just subscribed to your Substack this morning. I wanted to post a very long, very critical, ranting comment on your post about Matt Goodwin, but when I tried to, it wouldn't let me: "Only paid subscribers can comment on this post". The same when I tried posting a test comment on another paywalled post. The subscription box in the top right says "Upgrade to founding" and I can read all your paywalled posts so Substack does know I am logged in as a paid subscriber for all other purposes - I just can't comment on paywalled posts.
I'm not expecting you to be able to fix this - I'm just upset after spending over an hour criticising you - was my time wasted?!