And so the Board of Trade is now BIST (via DTI, Dept of Trade, DTI again, BERR, BIS, BEIS and DBT). www.civilservant.org.uk/library/Pres... No sign of its President, though.

Now the 2nd 3.

Don't know if anyone interested but I yesterday flew into City Airport and was lucky enough to be able to take 6 quite sharp photos of Kennington and the Elephant & Castle on the approach - all c.4000 pixels wide. Please DM me if you would like one or more originals. 1st 3 attd.

Have just got round to reading this fascinating blog. US voters' view of their place in the World depends hugely on whether they would vote for their current President. phillipspobrien.substack.com/p/can-americ...

It rained a bit last night.

Civil Service numbers have ticked up yet again - to 524,000 (full time equivalent) at the end of March.

Europe has got its act together to support Ukraine whilst the USA becomes the 'inessential nation' according to Paul Krugman:- paulkrugman.substack.com/p/america-th...

Thanks Andrew. I have incorporated your comments in the attached revised text. I am not very keen to go into much further detail but please do drop me a line - to ukcs68@gmail.com - if you think I am still missing something important.

Can anyone help me understand the (attached) table at the end of the Attorney General's Advice on Legal Risk (assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/672b71...)? How does a gov't lawyer summarise "We have strong legal arguments" + "High likelihood and impact of of challenge"? Green or orange?

I have recently enjoyed (if that is the right word) re-reading Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451. This extract from Sir John Betjeman's 1951 review shows that Bradbury was amazingly prescient.

Very interesting - and sad - thank you. Communal bomb shelters certainly became death traps when directly hit by a bomb. 104 were killed in shelter near the Oval in October 1940 - see the second story on this web page: www.vauxhallandkennington.org.uk/bombing.html

My favourite sign of Spring:- The fresh light-green leaves outside our bedroom window this morning.

Happy (Orthodox) Easter from President Trump, via heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/april-12-2...

Rising fuel costs force Amazon to increase their vendor fees from 17 April. But they are until then selling my two books at a deep discount: How to be a Civil Servant - £9.99 www.amazon.co.uk/How-Civil-Se... Civil Servants, Ministers and Parliament - £5.99 www.amazon.co.uk/Servants-Min...

Trump has now started insulting the Saudis. The attd quote is via Phillips P O'Brien: phillipspobrien.substack.com/p/midweek-up...

Cheery Substack from Paul Krugman this morning. Depending on your assumptions, Brent crude could end up at anywhere between $99 and $372 a barrel. paulkrugman.substack.com/p/the-oil-cr...

Real (inflation-adjusted) GDP/head grew on average at 1.45% pa (compound) from 1955 to 2007. We would now be c.£16k per person better off if that trend had continued.

This chart shows longer term trends. Note that the non-industrial ("white collar") total is now about the same as it was in 1970 - though a smaller proportion of the greatly increased population.

Civil Service Numbers continued to increase in Q4 2025, but only slowly. There were 521,000 full time equivalent civil servants at the end of December, up 1,000 over the quarter.

Sensible, anti-tick box, regulatory advice from the Chief Exec of the Financial Reporting Council (in today's @financialtimes.com )

This is not the first time Simon McDonald has made a dramatic intervention. The attd is from a Tim Shipman report in the Sunday Times, repeated half way down this web page: www.civilservant.org.uk/csr_detail-n...

The US Secretary of Commerce in the FT this morning: "We're not going to Davos to uphold the status quo. We're going to confront it head on."

The nearest I remember is in Christopher Jary's 'Working with Ministers' which includes this comment and (attd) diagram: "While ministers’ priorities vary, from a ‘typical’ secretary of state’s perspective the world may look roughly like this:"

Only 10 copies left of my Christmas stocking book, ideal for those working in any large organisation:- *Speaking Truth to Power*. Some sample pages below. www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1838467971

It's worth remembering that the civil service is a relatively tiny fraction of the UK public sector which is itself much smaller than the private sector. More detail is here:- www.civilservant.org.uk/information-...

Civil Service numbers increase yet again - now 35% more than summer 2016.

And wouldn't it be a good idea if civil servants - and others - were better at *Speaking Truth to Power*? Some entertaining stories and good advice are in my short paperback, also now on half-price pre-Christmas sale (£3.99): www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1838467971

Need a stocking-filler? My ever-popular guide to the Civil Service and Westminster is now half-price (£7.50) on Amazon: www.amazon.co.uk/How-Civil-Se...

Banx, briilliant as ever, in the @financialtimes.com last week.

Interesting exchange below. I agree that many specialist leaders of specialist Arms Length Bodies are poor managers. (ONS = recent example?) It can be a good idea to ensure they are supported by an experienced manager who does not need to have similar professional expertise.