Podcast appearances and mentions of paul swinney

Chief Executive Andrew Carter is joined by Paul Swinney, Director of Policy and Research, for the Centre for Cities' first reflections on today's Spending Review. They run through the key statements on economic growth and what they mean for cities including announcements on local public transport, industrial strategy, social housebuilding, local government finance, London investment and the Green Book. 

Chief Executive Andrew Carter is joined by Paul Swinney, Director of Policy and Research, to discuss the results of last week's local elections and what they mean for growth in the country. They explore the myth of "left behind" places and how government policy should respond to the political discontent signalled by the rise in votes for Reform UK. 

Chief Executive Andrew Carter is joined by Paul Swinney, Director of Policy and Research, to discuss the findings of our flagship report 'Cities Outlook', our annual health check of the economic performance of urban Britain. They discuss variation in wages across the country, what drives this variation, and what policy will need to do for the Government to achieve its aim of raising living standards everywhere.

Chief Executive Andrew Carter is joined by Adam Hawksbee, Deputy-Director of Onward and Chair of the Towns Unit at Number 10 Downing Street and the Department for Levelling Up – also known as the Government's Towns Czar – and by Paul Swinney, Director of Policy and Research at Centre for Cities. The Government has a £1.5bn long-term plan for towns. So, how should we be thinking about towns and should this shape the work of Centre for Cities? This episode is part of Centre for Cities' City Talks series. Please rate, review and share the episode if you enjoyed it.

Chief Executive Andrew Carter is joined by Paul Swinney, Director of Policy and Research, Ant Breach, Senior Analyst, and Jess Tulasiewicz, Policy and Public Affairs Manager, to review key moments at two action-packed party conferences in Manchester and Liverpool. They discuss a Conservative party conference dominated by the decision to cancel HS2's northern leg, Labour's bold ambitions on housebuilding, and more. This episode is part of Centre for Cities' City Minutes series. Please rate, review and share the episode if you enjoyed it.

Chief Executive Andrew Carter is joined by Paul Swinney, Director of Policy and Research at Centre for Cities to discuss Paul's new briefing, Do city centres really benefit their wider areas?. They discuss how improving and expanding Manchester and Birmingham city centres can bring benefits to places like Oldham and West Bromwich, and the role this plays in levelling up. This episode is part of Centre for Cities' City Minutes series. Please rate, review and share the episode if you enjoyed it.

Chief Executive Andrew Carter is joined by Paul Swinney, Director of Policy and Research at Centre for Cities to discuss Paul's new briefing, Trickle Out: How cities help their surrounding towns. They discuss the relationship that big cities have with their surrounding areas, how this impacts on quality of life in nearby places, and how we can help towns take advantage of having a big city nearby. This episode is part of Centre for Cities' City Minutes series. Please rate, review and share the episode if you enjoyed it.

For the past decade, the government's preferred model of devolution has been to combined authorities with directly elected mayors. However, more than five years on from the election of the first metro mayors, there is ongoing resistance from councils to adopting this model. In this episode of The Local Authority, a podcast from Local Government Chronicle, we explore what is behind this resistance and how the model is working in those places where it already exists. Joining LGC editor Sarah Calkin this month is Professor Carolyn Wilkins, fellow at Birmingham Leadership Institute and former chief executive of Oldham MBC; Cllr Anna Smith (Lab), former leader of Cambridge City Council and deputy mayor of Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Combined Authority and Paul Swinney, director of policy and research at Centre for Cities. The episode is available for streaming on all platforms now. 

Chief Executive Andrew Carter is joined by Dan Graham, Professor of Statistical Modelling at Imperial College London, and Paul Swinney, Director of Policy and Research at Centre for Cities, who are both co-authors of a new Centre for Cities report, Office Politics: London and the rise of home working. This episode is part of Centre for Cities' City Talks series. Please rate, review and share the episode if you enjoyed it.

April 2023 Regular listeners will know that our Politics Talk team like to talk about the latest opinion polls and developments in Westminster, and beyond. However, in the long run up to the next general election, Keiran, Holly and Cameron are also taking some time to deep dive into the big issues that will be central to parties' election campaigns.  On this episode, Keiran and Holly are joined by Paul Swinney, Director of Policy and Research at Centre for Cities, and Dr Henry Kippin, Chief Executive of North of Tyne CA, to focus on Levelling Up. What does it all mean? What do the public think about it? What implications might Levelling Up have on the next general election?  ++++ Levelling Up Index - https://www.ipsos.com/en-uk/levelling-up-what-britain-thinks

Andrew Carter is joined by Centre for Cities' Director of Policy and Research, Paul Swinney, to discuss the findings of our new report: At the Frontier: The geography of the UK's new economy. The report explores how new economy advanced tech industries are created in urban areas and what the Government should do to seize these opportunities.   This episode is part of Centre for Cities' City Talks series. Please rate, review and share the episode if you enjoyed it.

As prices rise everywhere, and poverty looms for many, whatever happened to the levelling-up that was supposed to equalise the more-deprived parts of Britain with the wealthy southeast? Almost 3 years after Boris Johnson won a stonking majority, winning-over former Labour seats in the “Red Wall”, have those areas seen any improvement in health, transport, skills-training and opportunities? There IS a plan - a white paper launched in February - but, with one of the candidates to be the next prime minister openly talking of channelling funds back to the southeast, is there any chance the plan will be more than just hot air? Paul Swinney, director of policy and research at Centre For Cities, guides Phil and Roger around what could be done to level up Britain and the prospects of it actually happening. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The latest plans to ‘level up' the country have just been announced by the Government. The white paper largely addresses inequality between major cities… but what about people in the capital who are struggling? One in four Londoners live in poverty and the unemployment rate is higher than average… it doesn't seem that ‘level' here either.Paul Swinney, Director of Policy and Research at the independent think tank ‘Centre for Cities' explains what this means for London, as well as what he would like to see to help make things more level for everyone. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Is it possible to ‘level up' the economy and help struggling places halt decline and become more prosperous? Paul Swinney is Director of Policy and Research at the think tank Centre for Cities and his research focuses on city economies and their development over time. He considers what strategies might be implemented to support declining town and city centres and if the government's Levelling Up agenda is likely to deliver concrete results. The prize-winning poet Paul Batchelor was born in Northumberland and often explores the lost worlds of Britain's mining communities, and the memories that have survived. The title of his new collection, The Acts of Oblivion, refers to seventeenth-century laws that required not only the pardon of revolutionary deeds, but also made discussing them illegal. His poems rebel against such restrictions, and against forgetting. In the forest landscape of northern Varmland in Sweden lies the village of Osebol. In just five decades, the automation of the lumber industry and the draw of city-living, has seen the adult population dwindling to a mere 40 residents. Marit Kapla grew up there, and in Osebol: Voices from a Swedish Village she has returned and gathered the stories of all the inhabitants – from those whose families have lived there for generations, to the more recent arrivals. They tell of their griefs and joys, resentments and pleasures, and despite the village's decline, life goes on. Producer: Katy Hickman

This week Jack explores whether Britain's provincial towns — like the town he grew up in and many places he has lived since — have been "left behind" as the economy has evolved over recent years.Wigan MP and Shadow Foreign Secretary Lisa Nandy explains why she famously put towns at the heart of her political philosophy, and how she believes places like Wigan can be transformed in the decades to come. Mansfield MP and local council leader Ben Bradley considers the shifting political forces that helped make him Mansfield's first ever Conservative MP in 2017.FT journalist Sebastian Payne discusses his eye-opening road trip through numerous small and medium-sized towns in the north of England last year which resulted in his book, "Broken Heartlands."Academics Professor Henry Overman and Professor Will Jennings mull the demographic and economic changes which have created such disparities between different urban areas, and what we might do to address them. And the Centre for Cities think-tank's Paul Swinney warns Britain's largest metropolitan areas must not be neglected amid the increasing government focus on smaller towns. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week we analyse this year's Conservative party conference. First, Prime Minister Boris Johnson's speech: how credible was it? Can low-skilled immigration be simply replaced without a big inflation risk? Political editor George Parker and chief political commentator Robert Shrimsley analyse.And then, we look at the other main theme of this year's conference: levelling up. Did we gain any extra insight from Johnson and Michael Gove on what it means, how it can be delivered and what success looks like? Two special guests will explore: Rachel Wolf of Public First and Paul Swinney from the Centre for Cities think-tank.Audio source: BBCProduced by Howie Shannon. The sound engineers were Breen Turner and Sean McGarrity.-Read the latest on https://www.ft.com/world/uk-Follow @Seb Payne, @Robert Shrimsley, @George Parker-Subscribe to https://www.ft.com/newsletters See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Ministers meet today to consider imposing tougher restrictions on people arriving into the U.K. Barbara Keeley, Labour MP for Worsley and Eccles South, tells Bloomberg Westminster's Roger Hearing and Sebastian Salek the government mustn't shy away from introducing quarantine hotels. Plus, is Boris Johnson making backwards progress on his "levelling up" agenda? Paul Swinney from the Centre for Cities says the pandemic could make success up to eight times harder.

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab says the lockdown will probably be extended this week. David Merritt, Bloomberg's senior executive editor, explains how easing the quarantine could be a challenge in itself. Plus, nowhere in Britain has been more affected than cities and large towns. But possibly not the ones you expect. Paul Swinney from the Centre for Cities tells Bloomberg Westminster's Roger Hearing and Sebastian Salek where the hotspots are and why.

What effect is the lockdown having across the country and population? David Aaronovitch examines which jobs have been lost, whose health is more at risk and whose education is most likely to suffer. Is the lockdown likely to increase inequality? And if it does, how might a government reverse that trend once normal life is resumed? Contributors: Professor Angus Deaton from Princeton University, Professor Simon Burgess from Bristol University, Xiaowei Xu from the Institute for Fiscal Studies, Paul Swinney from the Centre for Cities and Miatta Fahnbulleh from the New Economics Foundation. Producers: Kirsteen Knight, Darin Graham and Rosamund Jones. Editor: Jasper Corbett

Britain's pollution problem is revealed by the Centre for Cities. Paul Swinney, director of policy and research, tells Bloomberg Westminster's Sebastian Salek and Caroline Hepker more than one in 19 deaths in UK towns and cities is linked to poor air quality. But before that, Boris Johnson has two key infrastructure decisions: Huawei and HS2. Bloomberg's Thomas Seal and Yuan Potts say these could determine the UK's path post-Brexit.

How would Labour's nationalisation of broadband actually work, and who would pay for it? Bloomberg's Brexit and Media reporter Joe Mayes, and our Brexit editor Ed Evans explain all to Bloomberg Westminster's Sebastian Salek and Roger Hearing. Plus, as Boris Johnson unveils a plan to revitalise "overlooked" high streets, Paul Swinney, director of policy and research at Centre for Cities says there is no quick-fix. 

This week's guest is John Boughton, teacher, historian and author of an excellent housing-flavoured blog, which last year appeared as a full-blown book. Municipal Dreams: The Rise and Fall of Council Housing is an incredibly readable look at the history, politics and architecture of public housing in Britain, from those first estates in the late 19th century to the Grenfell Tower fire of 2017.It is genuinely one of the best books I have ever read on such a wonkish subject, and the paperback edition has just been published. So this seemed like an excellent moment to talk to John about what got him interested in this subject, what he learned from writing the book, and whether he is optimistic about the future of housing in this country.Somewhere around the New Labour years, we take a short break in that conversation to talk to Paul Swinney, head of policy at the Centre for Cities, about a different aspect of the housing crisis: what the divergence in house prices between the London area and the rest of the country has done to the wealth divide in this accursed nation.Skylines is the podcast from the New Statesman’s cities site, CityMetric. It’s hosted by Jonn Elledge and produced by Nick Hilton. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In the early hours of 14 June 2017, a fire broke out in a west London tower block; 72 people died in the resulting conflagration, many of them, tragically, because they had followed the official safety instructions to remain in their homes.At the time the Grenfell fire felt like a turning point in Britain’s attitude to social housing. Two years on, though, precious little seems to have changed.Stuart Hodkinson, an associate professor at the University of Leeds, has spent a decade talking to estate residents about their experience of regeneration and maintenance of social housing estates at the hands of private firms. He tells me how a disaster like Grenfell could have come to happen – and whether something similar could happen again.Also this week: Paul Swinney of the Centre for Cities tells me about Sheffield’s world-leading Advanced Manufacturing Park, which brings experts from different industries together with academics from the city’s universities to undertake joint research. The park is already a leader in its field – so can it help pull Sheffield out of its economic doldrums?Skylines is the podcast from the New Statesman’s cities site, CityMetric. It’s hosted by Jonn Elledge and produced by Nick Hilton. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week, two disparate segments linked by the idea of trading with the world. Well, vaguely. It’s there, but you have to squint.First up: I make my regular visit to the Centre for Cities office for the Ask the Experts slot with head of policy Paul Swinney. This week, he teaches me why cities need businesses that export internationally to truly thrive.After that, we’re off to Liverpool, with New Statesman politics correspondent Patrick Maguire. He tells me why the local Labour party tried to oust mayor Joe Anderson; how the city became the party’s heartlands; and how it ended up with quite so many mayors.Skylines is the podcast from the New Statesman’s cities site, CityMetric. It’s hosted by Jonn Elledge and produced by Nick Hilton. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week it's one of those two-for-the-price-of-one episodes where I'm not even going to pretend the conversations are connected. They are, however, both interesting, so here's more about them:In the first half, I talk to Skylines regular Paul Swinney, head of policy at the Centre for Cities, about what should really have been one of the big UK urbanism stories of the moment. Last week, the North of Tyne region – what would once have been called Newcastle and Northumberland, but not, vexingly, Gateshead or Sunderland – elected its first metro mayor, Labour's Jamie Driscoll. Surprisingly few people noticed. So Paul and I discuss why that is, and what effect the region's strange geography – excluding, as it does, what is effectively the southern half of a city – might have on the post.I the second half, we change gears as I nip out to Somerset House to chat to curator Karishma Rafferty about her work using festivals, installations and other cultural offerings to raise awareness of climate change. We also find time to talk about Somerset House itself, and – not at all parochially – Westminster council's proposals for pedestrianising part of the Strand.Skylines is the podcast from the New Statesman’s cities site, CityMetric. It’s hosted by Jonn Elledge and produced by Nick Hilton. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Last year, Burhan Wazir wrote a lovely piece for the New Statesman under the headline, “The changing shape of Britain’s mosques”. In it he talked about how the country’s Islamic community had initially co-opted sitting rooms and former pubs for its places of worship, but had gradually, over the decades, begun to build bigger, more communal mosques on the scale of churches or even cathedrals.All this sounded like it might make an interesting podcast, so I asked if Burhan fancied a chat. He suggested we go one better, and visit the stunningly beautiful New Cambridge Mosque, which is currently nearing completion.So that’s what we did. Dr Timothy Winter, chair of the Cambridge Mosque Trust, gave us the tour; then the three of us sat down and recorded a podcast about it. This, as you may have gathered, is that podcast.Also this week: Paul Swinney of the Centre for Cities, on the skills gap in UK cities.The reason I was in Cambridge, incidentally, was to speak to the writer John Lanchester, about his new novel of climate dystopia novel The Wall, as well as other topics including Brexit, the housing crisis and, er, Game of Thrones. You can hear the recording of that event on the next Skylines.Skylines is the podcast from the New Statesman’s cities site, CityMetric. It’s hosted by Jonn Elledge and produced by Nick Hilton. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The last few of these things have been quite serious, so let's mix it up a bit with some spurious nonsense. And what better way to do that than to invite Sarah Manavis back on, to answer a question I've been pondering for a while: why, exactly, does she hate London, the city in which she has chosen to live? This takes a while, because she keeps banging on about her dog.To mix things up a bit, we also have our regular Ask The Experts slot with Paul Swinney of the Centre for cities. This week: why are exports so important to cities?Skylines is the podcast from the New Statesman’s cities site, CityMetric. It’s hosted by Jonn Elledge and produced by Nick Hilton. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

I’ve been on holiday, and when I came back the entirety of British politics was on fire. So, on this occasion, I’ve fallen a bit behind with my podcasting. Sorry, gang.No matter, though, for here’s a guest episode. City Talks, as you may know, is the monthly podcast from our friends at the Centre for Cities, hosted by chief executive Andrew Carter. Last December it released an episode posing the now depressingly topical quesiton: how will Brexit affect British cities? He’s joined by Naomi Clayton and friend of the podcast Paul Swinney in an attempt to answer that question.We’ll be back with a full-blown episode of Skylines next week.Skylines is the podcast from the New Statesman’s cities site, CityMetric. It’s hosted by Jonn Elledge. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Two interviews this week, which are both about the future of our cities but are otherwise unrelated except for allowing me to come up with a sort of pun on the word “high”.First up: drones, the remote-operated buzzy flying things that recently managed to shut down several of London’s airports. The innovation charity NESTA has produced a report looking at what drones will do for our society, how we need to regulate them, and what role local government is likely to play in that. I spoke to the report’s author Kathy Notstine about all those things and asked: is it worth it?In the back half, I talk to Skylines regular Paul Swinney of the Centre for Cities about the future of the high street – that, for non British listeners, is what towns generally call their central retail area (the name is roughly analogous to “Main Street”). Paul tells me how cities can regenerate their high streets in the age of Amazon.Next Tuesday, incidentally, I’ll be recording the second live edition of Skylines at the New Local Government Network’s annual conference in London. If you’re a local government professional, why not pop along?Skylines is the podcast from the New Statesman’s cities site, CityMetric. It’s hosted by Jonn Elledge and produced by Nick Hilton. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Baby it's cold outside – or at least it was, in certain parts of the world, when we recorded this, ho hum.Anyway, that's the week's topic. Inspired by the polar vortex, which has seen temperatures of -30C in the US Midwest, we're chatting extremes of weather, with the New Statesman's US editor Nicky Woolf and its in-house midwesterner Sarah Manavis. We also talk about extreme heat and, this being CityMetric, manage a long and detailed argument about which temperature scale is actually better.(I'm not going to lie to you: everyone was in a particularly unruly mood that day, and at one point I had to leave the recording for a moment to deal with an editorial problem, so I'm a bit nervous of what they said behind my back. What's more, there was a problem with Nicky's mic that means his words are accompanied by a low hiss as if he's speaking parseltongue, and the process of editing that out means he sounds like he was literally phoning it in. All things considered, I am slightly terrified to hear the results of this one, but there we are.)Also this week, I talk to Paul Swinney of the Centre for Cities about the other big freeze (DYSWIDT?) affecting British politics: austerity. Just how much damage has it done to our cities?The conversation was inspired in large part by this year's addition of the Centre's annual Cities Outlook report. You can find that here.Skylines is the podcast from the New Statesman’s cities site, CityMetric. It’s hosted by Jonn Elledge and produced by Nick Hilton. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week’s podcast is a bit of a sandwich. In the middle, you’ll find an informative and nutritious conversation with Paul Swinney of the Centre for Cities, in which we try to answer a big question about cites. Generally speaking, in a phenomenon known as “agglomeration theory”, bigger cities are richer and more productive than smaller ones. That, though, doesn't seem to hold true in the UK, where - London excepted - the most productive settlements tend to be smaller.So, does size matter? And if so, why doesn't the rule hold in the UK?On either side of that though you'll find a rambling discussion about food in cities with Sarah Manavis and Nicky Woolf. What's with the midwest and fast food? Which cities are the best places to eat? And most importantly of all, will Sarah ever stop torturing our producer Nick by swearing?Skylines is the podcast from the New Statesman’s cities site, CityMetric. It’s hosted by Jonn Elledge and produced by Nick Hilton. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week, it’s all about mayors, and also someone who the smart money says will never become one.I’ve dragged Stephen Bush back into the podcasting catacomb to discuss Shaun Bailey, the Conservative candidate to be the next mayor of London. Bailey, alas, declined an invitation to appear on Skylines earlier this year - but given how well his contact with journalists is going at the moment, it’s by no means clear this was a mistake.Anyway: Stephen and I discuss his faltering campaign, explore why it’s going so badly, and ask if the Conservative party has any way out.Also, in this week’s ‘Ask The Experts’ segment with the Centre for Cities, I ask director of policy Paul Swinney: do mayors actually matter?Skylines is the podcast from the New Statesman’s cities site, CityMetric. It’s hosted by Jonn Elledge. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

It’s a bit of a game of two halves this week.First up, I talk to Eric Klinenberg – director of the Institute for Public Knowledge at New York University – about his new book, Palaces for the People. He argues that what he terms ‘social infrastructure’ has a major effect on everything from crime to disaster resilience. Solving the problems of the future, he suggests, is going to mean investing more in infrastructure, public space and community links.After that, it’s our semi-regular “Ask the experts” slot with the Centre for Cities. This time, I drag director of policy Paul Swinney into one of the noisiest debates going on in UK urban policy circles today: have we focused too much on cities, and not enough on towns?Skylines is the podcast from the New Statesman’s cities site, CityMetric. It’s hosted by Jonn Elledge.Skylines is supported by 100 Resilient Cities. Pioneered by the Rockefeller Foundation, 100RC is dedicated to helping cities around the world become more resilient to the physical, social and economic challenges that are a growing part of the 21st century. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Human beings generally have ten fingers. In what is probably not a coincidence, the world’s most popular number system counts in base 10.And so, due to what was essentially a series of evolutionary accidents, the largely meaningless fact this is our 100th episode feels like A Big Deal.But I’m a huge fan of meaningless celebrations, especially when they’re about myself. So this episode is by way of a sort of party. Former co-host Stephanie Boland is back, with one of those city quizzes she sometimes makes me for podcasting purposes.We also have brief guest appearances from four friends of the show – my other former co-host, Barbara Speed; Centre for Cities economist and mackem Paul Swinney; Guardian journalist and noted train nerd Jim Waterson; and Skylines’ biggest fan, in Brazil or anywhere else, @AngrySigh Julia – each with a question for the two of us.There won’t be an episode next week, as I’m off on a trip. But we’ll be back in a fortnight.Thanks for listening. It’s really very nice that you do. Skylines is the podcast from the New Statesman’s cities site, CityMetric. It’s hosted by Jonn Elledge.Skylines is supported by 100 Resilient Cities. Pioneered by the Rockefeller Foundation, 100RC is dedicated to helping cities around the world become more resilient to the physical, social and economic challenges that are a growing part of the 21st century. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Alreeeet! Welcome to Speak Up Sunderland! Join Betty Ball & Stevie B for this new weekly podcast - proudly made in, and about, Sunderland! This Sunday (12th August) it's National Mackem Day - why aye!  To celebrate, Betty & Steve hit the streets of Sunderland with the Mackem Dictionary - to hear how many phrases the people of Sunderland know. Featuring the author of the Mackem Dictionary, Paul Swinney. And the voices of Joan and George, Daisy and Callum, Pat and Margaret, and our honorary Geordie guest Jess. Follow our journey on Twitter - @SpeakUpSun. Featuring music by Timecrawler 82. Edited by Jay Sykes.  A Jammy Audio production.

This week, we're talking urban economics – or why people who support the Bristol Pound might as well be voting for Donald Trump.I'm joined, via a mildly crackly Skype connection, by Paul Swinney, mackem and head of policy at the Centre for Cities. He explains why local currencies like the Brixton Pound, which have been popping up of late, are basically just protectionism – and why the Preston Model of local procurement is no better.From that we move on to what cities actually need to do to boost their economies – and why so much of it comes down to skills.Skylines is the podcast from the New Statesman’s cities site, CityMetric. It’s hosted by Jonn Elledge. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Today Jonn took on one of his favourite topics… the North/South divide. Do politicians really care about our cities in the north? Is there enough investment into art and culture outside of London? Should we be investing in better transport links in and around our northern hubs? And does any Londoner really want to leave the capital? Jonn puts these questions – and more – to Labour MP Lloyd Russell-Moyle, journalist Jennifer Williams and economist Paul Swinney (to name a few!)

Today Jonn took on one of his favourite topics… the North/South divide. Do politicians really care about our cities in the north? Is there enough investment into art and culture outside of London? Should we be investing in better transport links in and around our northern hubs? And does any Londoner really want to leave the capital? Jonn puts these questions – and more – to Labour MP Lloyd Russell-Moyle, journalist Jennifer Williams and economist Paul Swinney (to name a few!)

Well. We got that a bit wrong, didn’t we? Last week on this podcast, Stephen Bush, Patrick Maguire joined Jonn to make their predictions for last Thursday’s English mayoral elections. This week, we conduct the post-mortem, looking at the actual results and how they diverged from our predictions. (Spoiler alert: it’s a lot.) We talk about what the Tories’ success, the Liberal Democrats’ failure, how the supplementary vote gives us a headache, and why Manchester mayor Andy Burnham might just be the man to save us. That covers the politics. To talk about the more wonkish stuff, Jonn is joined by two very clever people from the Centre for Cities, director Andrew Carter and principal economist Paul Swinney. We discuss how the new mayors will establish themselves, what that Tory success means for the future of devolution policy – and what will happen to those cities that have been left behind. Advance warning: next week I’m off to Montreal for a conference (about trains!), so in all likelihood there won’t be a... See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Theme 3: The rise, fall and rise of cities Within the context of global urbanisation cities are increasingly looked at as the location where sustainability issues will be solved (or not), particularly as state power wanes in a globalised economy. Greater autonomy for cities and an enlarged role for city networks have been suggested by many. Yet historically empowered cities have a chequered record in delivering environmental and social progress. What can history tell us about the conditions that enabled or prevented progress?