What's the government up to on devolution?

An end-of-week briefing, including the latest Covid-19 numbers

Good morning Millers — Friday is usually our day of rest at Mill towers, but we missed out yesterday and decided to publish today instead.

A warm welcome to our new members who have joined this week! Among our new recruits is the legendary cartoonist Tony Husband, whose ‘Yobs’ cartoon strip has been running in Private Eye since the 1980s. I’m very excited to say that Tony has offered to draw some cartoons for The Mill, starting in our briefing on Monday…

Today’s newsletter contains a quick update on the latest Covid-19 numbers plus our analysis of two stories this week that have a bearing on the future of devolution.

Yesterday I got hold of someone I’ve wanted to chat to for ages: Tom Forth, who is a data analyst in Manchester and heads up data for ODI Leeds, part of the Open Data Institute. I’ve been reading Tom’s excellent blog for ages, and I think he is one of the most interesting voices in the debates about devolution and under-investment in the North.