Amity ShlaesCompte certifié

Much of the @michaelgove speech is superb. It’s a recommitment to deep subject knowledge, practical wisdom and statistical insight over generalised, verbally-slanted cognitive skills – if achieved, an antidote to the managerial culture of failure we are currently saddled with…

…but this is only half the answer. There is a missing speech to be made about unleashing the best not just of the civil service and government machinery but the British people. Perhaps @BorisJohnson will make it himself. If so, let’s hope the New Deal framing only goes so far…

… because as Amity Shlaes wrote in her superb history The Forgotten Man, FDR’s reforms forgot all too readily about the men and women of the middle class paying the government’s bills. And as I argue in my new book…

…the dynamism and innovation that we need as a country – now more than ever – comes from unleashing the potential at the bottom of society just as much as running more effective projects from the centre…