Insights

“I wish I could say this is a joke; it is not a joke”. Those were the words of BBC Today presenter Nick Robinson reporting that Michael Gove — the Secretary of State responsible for levelling-up — was late for an interview because he was stuck in the Broadcasting House lift.

Expert opinion — Henri Murison, Northern Powerhouse Partnership

It may almost be Christmas but many Labour MPs are already thinking about the summer of 2024.

I was not even a twinkle in my mother’s eye when the first Conference of Parties (COP) met in 1995.

There’s a Harry & Paul sketch in which Harry Enfield plays Tony Blair on his first day as a part-time adviser to the investment bank ‘Lorgan Stanley’. They’ve forgotten they appointed him when he stood down as Prime Minister and are taken by surprise when he turns up at reception.

In the mid 2000s, I spent a couple of days in and around Aberdeen for a feature I was writing about how the oil industry was diversifying.