Prof. John Clancy

Last orders? What the should the Chancellor John Healey do in the budget to save Britain’s pubs? New blog + Phil Tomlinson: blogsfromtheblackstuff.com/bftbblog2610... @prt1969.bsky.social @dfkogler.bsky.social @camraofficial.bsky.social @acadsocsciences.bsky.social @regstud.bsky.social

My comments included in national coverage of Glasgow Council's just-declared record £12B Pension Fund surplus. 60% more than its pensions bill. The Canary in the mine of a likely UK-wide surplus of over £200B of taxpayers' money at LGPS. As we warned 18ms ago. www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/market...

Britain’s automotive supply chain doesn’t need to die. It needs a new mission. Blog by @dgbailey.bsky.social blogsfromtheblackstuff.com/bftbautoblog... "Reverse conversion: deliberate mobilisation &reorientation of established civilian industrial capabilities towards defence &dual-use production."

JLR Job Cuts: Britain’s Car Industry Is Running on Empty @dgbailey.bsky.social's blog today t.co/Xo2VzyF6x0 ‘The govt should treat the current situation as a strategic industrial emergency. Get industrial energy costs down. Give manufacturers a more realistic &flexible route through EV transition..'

Very sad to hear that Dermot Murnaghan has passed away. A brilliant journalist. And although he could be highly effective in challenging politicians, sometimes he gave time to politicians to explain in detail. I had 6 minutes with him almost 10 years ago. Here’s a 90 secs snippet of it.

@guardianheather.bsky.social @theguardian.com

@tobyn.bsky.social public.flourish.studio/visualisatio... and public.flourish.studio/visualisatio... and public.flourish.studio/visualisatio...

**BREAKING**EXCLUSIVE** 97 UK Local Govt pension Funds' Assets pass **£0.5 TRILLION** at £517B. Extracted &aggregated from just-published Councils’ Accounts. Mgt.Expenses deducted reach scandalous £2.7B! Including £2.3B to investment managers. Standardised Funding Surplus now estimated at £200B+

Now £0.5Trillion UK LGPS had £150B+ surplus last yr, probably £200B+ this. A surplus that will *never* be used to pay a single pension. An untouched legacy of taxpayers’ money Burnham can &shd use to invest in every community it comes from, &inside fiscal rules. www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/market...

Burnham's backyard blunder? The Scandal Nobody Noticed: £10.4B surplus in the Greater Manchester Pension Fund, starved from GM Economy. blogsfromtheblackstuff.com/bftbblog2606... Time for Action, Man. Get the money back to GM &get Makerfield its £420m. Questions for @andyburnham.bsky.social

How Birmingham City Council went ‘bankrupt’ being unnecessarily forced to pay hundreds of £millions into its pension fund to pay off a deficit which never existed. It was always in surplus. Labour didn’t listen. They’re not listening now. www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/market...

YOUR HANDY ELECTION NIGHT LGPS GUIDE! A few smaller councils changing hands or going into No Overall Control can have huge sudden changes to who controls 100s of £billions of Pension Funds. The top 10 funds have £150B in assets between them. www.linkedin.com/posts/prof-j...

BREAKING @dgbailey.bsky.social &my breakdown of all relevant stats in just-out 2025 Valuations of all England &Wales Local Govt. Pension Funds. public.flourish.studio/visualisatio... Postcode lottery in outcomes for taxpayers. V.troubling re: Public Accounts Probity. Total chaos. @tobyn.bsky.social

With a heavy heart, I share the obituary of my beloved wife, Lisa, written by our friend @philtomlinson.bsky.social I hope you’ll take a moment to read & remember a truly extraordinary woman who meant everything to Mikey & myself & so much to so many others. www.regionalstudies.org/news/lisa-de...

RBKC SINKS DHCLG How spectacular, but entirely correct, decision by Local Government Pension Fund for 0% employer contributions til 2029 will cascade &repeat across UK LGPS; releasing tens of £bns of delayed public spending. @dgbailey.bsky.social &my blog blogsfromtheblackstuff.com/bftbblog2604...

A gentle riposte to @timleunig.bsky.social last Observer column which seemed to write off much of UK manufacturing. That would be a bad mistake. @makeuk.bsky.social @smmt-ukauto.bsky.social @unitetheunion.bsky.social @faradayinstitute.bsky.social blogsfromtheblackstuff.com/bftbblog2601...

Stairway to Scandal: how West Midlands Pension fund gradually top-sliced £1.1 billion from its asset base to pay Managers’ Expenses. It’s taxpayers’ money. Today’s blog with @dgbailey.bsky.social

The West Mids Pension Fund; the vastly overfunded £22bn Elephant in the Room that broke @bhamcitycouncil.bsky.social : latest, breaking news blog with @johnclancy.bsky.social @https://blogsfromtheblackstuff.com//bftbblog260102b

EXCLUSIVE BREAKING NEWS - WMPF insider spills the beans to BFTB: WMidlands Pension Fund Chaos as SURPLUS hits £11BILLION! blogsfromtheblackstuff.com//bftbblog260... It’s 200% funded. Apparently broke Birmingham Council has £2.5B pension surplus. Open Warfare at WMPF. FCA Tory WMPF Cllr tells all.

West Midlands Pension Fund insider spills the beans: an £11 billion surplus. It's 200% funded! New blog with John Clancy. blogsfromtheblackstuff.com//bftbblog260...

'Embarrassment of riches' © @tobyn.bsky.social, laid bare in Birmingham - huge leaps in LGPS Valuation discount rates reported to pension funds ctees across LGPS in last few weeks. Scandalous, nightmarish miscalculations last time round come home to roost blogsfromtheblackstuff.com/bftbblog2512...

'Embarrassment of riches' © @tobyn.bsky.social, laid bare in Birmingham - huge leaps in LGPS Valuation discount rates reported to pension funds ctees across LGPS in last few weeks. Scandalous, nightmarish miscalculations last time round come home to roost blogsfromtheblackstuff.com/bftbblog2512...

ICYMI @dgbailey.bsky.social & my Chrismas Eve blog: blogsfromtheblackstuff.com/bftbblog2512... £1.9 Billion wake-up call for Birmingham. If it acts quickly& responds correctly, it can get £400 million back of its £1.9B Pension Fund surplus and into its revenues over next 3 years. The rest from 2029+

*BREAKING* We reveal total paid out in mgt expenses to 97 UK Local Gvt Pension funds last yr was record-high of *£2.7Billion*. blogsfromtheblackstuff.com/bftbblog251120 £2.4B in investment fees for pathetic 3.3% return. Paid for mainly through council tax. How much did your local fund shell out?

@theguardian.com @guardianheather.bsky.social Yday's blog showing how Chancellor highly likely has £10B more fiscal headroom than she, OBR&Treasury realise, from the 97 UK Local Govt. Pension Funds' current snail's pace (re)valuations - if she acts fast! blogsfromtheblackstuff.com/bftbblog2511...

@newstatesman1913.bsky.social Yday's blog showing how Chancellor highly likely has at least £10B more fiscal headroom than she realises, or OBR&Treasury realise, from the 97 UK Local Govt. Pension Funds' current snail's pace valuations - if she acts fast! blogsfromtheblackstuff.com/bftbblog2511...

Yesterday's blog showing how the Chancellor highly likely has at least £10B more fiscal headroom than she realises, or OBR&Treasury realise, from the 97 UK Local Govt. Pension Funds' current snail's pace (re)valuations - if she acts fast! blogsfromtheblackstuff.com/bftbblog2511...

@tobyn.bsky.social bsky.app/profile/john...

Councils &employers in the LGPS will see £10B windfall if 97 UK Local Govt Pension Funds get their sums right. Just because snail’s-pace 3yr valuations still ongoing doesn’t mean OBR &Treasury shouldn’t project now probable headroom outcome for Chancellor! blogsfromtheblackstuff.com/bftbblog251109

@tobyn.bsky.social bsky.app/profile/john...

UK LGPS Assets now stand at £476Billion. blogsfromtheblackstuff.com/bftbblog251024 Our updated blog following DHCLG's publication of official statistics for England &Wales. 5th biggest pension fund in the world &9th biggest sov.asset fund in the world. We projected £475B 10 days ago. Pretty close!

EXCLUSIVE: The UK's 97 Local Government Pension Funds' assets combined now worth *£475 Billion*. Each fund's autumn 2025 annual report output collated and combined, first for Assets Under Investment here: blogsfromtheblackstuff.com/bftbblog251014

@guardianheather.bsky.social blogsfromtheblackstuff.com/bftbblog2510... EXCLUSIVE: UK's 97 Local Government Pension Funds' assets combined now worth *£475 Billion*. Each fund's autumn 2025 annual report output collated &combined, first for Assets Under Investment. Now the 5th biggest global fund.

Back to school scandal: £1Billion (&likely £1.6B) of West Midlands schools' spending absorbed instead into £4.3B surplus of £21B West Midlands Pension Fund. £450m from FE Colleges&Unis, too. £183M from Police&Fire @dgbailey.bsky.social ‘s &my blog explains: blogsfromtheblackstuff.com/bftbblog250910…

@tobyn.bsky.social You presciently predicted an ‘embarrassment of riches’ for the LGPS at 2025 valuation. How about a surplus of £200B across the UK’s 97 pension funds? And assets totally just shy of £0.5 Trillion? @dgbailey.bsky.social john-clancy.com/blogsfromthe...

@stevewebb1.bsky.social Our analysis of the Pensions Over-contribution crisis as it affected Birmingham City Council &Investment Management Expenses you tried to so something about, but which Tories dumped when they got their majority in 2015 centreforbrexitstudiesblog.wordpress.com/2024/12/03/t...

@stevewebb1.bsky.social Excellent analysis from your LCP colleague Tim Gilbert this morning in the FT. LCP should be listened to. t.co/oV5Dj828R6

Perhaps we should ask whether Max 🪓 Caller thinks that the Chancellor of the Exchequer is financially illiterate? www.ft.com/content/83ed...

@guardianheather.bsky.social Letter sent yesterday to DeputyPM by @dgbailey.bsky.social &me asking for Birmingham intervention to require immediate, expedited contributions recert&refund of at least £0.5B by 3yr contributions holiday, as they’ve already been paid. open.substack.com/pub/blogsfro...

Letter sent yesterday to Deputy PM by @dgbailey.bsky.social &me asking for intervention in Birmingham to require it to request immediate, expedited contributions recertification &refund of at least £0.5B by 3yr contributions holiday - as they’ve already been paid. open.substack.com/pub/blogsfro...

£1Billion in Management Expenses almost entirely to Investment Managers, &£270million of that paid for by Birmingham City Council whilst it went bust. Can it recover £0.5 Billion? @theguardian.com centreforbrexitstudiesblog.wordpress.com/2024/12/03/t...

centreforbrexitstudiesblog.wordpress.com/2024/12/03/t... My blog with @dgbailey.bsky.social today on the real reasons Birmingham City Council went bust, and how it can unbust itself with the stroke of the Deputy PM’s pen?