"his [Trump's] plan appears to be for Venezuela to remain under the day-to-day rule of a senior chavista, with its democratically elected leaders excluded and its wealth controlled by American corporations." www.economist.com/the-americas...

The Telegraph's big book of woke things reaches Zulu (1964)

Now he is literally the Poundland Donald Trump

WHAT!!!!???

This edition of Today edited by James Dyson sounds like an advert for Dyson

Not even a Forest fan but it’s hard to exaggerate how good he was or how central he was to the greatest sporting miracle of my lifetime www.theguardian.com/football/202...

Govt backs down on evicting successful asylum seekers in 28 days, reverts to 56 days, following judicial challenges. Good, because the 28 days limit was mad. dpglaw.co.uk/home-secreta...

One Labour MP said she was still on X “because our constituents are still there”. 🤔 Another says her posts used to be shared hundreds or even thousands of times, but now they rarely reach more than a hundred 😬

we ask the question: why are Labour MPs and ministers still using X when its owner has vowed to destroy them? www.ft.com/content/5b0e...

First time I saw this I thought it must be an old story from 2023 accidentally pumped out again www.theguardian.com/business/202...

If they can find a way to back down to rich farmers why can’t they find a way to back down to keep Palestine protestors from starving themselves to death?

Telegraph discovers that there may have been one or two problems with Thatcher's flagship housing policy (Wait till it realises right to buy cost multiple times more than £900m) www.telegraph.co.uk/gift/a302434...

Great/terrible story of life for a homeless family living in a hotel room in Oldham www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater...

Just when you thought things couldn’t get any worse for Keir Starmer www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

"Every time I pull a lever" says the Prime Minister. This dead metaphor is killing his ability to get things done. There aren't any levers. There's only leadership. howtorunacountry.substack.com/p/there-aren...

Even when they won, as Brian Clough told them: You can all throw your medals in the bin, because they were not won fairly

The least strange part of this story is that MHCLG felt the need to spy on companies to pursue them for building safety costs. Lying about why you want information is unlawful but dodging responsibility is fine? giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...

The utter mess that leasehold can cause. Freehold sold to dodgy company who propose to develop roofspace to new flats. Works cause devastation to resident leaseholders. Dodgy company goes into administration, making leaseholders' success claim against them pointless. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

WHY ARE YOU ANNOYED THIS IS WHAT YOU WANTED TO HAPPEN

Not if business interests cosy up to them because they like what they say on deregulation. Had forgotten how smug Economist editorials can be Can anyone stop Europe’s populist right? economist.com/leaders/2025...

Successful outcome to my first (and my firm's first) Awaab's Law based interim injunction application today, 46 days after the Regulations came into force. They do work! Definite sense that this won't be the last...

Homelessness strategy now out - calling it A National Plan to End Homelessness certainly shows the right level of ambition www.gov.uk/government/p...

Homelessness strategy not out yet but think she is promising to end the use of B&Bs *except* in an emergency. Does that mean for single people as well as families with children? And for any period, not just longer than six-week legal limit? www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

Very pleased to have become an @nujofficial.bsky.social lifer - many thanks to all in the South West branch - though the last 40-plus years seem to have gone pretty quickly

👀 Zarah Sultana voted with the Tories in *every* vote on the Employment Rights Bill last night 👀 Including - voting to KEEP strike ballot thresholds - voting to KEEP the Tories’ 2016 changes to political fund ballots

Home Office Ministers state publicly, on the record, that they are deliberately making life worse for older people and people with disabilities who depend on care services, but it's worth it because it reduces net migration.

Pre computer print production - ems and ens, casting off, cut and paste (love the smell of cow gum in the morning)

Call it what it is, a commercial break.

With demand for temporary accommodation at a record high, Capital Letters seemed like a great idea for London boroughs to procure it collaboratively. In lots of ways it still seems like a great idea. So what went wrong? asks @sdelahunty.bsky.social www.insidehousing.co.uk/insight/inve...

Not sure if it's Steve Reed or the BBC who is mixing up the 1.5m additional homes target for England with the OBR's forecast for the UK. Or have they got one end of the goalposts each? www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

I haven't seen it reported elsewhere, but there has been another Prevention of Future Deaths report by a Coroner for a very small child which highlights mould in the family home. The details are distressing.

'The whole system is near-criminal in its ability to harvest public money so that exploitative providers can provide inadequate housing and support to vulnerable people' Observer story on supported exempt accommodation in Birmingham observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

Why not avoid all the time, money and trouble and just give him the World Cup as well? www.bbc.co.uk/sport/footba...

The Trump administration's updated National Security Strategy is a really striking document that offers the clearest expression yet of what it is trying to do in Europe: "Cultivating resistance to Europe’s current trajectory within European nations" 👀

Just published! Rent Strikes: A history of collective tenant actions across the world, the book I edited with @hannesrolf.bsky.social, is out now from @uclpress.bsky.social It's OPEN ACCESS, part of the "Work Around the World" series by @iisg-amsterdam.bsky.social uclpress.co.uk/book/rent-st...

Govt to end unlawful use of bed and breakfast (beyond six week) for families with children under child poverty strategy and invest in better quality temporary accommodation. Good but why not a more ambitious target for cutting number of kids growing up in TA? www.gov.uk/government/n...

What will next Leasehold Bill do about property managers? Feels like they have less accountability than landlords in some ways www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

Welsh Housing Quarterly is looking for a new editor to replace me. Might suit a freelance journalist looking for a regular part-time role in a vibrant Welsh housing sector or someone working in housing looking for something a little different. More details here whq.org.uk/2025/12/04/c...

A grim logic to this. Unaffordable housing means not enough families with children means school closures means temporary accommodaton for familes with children who are homeless www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/london-...

Lies, damned lies and the Telegraph. They posted CSJ figures using an outrageously false comparison of 2 cases. It claimed a benefits family were better off by £18k than a working household when the real figure was £16k worse off. The details benefitsinthefuture.com #benefits #budget

This thread explains more about the government's overall strategy than the rest of it has managed in 15 months

Quite a story - let's hope they win www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

Just got my first 'Keep your TV service active' scam email - from the email address used I can only assume that TV Licensing has been hacked?

Exempt supported accommodation company goes bust owing £12m. Administrators list incidents of threats, harassment, break-ins, arson attacks and deception. www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midland...

The 'mansion tax' seems to have so discombobulated the right-wing press that they have largely not noticed the 'landlord tax'

Quick follow-up to yesterday: no mention of Local Housing Allowance or the benefit cap in any of budget documents but Pat McFadden confirmed in a written statement later that the freeze in both will continue into next year hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2025...

No mention of Local Housing Allowance that I can find in Budget documents (so assume freeze in rates will continue) or of benefit cap (assume will continue at current rate). Both would blunt some of the impact on child poverty of scrapping two-child limit

Consultation coming up on VAT treatment of land intended for social housing to 'incentivise' development

Detail awaited but this should help tackle the working Catch 22 for people living in supported and temporary accommodation

Budget defers key decision on rent convergence in social housing until January