Is it kitten-o-clock? I think it must be kitten-o-clock.

I have a lot of affection for Rail magazine after it became my toddler’s magazine of choice (ahead of the more obvious options like CBeebies). Now have high hopes this signals @jim.londoncentric.media levels of future success

Seems like a good place to post this as bsky must have the highest density of policy officers of any social media platform: TUC looking for a policy lead for employment rights and labour markets. A nice team. Key experience needed in screenshot. www.tuc.org.uk/jobs/policy-...

Delighted to work with Crisis and other orgs across the housing and homelessness world on this report demonstrating the urgent need to unfreeze LHA www.crisis.org.uk/media/00pnzl...

Renters - we want to hear from you! Temperatures are smashing through 30 degrees again - are you able to keep your home bearable, and what are you doing to deal with the heat? Tell us in the replies!

Another outstanding investigation from @jim.londoncentric.media making a compelling case for proper statutory regulation of letting agents

Very stressful dream last night: Andy Burnham appointed me Chancellor of the Exchequer. Most of dream was trying to get Ed Miliband to stop sulking and offer me some advice

Honestly I’ve not known such pure joyful schadenfreude since Four Seasons Total Landscaping

Prominently on the front cover. It should not be this difficult!

To this day I have no idea what they were thinking going about this the way they went about it

Actually did a double-take, I swear this is a picture of me and my university boyfriend.

Does anyone’s evening need kittens?

Just 50% of eligible older people in England receive Council Tax Reduction. The UK Govt must do more to work with local authorities and ensure older people on low incomes receive the support they need. https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/lifestyle/money/council-tax-bill-help-pensioners-37301036

When the @independentage.bsky.social office bake sale is this good, the only strategy is to sample a bit of everything!

Makes one wonder how many other “mystery” fire safety test results might be out there 🤔

Oh no not Giles! I once sat opposite Anthony Head on a suburban train at the height of Buffy fame and was absolutely starstruck. It was like bumping into Tom Cruise on the 18:52 to East Croydon. RIP

Can I recommend having this under your desk to enhance your working day?

Excellent point made here that it’s politically all too easy to continue the LHA freeze because it’s never announced, it’s buried in the detail of the budget. Which is why we need to keep on banging on about it!

I am so absolutely done with these adverts with AI-generated “experts” telling me how my life will be sorted out with a miracle app

Evan Davis just now on WATO on fairness between generations: "Stop thinking about 'this generation vs that generation' - there are winners and losers *within* each generation which swamp the differences between them" - yes, working with older people in financial hardship, I agree!

I realise it's now nearly 10 years after the fire, and the wait must be unbearable for survivors and bereaved. But this sounds positive in the breadth and number of charges being considered. Let's hope the time has been used to gather evidence needed for what will inevitably be complex cases

If you're over State Pension age, on a low income and live with a partner who is below #StatePension age, the rules say you can't receive the social securuty entitlements meant for #pensioners. Today we joined with 12 other organisations to call for this unfair rule to be reversed #costofliving

Would you like to share your thoughts on the Timms Review of Personal Independence Payment (PIP)? Disability Together have a short survey to gather evidence. #PIP #Timms #review #disability forms.cloud.microsoft/Pages/Respon...

Finally, we have data to show vast majority of landlords earn supernormal returns: even with high interest rates, 63% outperform a 60:40 equity-gilt portfolio & 71% beat the broader real estate sector. Proud to have co-authored this with @autonomy-institute.bsky.social autonomy.work/portfolio/th...

The more I look at this the less I understand it - “circle size represents response rate” - WHAT?

What on earth is this chart format?

Between this and the guy who unwittingly stole a Faberge egg from outside a pub, it seems London thieves just can't catch a break.

Someone at TBI needs a black thinking hat

Hahahaha they actually found the lady from George Orwell

🥳

Everything about this is 10/10, the content we need right now.

I feel like one of my followers should know the answer to this…

So much this. I can't even remember whether I met Giles at some point, but his influence was such a constant that it doesn't seem that relevant - the blogs, the tweets, the kind correspondence and patience with queries have been so important to me all through my career in housing.

Apocalypse? What apocalypse?

Director of Policy and Influencing @morganvine.bsky.social: Local Housing Allowance was designed to help those who need it meet their housing costs. By freezing it, some of the people on the lowest incomes in our society have to scrimp further to pay their rent, or risk homelessness.

This is very much worth a read - remarkable piece that is incredibly insightful into what drives people to act in extraordinary ways (on both sides of this interaction)

Thanks to Neville for letting us take over your account today!

Travelodge is getting the heat on this understandably but numerous times I’ve been in hotels where simply walking up to the desk and asking for a spare key card to a specific room will get you one with no name or ID required. Mind bogglingly lax.

Really useful piece on the forthcoming changes to poverty statistics - which should hopefully give us a clearer picture of the role the social security system plays in alleviating poverty

I've moaned before about things being published on gov.uk webpages not as documents - I've spent half the afternoon track down something that's just been disappeared with seemingly no audit trail. Grr!!

Would like to see a Venn diagram of heat pump owners and Strava users

Too many older private renters are stuck in cold, energy‑inefficient homes. Read our latest blog for a breakdown of our new report and the policy changes we’re pushing for to protect older renters. https://medium.com/independent-age/older-renters-minimum-energy-efficiency-standards-5d70ef0273b0

What’s more worrying - soaring energy bills or soaring rents? Older renters need warmer homes, but also need protections to make sure that getting them doesn’t cost - in higher rents, worry, disruption, shoddy work or eviction.

THIRTY YEARS?! 😭

😮

Aziz’s commitment to homelessness appears to be creating it and then capitalising on it

I want to see a regional breakdown as I cannot believe 1 in 4 Londoners would approve of a jaywalking law. I was in Copenhagen last year which is delightful in almost every way but I lost my mind over their inability to walk across the damn road without the approval of a little green light

Since 2019, older people have been locked out of vital pension-age support like Pension Credit because their partner is younger. Today we're calling for this unfair rule to end. Couples are losing as much as £7,000 a year. Love shouldn't come at a cost 💔 www.independentage.org/about-us/cam...

Everyones keen for a bit of rent control.. (via YouGov)

Landlords eh? This is from a landlord's inspection report, triggered when the tenants gave their notice to leave, in which the landlord tries to justify deductions from the tenant's deposit. I grabbed this from a subReddit for UK Renters ( r/TenantsInTheUK).