61% of all political donations in the last quarter came from just 14 people Reform took in £9.3m from a handful of super rich donors British democracy is being bought. We urgently need action to take the money out of our politics

"Landlord profit margins are on average around 42% and ordinary business owner's margins are on average 8%. [...] Vast majority of landlords are making supernormal returns" Economist @bethstratford.bsky.social #ChangeNOW 🤝

If you read one thing today, make it @stephenkb.bsky.social's admirably clear and rational analysis of the police's actions following Henry Nowak's murder, from the @financialtimes.com Inside Politics newsletter www.ft.com/content/aa94...

Last year, we shared a paper showing that Labour's accommodation of the radical right did not work. We now have a new version of the paper online: osf.io/preprints/so...

Everyone should be able to access a safe, secure, affordable home. But unaffordable rents make it impossible for people to live good lives. That's why we're calling for an "emergency brake" which would cap rent increases at the lower of inflation or 2%. Read more: neweconomics.org/2026/05/a-mo...

Around a quarter of private renters in the UK spend over 40% of disposable income on rents. This is among the highest rates across the world. Meanwhile new analysis for JRF finds being a private landlord has been one of the best investment options available to individuals.

A tiny 2% annual wealth tax could raise over £5bn a year from the top 15 billionaires on the Sunday Times Rich List alone. That could cut household energy bills by an average of £150 a year using @jrf-uk.bsky.social's Rising Block Tariff proposal. So why isn't the government doing it now?

Our new report – The Property Premium – is out today, with @jrf-uk.bsky.social 🎙️ Key finding: being a private landlord has been the best investment option available to individuals in England over the past decade. Read the full report here: autonomy.work/portfolio/th...

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...

Millionaires are five times more concerned about doctors leaving the UK than they are about other millionaires emigrating 💸 Our poll also found millionaires are proud to live in the UK, and they're willing to pay more tax to invest in our country and its young people.

Trump’s War On Iran: Myth Vs. Fact https://theonion.com/trumps-war-on-iran-myth-vs-fact/

The @europarl.europa.eu looks set on tuesday to vote through a report on the EU housing crisis that rejects the idea that financialisation has been a key driver. Read my co-authored letter with @danielagabor.bsky.social arguing aginst the report's findings www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/pub...

🏠 A foundation for future housing strategy 'Taking Stock', a paper led by IIPP's @stefanhorn.bsky.social & @bethstratford.bsky.social, outlines the foundational analysis and key frameworks of the Homes that Don’t Cost the Earth (#HDCE) project. ✍️ Read the paper here: buff.ly/TWVFHMn

EVENT: 'Housing, Power and Property' 🏠 Join @jemgilbert.bsky.social, @bethstratford.bsky.social, Nick Bano & more for an afternoon symposium on the politics of housing, rent, urban space and tenants' organising Fri 12th Dec | 1pm | UEL, London (FREE) 👇

🏘️There's huge focus around Labour’s pledge to build 1.5 million homes, and whether they can « build, baby, build ». But the sheer numbers obscure a more important question: can they do it right? @bethstratford.bsky.social and @aydindikerdem.bsky.social give their analysis on our latest episode.👇

Looking foward to speaking at this symposium!

Love these guys

🚨 One week left to apply! We're recruiting an interim Executive Director to lead ECU while our ED is on sabbatical. If you're an experienced leader with expertise in fundraising, programme management and governance this could be the role for you. 👇 econchange.org/recruitment/...

Haha, published a report last week – Taking Stock: a foundation for future housing strategy – and my friend asked ChatGPT to rewrite it in style of an 18th Century broadside. Gotta admit it's quite lolz👇. Anyway, ICYMI, exec summary is a 10min read here: darkmatterlabs.notion.site/hdce-takings...

📣Hot off the press! Taking Stock: A foundation for future housing strategy. We challenge persistent myths about the housing crisis and highlight ways to meet housing need within environmental limits. First output for 🏠Homes that Don’t Cost the Earth🌍. Read a 10 min summary: tinyurl.com/mu59kb29

Launching our Homes that don't cost the Earth project online today with Rosie Cade and @bethstratford.bsky.social presenting - get involved here: www.notion.so/darkmatterla...

Currently confirmed speakers: - Clive Lewis MP (@labourlewis.bsky.social) - Faiza Shaheen (@faizashaheen.bsky.social) - James Meadway (@meadwaj.bsky.social) - Asad Rehman (@chilledasad.bsky.social) - Beth Stratford (@bethstratford.bsky.social) - Zack Polanski MLA (@zackpolanski.bsky.social)

“Labour…pointed out that the Tony Blair Institute works for the government of Saudi Arabia”

At the end of a slightly terrifying week, where a major financial crisis was averted – for now – I thought I’d reflect on whether such a crisis might happen anyway, and what this means for UK financial sector policy. A thread. /1

🚨 The Government urgently needs policies which: — 📈 Improve the cost of living — 💰 Do not cost public money — 👨‍🏭 Place them on the side of working people 🧵 The answer? Rent controls. Our latest Perspectives piece by @sachahilhorst.bsky.social 👇 www.common-wealth.org/perspectives...

I wrote a thing about the unreality of the debate on disability benefits, where it comes from and how it affects us. It cost a few spoons to do it, but I think it would have cost more not to. Have a read if you're interested: www.christineberry.net/2025/03/the-...

Wouldn't necessarily be a game-changer everywhere, but these policies could make a real difference in many parts of the country: * 150% council tax premium on second homes * Planning permission to turn residential homes into 2nd/holiday homes * House prices fall by 12% www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

German state repression is spiralling out of control. A German climate activist has been banned from becoming a teacher. Here are some justifications from the Bavarian State Ministry of Science and the Arts—they are completely nuts: 1/7

Interesting research from Xavier Jaravel reveals "a clear and systematic gap in inflation rates across income percentiles, reflecting the varying consumption patterns of households at different income levels". He's made the data publicly available - link from article. (h/t @chrismwhayes.bsky.social)

In Dec '23 I conducted a message-testing study in which 66% of the 264 landlords in my sample were persuaded to back rent controls. 🤯 Now @cmmonwealth.bsky.social have done a straight poll and found 44% of landlords back rent controls *without any persuasion*! Nice job @sachahilhorst.bsky.social ! 🙌

look I’m no messaging expert but it seems like the American people might be interested to know that Donald Trump just gave our social security numbers to a teen called BigBalls

"Elon Musk is going to pay for his tax cut with your Social Security." @lindsayowens.bsky.social breaks down the billionaire's unprecedented takeover of key government functions, including trillions in Treasury Department payments. https://www.democracynow.org/2025/2/3/elon_musk_gov

Pretty disturbing analysis from @waleedshahid.bsky.social : waleedshahid.substack.com/p/elon-musk-...

Thames Water is in court demanding a £3bn bailout loan, paid for by customers. It's the latest rip-off in decades of hiking bills, extracting profits, and dumping sewage. What's the point of a water system – to provide water or to make money for the richest? Nationalise it now!

Been reading through the Government's new Land Use Consultation. Here's the juiciest bits I've seen so far! An excellent, bold proposal to spare 9% of England's least-productive land for nature & carbon - restoring peat bogs & regenerating woods - & changes to ag land use over a further 10% /1

There are no shortcuts in the fight for an economy which delivers climate and social justice goals. That’s the life lesson I've learned thanks to Rachel Reeves’ comments at Davos last week. My very personal response to the chancellor’s assertion that growth ‘trumps other things’. bit.ly/40BFGcI

A few years ago there was a lot of discourse about making global online retailers (Amazon specifically) actually pay tax commensurate to their sales in the UK. But that never seems to come up any more, even in conversations about the ongoing death of the high street. Any recent news on this, anyone?

Wow, debt owed to private lenders by lower-income countries has *quadrupled* since 2000. Interestingly, 90% of these loans are governed under English law due to role of City of London, so UK gov't has the power to enact a Debt Justice Law. Report by CAFOD out today: cafod.org.uk/about-us/pol...

George is spot on. Much more attention is needed on the demand-side drivers of the housing crisis. Excited to say I've just started work on a new collaborative project looking at how we CAN tackle the housing affordability crisis, without trashing the environment. Watch this space...

Or - crazy idea - freeze rents?? I still have not heard anything that made any sense about why rent controls would be a bad idea in the UK. Our housing situation has become deranged by commodification of homes into investment assets. Something meaningful has to change

Severn Trent Water dividends to rise, water bills go up. A serial offender, dumps sewage in rivers, has 62 criminal convictions. BBC Panorama claimed Severn Trent inflated its investment by £1.68bn Water bills to be hiked by 47% to 2030. Who protects the people? www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Interested in joining our growing, purpose-driven team? We are recruiting a Senior Economist to help deliver our programme of high-quality, impactful research. 🗓️ Deadline is 7 February

Time and time again in my investigations I find under funded, under powered regulators who are run roughshod over by the venal and the malfeasant. Shudder to think what would happen if these weak regulators were scrapped altogether.

Because most of the coastline of this gulf is, yes, Mexico. There is no Gulf of America. But there is a gulf between their stupidity and the reality. 17th & 18th c. maps.

1. The UK government’s pursuit of GDP growth at all costs is an assault on our natural wealth, which will impoverish us all. It might be able to massage the headline figures by converting the living world into money, but it does not improve our lives.🧵

Oooo looking forward to this. The Breakdown is such an greeat show, if you haven't started listening yet you are MISSING OUT PEOPLE!

Capping political donations is free, popular and the right thing to do to protect British democracy from Elon Musk and his fellow travellers. So why won't Keir Starmer act? democracyforsale.substack.com/p/trump-and-...

If Thames Water collapses into Special Administration, consumers could be saddled with its £16bn debt. A loophole in the Water (Special Measures) Bill allows this. I'm backing an amendment to the bill to #BanTheBailouts under SAR. Make sure your MP supports it: actionnetwork.org/letters/urge...

Rachel Reeves has reportedly weakened planned changes to the non-dom tax regime after “intense lobbying from wealthy UK residents”. I look forward to seeing if “intense lobbying” from disabled people will stop Labour cutting benefits.