England’s batters discussing their strategy for this upcoming career-defining innings #ashes25 #ashes

🚨Three deaths in 10 days in London linked to cychlorphine, a new synthetic opioid The cases are the first publicly-known UK deaths from the drug Questions mount over delays in telling frontline services of the threat, and a lack of public information  🧵 Here's what we know:

NEW: Three deaths in London within 10 days have been linked to cychlorphine, a new synthetic opioid 50-200 times stronger than heroin Questions mount over delays in warning frontline workers of dangers: “People are dying needlessly due to lack of information” www.bigissue.com/news/social-...

🚨Exclusive: How Yo-yo Homes lost taxpayers £60m+ in five years Newest part of @bigissue.com investigation tracks fate of 445 ex-council homes across England 💰 Sold for £35.7m 💰 Bought back for £97.1m 📉 Loss of £61.4m Right to Buy loophole means councils can't reclaim discounts

🚨NEW: A Labour council has blocked a bid to reveal the full extent of its losses on Yo-yo Homes Both Tories and Greens in Swindon backed the attempt for transparency, raised after @bigissue.com But Labour called it a waste of time + said the past can't be changed www.bigissue.com/news/housing...

🚨 EXC: Council sells homes for £10m under Right to Buy, then spends £33m buying them back Newham Council, which has Eng's highest social housing waiting list, has lost £22m on Yo-yo Homes in 5 yrs, @bigissue.com finds RtB loophole means they can't reclaim discounts www.bigissue.com/news/housing...

NEW: Labour pledges £12m to stop 1,000+ veterans becoming homeless Funding boost comes after Big Issue revealed doubts over future of scheme - with fears March 2026 cliff-edge could see veteran rough sleeping surge. Led to pressure from Tories/Lib Dems www.bigissue.com/news/housing...

NEW: Shadow defence sec James Cartlidge says Starmer's gov "must urgently confirm" funding for homeless veterans after @bigissue.com reveals doubts over cash could leave hundreds homeless Story: www.bigissue.com/news/housing...

NEW: Labour should 'urgently' act on Right to Buy reforms to stop councils losing millions buying back Yo-yo Homes they owned just a few years previously, Andy Burnham's deputy Paul Dennett says Comes after @bigissue.com found 120+ examples, incl in GM👇 Story: www.bigissue.com/uncategorise...

UPDATE: Former veterans' minister Johnny Mercer says he's "very angry" after @bigissue.com reveals cash which helped 1k+ veterans off the streets is in doubt. "On one hand this government say they will look after veterans. But when they think no-one is looking, they turn off the funding"

“Quite simply, we’re worried that the government does not want its homework marked when it comes to child poverty" Guardian reporting on @bigissue.com campaign ramping up pressure on government to set firm targets on reducing child poverty www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

🚨EXC: Starmer promised to house all veterans in need. But scheme which has got 1k vets off street is in doubt 👉Veterans orgs tell me future cash is uncertain 👉Orgs warn they'd have to shut housing without funding 👉 One org listed by gov as taking referrals never got cash

🚨 @bigissue.com EXCLUSIVE: Hundreds of veterans could be made homeless as cash for housing in doubt Starmer promised to 'house all veterans in need' But orgs funded by Op Fortitude, which provides 900 beds, say they don't know if money will continue past March. Warn rough sleeping could increase

🚨 Disabled children are having to wait for nearly four months to receive benefit payments due to government delays - double the time the DWP is meant to process applications in @cjayanetti.bsky.social for @bigissue.com www.bigissue.com/news/social-...

🚨Exclusive: Investigation from @bigissue.com reveals councils lost £15M repurchasing 'Yo-yo Homes' sold under Right to Buy, with sellers pocketing profits as homelessness rises. Labour faces calls for reform. #YoYoHomes #RightToBuy #HousingCrisis www.bigissue.com/news/housing...

A House of Dynamite….don’t think I’ve ever seen a film that so lacked the confidence to actually make the point it wanted to make At least it was two acts long in runtime as well as plot. Felt like a bottle episode of a v mid prestige TV show Watch the Sum of All Fears instead

🚨EXCLUSIVE: Taxpayers are losing millions as councils buy back homes they sold just a few years previously under Right to Buy I’ve uncovered 120+ examples. Today we’re revealing them all @bigissue.com Here's a thread of 10 that will shock you 🧵

👀 Exclusive: How councils lost £15m of taxpayers' money – by buying back homes they sold Big Issue reporter @gregbarradale.bsky.social here. I've been digging into Yo-yo Homes. They're costing taxpayers millions Today we're publishing the full list of 120+ Yo-yo Homes we've discovered. Here's a 🧵

🚨REVEALED: How to lose £15m of taxpayers’ money Today we’ve published 120+ examples where ex-tenants have sold Right to Buy properties back to councils at profits sometimes >£200k. They’re the Yo-yo Home Files Across just 13 councils, the losses total over £15m www.bigissue.com/news/housing...

Interesting Guardian story about Brighton reversing Right to Buy As I revealed this month, councils have spent over £2bn buying up 8.5k homes in the past five years. Half of those are homes previously lost under Right to Buy. It's widespread: www.bigissue.com/news/housing...

What a story about the snake-oil world of brain training Dr Kawashima would be absolutely spinning in his grave

👀Looks like the government has confirmed its plans to cut affordable housing targets in London to 20% Press release says projects which commit to 20% housebuilding will be accelerated – as long as 60% of those homes (so 12% total) are social housing

“She’s 9 now, and she’s never had her own room, never had somewhere to put up posters or invite friends over” That’s the reality of life in temporary accommodation, laid bare by @homelessnessimpact.bsky.social Even the new homelessness minister admits she was shocked by the scale of the crisis

"The Big Issue's investigation has put the spotlight back on Right to Buy" 🪀The fantastic @sheffieldtribune.bsky.social from @millmedia.bsky.social running with my Yo-yo Homes story 🪀 Love to see it

"It's frustrating, it's infuriating, and it's got this quite sinister element to it" I went on the PoliticsJOE podcast to talk all things Yo-yo Homes with @avasantina.bsky.social A thrill! Catch it here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmvQ...

People with learning difficulties die 19.5 years younger on average - living to just 62.5 years old Nearly 4 in 10 deaths of people with a learning disability in 2023 were "avoidable"

“It is indefensible that local councils sell housing stock at a discount, only to repurchase the same properties years later at five times the price. This highlights a broken system"

NEW: Lib Dems would allow councils to end Right to Buy, says @eddavey.libdems.org.uk His comments come after @bigissue.com revealed councils losing millions buying back Yo-yo Homes they sold under Right to Buy just a few years earlier

NEW: Yo-yo Homes "indefensible" and highlight broken system says @zarahsultana.bsky.social This week @bigissue.com revealed ex-tenants making £200k+ selling Right to Buy homes back to councils just a few years after sale Now Sultana, Corbyn, Ed Davey, and more weigh in on the story

When I asked Polanski about possible defections for @bigissue.com in June his answer was interesting (before anyone knew what a Your Party was) Looking back it feels like there might have been a big sliding doors moment happen in British left politics which went under the radar

Love to see the Yo-yo Homes story elevated to the level of 'scandal', leading the excellent London Minute newsletter today

Happy 100th Birthday Margaret Thatcher. This is your legacy: Right to Buy forces councils to sell off homes. They're so desperate to get them back that they'll buy the homes back just a few years later, making losses of £200k+. Ex-tenants get rich www.bigissue.com/news/housing...

The other way of looking at this is that Hackney Council spent £269,950 to get someone to give up their council tenancy

EXCLUSIVE: Councils are buying back homes they sold just a few years previously under Right to Buy, losing millions 🪀We’re calling them Yo-yo Homes and they’re making ex-tenants over £200k in some cases, at the expense of taxpayers

🪀Great to see my Yo-yo Homes investigation picked up by @the-independent.com and @hollybancroft.bsky.social www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home...

I've spent a few months working on a series of articles on abortion rights in the UK. The first piece is out today. Abortion is a step closer to decriminalisation in England and Wales, but with the rise of right-wing rhetoric, are rights still at risk? www.bigissue.com/news/social-...

Yo-yo Homes are costing councils millions and making ex-tenants rich, as councils buy back homes they sold just a few years previously under Right to Buy That's what we've uncovered in this week's @bigissue.com I spent all my time making the story good and none of it learning to yo-yo. Enjoy

A Yo-Yo Home is a property bought from a council under Right to Buy, then sold back to the council between five and 10 years later, at a profit. Senior reporter @gregbarradale.bsky.social explains why they exist in this week's special investigation. ⬇️ www.bigissue.com/news/housing...

In 2014, Hackney Council sold a property under Right to Buy for £95,050 In 2021, they bought it back off the ex-tenant for £365k In ~6 yrs, the council lost £269,950 on a single property It's not an isolated example. @bigissue.com has uncovered 100+ 'Yo-yo Homes' www.bigissue.com/news/housing...

Big Issue investigates the Right To Buy properties sold back to councils for massive profits, just years after being bought at a discount.

NEW: Debby Wakeham didn't learn about the death of her son, Richard Sanders, in a London homeless hostel, until nine days after the fact Five months on, she's still desperately searching for answers A reminder: 1,611 people died while homeless in 2024 www.bigissue.com/news/housing...

📺 The public trust the cast of Celebrity Traitors more than the UK's leading politicians With Celebrity Traitors kicking off tonight, @bigissue.com asked @ipsosintheuk.bsky.social to find out who's more trusted: celebs going to a castle to lie to each other on telly, or the UK's politicians

I spent a day in the immigration tribunals Robert Jenrick wants to abolish recently The reality? Judges don't get much time to impose their political views - they're too busy chasing lawyers and experts for paperwork Delayed cases, locked doors, and angry judges

NEW: The Hack, ITV's drama about the phone-hacking scandal begins tonight. Daniel Morgan's murder tangles with the hacking storyline His brother Alastair wasn't involved w/the show. He told @bigissue.com his thoughts- and if he blames Starmer for dropping the case www.bigissue.com/culture/tv/t...

Saw a proper mad Instagram reel that Declan Rice had donated £14m to a housing project in Tower Hamlets Googled it and the AI summary backed it up, telling users about the donation Did some journalism - it’s not true. Experts say it’s a classic case of AI dangers www.bigissue.com/news/housing...

Happy to help @gregbarradale.bsky.social with this story for @bigissue.com. Is it too much to expect platforms' AI summaries to at least get the big things right? Have a read.

Back at it with my favourite benign use of social media -- short book reviews! Now with star ratings! I will not fail you, 2025 books thread, even if there is a backlog to clear

🚨Over 100 people have died in Scotland after taking nitazenes, a synthetic opioid contaminating the drugs supply But even more could have died if it wasn't for one innovation: the UK's first safer consumption room Staff tell me how it's saved lives in near-misses www.bigissue.com/news/social-...

FWIW here was Zack Polanski's take on 'the boob thing' when I (dutifully, like a good little reporter) asked him a few months ago