If it’s all eyes on property tax, surely the time has come for a thorough overhaul of Council tax, which is grossly unfair. Split out the service charge, fairly tax the value of residential property, the majority win or break even… www.economicsobservatory.com/what-future-...

The strong spot though is UK success in ‘curiosity’-driven (aka nimble, horizon-scanning, front foot, future-shaping) scholarship. All to play for!

Absolutely going to this! Cutting edge stuff on #housing problems and prospects from Ifigeneia Dimitrakou (University of Zurich) and @timwhite100.bsky.social (Queen Mary University of London, UK)

Fantastic programme!

I think the key is in the brackets… (a trend by no means limited to students…)

Good for publishing, good for housing, good for… hang on, perhaps #not-for-profit is good for (nearly) everyone?

Iconic moment at the start of a long period of middle/ lower income wage stagnation and a marked to to economic inequality… so, an ongoing struggle and a complex story.

Thousands of amateur brass enthusiasts have been limbering up for a flurry of local brass band association contests. It’s not about whether you win or lose… but, well, winning is ok! 😎

Surely the caché needed to push through a change of this kind would be best spent reforming land/property tax across the board? Hasn’t there been enough tinkering with Council tax to warrant a change of approach? www.thetimes.com/article/5ac9...

Excellent. Fitting tribute to a brilliant scholar.

Honestly it makes me so cross when you want to download or print out a copy of your own article and find ‘your license does not permit this’. Grrrrr.

And still the top 10% take away over a quarter of the total (post tax UK income, according to WID…)

On the subject of workable solutions to intractable problems (the chaos of residential property taxation, an increasingly dysfunctional #housing market), check out this unmissable @britishacademy.bsky.social lecture by John Muellbauer (online + in person) www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/events/lectu...

A lot of us have plenty of evidence-informed ideas around this challenge. Will any of them make the cut?

Fine opportunity!

Which is why, amid all this talk of economic growth, it is the TYPE of growth - its sustainability, its resilience, and above all its distribution - that matters.

Reply to some great comments on mine and Gavin Wood’s piece on #housing, the asset economy and a resurgence of rentier capitalism www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Err… top marginal tax rates in the U.K. (as in many other countries) have plummeted since the 1970s… meanwhile middle incomes have stagnated and tax thresholds have frozen. So…

Sounds like a fantastic opportunity to work with a game changing organisation…

Sunil Amrith’s mindblowing journey through time: an imperative to revisit ‘the paths not taken’ observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

Spot on. Don’t tinker. Get key people round a table and reform the whole lot… www.thetimes.com/article/e895...

Excellent interventions! Reply follows. Great to feel part of an engaging conversation…

In the meantime www.economicsobservatory.com/what-future-...

Spellbinding talk tonight @girtoncollege.bsky.social by Valda Jackson… www.cam.ac.uk/news/marking...

Another prize event this evening, reflecting on some outstanding essays engaging with the legacies and practices of enslavement www.girton.cam.ac.uk/news/dusinbe...

Ta dah! After a rivetting short-list showcase and an eye-opening tour de force among six compelling authors, the winner of the British Academy 2025 Book Prize is… www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/british-acad...

Tonight’s (nearly) the night! The British Academy Book Prize ‘shortlist showcase’ takes place this evening (winner revealed tomorrow). Don’t miss a glimpse inside the covers of six of the best works of non-fiction… www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/events/livin...

It’s happening! Congratulations to everyone who had the vision and energy to get this far. Chuffed to be there…

Food for thought…

In fact, thoroughgoing reform of property taxation could be just the thing to oil the wheels of the #housing system… (as well as making it fairer and more affordable).

Grand night out in Newcastle… www.tynetheatreandoperahouse.uk/whatson/sand...

We are awarding our President's Medal to 'In Our Time' as it has done so much to showcase humanities & social sciences. We'd decided this before the news of Melvyn Bragg stepping down, but glad we got our timing right & had a chance to celebrate with him! www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/news/renowne...

This was fabulous evening celebrating truly great scholarship across a range of subjects from archaeology to social policy - an eye-opening, mind-expanding roller-coaster of an event!

Oh… ‘build lower numbers of affordable homes and claim higher subsidies to build them’. Shareholders will love it!

Answer? Tax rises. Just getting a grip on residential property would be game-changing, as previously mentioned www.economicsobservatory.com/what-future-...

It was brilliant to welcome the In Our Time team to the British Academy to celebrate this splendid news. Their phenomenal success shows just how much public interest there is in the very best of the humanities and social sciences.

So pleased to see that @girtoncollege.bsky.social protégé Hertha Ayrton made the cut!

Neat idea. Unlikely to work unless coupled with Council Tax reform (imho, as suggested here: www.economicsobservatory.com/what-future-...) www.thetimes.com/article/e483...

And entirely energising it is too! Reply to reply just arrived in proof… it’s great to be in the thick of such a thought-provoking conversation.

While we’re on the subject of problematic property taxes and fairer #housing futures, icymi here’s 10p-worth of comment on a £50bn question… www.economicsobservatory.com/what-future-...

On the importance of avoiding ‘badly engineered, disconnected, case-by-case consolidation’ (or, as they say, ‘hope is not a plan’) www.timeshighereducation.com/news/univers...

Oh…

All good news (though the Scottish system has had some of this inbuilt for a while). However the biggest brake overall on housing market transactions is stamp duty… also worth an overhaul?

Just a reminder that the closing date for this fab 2-year opportunity @britishacademy.bsky.social to develop and lead high-risk, high-reward interdisciplinary research is 5 November (in partnership with CIFAR) www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/funding/sche...

Oh dear… As well as assuming that Council Tax is fit for purpose, this leaves most under-occupation and the majority of housing wealth untouched. Why not try for something fairer and more effective across the entire #housing stock? www.thenational.scot/news/2550742...

Excellent intervention. Tbh the erosion of social mobility (and John Goldthorpe’s game-changing exposé of it) is usually the first thing I think of when reflecting on long run trends in economic inequality; the second is the brake imposed on labour mobility by the way #housing systems work…

Hmm building societies… are there tax implications or does the developer just reduce the price?

Exactly! Large corporates have their eyes on the huge value of ‘last time sales’ - part of a wider shift in the housing economy www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Important read!

Looking for inspiration? Six projects, four themes, two funders, over forty talented scholars and a bunch of innovative methods = a unique, collaborative, vision for strengthening the social and cultural fabric of our communities www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/news/buildin...