What a load of twaddle. Just 12 people have made PI claims against Lime, compared with all the thousands of trips a day. Who is going to carry round a helmet on the off chance they'll use a Lime? Should Lime bike users be forced to wear helmets? share.google/yu3LFyQkRVBw...

Informative🧵about why social landlords can't absorb affordable homes built by developers and what could be done about it.

Affordable housing stock has fallen drastically relative to population since the early 1980s ⤵️ buff.ly/pQXp2Sc

well then stop using his website my good man!!!!!!! you can't hang out on someone's lawn all day every day then complain that he happens to also be on the lawn!

Good thread by Giles on the Rachel Reeves speech 👇

It's fundamentally impossible to do this kind of politics with a state as centralised as we have. You have to give more power to mayors and councils. Including the ability to raise funds.

Labour is pitching the New Towns announcement today as a return to the "transformative post-war housing boom under Clement Attlee". Actually it looks much more like housing policy under Blair, or even Thatcher and Boris Johnson (thread)

Affordable housing stock has fallen drastically relative to population since the early 1980s ⤵️ buff.ly/pQXp2Sc

Ruth’s whole thread is worth a reading and this is a key point- one that I think often gets missed in news coverage. If government announces it plans to do something (that will require legislative/parly approval) it should be reported as ‘govt announces plans to do X’ and not as ‘govt will do X’

Or vote. Or open a bank account. Or instruct solicitors in a property transaction, I could go on.

This type of language is utterly unacceptable. Two MPs have actually been murdered in the last decade. Using violent rhetoric like this isn't big or clever, it's dangerous and idiotic

Cannot stress enough how it is already possible to report potholes www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/poli...

NEW REPORT: @instituteforgovernment.org.uk finds that confused missions, pervasive risk aversion, poor data quality, insufficient commericial capability, and a failure to focus on outcomes means that govt is failing to make the most of £400bn+ a year it spends on procurement

Can vouch that this is stunning.

Kind of amazing how UK news media still remains obsessed with the structurally limited impact in economic terms of small boats even as this potentially terminal havoc works its way through key UK industrial supply chains on.ft.com/3Ihb8YF

NB @lbc.co.uk doing what BBC wouldn't, and rightly labelling claim as false. The Nick Robinson version: "Royal Parks struggling to counter controversial claims by NF that migrants are killing and eating swans." www.lbc.co.uk/article/fara...

The government has embarked on the largest wave of local government reorganisation in England since 46 unitary authorities were established between 1995 and 1997. So what are the options and challenges ahead? Our report explores www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/publication/...

I was working up lines with @local.gov.uk press office addressing exact same misleading @cprecountryside.bsky.social claims nearly 20 years ago! So tiring to see nonsense like this lapped up by lazy journalists year after year.

The value of Fuel Duty is now at historic lows, having fallen by 23p per litre (or a third) in real terms over the past decade. It would cost £5 billion *per year* to continue the freeze by the end of the decade. Instead, smaller quarterly increases should be introduced.

Apart from awfulness like suggesting whether something is hate speech is just a matter of opinion, this piece by *a very senior BBC journalist* is just a shoddy piece of writing. If a first-year undergrad wrote it, tutor would tell them to start again.

Bus to town runs along busy B and A roads. No pedestrian crossings at stops (some in 50/60mph speed limits) until it enters the city, and only patchily there. Where is the campaigning about that by disability charities? (Excellent @transportforall.org.uk excepted.)

Why are the American president's claims about autism the first item on British news bulletins? He's not our president, the advice doesn't apply here and he's not presented any evidence to support his assertions. So why spread these claims? What make this the biggest story in the UK?

Since 2024 GE coverage, BBC and other big media outlets have systematically neglected seismic changes brought about by LDs in parts of the country. I guess I see it in one such part (1/2)

Imagine if Richard Nixon had just tweeted out the Watergate scandal rather than putting it on secret tapes. That’s what this is.

This is something that donald trump will never understand… #USDemocracy

"Public nuisance", really? Definition:"creates a risk of, or causes, serious harm to the public or a section of the public", "obstructs the public or a section of the public in the exercise or enjoyment of a right that may be exercised/enjoyed by the public at large." www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Quite apart from anything else, even if the Romanian case doesn't progress, they would then face extradition here to face 21 charges which have been laid by CPS. Spectator journo either hasn't done basic research or wilfully misrepresenting facts.

Important new report from Sunder on an immigration policy that might actually work and command public support.

While I understand the BBC’s imperative to provide balance in stories, at times it can feel completely ludicrous. Data vs one person’s entirely anecdotal opinion isn’t balance.

It's that time of year again... Just put in my votes for @nationaltrust.org.uk AGM to keep at bay Restore Trust culture warriors.

Your periodic reminder that nuclear power is not "clean" and it won't "save households money". It is always on and low carbon. You're welcome.

Removing racist displays in one city = the cost of 12,000 hours of social care.

New post just out: "The route to chaotic authoritarianism" On why Reform's deportation plans would have consequences well beyond asylum, that could change Britain forever. (£/free trial) open.substack.com/pub/samf/p/t...

Aside from Webb's description of Bluesky reactions being wildly inaccurate (so far as I can see), without even a suspect being arrested, speculating about how, if at all, the shooter's actions were shaped by social media is totally premature. Shame (again) on BBC.

NEW | a look at how a ‘new’ think-tank got coverage… THE BBC, THE NHS, AND A ‘NEW’ THINK-TANK A case study in how vested interests rebrand themselves as "think-tanks". brokenbottleboy.substack.com/p/the-bbc-th...

Solitary swan feeding in the reeds at Wicken Fen Cambridgeshire today

First St George's flags seen today in southern Cambridgeshire (flag-free zone up to now). Looked like they were flying at half-mast and, curiously, some adorned with red snowflake symbols. Appropriate, I suppose 🙃

Our economies need energy to run. Wind and solar are cheap, abundant sources of energy. They will never run out. They are almost miracles. Whichever country dominates in turbines and solar PV will become the most economically important. Right now, that's China.

With the worrying emergence of unofficial "patrols" in various places, I hope police will move swiftly to enforce Public Order Act 1936 which prohibits uniformed groups of this kind. Context was, of course, SA, Blackshirts etc.

Round here one of the arguments was that the panels would dazzle horses (being near Newmarket) leading to the collapse of the racing industry. Fortunately that scheme was NSIP so determined by SoS.

There is no easy answer to how to house new people without causing local conflict when there's simply not enough homes to go around. We need to build more homes. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

At the Reform UK conference, Dr Aseem Malhotra made a number of claims about Covid vaccines, some of which were misleading or simply not backed by any credible evidence. We’ve fact checked a few of his claims 👇

How odd, not a word about it on BBC News, not even the Essex local page 🤔

A depressing set of stats from the HBF. The new Government has been trying to reform planning so why is this happening? - New Planning Bill hasn't passed yet, nor have the new higher housing targets come into effect in most areas - Housing market isn't strong - Viability on small sites collapsing

Little known fact, but all phones have a little speaker at the top that you can hold to your ear. It means you can have a private conversation without the whole world listening to it

It’s wild. If a journalist accidentally said, e.g. the names of a minister‘s school age children on air, Downing Street would rightly lose it, yet death threats, conspiracies about the PM’s marriage, racism against ministers…all fine apparently!

Why on earth has GMC not started the process to strike him off? As we saw with MMR, vaccine conspiracists effectively kill people. "Do no harm."

Benefit I hadn't thought of before of proper cycleways: we could coax a poorly tricycle (rear brakes failed) very carefully home, completely impossible to do safely on road.

It goes under the radar but a minister’s staff also suffer at times like this. Angela’s team is made up of top people, smart, professional, driven and nice to work with. I hope they find roles where they can continue to push forward the work they’ve been doing.