This is good! But it's right to say that simply extending the current right to buy timeframe doesn't achieve much on its own. The key thing councils need to see is a business plan to revitalise these assets. Why can you make it work when someone else has failed?

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Reminded of Eric Williams' famous quote about British historians acting as if their nation created negro slavery solely for the satisfaction of abolishing it. We can be ashamed of the first while celebrating the second.

Excellent thread. TL;DR we're raising taxes to pay down the debt from the pandemic.

Extremely pleased to hear this from Mark Rowley, much needed clarity when a community which has been repeatedly gaslit by senior figures about its own safety

New piece from me in @renewaljournal.bsky.social. The 2025 local elections raised important questions about the future of local governance and whether Reform UK can offer a genuine alternative. Has it? And what does that mean for the Green Party? renewal.org.uk/blog/the-sea...

Here’s a little story about my brush with evangelical Christianity. 1/6

Defeating the left so you can hire George Osborne is quite the flex.

Thanks to this post I've established that Quaker Oats does not contain actual Quakers. Stuart's grandfather just wanted to signal integrity and trustworthiness.

I remain amused that almost all of my blocks are for following Helen Lewis.

But... I was assured deregulating planning would fix everything...

I meant to be a foreign correspondent. First job I could get writing proper news was on the Local Government Chronicle. Thought I'd do it for 18 months, then quit and do something sexier.

I feel seen.

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This is one of those things where yeah, I reckon there might be a bit of a problem, but it would be a very long way down my list of things I want government to spend its time on.

Just read fail fast defined as tackling the biggest problem first... and maybe I've been doing it all wrong?

"Under my leadership we will be a Government that will go further than just not doing things that are bad." (dramatic pause) "In fact, Conference, I can pledge this to you now - we will instead do things that are *good*" (rapturous applause, shot of Liz Kendall nodding approvingly)

See this is what drives me crazy... people who claim to love technology and progress will say EVs are too expensive and completely forget that the cost of any decent new technology always comes down over time.

Peter mandelsons entire career is like a cursed pharaohs amulet that kills everyone that tries to use its power and every other week some Labour party idiot picks up and goes have we tried using the pharaohs amulet

I accidentally discovered an early 80s Ryuichi Sakamoto banger on Spotify this morning. This performance is absolutely bonkers. I especially like the bit where Kiyoshiro starts licking Ryuichi's face. www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HIb...

Want any nylons love?

The index of consumer sentiment isn't broken; models that try to predict it just don't have the right input variables. I fix that and find that, yes, high nominal price levels explain why the vibes are so off. It's the prices, stupid www.gelliottmorris.com/p/2026-04-14...

I like the bit where they point out that the Pope isn't just some bloke with an opinion on Catholic theology.

Blimey the Viz has gone a bit highbrow. Not as good as it used to be.

Just encountered my first example of Jevons Paradox when it comes to AI - I am asking my teams to do many more fishing expeditions on management data to see if we can find anything interesting. Previously I would have a limited number of goes. Now I can ask many questions, many ways.

It's that time of year when the Taxpayers Alliance publishes its town hall rich list and here's what I'm going to say... The Prime Minister's salary has been more-or-less frozen since 2010 and if it had risen with general pay growth it would be about £300k. It is a terrible benchmark.

This gets to the heart of how we understand the world for me. Luke clearly implying "the data" is wrong. Others implying focus groups don't reflect material conditions. The really interesting question is why "the data" and "the lived experience" seem to be diverging.

American spy fiction: Hunky McCIA-Face goes against the system to protect true American values against the penpushers. French spy fiction: Charismatic genius destroys the system to seduce his lover. British spy fiction: speccy bureaucrat reluctantly defends the system against hunks and charmers.

One for the more academic types on here, but does anyone know of a good history of policymaking? I am thinking of something that tells me about how we've conceived of policy over the centuries. For instance there was clearly a shift from historical analogy to economics in the early 20th century.

I have invented a council too efficient to release to the general public.

I love the energy debate in the UK. We need cheap power, but not from renewables because they are like Chernobyl, except also nuclear is good and why didn't the Green lobby build more of that in the 1990s when they were famously in a position to do so?

The constant Westminster-based attacks on S. Cambs by Conservatives and Labour are both depressing and incredibly boring It’s good for councils to try new things! Evidence suggests the 4 day week scheme has been successful! If residents don’t like it, they can vote out the Lib Dems next month!

It's very small in the grand scheme in things, but watching some of the Anglosphere's very worst grifters lose their Hungarian gold will be quite satisfying.

I do hope ChX/HMT will look seriously at fiscal devolution within England. It is technically feasible and likely good for regional growth. Obviously needs to be done carefully. Merely assigning a portion of national revenue, as latest HMT doc suggests, achieves little and adds to risks.

Hilarious how for years serious people have said that you can't rely on renewables because they are prone to disruptions in supply www.ft.com/content/19f1...

I listened to yet another podcast about 1984 earlier and... I think I can finally admit to myself that I hate the book. It's a cartoonish take on tyranny, a society that doesn't really work for anyone, a sweaty, clammy read and not even super original.

Fell asleep in my The Fall t-shirt and woke up totally wired.

Can you all please stop trying to rehabilitate New Labour? It's like saying NDubz were awesome in comparison to Dappy's solo career. Crap things don't become better just because they are followed by crapper things.

Raise the fuel duty you cowards!

While there are important exceptions, British local government is generally well run.

A little dose of hope here from @theyoungfdn.bsky.social: “Britain’s best days aren’t behind us. They’re being built locally, right now. Not through grand gestures, but through everyday acts of collaboration, care and collective action.”

Presumably even though peer review is anonymous there is some sort of record that it was done? Goodwin could simply release the comments and have done with it.

Greater Manchester police can not find evidence of criminal offences during the by-election. It is good they put a significant amount of effort into following all leads.

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There is a big problem with this game: it's too easy. If only it was just a question of maxing out council tax then finding an extra £1m! The thing that's overspending these days is just as likely to be children's as adults, and most of the things the game suggests as cuts have already gone.

This is a nice way of making the point. I'm deeply depressed that national funding of adult social care is seen as the only answer. It will cost a lot more, but at least central government will have to pay. And please spare us the seconded civil servants.

Why is there suddenly such a clamour to ditch net zero? It isn't energy bills, because North Sea oil won't help with those. Policy costs are already falling significantly and you can't ditch historic obligations like FITs. Yet there is obviously a very concerted lobbying effort...

Fascinating piece on Ed Miliband. It frames Iran as a strategic choice between petro-state and electro-state, which as a second order issue is a choice between tilting economically towards America or China. The forces arrayed against him are very powerful. web.archive.org/web/20260325...

The Spectator, which regularly tells us government can't get anything done because the blob, has just complained that Ed Miliband is too effective and getting too much done.