OBR to downgrade UK productivity. UK at or near bottom of the OECD investment league for 30 yrs. Problem: City has short term horizons, direct state investment neutered. China invests 40.4% of GDP in productive assets, India 30.5%, UK 18.2%, OECD average 23%. Must abandon neoliberal constraints.

“That’s the biggest misunderstanding in this country of the housing crisis. That it’s a crisis reserved for the poorest people in insecure jobs…” @drabioconnor.bsky.social talks to BBC Panorama’s Anita Rani as part of their investigation into the UK housing crisis. www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/epis...

B&M finance chief quits over £7m accounting error. Its Audit & Risk Committee oversees effectiveness of internal control, internal/external audit. External auditors KPMG collected £1m in 2024/25. £7m is a big sum to miss. What else is flawed in B&M governance?

A big welcome to @drabioconnor.bsky.social who has joined CRAFiC as a @leverhulme.ac.uk Early Career Fellow. Her project is titled: ‘Following urban assetisation: a comparative theory of local state restructuring’ - I'm really looking forward to the findings... sheffield.ac.uk/management/p...

My column in tomorrow's paper:

Scrapping of audit watchdog for English councils ‘led to soaring costs and chaos’. Valuable report from @adamleaver.bsky.social & colleagues at the Audit Reform Lab www.theguardian.com/business/202... (Full report here auditreformlab.group.shef.ac.uk/administrati...)

My column for Real Britain | The Mirror ➡️Brum bin workers are being told to take up to £8,000 worth of pay cuts or face #FireAndRehire while councillors' allowances increase and government commissioners – brought in to control the council – earn an eyewatering £1,200 a day.

Successfully co-organized a 2-day workshop on the theme of Valuation, Space & Power this week, bringing together a brilliant group of scholars in Sheffield. Thank you to all the participants and fellow organizers @callumny.bsky.social @richmgoulding.bsky.social @adamleaver.bsky.social & Dan Tischer!

This week, I was in Sheffield for the WS on @valspacepower.bsky.social. Met many ECRs interested in how economic value is constructed, where it is located, and who captures it. Thanks to Callum Ward, @adamleaver.bsky.social, @richmgoulding.bsky.social and @eyeofraf.bsky.social for the organisation!

Rafaella Lima @eyeofraf.bsky.social kicking us off by explaining how our workshop came about through a shared interest in value, calculation, critical accounting and economic geography

This was such a fun and stimulating workshop. Thank you to the whole organisational team and all the presenters - I learnt lots and enjoyed my trip to Sheffield 🙏

Thames Water on collision course with govt over exec bonuses. TW with £21bn debt, history of abuses & criminal convictions insists that it will pay bonuses, now calls them “retention payments”. Govt must cancel it's licence, let it go bankrupt, prosecute execs, nationalise. archive.ph/FpLe0

Agree people don’t know what councils do etc. But I also think the public is reasonable enough to question why the local area looks dirty/declining etc while council tax bills have gone up and up and up and up and up. Politically it’s therefore currently ripe for undeliverable promises

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An exciting new opportunity for ECRs - a call for papers is out now for our 'Valuation, Space & Power' workshop (see below)

Congratulations to @savannahcox.bsky.social on this fascinating new paper on 'infrastructural time', and how resilience measures are shaped by earlier investments....

Real household disposable incomes (RHDI) is forecast to rise by just £1,200 over the course of the 2020s. That's less than it grew over the course of the 2010s,when it rose by £2,900.

Report by @adamleaver.bsky.social and colleagues. "This failure is partly the result of national policies, where national planning guidance in 2012 strengthened the capacity of developers to avoid affordable housing requirements on the grounds of ‘viability’47. www.sheffield.ac.uk/crafic/news/...

once more with feeling - failing to repair a roof is more expensive than repairing it, but only one of these costs appears in the accounts and is scored by the five year forecast.

@adamleaver.bsky.social & @richmgoulding.bsky.social setting out their work on Manchester's property led development model is valuable to anybody interested in how capital flows build, sustain and escape urban space in the UK & beyond. But what are the alternative models?

UK hoping to work with China to counteract Trump’s climate-hostile policies

🧵 I want to follow up this earlier thread by examining why the USA finds itself in the state it does at the moment; the process of disordered discourse capturing state institutions and how it inevitably results in a slide towards authoritarianism, a process we're seeing unfold before our very eyes.

Absolutely bang on piece by @dhnnjyn.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Episode 2 of #UrbanRadar is now LIVE! Dive into the informative conversation with @goodfellowtom.bsky.social @itsbethperry.bsky.social @pillmad.bsky.social @adamleaver.bsky.social @richmgoulding.bsky.social on #Manchester ‘s model of property-led development. Available here- lnkd.in/g-cxJ-B4

Here’s the trailer for Episode 2 of #UrbanRadar Stay tuned—full episode releasing soon!

Does Manchester's model of urban development work? Listen in to Ep2 Urban Radar podcast later this week @sheffieldurbanism.bsky.social @theurbaninstitute.bsky.social @invisiblemapper.bsky.social @goodfellowtom.bsky.social @adamleaver.bsky.social @richmgoulding.bsky.social @pillmad.bsky.social

Terrific resignation letter by Anneliese Dodds, this.

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🚨 New Report 🚨 'Centripetal Cities: A critique of supply-side urban development' Given the Government's aim to 'unleash growth' we've drawn on over 3 years of research to think about the implications of this agenda for towns + cities Available here www.sheffield.ac.uk/media/87471/...

New report - an incisive and disturbing read: essential to understand the relationships between growth-led development, housing and local communities From @invisiblemapper.bsky.social, @richmgoulding.bsky.social and @adamleaver.bsky.social in @theurbaninstitute.bsky.social & School of Management

This is a great new tool developed by @danneidle.bsky.social to identify frauds on Companies House. Check it out! taxpolicy.org.uk/2025/02/02/t...

Our new report on Manchester’s Centripetal City. Out now!!!

Politically stone deaf. Underpin the value of the property portfolio of one of the richest men in Britain (who doesn’t actually live here) but decline to support investment in Merseyside 🤔