Amazing opportunity to win one of the year's hottest books on housing (or renter ally Sally Rooney's latest in paperback) AND help GR raise awareness of renters' rights at the same time

Good letter in the FT from the other day (though I would argue that someone who inherits a property with an assured shorthold tenant in it and, rightly, doesn't evict them just because they can, also counts as an accidental landlord)

good advert for Weetabix that

As @stephenkb.bsky.social has pointed out repeatedly, Britain is less a "papers please society" and more "the British state expects you to randomly have middle class friends in regulated professions by default" society

Googling a clue is alright, right? Unzoomed #623 1/6 🟢⚪️⚪️⚪️⚪️⚪️ unzoomed.com

Unhelpful to define working class to include a lot of retired home owners, and not a lot of folk who work for a living and have to rent. Eg Danny Finkelstein today was like "Labour has a big electoral coalition if it wants one, but it's not my definition of working class so that's bad"

Must be a way of reinstating allowance while bumping up the rate to cancel it out - and still bring in money because more people will work more hours/go for promotions (and maybe help with the NHS too, because a lot of these people are doctors)

Thank you to @matthewpennycookmp.bsky.social for meeting with us today. Along with @generationrent.bsky.social, we discussed the end of Section 21 evictions and the pathway to securing decent standards for rented homes. 🏡

"Some of the places aren't fit for dogs". Anyone can be affected by the renting crisis, but migrant communities struggle against the worst conditions in the UK. We met with newcomers to Lewisham to find out more about their experiences. Read more 👇 www.generationrent.org/2025/09/30/s...

This is my regular reminder to everyone that jstor is open to the general public now; a free account there will give you access to 100 papers a year.

Can't think of many better illustrations of how badly we have botched housing policy than the fact that our bill for housing homeless families (£2.8bn pa) is now higher than the money we spend each year on new affordable housing (£2.3bn) www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/english...

At a climate event at #Lab25 - @generationrent.bsky.social CEO @bentwomeyuk.bsky.social asks what can be done to encourage renters to apply for grants they're eligible for, without seeing energy savings cancelled out by a rent rise or even being evicted to sell the property. Luke Murphy MP responds

Our Deputy CEO @danwilsoncraw.bsky.social set out the case for limits on rent hikes at @rentersreformco.bsky.social's Labour Conference event. They would: ➡️ Reduce homelessness ➡️ Boost local economies ➡️ Allow renters to save ➡️ Incentivise renters to apply for energy efficiency improvements

Will "raising a couple of kids" count?

"Great" is the wrong word when it comes to how it felt to attend the counter-protest of right wing 'unite the kingdom' protestors and the planned launch of another right wing party yesterday...

Great thread on Britain's enduring problem with policy via small pots of cash.

Off on a transpennine odyssey this morning to Liverpool for Labour party conference. Looking forward to speaking at the Renters Reform Coalition's fringe event this afternoon, and taking in as many of the bewilderingly large number of housing events as I can

Newcastle says no to fascism. The far right brought a hundred or so with them, bussed from far and wide. This city turned out 1000s, from local communities, estates and streets. Geordies of all backgrounds coming together and outnumbering the purveyors of hate by some distance. Newcastle united.

This is like the Dungeons and Dragons Satanic Panic of the 80's except somehow targeted at an even bigger bunch of nerds.

Of course, according to polling that came out a while back, it is the most popular thing Labour has done, accounting for both awareness and approval (Even though it was just continuing Tory policy as far as I was aware)

Getting stuck living with parents is terrible for starting a career if you don't live near a thriving city, or starting a relationship full stop To fix this we need to build: social homes to help low earners fly the nest and more homes near jobs in cities www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Especially when it follows what surely must be the most unhinged, embarrassing speech by any Security Council member leader in the entire history of the United Nations

Reminder that to achieve a) the government needs to get housing policy right. It still doesn't have a housing strategy

To be fair, going after people with permanent residency is de facto going after UK citizens: their spouses and their kids. Speaking as the spouse of someone with ILR, who would feel a lot of pressure to emigrate if Reform were elected.

I'll have more to say on Reform's proposals to scrap ILR at some point but for now I'll just note this - anyone telling you this is a popular idea doesn't know the polling. Overwhelming majority of public back giving people who work and pay taxes most or all rights after 5 years or less

Lot of folk in the replies going "y no [Father Ted, Seinfeld]?" etc. I mean clearly some respondents picked them but they just can't compete with the recent stuff (Ghosts, Not Going Out), bingeable Netflix staples (Always Sunny, Friends) and the classics (OFAH, FT). No Simpsons is mystifying tho

As Will points out this could easily be solved with a sign, (which, I would suggest, the bar staff could tap when necessary)

Also there are so many more weird quirks of (at least) British roads that can be overcome by common sense but maybe not an AI driver. When there are cars parked on both sides of a narrow street, will a robotaxi coming the other way stop to let me through, and if so, should I give it a little wave?

@resi-analyst.bsky.social hi Neal, this image has been doing the rounds on X, and led me to read your deep dive on the new home premium from a few years ago. I was wondering if you knew - did H2B have an impact on the size of the premium? Can't quite tell from the chart...

I've been wrangling some data on UK All-Party Parliamentary Groups (APPGs) recently, and I feel compelled to share my highly scientific ranking of APPG Vibes... 🧵

Council spending in England on emergency housing for homeless families up 25% in past year, figures show, Patrick Butler reports - www.theguardian.com/politics/liv...

As ever, Nick Lowles is spot on. When it comes to taking on the far right, progressives haven’t got a moment to waste in building a vision of togetherness we can unite the country behind. Plenty to reflect on from his Guardian interview 👉 www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Feeling Pretty Horrific About Things. The best way to reduce this is to keep me in a constant supply of choc OR donate to @praxisprojects.bsky.social so that we can continue to get our clients out of destitution, off the streets and permanently settled in the UK. They belong, the far-right don't.

Damn, Tyneside seems to be a real outlier...

Given that a lot of our pensions are invested in Tesla and SpaceX, divestment would be a good thing for @makemymoneymatter.bsky.social and @shareaction.bsky.social to be campaigning on #DefashMyCash

Shouldn't need saying - but sadly it does

A rally organised by Tommy Robinson should be a slam dunk for a Labour government. Most people will recognise it as being led by the far right (and will not identify themselves as such). Violence is predictable too. The PMs and ministers should have been ready to respond immediately.

This week the House of Commons sent the Renters' Rights Bill back to the Lords, with various bad amendments removed. Just one more vote is needed for it to become law, and unethical practices like this will be made illegal. Will Lord Alli show up for it?

EXCL: Reform's first councillor in London is a convicted "slum landlord" who rents out a 33-person HMO. While digging into him I found out one of his former tenants is new Green party leader Zack Polanski. www.the-londoner.co.uk/reforms-firs...

Thankfully it was many years ago but when getting a spousal visa for my other half and then renewing it, it really felt like my ability to live in my own country was hanging by a thread. Luckily it all worked out for us but it doesn't for many others, and has got worse

Interesting thread on how closely EPCs predict energy use - would be v difficult to open up smart meter data but I presume the likes of @octopus.energy do a lot of analysis like this.

I see many fine points like John's on here but I wonder how much pressure the BBC is actually under to uphold journalistic standards. On BlueSky, your followers actually see links that you post, so it would be very easy for someone with a big following to promote a "complain to the BBC" campaign

New report: Taxing landlords more is good, actually. Since 2016, tax reforms helped slash the growth of the private rented sector and boosted first-time buyers—without hurting existing tenants. A big housing story hiding in plain sight? ⬇️

Today is the ten year anniversary of my proudest ever achievement in publishing, RUSHOMON: the time I got both a Rush Hour Crush and a Good Deed printed on the same page of the UK Metro, both of which told a single, horrifying, story from two different angles. It's been all downhill ever since.

Landlords bring in £56bn per year, but £26bn of that is profit just landing in their bank accounts and doing very little for the economy (except being taxed at lower rates than employees). Great piece from @willdunn.bsky.social www.newstatesman.com/politics/eco...

Not too surprised - he's in his mid-80s and has been sounding wheezier in recent series. But still, really gutting news - he leaves colossal shoes to fill

Something is being completely missed in the Graham Linehan / broader UK ‘free speech’ row – and it’s that much of this is a direct consequence of Elon Musk no longer doing anything like what’s required to moderate X in line with UK and European law. 🧵

I can't tell whether Danny Pinder at the British Property Federation wants to remove barriers to the delivery of affordable housing, or views the affordable housing component as a barrier to the delivery of build-to-rent schemes From www.insidehousing.co.uk/home/build-t...

Finally! Wordle 1,535 1/6 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

Our latest research has found that local councils are sending TENS OF MILLIONS a year to private landlords to encourage them to house those experiencing homelessness. Read coverage of what we found in The Guardian: www.theguardian.com/society/2025...