It's finally my first day as a @leverhulme.ac.uk early career fellow at @sheffielduni.bsky.social in the Centre for Finance & Accounting in Context! Not in Sheffield yet, as on route London to record for Panorama on the housing crisis which this govt show they have little interest in fixing...

I was on LBC at 8am & we referenced young people living in vans due to housing crisis… now I’m listening to Keir Starmer on BBC saying “it was only £20,000” about a piece of land he bought for his mum’s donkeys...quite incredible

Wrapping up two busy years at @neweconomics.bsky.social ! Grateful to the good folk I’ve worked with, the communities who’ve participated in research & housing activists who I’ve organised with. The future is ours!

Our political class has a special kind of collective psychosis. Two years into a genocide, after arming the perpetrators, they draw themselves up to their fullest height, clear their throats, and say: "we recognise the existence of the victims". And we are supposed to stand and applaud.

They’re betting everything on “this time even tougher than ever we promise” on immigration to save Starmer. I’d say brace for a proper BNP-style conference speech.

Factionalism aside, those revelling in the downfall of an alternative to the far-right are very loudly telling you their proximity to struggle & injustice is not close at all, no matter how they try to position themselves

You can’t be a Labour housing minister & not pay tax - thats a given. But you also surely can’t be a Labour prime minister or Chancellor and refuse to tax the wealthy / spend all your time costing up to private sector & developers oh wait

Monthly rents hit record high with North West seeing sharpest increase of +9.7% on last year This is not an inevitably! The housing crisis is manufactured by those extracting profit Controls on rents are *essential* for individuals, families & the wider economy

It's nearly a year since the far-riots of last summer. At the time we recorded an episode of the New Economics podcast with @drabioconnor.bsky.social & @minnierahman.bsky.social to explore how we combat the rise of the far-right. It's still a highly relevant listen: neweconomics.org/2024/08/new-...

Saddling lower income first-time buyers with mortgage debt won't solve the housing crisis. Council housing & rent controls will. The problem for this government? The actual solutions aren't profitable for private developers & landlords. www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/poli...

Zoe Gardner: "70% of the asylum seekers who've come to the UK in the last 20 years came from countries that we had previously colonised. That means they speak the language, they have ties to this country, we have communities here" Yep. #GMB

Personal news: made up to say I’ve been awarded a Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship at @sheffielduni.bsky.social starting in Oct to undertake my new research project in the UK & US: ‘Following urban assetisation: a comparative theory of local state restructuring’

I’m supporting the nationwide day of action calling on the richest to PAY UP. In 2024, UK billionaires added £35 million per day to their wealth. Meanwhile, Brighton & Hove Council has an estimated funding gap of £17.2 million. The money is there - time to tax it fairly.

Hmm, I wonder if Rod Liddle will be investigated by the police for literally calling for the murder of civilians

I hope folk put as much effort into organising with their neighbours as they do sharing their hot takes on a new left party

Was always an honour to sit on the Kop and sing his song. Our number 20 ❤️

We're looking for new trustees @praxisprojects.bsky.social! Get in touch if you have any questions but you don't need to have a particular skill set. We're interested in people with values that match ours and those with direct experience of migration and/or homelessness.

Trying to take some time out after a heavy few months & ahead of a few more but I’m beside myself watching reality be re-written again. Criticising a military that documents joyfully committing genocide isn’t antisemitic. Claiming all Jewish people support it might be

You can spend years of your life dedicated to your craft, but Steve the freelance property consultant will still declare with the utmost confidence that you, a sociologist, simply cannot understand the concept of “the market” 😮‍💨

Me again talking about rent controls. They’re really not a wildly radical idea, they make economic / social sense & cost govt nothing. Wins all round!

Pleasure to be on Pod Save the UK talking about the need for rent controls & the mass transfer of public money into the pockets of private landlords. Clip here 👇

Huge kudos to the New Yorkers who worked tirelessly for this. Another city is possible ❤️‍🔥

Look how far off target we are in London for delivering accessible homes. Terrible. M4(2) = accessible & adaptable M4(3) = wheelchair user homes I'm chairing Housing Committee today - we will hear from disabled people's organisations then put questions to GLA about what can be done to improve.

Talking at this on Thursday about the proactive role researchers can play in supporting grassroots movements, join us! 👇

NEW: Our latest research shows that pay gaps at the largest UK companies between CEOs and their employees are as wide now as they were 5 years ago, with a FTSE 100 CEO paid 78 times more than their median employee. Has the time come for a maximum wage? www.theguardian.com/business/202...

Been a pleasure & privilege to work with residents in Custom House & colleagues from @royalcollegeofart.bsky.social who created these beautiful outputs. No change to a community done without them, is for them ✊❤️‍🔥

For those asking how people can come together despite the odds, how we can put resources, time and love into bridging gaps btw the reality of people's lives, research, policy & politics through respect, inspiration and a commitment to transformative change. My brilliant colleague Molly-May Smith 👇

An always welcome reminder that if we taxed billionaires we’d raised a lot of much needed money for crumbling public services 📍Aigburth, Liverpool

Dire stats. We have some research coming out in August that shows the government can *transform* enforcement in private rentals if they take seriously the opportunity presented by fee revenue via the PRS Landlord database. Small landlords fees could change tenants' lives

City allotments have to be some of the best spots ever 🌞

Call script from Sisters Uncut for the FCDO to demand the UK government uphold their duty to protect the #Madleen, a ship sailing under a British flag being unlawfully detained by Israeli forces.

Spot on as usual from Zoë 👇

Great to see this extension to FSM, which was called for in yesterday's @changingrealities.bsky.social @ippr.org brief. But if we are to actually get more pounds into parents' pockets we need investment in social security & the end of the 2CL & benefit cap. changingrealities.org/writings/get...

Public transport investment? Always good. But it must extend to making our bus and rail network accessible to all and slashing train fares. The money’s there, being wasted on traffic inducing road schemes, let's use it to make the greenest transport, the easiest and cheapest.

✅ Free school meals are vital But, we will never be close to equal opportunities whilst: +170,000 children are trapped in temporary accommodation +850,000 families are subject to chronic damp & mould +1.4m families are on the social housing waiting list

New @rentersreformco.bsky.social research found that almost 1/3 private renters are forced to forgo *essentials*...for no reason other than landlord greed Meanwhile, approx 1 in 4 private rented homes fall below the *minimum* decent standard www.mirror.co.uk/news/politic...

Who wants free books? These are some of the titles that we at @urbanhistory.bsky.social are looking to review. Let me know if you or a friend want one, or if you have other suggestions. First, @rebwright.bsky.social's fabulous looking history of mid century US energy regimes:

Ashamed that the city I live in has an elected MP who is literally announcing proudly he’s against equality. Residents remember the platform he got elected on…

Can’t recommend applying to this enough! Best training I’ve ever had & you’re supported by a fantastic team at NEON

My latest paper is out. It traces the transfer of yet more public money to private developers via the Brownfield housing fund - all under the guise of solving the housing crisis of course! Read here 👇

GMCA agenda today includes agreement in principle on the establishment of a Mayoral Development Corporation for Middleton followed by a note on the allocation of capital from the Brownfield Housing Fund. Key lessons for both in this report from @drabioconnor.bsky.social at @neweconomics.bsky.social

My latest paper is out. It traces the transfer of yet more public money to private developers via the Brownfield housing fund - all under the guise of solving the housing crisis of course! Read here 👇

Free support sessions for children & young people impacted by the Liverpool parade incident. Support also available for parents/carers. Sign up here: befreecampaign.org/lfc-parade-sup…

There are 4.5 million kids already in poverty and another 109 are pulled into poverty every day by the two-child limit alone. If this govt is serious in its commitment to the nation’s children, it can’t keep waiting for the stars to align before taking action. www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

This is today! Liverpool-based followers get down! 🏡

As NTT faculty working two jobs plus a handful of side hustles, I endorse this message.

We are in a right old mess. If only the government was more bothered about fixing this rather than doing racism or transphobia

Reminder that, even before inflation rose in the last decade, out of work benefits were well below the poverty line.

It is just impossible for those on low incomes to live even close to good quality lives in this country. This is before we take in account housing costs & the fact that most public services are already broken

This friday @lraction.uk are hosting the formidable @city.bsky.social to discuss “Abolish rent” I have the honour of chairing the discussion, we’ll talk: rent controls, founding tenants unions, the concept of rent, landlords as “housing providers, organising across place & more Free event! ❤️‍🔥