The latest YouGov/ITV Wales/Cardiff Uni is a real puzzler given that, alongside Senedd VIs, we also have this - and I have no idea how to reconcile them!

A three pipe problem?!

NEW ITV Wales YouGov MRP has Plaid and Reform neck and neck in Senedd vote intention

Impossible to say who would be largest party in terms of seats but neither would be close to majority

Would almost certainly result in Plaid led government as they have more potential allies in the Senedd 🧵👇

Shadow housing secretary blames Renters’ Rights Act for eviction notice Shadow housing secretary Sir James Cleverly has been given notice to quit his private rented home because of the Renters’ Rights Act, he told a conference today.

If only there were some sort ot German compound word to describe this

www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/shadow-...

Congratulations - maybe worth two pints?

Giles co-authored the Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act with Justin, and I was delighted to work with him on other projects too. I was, frankly, terrified of Giles’ razor-sharp intelligence but soothed by his kindness and great good humour. God, we will miss him.

Such shocking and sad news - on a personal level my condolences to all his friends and family, on a professional one what a huge loss for everyone who cares about housing and the law and social justice

What is a city without children? As urban housebuilding strategies around the world increasingly push families out, the ‘sidewalk ballet’ — and heart — of community life is under threat

Not just a London problem and there’s not one simple solution but maybe begin by refusing to accept that housing costs that price families out of housing are some sort of natural phenomenon

giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/... What is a city without children?

New York City’s super-rich complain about Mamdani’s tax on second homes Billionaire hedge fund managers say mayor’s proposed levy is ‘demonising philanthropists’

'Demonising the philanthropists' is a good one

giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...

This is the way you’d report if it was someone like the king involved

‘The BBC understands that Lord Mandelson had no knowledge of the vetting decision’

Why not ‘Mandelson claims that he had did not know about…’ or even ‘sources close to Lord Mandelson claim that…’?

That looks even an even worse Guardian slot than ‘the hill I will die on’ and never thought I’d say that

Most of the focus has rightly been on HTB's benefits for housebuilding (and even more so housebuilders) rather than consumers but worth bearing in mind amid speculation about a new version of the scheme

Who benefits from ‘Help to Buy’ schemes? | Institute for Fiscal Studies We examine the effect of the UK’s ‘Help to Buy’ schemes on housing affordability using a new approach to uncover effects for different households.

'Affordability gains from the equity loan schemes were concentrated among higher-income individuals... likely that these schemes accelerated their first home purchase by a few years rather than making the difference between becoming a homeowner or not in the longer term'
ifs.org.uk/articles/who...

Watching Barcelona v Atletico. Really don’t understand how the push in the back in the first half was ‘not enough for a penalty for me’ but the same push in the back outside the area in the second half was a free kick and a red card

This may be the stupidest climate denial talking point of all time

Unless you reopen the Strait we’re going to close it?!
🤪🤡🙈

Adaptive reuse of a 1935 parking garage in Paris to create 16 new social housing apartments, with a shared courtyard.

Total cost = €6.67m. Design by UR Architecture Urbanism

A short thread 🧵

The music in my mum’s care home is Eton Rifles and now I feel very old

Why the government’s New Towns strategy is likely to fail - Bennett School of Public Policy As the UK government advances its New Towns agenda, Thomas Aubrey argues that current funding plans are ill-equipped to deliver infrastructure at scale, and makes the case for reviving proven long-ter...

My @bennettinstitute.cam.ac.uk piece on why the Government’s New Towns strategy is likely to fail. bennettschool.cam.ac.uk/blog/new-tow... There are 3 options to fund & finance them. 1) Raise more debt from gilts and allocate as grants. There is no extra fiscal headroom & breaches best practice

Vacant London homes of non doms turn into short-term lets as they don't want to sell or rent them - time to repeal the Deregulation Act clause allowing them to be let for 90 days without planning permission?

www.ft.com/content/480f...

Who should own the value of land? Housing, power and the deep politics of land value capture - UK Collaborative Centre For Housing Evidence

Who should own the value of land?

New report by Ed Shepherd and myself on the political economy of land value capture. A major research undertaking (incl 50 interviews) examining the power relations that structure how land values are (unjustly) distributed in England.

@housingevidence.bsky.social

A Trumpic Victory?

(Poor old Pyrrhus finally off the hook?)

I think often it’s eyesight (both as such and in ability to judge speed and distance) so definitely a good idea to test regularly

When my dad got into his mid 80s more or less every time he took the car out hed come back complaining about what some
idiot had done on the road. Took ages to convince him that he shouldn’t be driving. As someone about to be 66 though I might take take issue with 70 as the threshold!

Dredging up from my memory every family having a section of bog and a spade called a slean? Is there nowhere this happens anymore?

There’s nothing like the smell of a turf fire - but my last memory of them almost 40 years ago

This is the war Farage wanted us to join.
This is the man Farage worships.

I'm thinking that (linked to private equity) the other reason is that it's a way of land banking while taking an income. You can put a few sheds on a site with minimal capital investment and as the land appreciates in value you can pick you moment to dismantle them and sell for the highest price.

Seems incredible that self-storage units are swallowing up sites desperately needed for homes but Berkeley Homes said this week that Big Yellow is its main competitor for land. This article suggests 3 reasons why: planning, affordable housing and private equity
www.telegraph.co.uk/business/202...

Yes but think it’s out of their league now