Thatcherism is still the problem Labour cannot comprehend the scale of our historical malaise

Thatcherism is still the problem, by Ben Glover

📊 A big change to the way official poverty statistics are constructed comes into effect this year.

Family Resources Survey responses and official government benefit records will now be linked for the first time.

📝 In this short explainer video, we take you through what the changes mean.

Government to lift paywall from large parts of the Land Registry Exclusive: finding out who owns land will become simpler under plans to make the best use of green spaces and hit net zero targets

VICTORY! Government to open up the Land Registry - bringing to an end a thousand years of secrecy shrouding who owns England.

I’ve been campaigning for this for ten years: the new Land Use Framework, published later today, makes it government policy. 1/

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Why social infrastructure matters for economic security Economic security isn’t just about money, local connections and community support matter too. Pride in Place is a key intervention, but new analysis identifies two key challenges.

Read this brilliant new work from @yasminibison.bsky.social and @scothunter.bsky.social

www.jrf.org.uk/neighbourhoo...

&

www.jrf.org.uk/neighbourhoo...

Map of doubly disadvantaged neighbourhoods in England (economically deprived with weaker social infrastructure of community groups, spaces and activities). Red dots mark neighbourhoods in the most deprived 10% that have not received phase 1 or 2 Pride in Place funding. They are disproportionately in the north of England.

Pride in Place’s commitment to community-led investment in neighbourhood is so needed.

But new JRF analysis maps the areas overlooked for funding in England: disproportionately in the north and some ranked as facing among the greatest challenges. They should be priority for expanding the programme.

Why social infrastructure matters for economic security Economic security isn’t just about money, local connections and community support matter too. Pride in Place is a key intervention, but new analysis identifies two key challenges.

Greater economic security for families is a key aim of the Government, and my new @jrf-uk.bsky.social paper sets out the role of social infrastructure - community spaces, active community groups and everyday connections - in helping deliver this goal.

www.jrf.org.uk/neighbourhoo...

Govt’s Pride in Place targets areas with economic deprivation and weaker social infrastructure. Yet, our analysis reveals 2 challenges.

We find 430 doubly disadvantaged neighbourhoods in England (home to approx 3.5 million people) are unfunded, incl many ranked as facing the greatest challenges 1/3

Pride in Place: funding gaps and capacity challenges New analysis shows the areas overlooked for Pride in Place funding and highlights the need to strengthen capacity in funded areas, so plans are genuinely community-led.

For many of us, the people we know and the places we go locally provide a bedrock of connection, support and resilience.

Investing in community-led social infrastructure is therefore essential and must not be an optional extra.

Full analysis here: www.jrf.org.uk/neighbourhoo... 3/3

Second it demonstrates the challenge of delivering genuinely community-led work at speed in Pride in Place areas where social infrastructure is weaker.

For neighbourhoods that are funded, many are starting with lower levels of community participation, social trust and connectedness. 2/3

Govt’s Pride in Place targets areas with economic deprivation and weaker social infrastructure. Yet, our analysis reveals 2 challenges.

We find 430 doubly disadvantaged neighbourhoods in England (home to approx 3.5 million people) are unfunded, incl many ranked as facing the greatest challenges 1/3

Why social infrastructure matters for economic security Economic security isn’t just about money, local connections and community support matter too. Pride in Place is a key intervention, but new analysis identifies two key challenges.

Greater economic security for families is a key aim of the Government, and my new @jrf-uk.bsky.social paper sets out the role of social infrastructure - community spaces, active community groups and everyday connections - in helping deliver this goal.

www.jrf.org.uk/neighbourhoo...

Nothing like enjoying your slightly cheaper pint while imagining the toddler crying from hunger that paid for it.

"would otherwise receive immediate access to welfare and social housing" is BS.

Correct: "after 5 years working in a care home, would be eligible to apply for welfare and social housing on the same basis as the rest of us."

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Deliberately misleading/disingenous.

Help us map disciplines of civic renewal — roles & skills communities need to revitalise civic life Help us map the disciplines of civic renewal — the roles and skills communities need to revitalise civic life If helping us map public sector reform communities wasn’t enough… We’re starting …

NEW @kinship.works for @jrf-uk.bsky.social

Help us map the disciplines of civic renewal

- We know community-led approaches to reviving civic life (Big Local, etc) work

- But we lack understanding of disciplines/professional roles that enable it

What should we look at?

medium.com/kinship-work...

⚖️ 'Persistent inequalities are not inevitable'

Senior Policy Adviser @yasminibison.bsky.social highlights the ethnic groups in the UK with an elevated risk of being in poverty, and structural factors behind why this is the case.

Community-led approaches will be vital to making a difference.

What do people in England think about their local area? In this short report I take a look at surveys we conducted with @yougov.co.uk in 2022, 2024 and 2025 to gain some insights...

Some key findings...

Visualising Extractive Capitalism From the formation of the plantation slave economy to the modern-day climate crisis, we map how empire and extractive capitalism shaped Barbados, Britain and the wider world.

Slavery & colonialism aren’t things that happened far away & long ago.

We continue to live with their consequences.

Our new project visualises extractive capitalism in the Caribbean.

🧵 This is how empire shapes Barbados, Britain & the world.

visualising-extractive-capitalism.common-wealth.org

Grim grim grim

New net migration figures at 930am.

Net migration fell half a million to 344,000 in 2024 from 848k in 2023

56% of people think it went up last year
17% think stayed the same
14% think it went down

2025 figure to be lower again
16% expect that
38% think it will be up
31% about the same

Every child, no matter their background, deserves to have a good start in life. Ethnic minority children were disproportionately impacted by the two child limit which widens ethnic disparities in child poverty rates.

Scrapping this cruel policy to lift 450000 children out of poverty is a huge win!

Asylum and returns policy statement This policy statement sets out significant reforms to the UK’s asylum and returns policy.

I'm reading through the white paper or whatever it is. RESTORING ORDER AND CONTROL: A statement on the government’s asylum and returns policy www.gov.uk/government/p...

DWP modelling show a fall of 400,000 over the current Parliament. This would be the biggest on record, exceeding falls of 300,000 under the first Government of Tony Blair and the Government of Harold Wilson and James Callaghan.

Chancellor said lifting 2-child limit means "Biggest reduction in child poverty over a Parliament since records began." Estimated 400k reduction would be, but modelling is always uncertain. What is certain is that removing the 2 Child Limit is pivotal to the fall.

Every child, no matter their background, deserves to have a good start in life. Ethnic minority children were disproportionately impacted by the two child limit which widens ethnic disparities in child poverty rates.

Scrapping this cruel policy to lift 450000 children out of poverty is a huge win!

🎉Child poverty is at a record high, so the decision to end the two child limit is crucial

Poverty holds children back, with consequences for all of us. Every child should have a good start in life

This measure alone lifts 450,000 out of poverty & lessens severity for many more

Scrapping the two-child limit in full is a monumental decision. Well done to all involved in the Child Poverty Strategy, and everyone who has made the case against the policy.

OBR says scrapping costs £3 billion in 2029-30 and will lift 450,000 out of poverty

'Economic insecurity is draining Labour’s support across the spectrum, to both left and right, and to ‘undecided’.'

Read the full report from @nuffieldcollege.bsky.social @profjanegreen.bsky.social on our website here:

www.jrf.org.uk/public-attit...

If Labour want a fairer society, they must argue for it Labour must make the political argument: taxes are the critical downpayment we all pay to live in a fairer society.  It now seems all but certain that direct taxes will rise in the forthcoming Budget...

Breaking the tax pledge is the right call...and politically sulphurous. Reeves must argue, far more forcefully, that taxes are *the* essential downpayment we all pay for a fairer society.

Patrick Diamond and I wrote for @renewaljournal.bsky.social. Key points in 🧵 👇

renewal.org.uk/blog/if-labo...

the neutral users saw twice as much right-wing content as left-wing content

This @skynewsrss.bsky.social analysis confirms that X's algorithm is blatantly boosting far-right content

If you are still posting or engaging there, you are volunteering your time and effort towards actively assisting a racist, white supremacist project

STOP ALREADY

news.sky.com/story/the-x-...

🚨New deprivation data reveals continual deep regional divides across many areas in England.

High levels of deprivation are concentrated in many ex-industrial northern and midlands towns and coastal areas, where manufacturing and tourism industries have been lost.

What is life really like in one of England's most deprived towns? Hastings in East Sussex is one of the most deprived local authorities in England, data shows.

Spoke to the BBC about the drivers of deprivation and the impact on families. There's a clear link between living in hardship & feeling socially/politically disconnected.

To make meaningful progress, communities must be involved in decisions affecting their lives.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...