I'm a Housing First evangelist, but this really interesting article shows that it isn't a cure-all. Homelessness is yet another policy problem held back by neglecting the complexity and totality of human experience.

Lise Butler@lisebutler.bsky.social · 5d ago

Burnham has talked a good game on rough-sleeping but it remains a notoriously intractable policy problem - this piece in @renewaljournal.bsky.social by a front-line homelessness charity worker cuts through some of the well-intentioned rhetoric on the issue and lays out the challenge ahead.

The whole point of the original policy (which was and is terrible) was to target exactly this group. And now they’re going to introduce the policy and exempt them? Just abandon the policy! The whole thing is just a terrible idea.

Immigration Bot@immigrationbot.bsky.social · 2w ago

"Exclusive: Andy Burnham thought to be considering waiving stricter right to remain rules for people already working in the sectorHundreds of thousands of care workers could be exempted from the home secretary’s plans to toughen up the immigration system under proposals being…" — The Guardian

On Burnham’s social care speech today, it was deeply refreshing to see him make a point to thank immigrants who provide social care. I hope that reflects where we go with ILR bill but beyond that it is good to hear gratitude and openness rather than scapegoating and penny pinching.

Labour must not take the wrong lesson from its recovery. Burnham's bounce is coming from progressive voters who currently see their values and priorities reflected in the new administration. But the previous government showed how quickly that support can disappear if they no longer do.

🧵 Progressives need to think much more ambitiously about citizenship: it can't only be a debate about the "who" - the boundaries of citizenship. Our new @ippr.org report today makes the case for a new politics of "democratic citizenship": www.ippr.org/articles/the...

The democratic citizen: Renewing citizenship and the public domain | IPPR

Often, this descends into little more than an argument about eligibility for welfare benefits. This is a disaster for progressives, who find themselves fig

ippr.org

A travesty. What in God's name is the matter with her. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Refugees will be told to repay £10,000 under new asylum rules

Ministers will be given powers to recover costs from adults who have received asylum support under new laws.

bbc.co.uk

This is what political bravery can achieve. Thousands of lives saved, tens of thousands of hospital beds not occupied, countless days off work not taken. Sadiq Khan stood up to the critics, the doubters and the bad faith experts and made London better. A true leader.

Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan@london.gov.uk · last mo.

This is remarkable.

Looking at the most recent stats, there were over 18k people in all Home Office accommodation from either Afghanistan or Iran. Large numbers of people are not being returned to either country anytime soon. Granting leave to that group would cover around 90% of the hotel population.

Sunder Katwala (sundersays)@sundersays.bsky.social · last mo.

Refugee Council proposed an entirely pragmatic way to halve it in one quarter (save 18+ months) Grant leave to work + responsibiity to house yourself for 15k historic backlog cases (2025) from 6 countries where nobody can be returned. www-media.refugeecouncil.org.uk/media/docume...

There were those who doubted us, but a new independent report shows major reductions in air pollution in our city are linked to an estimated 40% fewer annual premature deaths.

This is indeed a key test. The proposals are morally indefensible, legally questionable, economically self-destructive, and politically delusional. No-one with "legitimate concerns" about migration will vote Labour for pledging to deport care workers. inews.co.uk/news/politic...

Burnham could ditch tougher settlement rules for migrants already in UK

Shabana Mahmood has been planning to double the time it takes for most migrant workers to qualify for permanent residence

inews.co.uk

Having spoken to social care workers affected by the changes, I *hate* this language. Party management/vibes is a terrible way to make policy at the best of times but when the futures of several hundred thousand people is at stake, unforgiveable.

Sunder Katwala (sundersays)@sundersays.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Politco suggests the Home Secretary is finally going to concede/retreat on the central plank of the settlement reforms - as a "sop" to the left - to try to stay in her post. This sop is not making it impossible for a few hundred thousand legal migrants to retain legal status in the UK after 2028

one of the insufferable aspects of Starmer Discourse is that because it's so incoherent and such a grab bag from different "bits" of the Labour spectrum - sometimes driven from the centre, other times by individual ministers - is that there's always evidence to characterise it however you want

“Someone who cannot criticise the actions of the Israeli government without suggesting that British Jews should be punished for those actions is, at a basic level, incompetent.” Hear, hear @stephenkb.bsky.social as.ft.com/r/a0177a88-e...

Row over Green candidates’ comments lays bare party’s real danger

Criticism of social media posts will not decide elections — but the quality of vetting matters for competency

as.ft.com

Fully agree and would add, possibly even more conservatively, that what children and students need more than anything else is time, attention and personal interaction with their teachers and peers. TIME, not a machine

Stephen Bush@stephenkb.bsky.social · 3mo ago

I think my most capital C Conservative position is that 'edtech' is almost always an expensive con that distracts us from what we know works best in education and that there really is absolutely no harm in a classroom looking broadly the same as it did 20 years ago most of the time.

It's tragic that so-called progressives have allowed this to pass. This is a typically nuanced and balanced piece from Freedland, but it speaks of a deeper, wider failure on the left. I've never been so ashamed of people I thought were on 'my side'.

Jonathan Freedland@jonathanfreedland.bsky.social · 3mo ago

A British minority faces a murderous threat on our streets. Where are the so-called anti-racists? Latest column www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Important piece that gets across the urgency needed in this dreadful situation

Adam Wagner KC@adamwagner1.bsky.social · 3mo ago

After Golders Green adamwagnerkc.substack.com/p/after-gold...

"Of the more than 700 Palestinians killed by Israeli fire over the six months of the ceasefire, 269 were shot near the yellow line, according to UN data. Of these, more than 100 were children." www.theguardian.com/world/2026/a...

Gaza’s yellow line creeps forward as Israeli forces expand zone of control

Residents waking to find line has moved overnight and they are now in free-fire zone as army takes more territory

theguardian.com

#Iranians, already facing the trauma of war & a more hardline government, have seen their incomes decimated by both conflict-related layoffs & the continuing internet blackout. My special report www.thenationalnews.com/news/mena/20...

'Zero income': Job cuts add to misery of war for Iranians | The National

Internet blackouts and soaring inflation squeeze normal Iranians' daily lives amid tense ceasefire with US and Israel

thenationalnews.com

Horrendous - but neccessary - understanding of the impact bad temporary accomodation can have on our children. Linked to the deaths of 104 children over the past 6 years, 76 of them babies. www.theguardian.com/society/2026...

Temporary accommodation linked to deaths of 104 children in England in six years

Calls for ‘urgent, sustained action’ over rising number of children who do not have permanent home

theguardian.com

I spoke to a range of migrant people, experts, campaigners and MPs to learn how the proposed changes to immigration rules - and the recent change to asylum rules - would impact their lives. www.opendemocracy.net/en/labour-im...

How UK government’s migration policy will shatter lives

Behind the headlines and rhetoric, what do Labour’s immigration plans mean for those affected?

opendemocracy.net

Centre for Human Rights in #Iran reports huge wave of arrests in Iran during the war, while @amnesty.org warns of more executions after 4 people were executed in the space of 24 hours www.thenationalnews.com/news/mena/20...

More than 1,500 arrested amid wartime crackdown in Iran | The National

Students, protesters and rapper detained as human rights groups warn of executions

thenationalnews.com

Compelling, heart-breaking research showing that UK ‘Stop the Boats’ policies have caused a sharp rise in small-boat deaths since summer 2023 even as fewer people and dinghies arrive in the UK. www.borderforensics.org/investigatio...

By the Home Office’s own estimate, the pause will reduce asylum claims by around 1,400 over the next 18 months. More than 100,000 people claimed asylum in the UK last year. It’s a policy that has no operational benefit to the asylum system, while having a huge personal impact on those caught by it.

Sam Freedman@samfr.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Of course no one from *checks notes* Sudan or Afghanistan could be in genuine danger.

Between a spiralling war with no end in sight, and the big green section of the donut, it's hard to see how the govt doesn't move to partially decouple energy prices. Already having this renewables infra makes this summer a real opportunity to conserve supplies for winter (and the global south).

Nobody understands this about the government’s settlement reforms. People think it's 10 years for most & 15 years for care workers But its 15 years for all midskill roles, whatever the salary, if not a graduate job role classified at RQF level 6. Lab technicians, data analysts, hotel managers

This is *the* antimonopoly insight. Firms convert economic power to political power to economic power, until we step in. “If we will not endure a King as a political power we should not endure a King over the production, transportation, and sale of the necessaries of life.” Sen. John Sherman, 1890

George Monbiot@georgemonbiot.bsky.social · 5mo ago

Governments sit and watch while oligarchs purchase our politics, as if it were just another asset to be monopolised. For the sake of democracy and our own survival, we need to get the money out. Our political systems must belong to us and us alone. www.theguardian.com/media/2026/m...

Mahmood's changes to both the immigration and asylum systems are already harming individuals and families, even before being fully implemented. The fear and anxiety these inhumane policies takes a toll. It's beyond time to scrap them all www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...

‘Constant uncertainty’: Mahmood’s ‘earned settlement’ immigration plan has families stuck in limbo

Home secretary’s new ILR rules mean couples such as Felix and Tessa King, from UK and US, face an insecure future

theguardian.com

We seem to be getting somewhere here. The retrospective and inequality elements are the most egregious, so MPs are right to focus on them. But the whole package of proposals is counter-productive, mean and pointess www.politico.eu/article/keir...

Starmer mulls compromise on migration reforms after backlash from MPs

Former Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner branded the plans “un-British” in a speech on Tuesday night.

politico.eu

Let’s hope so. 10+ years to settlement is a terrible, terrible policy. Workers trapped in tied visas, families in relative poverty, massive damage to integration and social cohesion. This really matters.

Sam Freedman@samfr.bsky.social · 5mo ago

Rayner having a pop at Mahmood (see 2nd post in Pippa's thread) is very interesting. Suggests she reckons there are enough votes to force a u-turn.

Important data about Gorton & Denton from @bwalker.uk. 1. Only around 5% of Lab 2024 voters switched to Reform vs 36% to Greens. 2. No evidence of support for Reform among under 35s (sub 10%) - it's all over 55s 3. Progressives were undecided til last minute www.newstatesman.com/politics/pol...

The rise of the undecided voter

Exclusive polling shows how late the Gorton and Denton by-election was decided

newstatesman.com