NEW: A Tory council is lobbying the government to increase housing benefit, just as Kemi Badenoch pledges to cut it An Enfield Council cabinet report said the housing benefit cap should be three times higher than the level Badenoch wants to cut it to By me, for @politicshome.bsky.social

Tory Council Asks For Housing Benefit Boost Despite Kemi Badenoch Calling For Cuts

A Conservative-run council is lobbying the government to increase housing benefit, just as party leader Kemi Badenoch pledges to cut it.

politicshome.com

(check background Manchester via Oxford). Burnham etc are all Northern Labour Gentry hating competition. Fearing that their fiefs will become like Tower Hamlets or Bristol.

Danielle Blake@abradacabla.bsky.social · 16h ago

But this is the actual snobbery! Telling kids that where they grow up should dictate their education, opportunities AND adult life destination is the worst kind of “stay in your place” anti-aspirationalism.

But this is the actual snobbery! Telling kids that where they grow up should dictate their education, opportunities AND adult life destination is the worst kind of “stay in your place” anti-aspirationalism.

Tbh the big question for the left these days is why voters are so receptive to glonzo ideas of immigration being the source of all problems. “Actually the rich are the problem” is what the left loves to say but if anything immigration skeptics think the elites and immigrants are in kahoots

1/ New piece in Foreign Affairs on why EU bureaucracy — long a favorite punchline — turns out to be a hidden source of power. www.foreignaffairs.com/europe/europ...

Europe’s Hidden Trade Advantage

Slow and steady wins the negotiation.

foreignaffairs.com

transit network expansion gets a lot of attention but ngl most US networks really just need to focus on capital expansions that allow 21st century operations lmao

Can you see Neoliberalism? UK spending 1950-2015.

It seems to me like recent advances in renewables and medical technology are as likely to transform human civilization as AI but the former two sectors have less flamboyant hype men.

I totally support the policy recommendation on robotoxis - making them pay congestion charges is a classic Ed Glaeser policy whose time has finally come (was hoping someone would write this report!) but leading on them destroying livelihoods feels very unhelpful.

David Lawrence@davidlawrenceuk.bsky.social · 19h ago

Robotaxis are here! Last week, Uber & Wayve started offering driverless journeys in London, and Waymo is not far behind. We should welcome autonomous vehicles (AVs), but they come alongside three big problems. In a new report for @britishprogress.org, @anyamartin.bsky.social & I make a plan... 🧵

Excellent article about Belarusian nationalism. Imagine a small Ukraine without the Cossack tradition or the Galacian tradition. Much harder to intellectually break out of the Russian view of the world. jamestown.org/lukashenka-a...

Lukashenka and the Nuances of Belarusian Nationalism - Jamestown

Executive Summary: Belarusian statehood and national identity have experienced several transformations throughout history, influenced by connections to Russia and the West. The Belarusian population i...

jamestown.org

It highlights how much the geopolitical vision of the Islamic Republic is fundamentally about the necessities of its particular combo of 12'ver Shiism, Iranian Nationalism and grudges. France selling things doesn't activate their combo of grudge, hubris and need for forever wars.

Mihnea@miyhnea.bsky.social · 13h ago

The Iranian obsession with US help to Saddam is very funny if you remember the French rebuilt the Iraqi army like twice during the war

The Iranian obsession with US help to Saddam is very funny if you remember the French rebuilt the Iraqi army like twice during the war

The Decider@vibinthrghhistory.bsky.social · 13h ago

The Iranians were already predisposed to believe the US and Iraq were conspiring against it, along with the rest of the Arab world and West. As Sarcasmitron points out, Iran’s own foreign policy decisions helped make this into something of a reality when the US did start helping Saddam(Though the

After @pipedreaming.bsky.social got done with his presentation on single-stair venting a few days ago, one of the committee members said, exasperatedly, “I didn’t realize I was signing up for this” – as in, he didn’t realize he’d be volunteering his time to review such a big proposal. I worry…

This is interesting because it highlights the difference in how land acquisition is done in Canada compared to, say, Italy. Acquisition prices in Italy are determined through a fixed formula based on publicly available area prices from the land registry and other variables

pglux.bsky.social@pglux.bsky.social · 19h ago

ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/228...

Likely to become even more raw as more people realise that a change only affecting people in England and Wales was defeated by MPs from Scotland and Northern Ireland! If it had only been voted on by MPs whose constituents were affected, it would have passed.

Paul Brand@paulbrand.bsky.social · 21h ago

Still a lot of raw feeling among supporters about the assisted dying bill being voted down on Friday. Not much they can do about it for now, but interesting to see talk already of making further attempts to legalise it. International experience would suggest the debate will return before long.

continually maddening that people blame "the water companies" for hosepipe bans when "the water companies" have been begging to build new reservoirs but a few retired QCs in Oxfordshire have used the entire weight of the british planning system to prevent it www.theguardian.com/business/202...

Thames Water redraws mega-reservoir plan amid local opposition

A new public consultation has opened on the 150bn-litre above-ground White Horse project in Abingdon, Oxfordshire

theguardian.com

Why can't they integrate?

Twelve minutes drive from the train station, knock them down and turn them into flats. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Bronze Age site near Peterborough could be saved thanks to funds

The government is investing nearly £700,000 into Flag Fen near Peterborough.

bbc.co.uk

Please get yourselves some EU subway construction costs instead of UK/US ones.

Sorry Buddy@3cityyimby.bsky.social · yesterday

I'm sorry, "EU summit in Montreal in late October"?

Gail Brodholt, London Calling, 2023 UK printmaker #WomensArt #Monday #ReframingWomenPrintmakers

Ways view rail travel in Great Britain: 3/5 of people do it at least once a year (greater portion than Americans who fly) It's 10% of passenger miles It's 2% of trips The amount of trips has more than doubled from 1990 going from 800 MM to more than 1.8 B. www.gov.uk/government/s...

"Where Reformers stand out is in the lack of public spirit. They are more inclined than traditional Tories to think that most people would cheat an honesty box, and twice as likely to say they themselves would keep a bag of banknotes they found in a bush". www.economist.com/britain/2026...

The misanthrope party

Reform UK’s miserabilist streak is Nigel Farage’s asset, and his problem

economist.com

"I came at a low point, with accordingly low expectations. I found a room full of people of all ages, who care a lot, work hard, develop relationships, and who have accumulated expertise in things you wouldn’t imagine someone might know." www.liberalcurrents.com/meet-the-dem...

Meet the Democrats

The party is not an abstract cabal powered by fever dreams, but a living, breathing coalition held together by a ceaseless grind and people with the will to face it.

liberalcurrents.com

When the i'm gonna be 75 i'll do to the kids what the boomers do to me now when they tell me water tasted better under Ceausescu (when they were 20) "You kids never tasted proper real neoliberal and austerity water of 2010's. Crystal pure"

Was exchanging notes with a fellow Brexit veteran in the last few days and we were in agreement that the UK-EU picture was currently pretty gloomy, a real failure in UK politics to come to terms with the world of Brussels as a third country.

Definitely, and the worship of mid-20th century Austrian "mass party" life, is code for "wasn't it so great when the Bosnians, Turk, EU , tourists, Feminists and NEOs all hadn't come in and corrupted it". See also "Red Vienna" wannabees, who clearly want the ethnic cleansing too.

Mihnea@miyhnea.bsky.social · 2d ago

Bumping purely bcs it disses on Anton, whose tankie Assadism i have not forgotten

Analyzing hotel land uses and Airbnb demand in Mexico City. Unsurprisingly, hotels are prohibited where people want to stay.

Interesting work from the 1985 edited by Peter Hall himself, which is the only narrative I've seen about German urban transit revolution of 1970-1990, with comparison with UK. Note the table showing just how depopulated UK city centres were as @antbreach.bsky.social

Auckland has officially opened Aotearoa New Zealand’s longest and first true underground railway: the City Rail Link! The former terminal station Waitemata (formerly Britomart) is now a through station with additional underground CBD stations at Te Waihorotiu and Karanga-a-Hape serving all lines.

NZ Transit Buzz@nztransitbuzz.bsky.social · 3d ago

#CRLNews: A large group of passengers have gathered at Otahuhu Station ahead of boarding the first City Rail Link service due from Platform 1 at 4:57am.