BlueSky: Do you know somebody with over £200,000 in student debt? I want to speak to them. Reposts much appreciated! #journorequest
Greg Barradale
@gregbarradale.bsky.social
Senior reporter for @bigissue.com - covering untold stories from housing and asylum to drugs and politics
🚨Personal news🚨 After four wonderful years, I've made the decision to leave Big Issue From awards ceremonies to front covers, it's been fantastic. But it's time to fly the nest I'll be freelance from next week. Editors, I'm available for commissions and reporting. Hit me up
🚨Three deaths in 10 days in London linked to cychlorphine, a new synthetic opioid The cases are the first publicly-known UK deaths from the drug Questions mount over delays in telling frontline services of the threat, and a lack of public information 🧵 Here's what we know:
NEW: Three deaths in London within 10 days have been linked to cychlorphine, a new synthetic opioid 50-200 times stronger than heroin Questions mount over delays in warning frontline workers of dangers: “People are dying needlessly due to lack of information” www.bigissue.com/news/social-...
Warning over new opioid 200 times stronger than heroin as three dead within days
Questions mount over delays in informing frontline services about the threat from new synthetic opioid cychlorphine.
bigissue.com
🚨Exclusive: How Yo-yo Homes lost taxpayers £60m+ in five years Newest part of @bigissue.com investigation tracks fate of 445 ex-council homes across England 💰 Sold for £35.7m 💰 Bought back for £97.1m 📉 Loss of £61.4m Right to Buy loophole means councils can't reclaim discounts
🚨NEW: A Labour council has blocked a bid to reveal the full extent of its losses on Yo-yo Homes Both Tories and Greens in Swindon backed the attempt for transparency, raised after @bigissue.com But Labour called it a waste of time + said the past can't be changed www.bigissue.com/news/housing...
🚨 EXC: Council sells homes for £10m under Right to Buy, then spends £33m buying them back Newham Council, which has Eng's highest social housing waiting list, has lost £22m on Yo-yo Homes in 5 yrs, @bigissue.com finds RtB loophole means they can't reclaim discounts www.bigissue.com/news/housing...
Council sells homes for £10m under Right to Buy – then spends £33m buying them back
Newham Council, with the largest social housing wait list in the country, has lost tens of millions trying to buy back ex-Right to Buy homes.
bigissue.com
NEW: Labour pledges £12m to stop 1,000+ veterans becoming homeless Funding boost comes after Big Issue revealed doubts over future of scheme - with fears March 2026 cliff-edge could see veteran rough sleeping surge. Led to pressure from Tories/Lib Dems www.bigissue.com/news/housing...
Labour confirms millions in funding to stop 1,000-plus veterans becoming homeless
Millions in cash comes after Big Issue reported hundreds of veterans could face homelessness as doubts over scheme's future mounted.
bigissue.com
Greg Barradale@gregbarradale.bsky.social · 10mo ago🚨EXC: Starmer promised to house all veterans in need. But scheme which has got 1k vets off street is in doubt 👉Veterans orgs tell me future cash is uncertain 👉Orgs warn they'd have to shut housing without funding 👉 One org listed by gov as taking referrals never got cash
NEW: Shadow defence sec James Cartlidge says Starmer's gov "must urgently confirm" funding for homeless veterans after @bigissue.com reveals doubts over cash could leave hundreds homeless Story: www.bigissue.com/news/housing...
Tories call on Starmer to 'urgently confirm' cash for homeless veterans
After Big Issue revealed veterans could be made homeless if cash for a key scheme dries up, a shadow minister has urged Labour to act.
bigissue.com
Greg Barradale@gregbarradale.bsky.social · 10mo ago🚨EXC: Starmer promised to house all veterans in need. But scheme which has got 1k vets off street is in doubt 👉Veterans orgs tell me future cash is uncertain 👉Orgs warn they'd have to shut housing without funding 👉 One org listed by gov as taking referrals never got cash
NEW: Labour should 'urgently' act on Right to Buy reforms to stop councils losing millions buying back Yo-yo Homes they owned just a few years previously, Andy Burnham's deputy Paul Dennett says Comes after @bigissue.com found 120+ examples, incl in GM👇 Story: www.bigissue.com/uncategorise...
'Urgent' action needed on Right to Buy reforms after 'scandal', Labour figures say
Councils are losing millions buying back homes they owned just a few years ago, thanks to a Right to Buy system leaving them little choice.
bigissue.com
Greg Barradale@gregbarradale.bsky.social · 11mo ago🚨EXCLUSIVE: Taxpayers are losing millions as councils buy back homes they sold just a few years previously under Right to Buy I’ve uncovered 120+ examples. Today we’re revealing them all @bigissue.com Here's a thread of 10 that will shock you 🧵
UPDATE: Former veterans' minister Johnny Mercer says he's "very angry" after @bigissue.com reveals cash which helped 1k+ veterans off the streets is in doubt. "On one hand this government say they will look after veterans. But when they think no-one is looking, they turn off the funding"
Greg Barradale@gregbarradale.bsky.social · 10mo ago🚨EXC: Starmer promised to house all veterans in need. But scheme which has got 1k vets off street is in doubt 👉Veterans orgs tell me future cash is uncertain 👉Orgs warn they'd have to shut housing without funding 👉 One org listed by gov as taking referrals never got cash
“Quite simply, we’re worried that the government does not want its homework marked when it comes to child poverty" Guardian reporting on @bigissue.com campaign ramping up pressure on government to set firm targets on reducing child poverty www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
Charities and stars call on UK government to set child poverty reduction targets
Signatories of open letter include National Children’s Bureau, Barnardo’s and celebrities such as Emilia Clarke
theguardian.com
🚨EXC: Starmer promised to house all veterans in need. But scheme which has got 1k vets off street is in doubt 👉Veterans orgs tell me future cash is uncertain 👉Orgs warn they'd have to shut housing without funding 👉 One org listed by gov as taking referrals never got cash
Hundreds of veterans face homelessness as future of support scheme uncertain
Keir Starmer promised millions towards supporting veterans under threat of homelessness. Big Issue looks at how those promises worked out.
bigissue.com
🚨 @bigissue.com EXCLUSIVE: Hundreds of veterans could be made homeless as cash for housing in doubt Starmer promised to 'house all veterans in need' But orgs funded by Op Fortitude, which provides 900 beds, say they don't know if money will continue past March. Warn rough sleeping could increase
🚨 Disabled children are having to wait for nearly four months to receive benefit payments due to government delays - double the time the DWP is meant to process applications in @cjayanetti.bsky.social for @bigissue.com www.bigissue.com/news/social-...
Disabled children left waiting months for benefits due to DWP delays
Single mother Maryam had to wait three months to get child disability allowance for her seven-year-old daughter, who has kidney cancer.
bigissue.com
🚨Exclusive: Investigation from @bigissue.com reveals councils lost £15M repurchasing 'Yo-yo Homes' sold under Right to Buy, with sellers pocketing profits as homelessness rises. Labour faces calls for reform. #YoYoHomes #RightToBuy #HousingCrisis www.bigissue.com/news/housing...
Revealed: These are the Right to Buy homes councils have lost millions on buying back
Explore the 120 Right to Buy homes councils have lost millions re-buying – and find out why Labour's reforms might not stop Yo-yo Homes.
bigissue.com
A House of Dynamite….don’t think I’ve ever seen a film that so lacked the confidence to actually make the point it wanted to make At least it was two acts long in runtime as well as plot. Felt like a bottle episode of a v mid prestige TV show Watch the Sum of All Fears instead
🚨EXCLUSIVE: Taxpayers are losing millions as councils buy back homes they sold just a few years previously under Right to Buy I’ve uncovered 120+ examples. Today we’re revealing them all @bigissue.com Here's a thread of 10 that will shock you 🧵
👀 Exclusive: How councils lost £15m of taxpayers' money – by buying back homes they sold Big Issue reporter @gregbarradale.bsky.social here. I've been digging into Yo-yo Homes. They're costing taxpayers millions Today we're publishing the full list of 120+ Yo-yo Homes we've discovered. Here's a 🧵
🚨REVEALED: How to lose £15m of taxpayers’ money Today we’ve published 120+ examples where ex-tenants have sold Right to Buy properties back to councils at profits sometimes >£200k. They’re the Yo-yo Home Files Across just 13 councils, the losses total over £15m www.bigissue.com/news/housing...
Revealed: These are the Right to Buy homes councils have lost millions on buying back
Explore the 120 Right to Buy homes councils have lost millions re-buying – and find out why Labour's reforms might not stop Yo-yo Homes.
bigissue.com
Interesting Guardian story about Brighton reversing Right to Buy As I revealed this month, councils have spent over £2bn buying up 8.5k homes in the past five years. Half of those are homes previously lost under Right to Buy. It's widespread: www.bigissue.com/news/housing...
The Guardian@theguardian.com · 11mo agoRight to buy in reverse: how Brighton is tackling its social housing crisis | Richard Partington
What a story about the snake-oil world of brain training Dr Kawashima would be absolutely spinning in his grave
Evie Breese@eviebreese.bsky.social · 11mo agoThe blinding speed of AI development is making many of us fear for our jobs, not least question our own intelligence. In this environment, brain-training is booming. I was drawn to Lovebrain's dazzling client list & promise to fix your brain, but it wasn't all true... observer.co.uk/news/busines...
👀Looks like the government has confirmed its plans to cut affordable housing targets in London to 20% Press release says projects which commit to 20% housebuilding will be accelerated – as long as 60% of those homes (so 12% total) are social housing
“She’s 9 now, and she’s never had her own room, never had somewhere to put up posters or invite friends over” That’s the reality of life in temporary accommodation, laid bare by @homelessnessimpact.bsky.social Even the new homelessness minister admits she was shocked by the scale of the crisis
"The Big Issue's investigation has put the spotlight back on Right to Buy" 🪀The fantastic @sheffieldtribune.bsky.social from @millmedia.bsky.social running with my Yo-yo Homes story 🪀 Love to see it
"It's frustrating, it's infuriating, and it's got this quite sinister element to it" I went on the PoliticsJOE podcast to talk all things Yo-yo Homes with @avasantina.bsky.social A thrill! Catch it here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmvQ...
Yo-Yo homes: Thatcher's invention that ruined the housing market
YouTube video by PoliticsJOE
youtube.com
People with learning difficulties die 19.5 years younger on average - living to just 62.5 years old Nearly 4 in 10 deaths of people with a learning disability in 2023 were "avoidable"
“It is indefensible that local councils sell housing stock at a discount, only to repurchase the same properties years later at five times the price. This highlights a broken system"
Big Issue@bigissue.com · 11mo agoJeremy Corbyn, Ed Davey, Zarah Sultana and more react after Big Issue reveals councils losing millions on 'yo-yo' Right to Buy homes.
NEW: Lib Dems would allow councils to end Right to Buy, says @eddavey.libdems.org.uk His comments come after @bigissue.com revealed councils losing millions buying back Yo-yo Homes they sold under Right to Buy just a few years earlier
Greg Barradale@gregbarradale.bsky.social · 11mo agoIn 2014, Hackney Council sold a property under Right to Buy for £95,050 In 2021, they bought it back off the ex-tenant for £365k In ~6 yrs, the council lost £269,950 on a single property It's not an isolated example. @bigissue.com has uncovered 100+ 'Yo-yo Homes' www.bigissue.com/news/housing...