Important report on how strict Treasury cost control undermines wider objectives. Homelessness is one of the case studies where short-term grant funding, policy turn and cost shunting undermine longer term objectives www.bennettschool.cam.ac.uk/publications...

The myth of Treasury control: Understanding the UK's Public Spending System (and How to Fix it) - Bennett School of Public Policy

New research shows that the Treasury's tight control of public spending has come at the cost of a fragmented, short-term system that undermines long-term investment, cross-government collaboration and...

bennettschool.cam.ac.uk

Good news but the housing bit seems to be loans to private developers (useful for unviable sites but not social housing) and not sure that £9bn a year across all government investment qualifies as a 'bonanza' www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...

Treasury seeks to kick-start economy with £9bn-a-year borrowing bonanza

Ministers hope to exploit a change in the fiscal rules to spend billions more a year on housing, infrastructure and British start-ups

thetimes.com

Kemi Badenoch’s Tory revival continues 5th behind Restore

Election Maps UK@electionmaps.uk · 5d ago

Greater Manchester Mayoral By-Election Result: 🌹 Craig | LAB: 47.2% ➡️ Astley | RFM: 21.0% 🌍 Coggins | GRN: 12.2% ◼️ West | RES: 8.7% 🌳 Eckersley | CON: 7.7% 🔶 Kilpatrick | LDM: 2.2% 🙋 Farmer | Ind: 0.6% 2nd Round: 🌹 Craig | LAB: 66.3% ➡️ Astley | RFM: 33.7% Labour HOLD.

In a summer when they’ve already spent 25 times that on transfers, that’s the equivalent of a slap on the wrist for blatant cheating. Not much of a precedent for the 115 charges www.theguardian.com/football/202...

Chelsea fined £10m and given suspended transfer ban by FA over agent breaches

The club escaped a suspended six-point deduction for the infringements after appealing against the original punishment.

theguardian.com

Today programme mispronouncing Redruth while asking what devolution does for it is a metaphor for something or other

Even the Telegraph website is now trolling Heath

Rarely agreed more with a prime minister more than I do with Andy Burnham on social care. Guessing they anyone with experience of the system will do too while remembering the previous failed attempts at reform

Good, nuanced piece on the pros and cons of rent control www.ft.com/content/975d... Can rent controls ever work?

Can rent controls ever work?

The policy is back in favour with progressives, but critics say it benefits only existing tenants and saps investment

ft.com

'Woke' health and safety? 25 construction workers were killed last year (25 too many) but in the 1980s there were 150-200 deaths a year www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/07...

No 11 gets my vote

Count Binface@countbinface.bsky.social · last wk.

Here it is. My manifesto for the 2026 Clacton By-Election. It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Join me, clean up Clacton and let's make 13th August Bin Day! #VoteBinface #VoteyMcVoteface #YesWeTinCan

“The famine is over! The curse be damned!! Hit the nuclear button! Mayo have won the All-Ireland!!” An all-time great sports commentary moment from Stephen Grealis and Martin McHugh on Mayo’s Midwest Radio. #gaa

‘I just really want to give the listeners the [housebuilding] figures,’ says Amol Rajan on Today. Then gets the figures hopelessly wrong 🤦‍♂️

In November, a lobbying firm approached me and asked to pay me to write articles critical of the Building Safety Regulator for newspapers. Filmed undercover, their staff admitted secretly paying reporters for copy in British newspapers friendly to their clients: www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Lobbying giant filmed offering reporter payment for flattering client coverage in national press

Exclusive: Guardian investigation of CT Group uncovers practice that appears to seek hidden influence over public opinion

theguardian.com

Maybe I haven’t been paying attention but I found this piece on the rise of for profit franchises in higher education genuinely gobsmacking giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...

The UK’s biggest university is a private company

Supporters say franchised providers widen access to further education, but others doubt the real value of their ‘no frills’ courses

giftarticle.ft.com

‘The Wang Fuk Court fire was preventable but not prevented. It was foreseeable but not foreseen’ www.ft.com/content/b0dc... ‘Litany of failures’ behind Hong Kong’s worst tragedy in decades

‘Litany of failures’ behind Hong Kong’s worst tragedy in decades

Lawyers investigating the fire that killed 168 people point to ‘unscrupulous’ contractors and ‘systemic’ issues with regulation

ft.com

Angela Rayner returning as housing secretary + Matthew Pennycook remaining as housing minister + John Healey as chancellor = very good outcome of reshuffle for housing. Hard to think of a better one

Jules Birch@julesbirch.bsky.social · 2w ago

John Healey as housing secretary would have been good but John Healey as a chancellor who gets housing is arguably even better

John Healey as housing secretary would have been good but John Healey as a chancellor who gets housing is arguably even better

Paul Brand@paulbrand.bsky.social · 2w ago

BREAKING: John Healey is Chancellor

Great that Burnham promising to end rough sleeping but worth pointing out that a) so did the 2019 Tory manifesto and b) both the Scottish and Welsh Governments have plans to end homelessness as a whole. Still questions about whether/when that can be achieved but much more ambitious than England

I love that Lamine and Yamal are the names of two friends of his parents who helped out his family when he was a kid

Scrap the Romesh thing just clip Wayne Rooney saying he thought the half time show was crap and the licence fee QR code

Even the BBC is turning it into an ad break

On the plus side Trump will hate this bit

In my experience (admittedly mostly in Mining League Division 3) the longer the half time break the more greater the chances you cramp up in the second half

New York New Jersey isn’t even a proper place

Turned in the football hoping to miss the closing ceremony but failed. Then wondered who’s the old git? Then realised it was Robbie Williams and felt like an even older git (At least Robbie is a football fan though..)

(Ed: So fewer than 3 per cent. Why is this a story?) More than 100,000 households in social housing are in richest 20% www.thetimes.com/article/f670...

More than 100,000 households in social housing are in richest 20%

Andy Burnham promises to expand social housing when he moves into No 10, but questions have arisen over whether it should be a lifetime entitlement

thetimes.com

Saw Gary Sobers play for Nottinghamshire close to the end of his career. Think it was a Sunday league game. Remember the aura as he came out to bat (I’ve never seen anyone hit the ball as hard) and and audible sigh when he got out

Some filtering from building luxury flats as lower-priced ones freed up but surely: 1) Some will not sell (big issue now) and some will sell but be kept empty. Both limit filtering 2) Building affordable flats frees up same no of older ones. Filtering much more efficient www.ft.com/content/d151...

Why socialists should embrace luxury apartments

High-end developments can be more effective at unlocking affordability than social housing programmes

ft.com

Dredging memories dating back to 1970 to think of a worse England performance in a big game. Can’t think of one

'Burnham’s decision on the funding and financing of large-scale infrastructure and housing could transform the built environment'

Thomas Aubrey@thomasaubreycca.bsky.social · 3w ago

Will Andy Burnham listen to the bond market and move towards self-funding public corporations to drive infrastructure? Or continue with the PPP strategy which places further pressure on the public finances? My piece for @centreforcities.bsky.social www.centreforcities.org/blog/briefin...