Thatcherism is still the problem, by Ben Glover
Thatcherism is still the problem
Labour cannot comprehend the scale of our historical malaise
newstatesman.com
Yasmin Ibison
@yasminibison.bsky.social
Senior Policy Advisor at JRF (@jrf-uk.bsky.social) focusing on communities and place she/her Views my own.
📊 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.
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/...
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
theguardian.com
Read this brilliant new work from @yasminibison.bsky.social and @scothunter.bsky.social www.jrf.org.uk/neighbourhoo... & www.jrf.org.uk/neighbourhoo...
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.
jrf.org.uk
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.
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...
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.
jrf.org.uk
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
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
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...
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.
jrf.org.uk
Nothing like enjoying your slightly cheaper pint while imagining the toddler crying from hunger that paid for it.
Andrew Sparrow@andrewsparrowgdn.bsky.social · 6mo agoReform UK says it would re-impose two-child benefit cap for most families to fund £3bn support package for pubs - www.theguardian.com/politics/liv...
"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.
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...
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 …
medium.com
⚖️ '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...
Perspectives on Place: what the English think about their local area
southampton.ac.uk
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
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.
visualising-extractive-capitalism.common-wealth.org
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!
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...
Asylum and returns policy statement
This policy statement sets out significant reforms to the UK’s asylum and returns policy.
gov.uk
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...
Economic security as Labour's electoral foundation
Addressing voters’ economic insecurity will help Labour gain and retain support across the political spectrum, whereas prioritising a particular stance on immigration risks alienating voters on the ot...
jrf.org.uk
Jane Green@profjanegreen.bsky.social · 8mo agoOur new work shows that giving voters greater financial security – or ‘economic security’ – provides an answer to both problems for Labour, paramount for understanding Labour’s losses. Link to report can be found below. Work by me, Justin Robinson, Geoffrey Evans and @zackgp94.bsky.social
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...
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...
renewal.org.uk
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.
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...
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.
bbc.co.uk
Several reasons why the most severe deprivation is sticky - most of todays most deprived places have not seen relative improvement for decades. But few things have done more to make matters worse than completely obliterating council funding in the most deprived places, as we did in the 2010s
🚨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.