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Barney Stringer

@barneystringer.bsky.social

2.6K followers 970 following 300 posts

Director at @QuodPlanning.bsky.social Regeneration, housing, development, economics, demographics, cities, schools and community infrastructure London http://barneystringer.wordpress.com

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Barney Stringer @barneystringer.bsky.social · Oct 22

Newly updated and much enlarged UK Planning & Housing starter pack

Please share for new joiners in the sector. Starter packs are the easiest way to get going on Bluesky, allowing you to quickly follow a bunch of relevant people

And of course, let me know of any names that should be added

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Barney Stringer @barneystringer.bsky.social · 4h

Is there accepted canon on which order to read them?

Barney Stringer @barneystringer.bsky.social · 19h

Now you don’t have to choose! Both of

@jonnelledge.bsky.social History of the World in 47 Borders, and

@lewisbaston.bsky.social
Borderlines: History of Europe in 29 Borders,

are 99p on Kindle at the moment. (Only 2.6p per border…)

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Reposted by Barney Stringer

Simon Ricketts @simonicity.bsky.social · 12d

Govt response to New Towns Taskforce recommendations. The Taskforce’s 12 locations still being considered (“Tempsford, Crews Hill and Leeds South Bank looking particularly promising”). More by next Spring so watch this space or rather these various large spaces.

www.gov.uk/government/p...

Initial government response - September 2025

www.gov.uk

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Reposted by Barney Stringer

Matthew Pennycook MP @matthewpennycookmp.bsky.social · 12d

I’m immensely grateful to the New Towns Taskforce, under the expert leadership of its Chair, Sir Michael Lyons, and Deputy Chair, Dame Kate Barker, for producing such a considered and comprehensive set of final recommendations 👇🏻

www.gov.uk/government/p...

New Towns Taskforce: Report to government

The government has published the independent New Towns Taskforce report as well as its initial response to that report.

www.gov.uk

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Barney Stringer @barneystringer.bsky.social · 20d

So impressive what Jim has achieved in the first year of London Centric. If you live here, you owe yourself a subscription

Jim Waterson @jim.londoncentric.media · 20d

A little bit of navel-gazing on the last twelve months of trying to run a start-up local news organisation with no investment or plan, entirely funded by readers. www.londoncentric.media/p/london-new...

One year of London Centric

A selection of our favourite stories that you might have missed — and a quick note from Jim.

www.londoncentric.media

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Barney Stringer @barneystringer.bsky.social · 23d

London’s weather has had enough of flags it seems

Tattered flags over London’s Oxford Street, half torn off. (These are actually official flags, rather than racist ones…)

Barney Stringer @barneystringer.bsky.social · 23d

Tried Amazon’s “Prime Vision” football with live data overlays. Pretty interesting, but you definitely wouldn’t want it on a game you really cared about

Barney Stringer @barneystringer.bsky.social · 29d

What about the 1552 division of the Debatable Lands? (Yes I got lost in Wikipedia)

Barney Stringer @barneystringer.bsky.social · 29d

Jonn, who was the first king (or queen) whose realm included every single bit of what is now England?

Given the history of borders I suspect may still be “depends”?

Barney Stringer @barneystringer.bsky.social · 29d

So annoying, happened to me recently too.

And infuriating that Bosch now have a system that can remotely brick all stolen batteries, but instead they limit it to those paying £40 a year for Flow+ subscription. Making it totally ineffective as a deterrent, *even for those who do pay*

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Barney Stringer @barneystringer.bsky.social · Aug 21

Hopefully soon they’ll be drinking this instead:

Barney Stringer @barneystringer.bsky.social · Aug 20

So THIS is what central government was using all these years whenever Leeds called asking for a metro system

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Barney Stringer @barneystringer.bsky.social · Jul 31

Next in this series of economics riders and qualifiers:

Dan Ariely, and the wider replication crisis

Barney Stringer @barneystringer.bsky.social · Jul 24

Doing an “economics book club” with son, as Uni prep, which has been fun

But find myself making a surprising number of “you do not gotta hand it to them” updates on people mentioned in older books

Reinhart-Rogoff, Carlos Ghosn, amongst others

Barney Stringer @barneystringer.bsky.social · Jul 27

Only just starting on this, but already distracted by the *incomprehensible* decision to build it at US exuburban densities

25,000 people in an area “the size of Toledo”. We’re talking less than 50 dwellings per sq km!

They got their brightest minds to design this. What were they thinking?

Barney Stringer @barneystringer.bsky.social · Jul 24

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Reposted by Barney Stringer

Tim Morton @timmorton2.bsky.social · Jul 19

It’s the vinyl countdown

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Barney Stringer @barneystringer.bsky.social · Jul 19

Son has no idea how expensive a hobby he’s just acquired…

Picture of a shiny new record player (sorry I mean a “vinyl turntable” or something) on a shelf

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Barney Stringer @barneystringer.bsky.social · Jul 18

Here it comes…

www.lightningmaps.org

A map of southern England showing live locations of lightning strikes - a big storm coming into Kent from the Channel

Barney Stringer @barneystringer.bsky.social · Jul 11

Something even fancier

Barney Stringer @barneystringer.bsky.social · Jul 11

No room for the comb, unfortunately. Would blow his disguise.

Barney Stringer @barneystringer.bsky.social · Jul 11

Something even tastier

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Barney Stringer @barneystringer.bsky.social · Jul 11

Can anyone guess what this conveyor belt carries…

A small conveyor belt passing through a hole in the wall. The hole is the exact size and shape of a wine bottle

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Barney Stringer @barneystringer.bsky.social · Jun 24

Battery increases how much the solar saves you (this month together they’ll have saved/made me €200)

And big savings from batteries in winter. Fill up at night to effectively shift your consumption to off peak, halving the pence per kWh you pay

So saving €1,000 a year certainly possible

Barney Stringer @barneystringer.bsky.social · Jun 24

They fill it at cheap times, empty it at peak rate, which only makes me about £16 a month (enough to cover the standing charge)

Real benefit is that in return they match solar export prices to import, turning the grid into a virtual battery

So I sell my solar output at a very high 23p/31p per kWh!

Barney Stringer @barneystringer.bsky.social · Jun 24

I’ve given @octopus.energy control of my home battery. They pay us to use it to balance the Grid

Fascinating to see it fluctuating on a windy/sunny day, when electricity prices sometimes went negative

Would love them to give us a running narrative of what it’s doing and why

Graph showing home battery use yesterday, with multiple charging and discharging periods. Green line shows how full the battery is, on right hand scale. Blue shading shows the power going in or out, from or to the Grid

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