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Reposted by Anna Clarke

Omar Khan @omaromalleykhan.bsky.social · 21h

Here's the relevant chart from the above report. It's rare to see such a clear, consistent slope in any social trend. That segregation is decreasing is perhaps the best evidence, least controversial social fact of modern Britain

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Anna Clarke @annaclarke.bsky.social · 10h

That still doesn't mean that the snail is protected "for the protection of the entire ecosystem". The rest of the ecosystem is not dependent on the snail (it's the other way round).

Anna Clarke @annaclarke.bsky.social · 18h

If the snail indicates good water quality, then that would suggest it's a *good* place to build new homes (as the water system can handle them). Conversely, we restrict new housing being built in areas with very fragile water systems (under nutrient neutrality rules).

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Anna Clarke @annaclarke.bsky.social · 18h

That still doesn't make it something that needs protecting because of its wider impact across the ecosystem, which is what you were implying. An indicator species is not the same as a keystone species.

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Anna Clarke @annaclarke.bsky.social · 18h

Doesn't an indicator species mean that the presence of the snail is an*indicator* of other things (good water quality in this instance)? It doesn't mean that the snail *causes* good water quality.

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Anna Clarke @annaclarke.bsky.social · 1d

I'm on the train taking exactly the same amount of space up whether I have a split ticket or a single ticket!

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Anna Clarke @annaclarke.bsky.social · 1d

The split ticket thing is particularly crazy. It *should not be the case* that a ticket from Cambridge to Tottenham Hale and a separate one from Tottenham Hale to Liverpool Street (on the same train) costs less than a single ticket the whole way.

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Reposted by Anna Clarke

Noble Francis @noblefrancis.bsky.social · 1d

August is generally a relatively slow month for deliveries & starts, but the fact that deliveries are now significantly lower than the same month a year ago (which was a low level of deliveries & house building), is a significant concern. (3/n)
#ukhousing #ukconstruction

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Anna Clarke @annaclarke.bsky.social · 1d

She's referring to the guidance they proposed about pre-sentence reports being required for people from ethnic minorities I assume?

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Anna Clarke @annaclarke.bsky.social · 1d

First homes were up in the 1900s. But yes it's very much still a new town, still growing. We should think of new towns at long term places to focus new development, rather than things we dream up and build in their entirety.

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Anna Clarke @annaclarke.bsky.social · 1d

I'm more angry at the government that puts people in the hotels and hasn't built enough accommodation for us to house them properly than I am at hotel chains making money by doing something that's very much needed.

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Anna Clarke @annaclarke.bsky.social · 1d

Cambourne was initiated in the late 1980s, so it's nearly 40 years ahead.

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Anna Clarke @annaclarke.bsky.social · 1d

You wouldn't build a busy walking and cycling route down the side of an A road though would you? (Or rather, if there are pavements down the side of a road, that would usually mean it's a 30mph limit). And there are massive big fences stopping people wandering into railways as they go through towns.

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Anna Clarke @annaclarke.bsky.social · 1d

I don't always know people's surnames in non-work settings, and WhatsApp doesn't always give you them. So they inevitably end up with silly names based on what musical instrument they play or whose parent they are.

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Anna Clarke @annaclarke.bsky.social · 1d

I found it bizarre, given how excessive safety rules can be in other areas of life. Nobody would propose a footpath along the side of a motorway. But buses at 50mph <2m away from kids cycling to school is ok?

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Anna Clarke @annaclarke.bsky.social · 1d

I've just never understood why they didn't build a fence between the two. My daughter and friends had a near miss once when they stumbled across the busway, assumed it to be a disused rail track ("it had grass growing down the middle") and had to jump away fast as a bus hurtled towards them at 50mph

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Anna Clarke @annaclarke.bsky.social · 2d

Think I'd rather hike the Pennine Way than tramp along tarmac!

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Anna Clarke @annaclarke.bsky.social · 2d

The train didn't have a footpath/cycleway running next to it though, with no fence or boundary whatsoever to stop people straying into it.

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Anna Clarke @annaclarke.bsky.social · 2d

Full details of what the Government is proposing to speed up property transactions now out - www.gov.uk/government/c...

The reasons for tackling this problem are pretty clear:

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Anna Clarke @annaclarke.bsky.social · 2d

The problem with the previous efforts - if I remember rightly - were that lenders weren't happy with the seller having appointed the surveyor, so insisted that buyers got their own survey done anyway, so defeating the point. Need to work with lenders to ensure they have confidence in them this time

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Anna Clarke @annaclarke.bsky.social · 2d

Landlords would exit the market much faster than that if they enacted all these policies. And I'd be impressed if they allocated £30bn a year to the social housing budget.

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Anna Clarke @annaclarke.bsky.social · 2d

Big changes are needed to fix the housing and homelessness crisis, but obliterating private landlords would make things much, much worse - not better - for the people who rely on the private rented sector for a home.

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Anna Clarke @annaclarke.bsky.social · 2d

I'm not sure there are any easy solutions to that one. These proposals look to be more about
- reducing the time spent waiting for solicitors to sort out the sale, and
- reducing the number of chains that collapse at a late stage when a buyer pulls out (eg because a survey reveals something)

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Anna Clarke @annaclarke.bsky.social · 2d

Government backed mortgages already exist and can't work if the tenants cannot afford the repayments.. And "specific funding" would need to be around £400bn, which seems unlikely.

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Anna Clarke @annaclarke.bsky.social · 2d

The large majority of tenants can't afford to buy the property they live in. And giving councils the right to buy them only works if they have the money to do so.

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