Still some room just above the Vauxhall badge for "Free the Postcode Address File".

£2.7bn of stamp duty receipts in 23-24 came from properties worth more than £1.5m.

SDLT may be a bad tax, but I don’t think a pure tax giveaway to multimillionaire property owners should be a priority.

If ChatGPT is to believed, the extra cash that is needed is roughly equivalent to the Ministry of Justice's day to day budget, or a year of NHS mental health spending, or the size of the grant that DLUHC passes to councils.

I'm not an expert in tax stuff, but I'm slightly surprised "we're going to abolish stamp duty" wasn't followed by "...and replace the ~£11.6bn hit with [some other thing]"

Like Reeves is apparently considering:
www.theguardian.com/money/2025/a...

"This is a plan, not a slogan."

I like that. Catchy. Easy to remember.

I feel Kemi could really put the leadership grumbling to rest by announcing a strong commitment to opening up critical national address datasets to empower small business and innovation. 🚀

They do and it's... mostly... open.... I think !

An enjoyable provocation but a bit fantastical unless California actually builds some new homes and stops losing people to red states.

On substance (whisper it) Coutinho actually has lots of sensible things to say. Just not sure how you reconcile it with... everything her colleagues say about almost everything else.

It really is a much more engaging way to present to. Graphics!

(At risk of getting high my own supply I do sort of wonder if... I gave her team the idea to do this???)

Well this is fascinating - Claire Coutinho actually did something like I propose here, making use of screens and slides for her speech!

From about 34 minutes here:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=WATt...

(HT to @rcolvile.bsky.social for flagging!)

The GOV.UK app is now testing a very-locked-down chat bot that is understandably paranoid about hallucination.

In what’s *not* racist this week: finding the growth of non-white populations ‘concerning’ or ‘disturbing’.

This is a must-read for anyone interested in digital government – Liz talks about service design, fragmented institutions, and user experience!

The real "parallel lives" we're forced to live is when you live in a property with inconsistent address data. Why do some letters say "Flat 3" and others "Top Floor Flat"?

The answer: Because the Postcode Address File isn't free.

I hope Robert Jenrick will speak out on this important cause.

Am wondering if all of those suddenly deciding they’re against communities living “parallel lives” might reconsider their support of religious schools? Or indeed private ones?

What about the people who live in the HMOs! Where are they going to live?!

Bath is worried about the lack of "affordable" homes so is thinking of banning... multiple people living in the same home?

Why do people forget supply and demand exists?

www.bbc.com/news/article...

ICYMI!

I was chuffed that Liz (who is working on the national breast screening programme) had some big thoughts after reading my book…

Fascinating read:

Looks like we’re approaching the critical mass moment for Reform replacing the Tories.