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Jules Birch @julesbirch.bsky.social · 3h

Stamp duty on housing is a terrible tax. Abolishing it, with the c£10bn pa cost paid for by yet more cuts to welfare, is a terrible policy that would either make the poorest pay to increase house prices or (if the cuts are a fantasy) increase the deficit to do the same

www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cl...

Conservatives would scrap stamp duty, Kemi Badenoch says - follow live

The party says it would scrap the

www.bbc.co.uk

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Jules Birch @julesbirch.bsky.social · 2d

Third possibility is that he has developing dementia - making stuff up within your own reality and fixating on things are both signs alongside the more familiar loss of short term memory

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Reposted by Jules Birch

Daniel Knowles @dlknowles.bsky.social · 2d

HE LITERALLY SURRENDERED TO THE TALIBAN. My god

Ron Filipkowski @ronfilipkowski.bsky.social · 2d

He could’ve fought, but he faked bone spurs. So someone else had to go in his place - most likely a working class kid whose daddy couldn’t afford to bribe a doctor. Now he’s talking shit about how it should’ve been fought.

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Reposted by Jules Birch

Susan J. Smith @sjs1869.bsky.social · 2d

All good news (though the Scottish system has had some of this inbuilt for a while). However the biggest brake overall on housing market transactions is stamp duty… also worth an overhaul?

Matthew Pennycook MP @matthewpennycookmp.bsky.social · 2d

The current home buying and selling process in England is slow, costly and stressful.

Today, we announce further measures to make it quicker and cheaper.

www.theguardian.com/money/2025/o...

UK ministers aim to speed up homebuying by four weeks

Proposed government overhaul of house purchase process looks at shifting some costs from buyers to sellers

www.theguardian.com

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Jules Birch @julesbirch.bsky.social · 2d

Looks superficially attractive but actually a costly gimmick that will just get capitalised into house prices
(A general subsidy for all young people paid for by cutting disability benefits and removing exemptions to benefit cap, further immiserating the poorest)

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Conservatives to announce £5,000 tax rebate for young homebuyers

Speaking at the party's conference, Shadow chancellor Mel Stride will say the proposal will be funded by cuts to public spending worth £47bn.

www.bbc.co.uk

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Reposted by Jules Birch

Hetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 3d

This is so good from Cory Doctorow on all the tricks Amazon uses to get both consumers to pay more, and how businesses on the platform end up paying it 45-51 cents on every dollar.

Plus he rightly calls for regulatory change, not just individual consumer action
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

Way past its prime: how did Amazon get so rubbish?

Sick of scrolling through junk results, AI-generated ads and links to lookalike products? The author and activist behind the term ‘enshittification’ explains what’s gone wrong with the internet – and ...

www.theguardian.com

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Jules Birch @julesbirch.bsky.social · 4d

Article on a very important subject. Highlights some great developments but misses a key point: retirement flats are being built and sold by large companies but leasehold, service charges, hidden fees etc etc make them a very risky buy

www.ft.com/content/6f25...

Where is all the housing for older people?

Brits are living longer — but building suitable homes for them isn’t keeping pace. Its an urgent moment for new attitudes and broader horizons

www.ft.com

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Jules Birch @julesbirch.bsky.social · 4d

Yes almost certainly and probably a link to the former Eu funding cornwall was promised would continue after Brexit

Jules Birch @julesbirch.bsky.social · 5d

I get the business logic and that a stronger organisation can build more homes. Get it's possible to have structures with local accountability. But what's being utterly lost is the connection between social landlords and their communities and their responsibility to meet local housing need 2/2

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Jules Birch @julesbirch.bsky.social · 5d

In the last 30 years the council housing around me has gone through a stock transfer and then two mergers with housing associations based 100+ miles away. The 2nd merger is now in talks to become a subsidiary of an HA based 230 miles away 1/2

www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/bromfor...

Bromford Flagship and LiveWest confirm merger talks

Bromford Flagship and LiveWest have revealed that talks are underway to combine the two housing associations.

www.insidehousing.co.uk

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Jules Birch @julesbirch.bsky.social · 5d

Stunning achievement to take the Cornwall tourist board into liquidation

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Cornwall's tourist board enters liquidation

Visit Cornwall says it is facing

www.bbc.co.uk

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Jules Birch @julesbirch.bsky.social · 7d

Many different reasons for this but the mechanism that delivers around half of affordable homes is seizing up/has seized up, with knock-on effects for delivery of open market homes

Home Builders Federation @homebuildersfed.bsky.social · 7d

Just how much impact is the lack of bids from Registered Providers having on housing delivery nationally?

With anecdotal reports from members that the issue shows little sign of abating, we undertook an FOI exercise to determine if any progress has been made.

Here’s what we found 👇

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Jules Birch @julesbirch.bsky.social · 8d

Think it was in a Blair conference speech early on but unsure if it went beyond rhetoric - and pretty sure scrapped by last Tory govt?

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Jules Birch @julesbirch.bsky.social · 8d

Listened to most of Starmer speech and the one jarring note for me was that bit about scraping the 50% target for going to university. If the target ever existed hadn't it been scrapped already? And if the implication was that it was at the expense of technical education why can't we have both?

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Jules Birch @julesbirch.bsky.social · 9d

Guess this shows (just) that intrinsic motivation trumps extrinsic motivation (and also trumps Trump)
www.bbc.co.uk/sport/golf/l...

Ryder Cup 2025 LIVE: Scores, standings, tee times, radio and updates as Rory McIlroy and Team Europe chase victory in Sunday's singles

Ryder Cup 2025: Europe hold off thrilling US fightback in singles on final day at Bethpage Black, New York

www.bbc.co.uk

Jules Birch @julesbirch.bsky.social · 10d

Probably mick Herron I think - saw him give the Le carre memorial lecture last year and he is thoroughly steeped in smiley

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Reposted by Jules Birch

Sam Stafford @samuelstafford.bsky.social · 12d

“Our research highlights the challenges, with build costs 17% higher than in 2022 and sale prices up just 1%. The government says it wants to ‘build baby build’ but this is only possible across half the country – and often only in the least affordable markets.”

business.zoopla.co.uk/research-the...

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Jules Birch @julesbirch.bsky.social · 12d

A crazy situation

www.politicshome.com/opinion/arti...

I can't help young people in supported housing while benefits trap blocks them from working

I have one of the best jobs in the world. Every day, I get to work with some of the most ambitious and resilient young people you could ever hope t...

www.politicshome.com

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Jules Birch @julesbirch.bsky.social · 13d

Struck by this from an academies boss on Today about fall in primary school numbers: ‘it’s not just the birth rate, it’s a lack of social housing, the benefit cap, the two-child cap, families moving out of London’
Then warns hospitals etc can’t get staff because of housing costs

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Jules Birch @julesbirch.bsky.social · 14d

The most embarrassing speech he's made since... yesterday? Last week?

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 15d

Trump's brain is now incoherently flitting from topic to topic as the UN sits listening him to complete silence

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Jules Birch @julesbirch.bsky.social · 15d

Rent controls of a sort set to arrive in Scotland as Housing Bill reaches final stage
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Rent controls set to pass in new Scottish housing bill - but not for all

New legislation will see long-term rent controls and responsibilities for preventing homelessness.

www.bbc.co.uk

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Jules Birch @julesbirch.bsky.social · 16d

Agree - it feels like a throwback to an old-style Sunday paper while finding a space in a digital world. Only problem is I only get time to read half of it on Sunday

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Jules Birch @julesbirch.bsky.social · 16d

(This probably means it’s commercially doomed)

Jules Birch @julesbirch.bsky.social · 16d

Would never have guessed that I’d end up thinking that the new Observer is better than the old one. Less surprised that it is way better than the Saturday guardian

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Jules Birch @julesbirch.bsky.social · 18d

Exactly what I thought - have an urgent review of regulations and way they’re implemented but a blanket do the minimum is something else entirely

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