Leo Gibbons
@layog.bsky.social
Failed politician. YIMBY. Occasional blogger.
I mostly post on the darker place.
I mostly post on the darker place.
Pinned
Reposted by Leo Gibbons
The language of NIMBYism is increasingly unhinged as well, especially on Facebook - talk of ‘blight’ ‘defiled’ ‘desecrated’ etc about… homes? Nice homes that families live in?
This nonsense is how radical YIMBYs are made. Objections to a new town on a former RAF base because it might impact the *view from a historic garden 2km away*. www.countrylife.co.uk/gardens/one-...
'One of the truly great gardens of the world' is at risk of having its vistas and tranquility blighted forever
The views from Rousham, the birthplace of the English landscape-garden movement, are at risk of development if plans for the nearby former RAF Upper Heyford Air Force base get the go-ahead.
www.countrylife.co.uk
November 29, 2025 at 8:53 AM
The language of NIMBYism is increasingly unhinged as well, especially on Facebook - talk of ‘blight’ ‘defiled’ ‘desecrated’ etc about… homes? Nice homes that families live in?
Reposted by Leo Gibbons
I don't think it's all of it by any measure but I do absolutely believe that the political media's raging anti-intellectual streak has got worse with time and has ended up influencing the way MPs talk, and what they choose to talk/think about
I don’t think this is a “politicians have got dumber” issue for the most part. If you look at the *actual CVs* of previous cohorts of MPs, their background is not radically different when you account for, you know, the fact the economy is different! It is primarily a media and ecosystem issue.
We have got to make politics intellectual again. It is the only way that societies thrive is when politicians have the capability to actually think and reflect deeply:
November 28, 2025 at 3:09 PM
I don't think it's all of it by any measure but I do absolutely believe that the political media's raging anti-intellectual streak has got worse with time and has ended up influencing the way MPs talk, and what they choose to talk/think about
Reposted by Leo Gibbons
So, my home town is having a meltdown on social media because a 50 year old brick and concrete bus shelter is being taken down to make way for a modern replacement.
Facebook posts commenced. Several a day on the Community pages.
An online petition was started.
And now... This.
Facebook posts commenced. Several a day on the Community pages.
An online petition was started.
And now... This.
November 28, 2025 at 1:03 PM
So, my home town is having a meltdown on social media because a 50 year old brick and concrete bus shelter is being taken down to make way for a modern replacement.
Facebook posts commenced. Several a day on the Community pages.
An online petition was started.
And now... This.
Facebook posts commenced. Several a day on the Community pages.
An online petition was started.
And now... This.
Reposted by Leo Gibbons
I'm so sick of the austerity/degrowth mindset. We have it within our power to build a society where robots take care of the most boring, least fulfilling tasks, where we can deliver a wider range of goods to people, regardless of geography!
November 28, 2025 at 1:19 PM
I'm so sick of the austerity/degrowth mindset. We have it within our power to build a society where robots take care of the most boring, least fulfilling tasks, where we can deliver a wider range of goods to people, regardless of geography!
Reposted by Leo Gibbons
Counterpoint: Automating lowly-paid gig economy work is good.
Just as you thought food delivery companies couldn't inflict any more misery on society:
Instead of using lowly-paid gig economy contractors to deliver groceries, they're replacing humans with robots, who, in turn, force humans off the pavement into road traffic.
Instead of using lowly-paid gig economy contractors to deliver groceries, they're replacing humans with robots, who, in turn, force humans off the pavement into road traffic.
November 28, 2025 at 1:15 PM
Counterpoint: Automating lowly-paid gig economy work is good.
Reposted by Leo Gibbons
New blog from me! It’s about what hooligan firms can teach us about successful integration.
open.substack.com/pub/thehotta...
open.substack.com/pub/thehotta...
One-Eyed Baz and my pride in Britain
Successful integration comes from immigrants forming deep, meaningful relationships with those who are imbued with Britain’s values.
open.substack.com
November 28, 2025 at 9:58 AM
New blog from me! It’s about what hooligan firms can teach us about successful integration.
open.substack.com/pub/thehotta...
open.substack.com/pub/thehotta...
Reposted by Leo Gibbons
The (obvious in advance) limits of the government's strategy since it took office: a budget in which the majority of individual items poll well, yet people think it is the most unfair budget since YouGov started polling on this question.
% who say each 2025 Budget policy was the 'right thing to do' (1/3)
Increase gambling taxes: 82%
Freeze rail fares: 82%
Reducing energy bills by £150 a year by reducing green levies: 75%
Increasing minimum wage: 71%
Mansion tax: 67%
Decreasing biz rates for retail/hospitality/leisure: 64%
Increase gambling taxes: 82%
Freeze rail fares: 82%
Reducing energy bills by £150 a year by reducing green levies: 75%
Increasing minimum wage: 71%
Mansion tax: 67%
Decreasing biz rates for retail/hospitality/leisure: 64%
November 27, 2025 at 11:12 PM
The (obvious in advance) limits of the government's strategy since it took office: a budget in which the majority of individual items poll well, yet people think it is the most unfair budget since YouGov started polling on this question.
New blog from me! It’s about what hooligan firms can teach us about successful integration.
open.substack.com/pub/thehotta...
open.substack.com/pub/thehotta...
One-Eyed Baz and my pride in Britain
Successful integration comes from immigrants forming deep, meaningful relationships with those who are imbued with Britain’s values.
open.substack.com
November 28, 2025 at 9:58 AM
New blog from me! It’s about what hooligan firms can teach us about successful integration.
open.substack.com/pub/thehotta...
open.substack.com/pub/thehotta...
Reposted by Leo Gibbons
There’s some… political courage in the interests of rational national policy here isn’t there? In this and with the two child limit.
Approach to replacing fuel duty revenue over the longterm is about right, I think: still have an incentive to switch from ICE to EVs, and will just be the new normal as drivers transition.
November 26, 2025 at 12:48 PM
There’s some… political courage in the interests of rational national policy here isn’t there? In this and with the two child limit.
Reposted by Leo Gibbons
OBR estimates that abolition of two-child cap will reduce child poverty by 450,000 and benefit 560,000 families by an average of £5,310 per year.
November 26, 2025 at 12:29 PM
OBR estimates that abolition of two-child cap will reduce child poverty by 450,000 and benefit 560,000 families by an average of £5,310 per year.
Reposted by Leo Gibbons
I think this is a very important point in yimby discourse: people say they don’t like densification but in London at least the densification is happening anyway. It happens via house shares, kids living in parents houses forever etc. you get the densification with or without more housing!
A long time ago Ian Mulherin made this chart and this is densification. That part is already happening! Look at the line for London!
November 22, 2025 at 11:04 AM
I think this is a very important point in yimby discourse: people say they don’t like densification but in London at least the densification is happening anyway. It happens via house shares, kids living in parents houses forever etc. you get the densification with or without more housing!
Reposted by Leo Gibbons
New: 'Shark's fin' chart reveals the uneven impact of 'fiscal drag', the stealth tax beloved of recent chancellors. Plus use our interactive calculator to see how fresh freezes announced by Rachel Reeves at todays Budget could affect you on.ft.com/3KqOYUL
November 26, 2025 at 8:37 AM
New: 'Shark's fin' chart reveals the uneven impact of 'fiscal drag', the stealth tax beloved of recent chancellors. Plus use our interactive calculator to see how fresh freezes announced by Rachel Reeves at todays Budget could affect you on.ft.com/3KqOYUL
Reposted by Leo Gibbons
Ok nosey question: are you a parent with adult kids still living at home, or adult child who’s had to move back (after leaving uni/in a crisis/to save up)? Writing about this for the Guardian & keen to hear (anonymously if needed - DMs open or [email protected],uk) how it’s working...
November 25, 2025 at 8:57 PM
Ok nosey question: are you a parent with adult kids still living at home, or adult child who’s had to move back (after leaving uni/in a crisis/to save up)? Writing about this for the Guardian & keen to hear (anonymously if needed - DMs open or [email protected],uk) how it’s working...
Reposted by Leo Gibbons
Unfortunately the only people in favour of this are men in their 30s and 40s who listen to podcasts about “Abundance”. There’s only about 500 of us as well.
November 20, 2025 at 2:55 PM
Unfortunately the only people in favour of this are men in their 30s and 40s who listen to podcasts about “Abundance”. There’s only about 500 of us as well.
Reposted by Leo Gibbons
There is so much crap looking low density 80s housing in places like Bermondsey, Rotherhithe and Surrey Quays. It’s got to be replaced.
V good this. Would add: we also need to demolish more!
British cities are too flat — and it’s holding back housing supply.
Our new blog shows a big density gap with France and Japan, driven by missing mid-rise homes.
Read more 👉 buff.ly/mm3GBRX
Our new blog shows a big density gap with France and Japan, driven by missing mid-rise homes.
Read more 👉 buff.ly/mm3GBRX
November 20, 2025 at 2:52 PM
There is so much crap looking low density 80s housing in places like Bermondsey, Rotherhithe and Surrey Quays. It’s got to be replaced.
Isn’t this what people said during the high seas of wokeness? Wokeness is radical Protestantism, reimagined, and it was filling the space left by the church. Your spiritual leader was no longer your parish priest, it was HR rep 🤣. Etc.
At the risk of sounding old and crusty I wonder if the decline of the church has left some people all at sea when it comes to realising all people have a common humanity. In the past, faintly remembered sermons might have tempered some of this stuff. Though I guess all of history disproves this…
November 25, 2025 at 2:25 PM
Isn’t this what people said during the high seas of wokeness? Wokeness is radical Protestantism, reimagined, and it was filling the space left by the church. Your spiritual leader was no longer your parish priest, it was HR rep 🤣. Etc.
God this site is as bad as people say it is. Do we really believe this what Phillips is championing? 🤯
It’s very clearly calling for race based terrorization of all minority groups.
November 25, 2025 at 9:18 AM
God this site is as bad as people say it is. Do we really believe this what Phillips is championing? 🤯
People are consistently ruder, and attempt to instigate pile-ons more often, far more on this site than on the modern incarnation of Twitter.
Not sure whether people "defending" Phillips in my mentions are deluded or simply incapable of understanding English, to the point of claiming "endorsing Trump just means more effective enforcement of existing rules."
bsky.app/profile/layo...
bsky.app/profile/layo...
Is this calling for "random" deportations, or rather is it calling for more immigration raids (as we already do) but doing them at a larger scale so they become a spectacle that shifts behaviour and incentives?
November 25, 2025 at 9:16 AM
People are consistently ruder, and attempt to instigate pile-ons more often, far more on this site than on the modern incarnation of Twitter.
Is this calling for "random" deportations, or rather is it calling for more immigration raids (as we already do) but doing them at a larger scale so they become a spectacle that shifts behaviour and incentives?
Trevor Philips in the Times, calling for a Trump/Miller-style of random deportations based on skin colour.
archive.ph/RlXPj
archive.ph/RlXPj
November 24, 2025 at 10:33 PM
Is this calling for "random" deportations, or rather is it calling for more immigration raids (as we already do) but doing them at a larger scale so they become a spectacle that shifts behaviour and incentives?
Reposted by Leo Gibbons
New blog! Some thoughts about Labour’s new asylum reforms and my recent experience canvassing in Lewisham’s Guardian-land areas.
open.substack.com/pub/thehotta...
open.substack.com/pub/thehotta...
Will Shabana Mahmood's asylum reforms sink Labour in its cosmopolitan heartlands? I am not so sure.
Even in relatively prosperous London, it’s our nation’s economic decline that is dooming our government; everything else is secondary.
open.substack.com
November 19, 2025 at 12:32 PM
New blog! Some thoughts about Labour’s new asylum reforms and my recent experience canvassing in Lewisham’s Guardian-land areas.
open.substack.com/pub/thehotta...
open.substack.com/pub/thehotta...
New blog! Some thoughts about Labour’s new asylum reforms and my recent experience canvassing in Lewisham’s Guardian-land areas.
open.substack.com/pub/thehotta...
open.substack.com/pub/thehotta...
Will Shabana Mahmood's asylum reforms sink Labour in its cosmopolitan heartlands? I am not so sure.
Even in relatively prosperous London, it’s our nation’s economic decline that is dooming our government; everything else is secondary.
open.substack.com
November 19, 2025 at 12:32 PM
New blog! Some thoughts about Labour’s new asylum reforms and my recent experience canvassing in Lewisham’s Guardian-land areas.
open.substack.com/pub/thehotta...
open.substack.com/pub/thehotta...
November 14, 2025 at 1:12 PM
Reposted by Leo Gibbons
The levers, the political argument, the electoral coalition to carry it through and get re-elected. It was the last government to be good at governing, it's just unfortunately, as you say, the aims were not good.
November 14, 2025 at 12:01 AM
The levers, the political argument, the electoral coalition to carry it through and get re-elected. It was the last government to be good at governing, it's just unfortunately, as you say, the aims were not good.
Reposted by Leo Gibbons
They simultaneously dismantled a lot of the UK's regulatory structures, while shrinking local government and strangling public services - I suppose it is a governing model but they were withdrawing from a lot of spheres of governing.
November 13, 2025 at 11:52 PM
They simultaneously dismantled a lot of the UK's regulatory structures, while shrinking local government and strangling public services - I suppose it is a governing model but they were withdrawing from a lot of spheres of governing.
Reposted by Leo Gibbons
I did predict that's where they'd end up so my desire to look prescient is battling with my hopes for the right decision...
November 13, 2025 at 10:38 PM
I did predict that's where they'd end up so my desire to look prescient is battling with my hopes for the right decision...