Here’s an alternative - scrap the BSR and instead an offence with up to life imprisonment for anyone convicted of knowingly using unsafe materials, plus a statutory tort for the same to anyone injured by the same, with punitive damages at least equal to that damage.
I am consistently amazed the Building Safety Regulator isn’t a much bigger story. It’s brought house building in London to a total halt, but it’s also brought cladding remedy works to a halt, too. Which is costing leaseholders FORTUNES, halting sales, and leaving people living in unsafe buildings.
... at the Building Safety Regulator - which has lead to 9 month delays at this stage alone:
www.building.co.uk/news/nine-mo...
www.building.co.uk/news/nine-mo...
December 1, 2025 at 11:22 AM
Here’s an alternative - scrap the BSR and instead an offence with up to life imprisonment for anyone convicted of knowingly using unsafe materials, plus a statutory tort for the same to anyone injured by the same, with punitive damages at least equal to that damage.
Reposted
EU example of drowning small companies in paperwork. UK examples will be easy to find (and let's not start again on ending small company de minimis exemptions...) www.ft.com/content/0797...
Companies swamped by 3,000 hours of paperwork to tap EU climate funds
Of the €7.1bn awarded from the bloc’s flagship innovation programme for clean tech, only 5% has been paid out
www.ft.com
November 30, 2025 at 10:31 AM
EU example of drowning small companies in paperwork. UK examples will be easy to find (and let's not start again on ending small company de minimis exemptions...) www.ft.com/content/0797...
Sorry, someone’s been raiding the old Yes Minister storylines again. Specifically the one about the hospital with no patients but fully staffed.
www.theguardian.com/business/202...
www.theguardian.com/business/202...
Soon-to-be-axed 7am Manchester-London train will still run – but without passengers
Exclusive: Rail regulator pulls Avanti service from timetable from mid-December but it is needed for staff travel
www.theguardian.com
November 29, 2025 at 9:58 AM
Sorry, someone’s been raiding the old Yes Minister storylines again. Specifically the one about the hospital with no patients but fully staffed.
www.theguardian.com/business/202...
www.theguardian.com/business/202...
The fact that jurors subjectively believe they do a good job does nothing to reassure me. Again, the problem is that they do justice in secret, without reasons.
“It is a strange irony,” Professor Michael Zander told me yesterday, “that a study that conveys the best available empirical evidence that trial by jury is fit for purpose becomes generally available at a time when trial by jury faces its most severe threat.”
rozenberg.substack.com/p/asking-abo...
rozenberg.substack.com/p/asking-abo...
Asking about juries
What can we learn from a major study of the Crown Court 33 years ago?
rozenberg.substack.com
November 28, 2025 at 8:27 AM
The fact that jurors subjectively believe they do a good job does nothing to reassure me. Again, the problem is that they do justice in secret, without reasons.
Hahahahahahhaha. We’re really doing this again are we? A 29 year old is just the same as 12 year old?
www.bbc.com/news/article...
www.bbc.com/news/article...
Four pivotal ages in your brain's development revealed in new scientific study
Brain scans on thousands of people reveal the dramatic shifts the brain goes through between birth and death.
www.bbc.com
November 25, 2025 at 10:52 AM
Hahahahahahhaha. We’re really doing this again are we? A 29 year old is just the same as 12 year old?
www.bbc.com/news/article...
www.bbc.com/news/article...
The responses to this suggest we are all in a lot of trouble if BlueSky ever does get its chosen leaders into office.
I have read Zack Polanski's interview with Laura K. Good grief docs.google.com/document/d/1...
November 24, 2025 at 10:31 PM
The responses to this suggest we are all in a lot of trouble if BlueSky ever does get its chosen leaders into office.
Reposted
This (from: www.ft.com/content/75ce...) is something you can *feel* if you are in the UK, especially if you've experienced living abroad. But infuriatingly successive governments and our entire media are somehow absolutely committed to suggesting anyone who wants to change this is the devil...
November 21, 2025 at 7:38 AM
This (from: www.ft.com/content/75ce...) is something you can *feel* if you are in the UK, especially if you've experienced living abroad. But infuriatingly successive governments and our entire media are somehow absolutely committed to suggesting anyone who wants to change this is the devil...
“Affordable” homes are built by effectively taxing developers. Building them relies on having developers building profitable developments, some of the profit of which goes into building affordable housing. The BSR has effectively killed such developments in London.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
London mayor criticised as affordable home building slows in capital - BBC News
Data from the Greater London Authority shows a decline in developers making starts on affordable homes.
www.bbc.co.uk
November 16, 2025 at 3:11 PM
“Affordable” homes are built by effectively taxing developers. Building them relies on having developers building profitable developments, some of the profit of which goes into building affordable housing. The BSR has effectively killed such developments in London.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
It will never not be surprising to me that the last commercial canal to be opened in England (1905) opened after the last main line railway (1899).
November 14, 2025 at 11:34 PM
It will never not be surprising to me that the last commercial canal to be opened in England (1905) opened after the last main line railway (1899).
Merely freezing threshold and abolishing salary sacrifice is the definition of politics over good policy. Salary sacrifice is one of the few ways that an employee approaching the £100k cliff edge can avoid falling off while still getting a financial benefit.
November 14, 2025 at 11:18 AM
Merely freezing threshold and abolishing salary sacrifice is the definition of politics over good policy. Salary sacrifice is one of the few ways that an employee approaching the £100k cliff edge can avoid falling off while still getting a financial benefit.
Damn every one of these selfish people, who have themselves already got accommodation, but are happy to see other people without homes.
www.mylondon.news/news/north-l...
www.mylondon.news/news/north-l...
Anti-gentrification campaigners slam 'grotesque' estate regeneration
Camden locals including Sir Michael Palin sign letter accusing their council of turning an affordable housing project into "high rise investment opportunity"
www.mylondon.news
November 1, 2025 at 10:35 PM
Damn every one of these selfish people, who have themselves already got accommodation, but are happy to see other people without homes.
www.mylondon.news/news/north-l...
www.mylondon.news/news/north-l...
Because we haven't really been trying. We've been saying we would like to have it, without any willingness to consider the necessary trade offs to get there (indeed, pilling on obstacles to growth).
Why do we still generally assume that there is still a path to much higher growth after 17 years of failing to find it?
October 30, 2025 at 7:06 PM
Because we haven't really been trying. We've been saying we would like to have it, without any willingness to consider the necessary trade offs to get there (indeed, pilling on obstacles to growth).
Responses to Dan here as serious as you would expect.
"Tax the rich", "the money is there its just being hidden", "Tufton Steet!!!!!"
"Tax the rich", "the money is there its just being hidden", "Tufton Steet!!!!!"
Lots of people say the Government should significantly cut spending. Hardly any spell out how that could be achieved.
So kudos to the Policy Exchange for a serious-minded report proposing spending cuts taking the size of the state down to where it was before the pandemic.
So kudos to the Policy Exchange for a serious-minded report proposing spending cuts taking the size of the state down to where it was before the pandemic.
October 30, 2025 at 1:26 PM
Responses to Dan here as serious as you would expect.
"Tax the rich", "the money is there its just being hidden", "Tufton Steet!!!!!"
"Tax the rich", "the money is there its just being hidden", "Tufton Steet!!!!!"
It’s well known that homes have an inherent and immutable value, which is why there has been no rise in real prices ever.
It may be that supply restrictions (s106, impact studies the length of war and peace) mean the homes cannot be sold profitably. But that is all the same problem.
It may be that supply restrictions (s106, impact studies the length of war and peace) mean the homes cannot be sold profitably. But that is all the same problem.
New homes: even if you build them, there’s no one to buy them on.ft.com/3Levumr | opinion
New homes: even if you build them, there’s no one to buy them
We’re often told housing demand exceeds supply — so why are new homes struggling to be built and bought?
on.ft.com
October 30, 2025 at 8:47 AM
It’s well known that homes have an inherent and immutable value, which is why there has been no rise in real prices ever.
It may be that supply restrictions (s106, impact studies the length of war and peace) mean the homes cannot be sold profitably. But that is all the same problem.
It may be that supply restrictions (s106, impact studies the length of war and peace) mean the homes cannot be sold profitably. But that is all the same problem.
One for @spinninghugo.bsky.social. You share a name with a public figure in your city. A large institution contacts you personally out of the blue wanting to contract. You accept. Voidable?
October 30, 2025 at 8:19 AM
One for @spinninghugo.bsky.social. You share a name with a public figure in your city. A large institution contacts you personally out of the blue wanting to contract. You accept. Voidable?
I don’t believe politicians are simply prisoners of this polling - which in any event has all the usual caveats of single issue polling. Politicians can and should try to shape public opinion, and Labour are doing a terrible job of that.
Indeed, opposition to taxing most affluent groups is genuinely very low.
There is a danger zone - pensioners, petrol car drivers, small biz - but also a lot of soft targets: banks, gambling companies, oil and gas, landlords etc.
[graph 8]
There is a danger zone - pensioners, petrol car drivers, small biz - but also a lot of soft targets: banks, gambling companies, oil and gas, landlords etc.
[graph 8]
October 29, 2025 at 9:57 AM
I don’t believe politicians are simply prisoners of this polling - which in any event has all the usual caveats of single issue polling. Politicians can and should try to shape public opinion, and Labour are doing a terrible job of that.
Reposted
I always find the ‘people with X amount of wealth’ tax results funny because it’s very clear that the British do not consider their home as wealth and if you actually started a property tax at £200k of annual value they would scream bloody murder. But housing is where the wealth is!
Indeed, opposition to taxing most affluent groups is genuinely very low.
There is a danger zone - pensioners, petrol car drivers, small biz - but also a lot of soft targets: banks, gambling companies, oil and gas, landlords etc.
[graph 8]
There is a danger zone - pensioners, petrol car drivers, small biz - but also a lot of soft targets: banks, gambling companies, oil and gas, landlords etc.
[graph 8]
October 29, 2025 at 9:31 AM
I always find the ‘people with X amount of wealth’ tax results funny because it’s very clear that the British do not consider their home as wealth and if you actually started a property tax at £200k of annual value they would scream bloody murder. But housing is where the wealth is!
uk.news.yahoo.com/government-c...
It doesn’t sound like Lab is actually going to do this, just Lib Dems being Lib Dems, but what an unconscionable fucking policy.
It doesn’t sound like Lab is actually going to do this, just Lib Dems being Lib Dems, but what an unconscionable fucking policy.
Government considering increasing personal allowance for pensioners
The Chancellor will announce any changes to the tax system at the Autumn Budget
uk.news.yahoo.com
October 28, 2025 at 7:18 PM
uk.news.yahoo.com/government-c...
It doesn’t sound like Lab is actually going to do this, just Lib Dems being Lib Dems, but what an unconscionable fucking policy.
It doesn’t sound like Lab is actually going to do this, just Lib Dems being Lib Dems, but what an unconscionable fucking policy.
You’re just re-allocating an existing scarce good using the deepest pockets of them all. You can’t fix the housing crisis like this.
“Right to buy in reverse: how Brighton is tackling its social housing crisis
The council is rolling back Thatcher’s flagship policy by buying stock from private landlords.”
www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
The council is rolling back Thatcher’s flagship policy by buying stock from private landlords.”
www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
Right to buy in reverse: how Brighton is tackling its social housing crisis | Richard Partington
The council is rolling back Thatcher’s flagship policy by buying stock from private landlords. Other local authorities should take note
www.theguardian.com
October 27, 2025 at 8:32 AM
You’re just re-allocating an existing scarce good using the deepest pockets of them all. You can’t fix the housing crisis like this.
I can see that one off payments for unfair dismissal etc wouldnt be caught, but it cannot change the fundamental issue that bin men (used advisedly) cannot be paid more than TAs, and they think they should be.
www.itv.com/news/central...
www.itv.com/news/central...
www.itv.com
October 22, 2025 at 7:29 AM
I can see that one off payments for unfair dismissal etc wouldnt be caught, but it cannot change the fundamental issue that bin men (used advisedly) cannot be paid more than TAs, and they think they should be.
www.itv.com/news/central...
www.itv.com/news/central...
I’m worried by the fact that, from the report, the MR appears to see no inherent value in a decision being made by a human, who has had to sit and hear the evidence and arguments, and articulate their reasons in public.
www.lawgazette.co.uk/news/debate-...
www.lawgazette.co.uk/news/debate-...
'Debate must start now' on AI judicial decision-making, says master of the rolls
Artificial intelligence can be used - but whether it should be poses 'difficult and potentially troubling' questions, Sir Geoffrey Vos tells lawtech gathering.
www.lawgazette.co.uk
October 19, 2025 at 12:07 PM
I’m worried by the fact that, from the report, the MR appears to see no inherent value in a decision being made by a human, who has had to sit and hear the evidence and arguments, and articulate their reasons in public.
www.lawgazette.co.uk/news/debate-...
www.lawgazette.co.uk/news/debate-...
I’m pretty sure that while Andrew can cease to use the title, he cannot cease to be Duke of York without an Act of Parliament.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cv...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cv...
Prince Andrew gives up royal titles including Duke of York after 'discussion with King'
He has been under increasing pressure for his links with late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, with calls for the Palace to take action.
www.bbc.co.uk
October 17, 2025 at 6:04 PM
I’m pretty sure that while Andrew can cease to use the title, he cannot cease to be Duke of York without an Act of Parliament.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cv...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cv...
I agree, but these words ring hollow in a world where individual lawyers very publicly identify themselves personally with their clients and their causes. The regulator(s) would do well to mandate that this isn’t done in a professional capacity, in order to protect the independence of the profession
"Vilifying lawyers puts them at risk" @thebarcouncil.bsky.social Faculty of Advocates & the law societies. "Lawyers should never suffer adverse consequences because they are identified with their clients or their clients’ causes. Lawyers are not their clients" www.barcouncil.org.uk/resource/vil...
Vilifying lawyers puts them at risk
The Bars, Faculty and Law Societies in the UK have come together and accused politicians of "irresponsible and dangerous" language that is putting lawyers at risk.
www.barcouncil.org.uk
October 14, 2025 at 8:14 AM
I agree, but these words ring hollow in a world where individual lawyers very publicly identify themselves personally with their clients and their causes. The regulator(s) would do well to mandate that this isn’t done in a professional capacity, in order to protect the independence of the profession
These cases (see also one a few months ago where a teenager was allegedly assaulted resisting being taken to his mothers) really do demonstrate the limits of the law - family courts cannot force broken down family relationships back together under the barrel of a gun.
www.bbc.com/news/article...
www.bbc.com/news/article...
'Nothing short of tragic': Inside Ipswich family court - BBC News
A judge criticises two parents as he halts a 10-year court battle over their children's future.
www.bbc.com
October 11, 2025 at 10:34 PM
These cases (see also one a few months ago where a teenager was allegedly assaulted resisting being taken to his mothers) really do demonstrate the limits of the law - family courts cannot force broken down family relationships back together under the barrel of a gun.
www.bbc.com/news/article...
www.bbc.com/news/article...
Reposted
I have a lot of sympathy with the problems which this is aimed at solving. But I do wish the judiciary would have greater regard to s.5 Civil Procedure Act 1997 which considerably limits the powers to issue them. Even if they are approved by the President of FamD & titled a “Practice Note”.
Still “too many” incidences of non-compliance with Public Law Outline, Presiding Family Judge for London warns: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk/child-protec...
Still “too many” incidences of non-compliance with Public Law Outline, Presiding Family Judge for London warns
www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk
October 7, 2025 at 12:20 PM
I have a lot of sympathy with the problems which this is aimed at solving. But I do wish the judiciary would have greater regard to s.5 Civil Procedure Act 1997 which considerably limits the powers to issue them. Even if they are approved by the President of FamD & titled a “Practice Note”.