iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Catch 23 @catch23.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

I don’t think it helps that a lot of Labour people, even some factional opponents and people who should know better, have internalised that myth that Starmer ‘fixed the foundations’ and now the public sector is in a vaguely manageable state.

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Catch 23 @catch23.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Wholly agree. Not least because the population requirements have twisted most constituencies into incoherent geographies without any real identity.

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Catch 23 @catch23.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

I am permanently baffled how she is not only been able to consistently fail upwards, but do so without the sort of criticism that followed people like Starmer or even Nandy.

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Catch 23 @catch23.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

As someone not unsympathetic to their political tradition, I find it incredibly depressing how many Blairites returned in the 2024 intake as Old Right types while apparently not noticing the contradictions with their original beliefs.

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Rob Blackie @robblackie.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

@jamesomalley.co.uk The 'democratic control' over social housing is almost certainly about housing associations. They have a huge chunk of housing stock - are completely unaccountable (because they are legally charities) and are effectively feral companies. Knocking on doors in London there's...

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Alice Lilly @aliceolilly.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

This is absolutely spot-on. I’m increasingly convinced that our revealed sense of what we expect MPs to do (be good legislators, scrutineers, and deal with ever-increasing amounts of casework and correspondence) is, with current resources, unsustainable.

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Neil Goodrich @ngoodrichhsg.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Our planning system (alongside other factors) is creating misery for too many, whilst we pick up the ever increasing bill. It is in all our interests to build more housing. www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home...

independent.co.uk

Temporary housing costs councils £8m every day in new record high

Over £8m a day is being spent on emergency provision, new figures show

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Christabel Cooper @christabelcoops.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Our @thinklabour.bsky.social report on the Greens challenge to Labour is in the Guardian today. Our diagnosis of why Labour's vote fell in cities is high housing costs for young people, plus progressives worried that Labour doesn't reflects their values. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

theguardian.com

Greens just four points behind Labour in urban areas, poll reveals

Exclusive: UK’s Green parties could take 40 seats if result replicated at next election, according to Labour-linked thinktank

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Catch 23 @catch23.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

I’ve always found it profoundly depressing that the thing my dad, a Labour-voting police officer for over three decades, found the most challenging was not any of the myriad awful things you’d expect but the social & political views of his fellow officers.

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Catch 23 @catch23.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

One reason I’ve grown to loathe our electoral system is MPs taking on endless useless/harmful hobbyhorses at the behest of tiny local campaign groups or comms officers desperate to make them look busy, all cause they’re convinced even a small local personal vote will help them the next election.

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Karen Buck @queensparkkaren.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

We’ve seen this movie before. It ends with homelessness, Temporary Accommodation costs crippling local councils, renters in severe financial hardship. That this can be done without huge social damage is the politics of wishful thinking.

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Election Maps UK @electionmaps.uk · 09/09/2026

🗺️ Introducing... electionmapsuk | ARCHIVE 🔎 | Explore a detailed, interactive map of EVERY General Election since 1922. 📜 | View seat-by-seat data on vote share, majorities, and candidates 🖱️ | Click on a constituency to see line chart of historic results electionmaps.uk/archive

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Catch 23 @catch23.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

In my experience policy/campaign enquiries skew very much older but actual casework is a mixed bag - in part cause the biggest categories (for us at least) are DWP or Home Office screw ups that impact people of all ages.

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Anna Clarke @annaclarke.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

I'm really pleased to see this £10bn of social housing grant is now allocated across England. This means councils and housing associations can start cracking on with building these new homes. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

bbc.co.uk

More than 70,000 social and affordable homes to be built across England over 10 years

Funding has been granted to Greater Manchester, the West Midlands and West Yorkshire as well as £6bn for London.

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British Voter @britishvoter.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

Hi, this is the British Voter Bot. We're really proud of this latest update, which will give insight into the biggest political social survey in Britain - revealing the breadth of perspective and opinion across our country. Let us know what you think!

Introduction poster for British Voter Bot. Headline: Real British voters, one at a time. Every card on this account is one real, anonymous respondent to the British Election Study, Britain's largest survey of voters. Each card says who they are, what they think and how they'd vote, in their own answers to questions written by the BES. The views are the respondent's own, not ours. How to read a card, five rows: 1. A map of Wales with a magenta dot. The dot is where they live: each voter is drawn over their home nation, marked at their constituency. 2. A lilac speech bubble. The bubbles are their views: favourite and least favourite leader, the issues they care about, how they see their nation - each one the respondent's own answer to a BES question, not the opinion of this account, its authors or the BES. 3. A slider with a magenta dot left of centre, a black tick at the centre and a lilac band around it. The scales show where they sit: two BES 0 to 10 scales, economic left to right and social liberal to authoritarian. The tick is the centre of the scale (5); the lilac band is the voters' interquartile range. 4. A magenta block reading 2024 to today. The band is their vote: how they voted in 2024 and who they'd vote for now, coloured by the party they're backing today, grey if they're undecided or wouldn't vote. 5. 24 lilac dots, one magenta. Together, they are Britain in miniature: voters are drawn from the wave's 31,392 real respondents in proportion to BES survey weights, so the feed reflects the British adult population by age, gender, region, past vote and more. One voter, four times a day. BES Wave 31, YouGov, May-June 2026. Closing band, magenta: No one is the average voter. Taken one at a time, voters are messier - and more interesting - than any stereotype. Credits: Jacob Weinbren, @jacobweinbren.bsky.social; Lawrence McKay, @lawrencemckay.bsky.social; Chris Terry-Enescu, @cjterry.bsky.social.

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Catch 23 @catch23.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

See also, any discussion of housing or planning in local media

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Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan @london.gov.uk · 19/08/2026

This stopped me in my tracks. An independent study by @qmul.bsky.social has found that after ULEZ was introduced, children’s lungs grew faster in Central London and have now caught up with children outside of the capital. Incredible.

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Stephen Jacob Smith @stephenjacobsmith.com · 18/08/2026

Well this is insane: “High affordable housing requirements within the Government’s ‘Golden Rules’ are likely to dash any hopes of a ‘Train Belt’ building boom…A 300-home development will typically be forced to provide between 110 and 150 homes at a discount.”

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Catch 23 @catch23.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

A very welcome and overdue change. So many people raise this as an issue, it’s absurd the restriction ever existed.

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George Eaton @georgeeaton.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

Sweden isn’t really “ultra-capitalist” as suggested here. Public spending is 49.9% of GDP, the top tax rate is 52%. But it has an open approach to foreign investment, low corporation tax (20.6%) and a flexible labour market. Business-friendly social democracy is the model (and a good one).

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Catch 23 @catch23.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

I’m not optimistic about the future trajectory of the city, it feels like the sort of infrastructure overhaul needed to fix it is just too expensive and politically unpalatable to be delivered anytime soon.

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Catch 23 @catch23.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

The number of abandoned/semi dericilt properties near Broad St and along Hagley Rd on what should be sites people are jumping to develop feels very emblematic of everything that’s gone wrong here

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Left Outside @leftoutside.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

Important: the data source for schools is just an 1868 report. People do read these things eventually! Wonks and civil servants take note, please keep producing reports and storing them in accessible, resilient, multimedia ways, and open your archives.

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Catch 23 @catch23.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

How many baffling rounds of LGR will be enough to teach policymakers that ‘the existing local govt units are bad, let’s use them as the building blocks of the new ones’ is *still* not a good plan.

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Catch 23 @catch23.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

While I don’t think it’s the main problem here, I think there’s an issue with our political class being dominated by people with no life outside politics who can’t fathom that some actions should permanently exclude someone from that world.

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Cllr Dr Alex Powell @apowelllaw.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

The campaign of harassment and intimidation Raise the Colours have undertaken against council staff, contractors, and members of the public as reported by the Clarion today is shocking if not surprising. Excellent reporting. oxfordclarion.uk/the-clarion-...

oxfordclarion.uk

The Clarion, 4 August 2026

We're doing a rain dance. You? While we wait for some sorely needed water, here is some news, not all of it cheerful. Including less than savoury details about Raise the Colours; celebrating Oxford Ci...

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Catch 23 @catch23.bsky.social · 02/08/2026

I haven’t heard about this, but that’s grim. Really is a problem that it’s near impossible to keep track of internal Labour politics unless you’re on twitter or happen to be in the right WhatsApp groups.

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Catch 23 @catch23.bsky.social · 02/08/2026

Getting alarmed how many soft left adjacent people I’ve see saying they’re gonna vote for them, like even a fairly cursory look at Tsantekidou’s Twitter should be enough to set alarm bells ringing.

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Oz Katerji @ozkaterji.bsky.social · 02/08/2026

If you are a supporter of Ukraine in the Labour Party, do not under any circumstances vote for the Restoration slate including Stella Tsantekidou for the NEC. They have made it very clear that they will not be reliable pro-Ukraine allies if elected.

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Catch 23 @catch23.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

For what little it’s worth, I spent four very long months after finishing my politics degree convinced no one would ever hire me, then I found my way into a job I applied for without even thinking. As unhelpful as I know this sounds, keep throwing stuff at the wall, something will stick.

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Catch 23 @catch23.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

The anti Tory attack really adds to the vibes of print that was designed before the circumstances it would be used in became clear.

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Dan Kaszeta FRHistS @dankaszeta.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

There’s a thing with local government in which they put people in bad housing hoping they refuse it so that they can declare those people as having deliberately made themselves homeless and therefore absolve themselves from their legal obligations to help homeless people

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Ant Breach @antbreach.bsky.social · 25/07/2026

This would be the most important local finance reform since Elizabeth I. Finally introducing local revenue sources that aren't property taxes will ensure places really benefit from local growth - more jobs and/or higher wages in a place will translate into more investment and services:

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holliewickens.bsky.social @holliewickens.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

As a staffer, I can tell you: MPs’ security comes first. Staffers’ security? An afterthought - if we’re lucky.

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Catch 23 @catch23.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

While clearly not awful, if you’re a member of the party whose strategy (?) is being the friendly inoffensive middle, the Davey numbers should be a tad concerning.

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Catch 23 @catch23.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

The second batch of appointments feel like when I’d commit to an all nighter for uni to write the perfect essay, get tired after a couple hours and write a bunch of gibberish to finish it off.

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Catch 23 @catch23.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

I have some measure of hope that an activist investment focused state that still respects markets & understands the modern economy can prevail over another attempt at Blue Labour’s 1960s cosplay, but I accept the argument for the former is far from won.

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Catch 23 @catch23.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

I’ve been pleasantly surprised on the economic side and am thrilled to see local govt/devolution so high on the agenda, but as a social liberal this govt has nothing more for me than its predecessor.

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John Oxley @joxley.jmoxley.co.uk · 18/07/2026

Relatedly, in another world Labour could be two years on from the blowback from immediate tax rises, and pivoting to talking about how investment has paid off.

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Julianna 💎 @batariangal.eurosky.social · 17/07/2026

“prioritise values of provincial Britain over party’s metropolitan mindset”

Frames from the comedy show Blackadder, in which the titular character says “it’s the same plan that we used last time, and the seventeen times before that”

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Sam Dumitriu @samdumitriu.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

Starmer and Reeves's planning reform agenda is working, but unfinished. My latest describes four reforms (in the works) that Andy Burnham should keep when he takes power next week. www.samdumitriu.com/p/what-burnh...

samdumitriu.com

What Burnham should keep

Four pro-growth reforms that should outlive Starmer and Reeves

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Chris McKeon @cjmckeon.bsky.social · 10/07/2026

It's official, the Clacton by-election will be held on August 13. The announcement from Tendring Council includes a nice picture of the writ for the by-election, which is not something I've ever seen before.

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Robert Hutton @roberthutton.co.uk · 10/07/2026

This is the nuanced point about whipping: the problem is often with the leadership, not the whips. A good whipping operation tells No10 "this issue is a real problem, that idea won't fly". It's very rarely about telling MPs to vote one way "or else".

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Andy Bruce (Reuters) @bruceandy.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

"Former Bulk Distributor assistant editor Andy Burnham is set to become the next Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, marking an extraordinary journey from the pages of the tank container industry press to the steps of Downing Street." bulk-distributor.com/2026/07/form...

bulk-distributor.com

Former BD journalist set to become UK PM - Bulk Distributor

Former Bulk Distributor assistant editor Andy Burnham is set to become the next Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, marking an extraordinary journey from the pages of the tank container industry pre...

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Catch 23 @catch23.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

Yet another casualty of this (and previous) govt’s determination to do LGR on an ad hoc area-by-area basis.

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Catch 23 @catch23.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

My home town has gone from being an unparished area in a district to having a town council within a big new unitary, and they’ve been able to run a small but respectable number of services and absolutely have the capacity/desire to do more.

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