Reposted by Jim GleesonLeonardo Carella @leonardocarella.bsky.social · 20hSomething bugs me about Italian opinion polls. There's not enough variance: FdI has been at 27-and-a-bit in 12 of the last 13 polls. My suspicion was herding, so I went down a statistical rabbit hole, which involved inventing a new measure of herding (which may have picked up a different issue!). 🧵 56217
Jim Gleeson @geographyjim.bsky.social · 23hAnd it leads to this kind of argument where Output Areas are simultaneously individual streets and self-contained "communities" that constrain people's contacts and economic opportunities. 131
Jim Gleeson @geographyjim.bsky.social · 23hI think there's also something a bit silly about doing Output Area (average population 250) analysis and calling them "neighbourhoods". For areas that small there are bound to be some (in this case only 3369) where the rate exceeds 50%. 141
Jim Gleeson @geographyjim.bsky.social · 23hTheir blog here says they're using Output Areas www.centreforsocialjustice.org.uk/newsroom/rev...centreforsocialjustice.org.ukRevealed: the 3,000 areas with over half of working-age adults on benefits - The Centre for Social JusticeThe full scale of Britain’s worklessness crisis is to be revealed this week by a major inquiry into the benefit system. 220
Reposted by Jim GleesonBen Barclay @benbarclay.bsky.social · 08/10/2026It’s a commonplace that London constituencies often encompass everything from great wealth to deprivation, and Holborn and St Pancras is no exception. Lincoln Inn’s Fields, Bloomsbury, British Museum, Somer’s Town, Camden Town and Kentish Town. And once it was home to a very original development. 32813
Reposted by Jim GleesonWill Thorne @wbthorne.bsky.social · 07/10/2026This graph is a good reason to introduce my new paper: By Generation and by Design: A Review of the Empirical Rent Control Literature. This paints a (somewhat) misleading picture of rent control evidence because it groups all rent control together regardless of design feature. 517554
Reposted by Jim GleesonRichard Brown @richardbrown.bsky.social · 02/10/2026Troubled bridges. What to do about London's river crossings? Me for On London, partly prompted by @jamesrball.com and @neilgarratt.bsky.social. www.onlondon.co.uk/richard-brow...onlondon.co.ukRichard Brown: London cannot let its bridges keep on falling downThe very long history of failing to properly fund and maintain these vital Thames crossings needs to be brought to an end 178
Jim Gleeson @geographyjim.bsky.social · 02/10/2026Thanks Andy, I'm not on there much myself but might (reluctantly) make a bit more of an effort! 000
Jim Gleeson @geographyjim.bsky.social · 02/10/2026Do you know if there is much of a data Viz presence on Instagram? 100
Reposted by Jim GleesonTom Copley @tomcopley.bsky.social · 01/10/2026I was delighted to present the Mayor of London Award to @phoenixtogether.bsky.social’s Farmstead Road development in LB Lewisham, designed by Metropolitan Workshop, at the Housing Design Awards. Farmstead Road shows how a constrained suburban site can provide much-needed affordable family homes. 052
Reposted by Jim GleesonEdwin Heathcote @edwinheathcote.bsky.social · 01/10/2026www.ft.com/content/0146... It’s time for a stone-brick revolution @groupwork.bsky.social @designmuseum.bsky.socialft.comIt’s time for a stone-brick revolutionIt’s low carbon, reusable, quirkily beautiful — and can be cheaper than concrete and steel. Why on earth aren’t more architects building in stone? 5227
Jim Gleeson @geographyjim.bsky.social · 30/09/2026Strongly recommend this delightfully bonkers Korean time-travel food-quest romcom en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bon_App...en.wikipedia.orgBon Appétit, Your Majesty - Wikipedia 100
Jim Gleeson @geographyjim.bsky.social · 28/09/2026Yes, but the price drop is greater for houses than for flats, for flats in taller buildings and for leasehold rather than for freehold flats. 001
Jim Gleeson @geographyjim.bsky.social · 28/09/2026There is far less difference in rents than in prices, which to my mind does not rule out a substantial Brexit effect but does suggest a big role for Grenfell/building safety/leasehold effects. 120
Jim Gleeson @geographyjim.bsky.social · 26/09/2026Not the main point of the story but this bit mixes up two different measures of housing supply. On the correct measure estimated net housing completions in England were around 200,000 in 2025-26. 000
Reposted by Jim GleesonThe Guardian @theguardian.com · 25/09/2026‘Everyone can relate to pain and struggle. So I’m sharing mine’: Michael Kiwanuka on life after his devastating stroketheguardian.com‘Everyone can relate to pain and struggle. So I’m sharing mine’: Michael Kiwanuka on life after his devastating strokeThe Mercury prize winner hasn’t been able to go home since falling ill last summer. In his only interview, he opens up about the ‘poignancy’ of finally releasing the new album his stroke shelved 419353
Reposted by Jim GleesonRob Kitchin @robkitchin.bsky.social · 24/09/2026Housing in Ireland book forum, Oct 14th, iD8, Dublin, 18.00-19.30. Join me in conversation with Lorcan Sirr, @mickbyrne.bsky.social, @ronanlyons.bsky.social, Mike Allen, @danihynes.bsky.social & Lidia Manzo, each of whom have recently published a book on housing. www.eventbrite.ie/e/housing-ex...eventbrite.ieHOUSING EXPERTS PANEL — BOOK FORUMHousing experts and writers discuss their books and the current housing emergency 001
Reposted by Jim GleesonHetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 17/09/2026AI is screwing up journal papers: Journal editor asks authors of 10 submitted papers to meet and discuss their paper. Of the 7 that showed up, 3 were unable to answer basic questions about the paper and 3 had difficulty when asked further questions on technical details… medium.com/@TmlrOrg/ask...medium.comAsking Authors About Their Own PapersBy Nihar B. Shah 1315785
Jim Gleeson @geographyjim.bsky.social · 18/09/2026Very informative thread Joseph! Though I don't think the number of PRS homes was that high in the 1990s? It had shrunk quite a lot by then IIRC. 101
Jim Gleeson @geographyjim.bsky.social · 15/09/2026That's not right, there's a whole chapter about impacts on house prices www.gov.uk/government/p...gov.ukEvaluation of the Help to Buy scheme: evaluation findings report 120
Reposted by Jim GleesonSteven Schmidt @stevenschmidt.bsky.social · 14/09/2026New at Social Problems! Lora Phillips and I use panel data from LA to look at the prevalence and predictors of anticipatory stress around housing loss, i.e., worry over the possibility of experiencing displacement. 182
Reposted by Jim GleesonAlice Lilly @aliceolilly.bsky.social · 14/09/2026This is, in a sense, a perfect artefact of 2026 for us to bequeath to future historians 26516
Reposted by Jim GleesonGautam Vyas @gautamvyas.bsky.social · 10/09/2026But how you measure consumption matters, too. Take London overall: including housing costs, Londoners spend 25% more than average. Much of that is just how expensive London housing is – adjust for it and they spend around 3% less. (Which measure is "right"? More in the paper.) 6/7 121
Reposted by Jim GleesonJack Shoulder @jackshoulder.bsky.social · 11/09/2026#TodayInQueerHistory Sept 11 (2001) Mychal Judge was a Catholic Priest & chaplain to the NYFD. He jumped into action to save lives in the 9/11 attacks. He was the 1st certified fatality. He was "a phenomenal, warm, sincere man". He advocated for the Church to change its stance on homosexuality. 0333
Reposted by Jim GleesonOmar Khan @omaromalleykhan.bsky.social · 08/09/2026The question of *why* we have seen such a dramatic increase in ethnic minority educational attainment in Britain is too little asked From the 1960s to early 1990s there was a large literature seeking to explain the under-achievement of minority children that is now apparently long forgotten 172
Reposted by Jim GleesonPhilip Oldfield @sustainabletall.bsky.social · 08/09/2026This is an important building by Groupwork Architecture 1,000 tonnes of solid volcanic rock provide the structure for this 10-storey apartment building, massively reducing steel and concrete This could be used up to 30 storeys, to create new housing and reduce emissions 85617
Jim Gleeson @geographyjim.bsky.social · 03/09/2026I've given several reasons (directly contradicted by other data; no published methodology; nobody noticing what would have been a huge socioeconomic change). It's bad data, and it's not rude to simply point that out. 100
Jim Gleeson @geographyjim.bsky.social · 03/09/2026On the other hand, if you're not careful with your data and your methods you might end up publishing a claim like "rents in London fell 17% in the last year", when they plainly did not. I'm genuinely surprised you are sticking with it, but we're not getting anywhere so let's leave it. 100
Jim Gleeson @geographyjim.bsky.social · 03/09/2026Correct, they are both doing a better job than Propertymark, who do not publish any methodology at all but I would guess are failing to mix-adjust off of a volatile sample. Do you not think if achieved rents had really fallen **17%** in a single year that there might have been some wider reaction? 110
Jim Gleeson @geographyjim.bsky.social · 03/09/2026Rightmove put the change in rents over the same period at +2.9% www.rightmove.co.uk/news/content... Homelet +5% homelet.co.uk/-/media/proj... Hamptons: +1.1% www.hamptons.co.uk/articles/lan... Propertymark: minus 17%! Come on.rightmove.co.uk 100
Jim Gleeson @geographyjim.bsky.social · 03/09/2026Prices have not gone up, as your original post correctly highlighted. The article you cited said rents have fallen 17% in a year and that affordability had improved 17% in a year. Both figures are just wrong, and I'm surprised you can't see that. 100
Jim Gleeson @geographyjim.bsky.social · 03/09/2026"The average rent last month was £2,385, including both inner and outer London, down from £2,875 a month in June 2025." 000
Jim Gleeson @geographyjim.bsky.social · 03/09/2026By no measure did average London rents fall 17% in one year. 100
Jim Gleeson @geographyjim.bsky.social · 03/09/2026Other sources show London advertised rents rising over the year to June 2026 rather than falling by 17%. Rightmove put the annual increase at 2.9% www.rightmove.co.uk/news/content... 100
Jim Gleeson @geographyjim.bsky.social · 03/09/2026The following month saw some more zany figures from Propertymark (a 4.2% increase in average rents in a single month!), suggesting to me that there are at the very least some issues here with data quality and/or seasonal adjustment www.property118.com/salary-neede... 110
Jim Gleeson @geographyjim.bsky.social · 03/09/2026The figures apparently come from Propertymark, but are not to be found (as far as I can see) in their June Housing Insight Report www.propertymark.co.uk/static/d6797.... But they have been reported in various media, so the FT don't seem to have made it up. 100
Jim Gleeson @geographyjim.bsky.social · 03/09/2026Missed it when it came out, but there's a striking claim in this FT article that advertised private rents in London fell 17% in the year to June, which is wildly out of line with other source pointing to rising rents. 241
Jim Gleeson @geographyjim.bsky.social · 03/09/2026I wrote about issues at the England level here a couple of years ago bsky.app/profile/geog.... Things have improved a little since then but not enough, and the issue seems particularly acute in London. 010
Jim Gleeson @geographyjim.bsky.social · 03/09/2026That wasn't sarcasm, I am genuinely curious about where this strange factoid came from. 010
Jim Gleeson @geographyjim.bsky.social · 03/09/2026Would be very keen for someone to point me to where Propertymark say that asking rents in London have fallen 17%, as opposed to an internally contradictory FT article. 100
Jim Gleeson @geographyjim.bsky.social · 03/09/2026I'm looking at the article and asking if you really believe it. Also, which part of the article, because another part says rents in London rose 3.4% (which is in line with every other source). 100
Jim Gleeson @geographyjim.bsky.social · 03/09/2026A 2.5 percentage point fall looks like a >10% fall in the rental burden to me. Again you are quite entitled to say that's nothing worth bothering with, but many would disagree, particularly in London. 110
Jim Gleeson @geographyjim.bsky.social · 03/09/2026Average asking rents in London are currently increasing despite that labour market weakness, according to Rightmove, Homelet and Hamptons. 020
Jim Gleeson @geographyjim.bsky.social · 03/09/2026Sorry, are you suggesting that rents fell 17% nominal / 20% in real terms in London in the last year? 100
Jim Gleeson @geographyjim.bsky.social · 03/09/2026Maybe not for you, but that would actually be seriously life-enhancing for many people. Also, I thought your argument was that the rent-to-income ratio is extremely stable, making this kind of change highly unusual. 110
Jim Gleeson @geographyjim.bsky.social · 03/09/2026Would love to, but the English Housing Survey data quality really suffered during the pandemic and has never quite recovered. It seems to think London's average household size is much lower than other sources indicate, which biases this kind of calculation. 200
Jim Gleeson @geographyjim.bsky.social · 29/08/2026Lewisham Council celebrating World Car Free Day by closing part of one street for a whole three hours. 291
Reposted by Jim GleesonJeremy Goldkorn @goldkorn.bsky.social · 26/08/2026I went back to China after a decade away—I'd previously lived there for 20 years. Some notes:chinafile.comApp Life in China“It’s really tough doing anything in China right now,” my friend told me. He’s a serial entrepreneur in Shanghai with a locked-in grin. We were waiting for our food in a Taiwanese restaurant in a lovi... 915548
Reposted by Jim GleesonRyan Dunlavey @ryandunlavey.bsky.social · 07/04/2026I was just talking to a friend today about Dolly Parton's Imagination Library - new books every month, totally for free, for kids ages 1-5. My son was part of the program - this is a copy of the letter that came with his last book, right after his 5th birthday. 19157963309
Jim Gleeson @geographyjim.bsky.social · 25/08/2026Unexpectedly learning cool things about Japanese transport policy from the translation notes to a manga (Blue Period vol. 14) 062