iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Jonathan Morgan @jonomorgan.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

@hackblackburn.bsky.social chuckled at your Ken Clarke story this morning - the spouses still travel economy! When I paid for my own BA ticket to Japan to accompany Mrs M on an official education G7 - she and her special advisor @luketryl.bsky.social were up front in business!

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Jonathan Morgan @jonomorgan.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

Anna is absolutely right - there needs to be far better knowledge about the sector! Handy rule of thumb: - 4-5 homes for £1million. - 4-5000 for £1billion Hence £39bn buys far fewer homes than most people (including candidates for PM) think.

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Anna Clarke @annaclarke.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

Government's target is the£39bn will fund 300,000 homes over 10y, though only 180,000 of these are social rent. The rest are shared ownership or Affordable Rent, which need a lot less subsidy. If Burnham wants to redivert all the funds to social rent only, there will be fewer new homes funded.

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Anna Clarke @annaclarke.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

Oh dear. Andy Burhnam is going to be on a steep learning curve if he thinks the existing £39bn Government funding could be rediverted to fund "the biggest programme of council housebuilding since the Second World War”. - The £39bn (over 10y) would fund around 20,000/yr - In 1954, we built 198,210.

In his campaign launch speech, Burnham said he wanted "the biggest programme of council house building since the Second World War".

He suggested this could be funded by rediverting the existing £39bn affordable housing programme entirely to social rent homes.

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Jonathan Morgan @jonomorgan.bsky.social · 21/05/2026

My inner geek firmly believes that the mark of a civilised and successful city is the existence of a tram network - so this bodes well for the many UK cities and towns that deserve to have them.

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Noble Francis @noblefrancis.bsky.social · 19/05/2026

There were 2.07 million people employed in UK construction in 2026 Q1, which was 0.6% higher than in Q4 but 3.4% lower than a year ago, 14.5% lower than the recent peak in 2019 Q1 & it remains at its lowest levels since 2001, according to the ONS. (1/n) #ukconstruction #ukhousing

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Neal Hudson @resi-analyst.bsky.social · 12/05/2026

Been a while so thought I'd check out the Persimmon costs and operating profit per housing plot data. Big rise in build costs and operating costs since 2022. Current operating profit is effectively just the house price inflation since 2021. Land costs flat for a decade.

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Jonathan Morgan @jonomorgan.bsky.social · 09/04/2026

This morning’s power generation percentages and descriptions could well be the current UK opinion polls.

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Jonathan Morgan @jonomorgan.bsky.social · 27/02/2026

By-elections are by-elections but the death of two-party politics is being oversold - although the labels of those two parties may differ. Perhaps people tend to find binary choices easier to rationalise.

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Jonathan Morgan @jonomorgan.bsky.social · 20/11/2025

Not a great start: the researchers don’t seem to understand that the 1.5m target is for England only - their report (and solutions) reference the whole country - it’s quite a basic error, but not uncommon.

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Jonathan Morgan @jonomorgan.bsky.social · 24/10/2025

Not entirely sure I agree with this - if post-Good Friday Northern Ireland is a guide - the two party system may continue - just not the usual two parties (and not the same two in each of the four nations).

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Jonathan Morgan @jonomorgan.bsky.social · 12/10/2025

In honor of spooky month, share a 4 word horror story that only someone in your profession would understand. "Found Great Crested Newts"

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Oz Katerji @ozkaterji.bsky.social · 26/09/2025

Kind of feels like a big deal that a Reform/Brexit Party former MEP has been convicted of taking bribes to promote Russian interests in Ukraine, and it feels like a bigger deal that this isn’t being treated as the major scandal that it clearly is.

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Helge Thomas 🌻 @helgethomas.bsky.social · 11/08/2025

Imagine all cars were electric, and then one Volkswagen engineer comes up with another idea … #EMobility

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Jonathan Morgan @jonomorgan.bsky.social · 08/09/2025

Many (esp Govt) under-estimate the timeframe required yo deliver larger housing sites (3k+). Business plan can be an average of 45yrs from initial option to final sign-off.

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Neal Hudson @resi-analyst.bsky.social · 04/09/2025

Labour's new build policies have been focussed on planning reform (important over the longer-term) but the more immediate problem is a crisis in demand. You can plan as many homes as you like but they won't get built if no one can buy them. My latest market commentary builtplace.com/market-comme...

Line chart showing the annual number of new build Energy Performance Certificates in England by flats and houses, a useful leading indicator for net additions. Delivery of flats and houses have fallen in recent years and are well below the levels required to hit Labour's 300,000 housing target.

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Jonathan Morgan @jonomorgan.bsky.social · 29/08/2025

Not at all surprising - planning law on hotel use was unsuccessfully challenged through the courts 2+yrs ago by several councils and it was pretty obvious that Epping wouldn’t stand at Appeal.

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Jonathan Morgan @jonomorgan.bsky.social · 16/07/2025

Agree - catastrophic outcomes that took a year to discover. The response by HMG, to do everything possible to mitigate this single human act, perhaps reflects better on the response of government than stories today reflect. However, genuinely surprised that original individual still at MOD.

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Jonathan Morgan @jonomorgan.bsky.social · 09/07/2025

Thanks for the inclusion on your list @annaclarke.bsky.social ! - it’s a really good source of people and bodies.

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Anna Clarke @annaclarke.bsky.social · 09/07/2025

As Nazi-Grok appears to be driving quite a few new arrivals on Bluesky, I thought it would be worth re-sharing a starter pack of people posting about UK housing.

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Jonathan Morgan @jonomorgan.bsky.social · 17/06/2025

Good thread setting out the choices ahead given the (limited) finances available. Not enough clarity around the huge sums needed to be spent (and who’s going to build!) to achieve the targets set etc.

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Matthew Spry @mspry.bsky.social · 19/05/2025

New research prepared by Lichfields for LPDF and Richborough reveals a stark deterioration over the past decade in the amount of time it takes to determine outline planning applications for new homes despite a big drop in the number of applications. More here: lichfields.uk/content/insi...

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Jonathan Morgan @jonomorgan.bsky.social · 17/05/2025

The next bit of #eurovision always the most interesting - the split between what each nation’s panel thought was best, and what the population actually voted for.

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Jonathan Morgan @jonomorgan.bsky.social · 26/03/2025

As the thread below sets out - the lack of understanding of devolved policy and use of clear, relevant data, remains….challenging. Conclusion: no-one believes the 1.5m for England will be achieved, incl the government…but we’ll no doubt hear the target repeated again….as an ambition.

again.as

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Jonathan Morgan @jonomorgan.bsky.social · 12/03/2025

Bringing stability and predictability to the building sector is very important (planning reforms move in that direction) but government housing targets won’t be met until questions of who will build, and why should they build, are understood/answered.

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Alex Massie @alexmassie.bsky.social · 19/02/2025

The Rotting of the Conservative Mind: the Tory party bends the knee to Donald Trump. A disgrace and one for which they deserve to be judged. open.substack.com/pub/alexmass...

open.substack.com

The Rotting of the Conservative Mind

Britain's Tories bend the knee to Donald Trump and disgrace themselves

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Chris Cook @chriscook.news · 20/02/2025

An apt moment for a remarkable piece of journalism, documenting Russia’s seemingly systematic murder of Ukrainian PoWs. (By @christopherjm.ft.com @joesinft.ft.com & the visual investigations team) on.ft.com/4gLNn61

on.ft.com

Russia’s executions of Ukrainian prisoners point to systematic policy

FT documentary investigates rise in cases of Russian soldiers executing Ukrainian POWs

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Jonathan Morgan @jonomorgan.bsky.social · 09/02/2025

Strongly agree with all the points in this thread - repeating the 1.5m claim is disingenuous - it also bakes-in continued cynicism around non-delivery - it won’t end well in so many ways.

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Jonathan Morgan @jonomorgan.bsky.social · 04/02/2025

Given last summer’s failed takeover discussions, this may not end well - may not be a significant house builder but capacity would still be a loss. www.thetimes.com/article/aac5...

thetimes.com

Crest Nicholson reports loss before tax of £143.7m for the year

The housebuilder said it was at risk of breaching a covenant on its bank lending in a ‘severe but plausible’ scenario

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Jonathan Morgan @jonomorgan.bsky.social · 17/01/2025

Helpful thread, and fascinating data. Litchfield’s analysis suggests it takes up to 7yrs to convert sites into homes - planning permissions are probably half way through that period - so it’s clear that the 300+ permissions granted in late 2016+ aren’t being fully built out now.

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The Policy Institute @policyatkings.bsky.social · 08/01/2025

"What we need, then, is policy-based evidence-making, not evidence-based policymaking." @michael-sanders.bsky.social says the publication of the Treasury's "Areas of Research Interest" shows academics must answer questions that are actually of interest to policymakers if they want to change things

kcl.ac.uk

We need more policy-based evidence

Academics should focus on answering questions that are of interest to policymakers

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Paul Smith @pmsmith.bsky.social · 12/12/2024

This is from the Simple Field Sabotage Manual, published by the CIA in 1944. It explains how enemy decisions could be slowed and productivity stifled. And it bares an uncanny resemblance to the way we have chosen to determine planning applications. 👇👇👇 open.substack.com/pub/longwall...

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Neil Renic @ncrenic.bsky.social · 11/12/2024

How to explain that I’m struggling to concentrate because I have a meeting in 6 hours and am thus in “waiting mode”

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Luke Tryl @luketryl.bsky.social · 03/12/2024

One extinction level event avoided for the day, but don't worry there's still rapidly escalating geopolitical instability to go.

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Anna Clarke @annaclarke.bsky.social · 27/11/2024

This is an important problem that prevents social landlords investing in solar PV, batteries, etc. Rents are set by a formula that takes no account of the fuel bills. If we want to decarbonise housing, we need to let landlords set rents that reflect energy efficiency.

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Jonathan Morgan @jonomorgan.bsky.social · 20/11/2024

Occasionally you see or read something and your immediate response is, oh dear, they’ve just killed their company/brand - this felt like one of those moments. Would be stunned if Jaguar is still around in 5yrs from now. www.thetimes.com/article/81cb...

thetimes.com

Jaguar drops ‘the growler’ in rebrand to lure the young and rich

The luxury carmaker has reimagined its famous big cat in a new logo as it pounces on an electric-only future

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Nicky Morgan @nickymorgan.bsky.social · 18/11/2024

First @bsky.app post - looking forward to some civilised engagement & interesting accounts…

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Jonathan Morgan @jonomorgan.bsky.social · 17/11/2024

Great review and a lovely, really different, restaurant. Doubt we’ll now be able to get another table for some time!

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Jonathan Morgan @jonomorgan.bsky.social · 30/10/2024

Always enjoy LinkedIn’s lucky dip of “Searches you have appeared in” - today’s appears to be Chancellor of one of these lucky Universities…may need to google “University of West of Scotland” before I start getting measured for the gown and floppy hat…

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Jonathan Morgan @jonomorgan.bsky.social · 21/10/2024

First two questions in house building: who will build, and why would they build. Direct funding helps to answer second question - £1bn pays for about 10,000 homes - long way short of 1.5million, and still need to answer the who builds them (and how…and where…and when).

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Jonathan Morgan @jonomorgan.bsky.social · 23/09/2024

www.insidehousing.co.uk/comment/comm... This is a very good analysis of targets vs delivery - way too much attention paid to targets (and those govt targets are for England only - housing is devolved!) rather than actual delivery (who and why will the homes be built).

insidehousing.co.uk

Will Labour lay down the law on housing targets?

The government is pledging to deliver millions of homes, but can it make that happen, asks Inside Housing columnist Jules Birch

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