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Jules Birch

@julesbirch.bsky.social
3.5K followers 584 following 1.5K posts

Journalist interested in anything connected with housing. Which means just about everything. Doctorate in housing since the financial crisis

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Jules Birch @julesbirch.bsky.social · 4h
Badenoch on Burnham: 'He does not have a diagnosis of what has gone wrong in the UK beyond privatisation and Margaret Thatcher' www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/... Badenoch's diagnosis of how to put things right? Privatisation and Margaret Thatcher
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Alf Dubs @alfdubs.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
I'm so very sad to hear of the death of Esther Ranzen who played an important role in reuniting me with Nicky Winton - the man who saved my life. It's so desperately sad that she couldn't choose assisted dying as was her wish.
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Jules Birch @julesbirch.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Playing full back in rugby as a kid I once headed the ball into touch. It seemed the smart way to avoid being killed by the opposition forwards swarming towards me. Also realised I was playing the wrong game www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-...
bbc.co.uk
URC: Callum Sheedy 'header' goes viral as Cardiff fly-half admits surprise
Cardiff fly-half Callum Sheedy says he did not realise his "header" against Scarlets in the United Rugby Championship (URC) game would go viral.
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Jules Birch @julesbirch.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
If anyone doubted the need for a crackdown on leasehold management www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
Croydon leaseholders threatened with losing homes
George Ainsworth says he has been threatened with his flat being repossessed by the freeholder.
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Jules Birch @julesbirch.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Starting point for the sanctions clearly has to be a fine of £900m (uprated for inflation) just for these offences - and that’s before you get to the other charges
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Jules Birch @julesbirch.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
A pensions double lock from 2030... adjusted over time with earnings as well. Have to declare an interest but think that could make it much easier for a future govt to quietly drop, see what happened under Thatcher when it only rose by inflation
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Jules Birch @julesbirch.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Good Burnham vibes: 'With a good home everything is possible. Without one it feels like nothing is' 'I am specific about council housing because we need to restore stronger democratic control over our housing stock' 'We don't let people sell food which damages health so why allow it with homes?'
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Jules Birch @julesbirch.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Waiting for the moment when it's revealed that they're all subsidiaries of LexCorp www.ft.com/content/c768...
ft.com
Anthropic warns of ‘existential risks to humanity’ in IPO prospectus
Long-awaited S1 filing reports Claude maker lost $8bn last year on $4.6bn in revenue
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Jules Birch @julesbirch.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Joe Hart seems a nice bloke but they’ve been found guilty 114 times (at least) and sued the Premier League to stop them getting what they claimed was incontrovertible evidence that they were innocent www.bbc.co.uk/sport/footba...
bbc.co.uk
Man City ruling: Joe Harts trusts club chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak's claims they are innocent of breaking Premier League's financial rules
Former Manchester City goalkeeper Joe Hart believes club chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak's claims they are innocent of breaking the Premier League's financial rules.
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Jules Birch @julesbirch.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Still not sure what this means. Good to force housing associations to step up on housing homeless people but taking ‘public control’ too far runs the risk of their debt being reclassified as public under current rules www.theguardian.com/society/2026...
theguardian.com
Angela Rayner promises greater public control of housing in England
Conference speech to announce housing associations cannot reject homeless families without good reason as councils gain new powers
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Helen Barnard @helenbarnard.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
The weird thing about the whole ‘dementia tax/death tax’ stuff is it implies we don’t already have one. Surely we basically do, we just don’t tell people about it in advance and it’s totally unpredictable and random.
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Mike Andrews @mikea57.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
What I will never be able to forgive Labour for is having 14 years in Opposition in which to come up with an idea for reforming and funding social care yet here we are 16 years later and 2 years in power waiting for Louise Casey to come up with an idea they can put in a 2029 Manifesto.
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Noble Francis @noblefrancis.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Just note that for all the initial noise, public relations & share price rises, 'Your First Home' (i.e. Help to Buy revisited) won't have anywhere near the impact that the initial 'Help to Buy' did (1/n) #ukhousing #ukconstruction
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James Murray @james-bg.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
I know almost everything is terrible, but this year really could be world-historic in a good way. It’ll be several more years before it can be definitively called, but there are encouraging signs emissions really are peaking. www.businessgreen.com/news/4535893...
businessgreen.com
Study: Global fossil-fuel emissions to fall 0.5 per cent this year
Strait of Hormuz crisis has led to lower oil and gas demand that should more than offset any increased emissions from higher coal power generation, Carbon Brief calculates
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Jules Birch @julesbirch.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Why is the government and why are Labour ministers and MPs still on X (part 694) Elon Musk is a bigger threat to British democracy than crypto billionaires observer.co.uk/news/politic...
observer.co.uk
Elon Musk is a bigger threat to British democracy than cr...
The foreign-based tech mogul is using the X algorithm to influence British politics in more sinister ways than the £72m given to Reform last week
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Jules Birch @julesbirch.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Residents fight against giant housing association’s 40 per cent rent increase in High Court case that turns on whether their homes are social housing www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater...
manchestereveningnews.co.uk
'We have no choice but to fight. It's this or end up homeless.'
High Court grants full hearing into whether Places for People homes in Shaw are social housing after an 18-month battle at Manchester Civil Justice Centre
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Jules Birch @julesbirch.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Expropriation of landlords and a rent cap are the top priorities for the poll-leading candidate for mayor of Berlin giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...
giftarticle.ft.com
Red lipstick and expropriation: anti-capitalist seeks power in Berlin
Elif Eralp could become first mayor of Turkish origin in the German capital
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Richard Hebditch @richard.hebditch.org · 15/09/2026
New evaluation of Help to Buy published (handily before Budget with all the lobbying for a new version going on). Helped housing supply post-2008 crash but not much impact later. www.gov.uk/government/p...
gov.uk
Evaluation of the Help to Buy scheme: evaluation findings report
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Jules Birch @julesbirch.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
FT reports tormer housing secretary Steve Reed was lobbying for revival of Help to Buy in Autumn Budget backed by official evaluation that the original scheme offered 'very high value for money' giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...
giftarticle.ft.com
Help to Buy scheme was ‘very high value for money’, says official review
Government ministers under Sir Keir Starmer had been preparing to unveil a new version of the flagship programme
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Chaminda Jayanetti @cjayanetti.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
NEW: A Tory council is lobbying the government to increase housing benefit, just as Kemi Badenoch pledges to cut it An Enfield Council cabinet report said the housing benefit cap should be three times higher than the level Badenoch wants to cut it to By me, for @politicshome.bsky.social
politicshome.com
Tory Council Asks For Housing Benefit Boost Despite Kemi Badenoch Calling For Cuts
A Conservative-run council is lobbying the government to increase housing benefit, just as party leader Kemi Badenoch pledges to cut it.
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Jules Birch @julesbirch.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Surely even if Reform has to hand back the £72m Delo and Harborne can simply redonate it after supposedly living in Uk for a year? The whole discussion is meaningless without a cap on donations?
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Andrew Fisher @fisherandrew79.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Anyone who has or has had a close family member with Alzheimer's knows this pain: He revealed his father did not know he had become prime minister in July "The way I look at it, it's his achievement as well. A whole family achievement, although he doesn't know it" www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
Andy Burnham cancels engagements after death of father
Burnham has previously said his father did not know he had become prime minister due to his Alzheimer's.
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Jules Birch @julesbirch.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
Either satire is dead or I am hopelessly unsuited to the modern world www.theguardian.com/fashion/2026...
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Jules Birch @julesbirch.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Apart from one who will get $5,000,000,000 www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
Trump says every adult American would get $5,000 if Republicans win midterms
Speaking at a party convention, the US president gave no details on how the plan would work or where the money would come from.
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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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Jules Birch @julesbirch.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Emma Barnett is really annoying but she has really got under the skin of Kemi Badenoch
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Jules Birch @julesbirch.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
‘We will cap Local Housing Allowance,’ Kemi Badenoch on Today. But it’s already capped, not to mention frozen. Assume she means lower caps
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Jules Birch @julesbirch.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Good piece on the web of litigation between developers, contractors, architects, engineers, sub-contractors - and the government - over responsibility for post-Grenfell building safety www.ft.com/content/4d08...
ft.com
Grenfell’s £1.2bn legal legacy
Almost 100 lawsuits active in London as developers, builders and architects sue over remediation costs
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Jules Birch @julesbirch.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
'In 2024-25, housing associations sold 5,250 homes – the highest annual figure on record, representing an increase of 89% in two years' There may be good reasons for some sales - eg homes that are too expensive to maintain - but that doesn't explain the big increase www.lgcplus.com/services/hou...
lgcplus.com
Record numbers of social homes sold by housing associations
English housing associations sold record numbers of social and affordable homes to private buyers who do not live in them in 2024-25, new analysis has
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Jules Birch @julesbirch.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
Negotiating care homes is tough so worth celebrating little moments like this trespasser in the garden of my mum’s home
Deer in care home garden
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Martin Wheatley @martinhwheatley.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
S.7 Public Order Act 2023, interfering with critical national infrastructure. People have been jailed under it for walking slowly in a road. Blockade Port of Dover 🤷
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Jules Birch @julesbirch.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Where are the Tories going to find another £4bn in cuts to housing benefit? www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/202...
telegraph.co.uk
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Jules Birch @julesbirch.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
End to Local Housing Allowance freeze on the way? This answer by Andy Burnham yesterday will certainly be hard to walk back from
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Jules Birch @julesbirch.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
There may be a cinema, rooftop pool, orangery, gym and sauna in this luxury build to rent block but guests can only stay for 14 nights in any 90-day period and good luck getting a food delivery www.ft.com/content/e9b9...
ft.com
It was billed as effortless London luxury. Then tenants found out the rules
Shard Place’s policies, including those on guests and delivery riders, have frustrated many renters
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Jules Birch @julesbirch.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
Plans to build two homes 'an accident waiting to happen' www.edp24.co.uk/news/2650296...
edp24.co.uk
Locals slam plans to build homes in village as 'an accident waiting to happen'
Locals have described plans to build a pair of homes near Dereham as "an accident waiting to happen".
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Jules Birch @julesbirch.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
This got me thinking about what he hasn’t backed away from. Ending rough sleeping? Not convinced the plan will work but there is an announced plan. Could also say stuff on bus travel, electricity bills and business rates delivers on pledges on cost of living and cost of business? Anything else?
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Jules Birch @julesbirch.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
Human flies to drag huge turd along seafront in protest at council-owned company reneging on promise of Section 106 affordable homes in Penzance. Council says with a straight face that there's no problem because homes will be funded via SAHP instead www.cornwalllive.com/news/cornwal...
cornwalllive.com
Don't believe the poo we will deliver affordable homes, says council
Cabinet members have warned about 'misinformation' in run-up to unique protest
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Robert Saunders @robertsaunders.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
It would be impossible to guess any of this from most media coverage.
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Jules Birch @julesbirch.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
The education system on Vulcan appears to have a highly selective take on the history of council housing www.telegraph.co.uk/gift/84f10ed...
telegraph.co.uk
Britain cannot afford Burnham’s madcap council house plan
The PM’s policy would push borrowing higher when markets already charge more than they did during Liz Truss’s tenure
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Jules Birch @julesbirch.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Two years on from the fire that destroyed the Spectrum Building... www.theguardian.com/society/2026...
theguardian.com
Two years in limbo: the residents still paying mortgages on flats destroyed in east London fire
Spectrum Building leaseholders awaiting payouts after freeholder, Arinium, went bankrupt shortly after 2024 blaze
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Jules Birch @julesbirch.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Finally… but why just mayors? Let all councils in all areas apply to suspend the right to buy giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/... Burnham looks at giving mayors in England power to block sale of council homes
giftarticle.ft.com
Burnham looks at giving mayors in England power to block sale of council homes
Move on ‘right to buy’ would add to restrictions announced under previous prime minister Keir Starmer
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Jules Birch @julesbirch.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
What a life well lived! www.theguardian.com/music/2026/a...
theguardian.com
Dolly Parton, country star, actor and philanthropist, dies aged 80
Songwriter of I Will Always Love You, Jolene and 9 to 5 also invested millions in child literacy, Covid-19 vaccine development and other causes
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Jules Birch @julesbirch.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
Switching the entire SAHP to social rent was always unrealistic given how far advanced work on this round of allocations was. And not possible without a) more money or b) accepting fewer new affordable homes overall www.theguardian.com/society/2026...
theguardian.com
Burnham backtracks on spending housing fund only on building social homes
About 40% of £10bn from Affordable Homes Programme will now go on types of housing such as sheltered and shared ownership
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Jules Birch @julesbirch.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
Not sure how a party with 8 MPs keeps getting so much publicity for its press releases three years away from an election but here we are www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
Reform says it will prioritise British-born young workers for social housing
Labour called the plan "unserious and unworkable" and accused Reform of pushing "gimmicks and division".
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Jules Birch @julesbirch.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
Good piece on Auckland, new home construction and affordability setting out the two sides of the argument on rezoning giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...
giftarticle.ft.com
How New Zealand’s biggest city solved its housing crisis
Rezoning has changed the face of Auckland though critics warn lessons hard to replicate
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Jules Birch @julesbirch.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
Feels like there’s an untested assumption here that mayors will only use their new powers in favour of development www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
Mayors to get powers to overrule local councils on planning decisions
Housing minister Matthew Pennycook said the change was "essential" for helping mayors "effectively deliver new homes".
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Jules Birch @julesbirch.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
Billionaire co-founder of Palantir funds think tank behind Republican drive to reverse Housing First and criminalise rough sleeping in US www.nytimes.com/2026/08/22/u...
nytimes.com
How the Billionaire Joe Lonsdale Shaped Trump’s Homelessness Policy (Gift Article)
As Republicans have embraced tough measures to clear the streets, no group has led the way more than the Cicero Institute, founded by the venture capitalist Joe Lonsdale.
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Jules Birch @julesbirch.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
Woke up to news that the number of teams competing at Chinese robot games will be 666. Think I might have to go back to bed
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Neil Goodrich @ngoodrichhsg.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
Excellent explainer on Local Authority housing finances. One can draw a direct line between the items discussed in this article, and the fact that LAs are overrepresented in the social landlords with a C4 (worst) consumer grading from the regulator. redbrickblog.co.uk/2026/08/self...
redbrickblog.co.uk
If Andy Burnham is serious about a council housebuilding revolution, what does he need to know about the self-financing settlement for the HRA?  - Red Brick
Chloe Fletcher is the Chartered Institute for Housing's Head of Policy and External Affairs. She explains why council housing finance has become unsustainable - and argues that a new settlement must r...
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Jules Birch @julesbirch.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
I was already bored by Harry and Meghan by 645 this morning. Please make it stop
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