iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Liam K McGrath @liammcgrath.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

The London population decline appears to be mostly families with children

Chart of population by age in London showing decline in under 20s

Liam K McGrath @liammcgrath.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

A flat 0.48% property tax taxes what you build, not the land — penalising dense inner-London flats, rewarding sprawl. LVT flips it: build up, your bill doesn't move. Burnham should back LVT. Yes it's harder and will perhaps need steps to get there but it's fairest and encourages density.

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Liam K McGrath @liammcgrath.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

www.observingthecity.ca/downtown-def... cool website where you can set where you think downtown is. London's user submissions generally smaller than the Central Activites Zone, but I suppose downtown isn't the same as city centre.

observingthecity.ca

Where is Downtown London? — Observing the City

Draw what you consider "downtown" in London and see how it compares to everyone else's.

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Liam K McGrath @liammcgrath.bsky.social · 10/07/2026

Council tax + stamp duty + business rates = 90bn = 1.5% of land value

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Liam K McGrath @liammcgrath.bsky.social · 28/03/2026

Massive anti fascism demo in London today. Great to spend an afternoon with kind people across a wide spectrum of backgrounds

Piccadilly in London full of people marching against the far right

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Liam K McGrath @liammcgrath.bsky.social · 26/03/2026

Robbing Ant to pay Dec. Build housing!

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Liam K McGrath @liammcgrath.bsky.social · 26/03/2026

Great to attend and speak at Community Energy London on behalf of SE1 Solar. We need Elexon P441 to unlock estate rooftop solar energy at scale

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Liam K McGrath @liammcgrath.bsky.social · 26/03/2026

All the processes that led to this should be identified and stopped

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Liam K McGrath @liammcgrath.bsky.social · 26/03/2026

Ipswich Town should distance itself from Nigel Farage. His campaign backed by opaque, foreign-linked funding and amplified by populist messaging—is deeply divisive. Football clubs should stay neutral; platforming him risks normalising this and influencing local opinion ahead of Suffolk elections

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Liam K McGrath @liammcgrath.bsky.social · 24/02/2026

Delighted we have planning permission for more fantastic social rent homes in Southwark. Thanks to Southwark council, architects, and our team at LeathermarketCBS www.e-architect.com/london/leath...

e-architect.com

Architecture news

Architecture news: world buildings architects offices, global architectural designs

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Liam K McGrath @liammcgrath.bsky.social · 22/02/2026

www.theguardian.com/politics/202... If anyone is in any doubt. A Reform government is terrifying. They are pouring millions into their political campaigns. We cannot be complacent.

theguardian.com

Reform would create ICE-style agency and end leave to remain, Zia Yusuf to say

Nigel Farage’s party plans to deport up to 288,000 people a year on five flights a day and expand stop and search

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Liam K McGrath @liammcgrath.bsky.social · 12/02/2026

"The UK has been colonised by immigrants, really, hasn't it? I mean, the population of the UK was 58 million in 2020, now it's 70 million. That's 12 million people." According to one of the richest men in the UK. Incorrect on many levels - an 8 year old could make more informed analysis. Tax idiots

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Liam K McGrath @liammcgrath.bsky.social · 09/02/2026

Delighted to see the Telegraph backing mid-rise, walkable, well serviced, transit orientated development, of the European kind. I look forward to support when these kind of developments are proposed in the UK. www.telegraph.co.uk/money/proper...

telegraph.co.uk

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Liam K McGrath @liammcgrath.bsky.social · 07/02/2026

yeoldeguide.com/londons-west... London is famous for its squares. This episode covers the very first of these squares in the West End. Covent Garden, Leicester Square, Soho Square and more.

yeoldeguide.com

London's West End Squares - Ye Olde Guide

Discover how London’s earliest West End squares shaped the shift from medieval streets to Georgian urban planning in this episode of Ye Olde Guide.

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Liam K McGrath @liammcgrath.bsky.social · 30/01/2026

Disgraceful Starmer hasn't returned with a Panda. He needs to go.

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Liam K McGrath @liammcgrath.bsky.social · 27/01/2026

The British Property Fedration think capping ground rents will deter investment. So they are saying we only invest to fleece and exploit? Lower grounds rents and service charges put more money back into the economy.

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Liam K McGrath @liammcgrath.bsky.social · 27/01/2026

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article... a decent policy that the tories didn't do in 14 years and Reform would never do. People moan about this government but they are steadily tackling injustice across the board. Rome wasn't built in a day.

bbc.co.uk

Ground rents to be capped at £250 a year for leaseholders

The reforms for England and Wales also include proposals to ban the sale of new leasehold flats.

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Liam K McGrath @liammcgrath.bsky.social · 26/01/2026

yeoldeguide.com/warrington/ not surprised Warrington is doing well economically. We did a podcast there and found a tranformed Time Square and indoor market. Cool place with good transport links.

yeoldeguide.com

History of Warrington: town of many industries - Ye Olde Guide

History of warrington podcast. Famous town hall gates, transporter bridge, wire industry. Ancient crossing of the Mersey, and site of civil war battles.

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Liam K McGrath @liammcgrath.bsky.social · 19/01/2026

New Bazalgette Embankment with great views in all directions. Built ok the site of the Thames Tideway sewer construction site.

View from Bazalgette Embankment towards Blackfriars Bridge

View from Bazalgette Embankment towards St Pauls

View from Bazalgette Embankment towards City

View from Bazalgette Embankment towards Sea Containers House and Oxo Tower

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Liam K McGrath @liammcgrath.bsky.social · 18/01/2026

What a great spot to build some homes!

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Liam K McGrath @liammcgrath.bsky.social · 13/01/2026

Another Brexit dividend. Alongside the loss of 8% of GDP (roughly the output of Scotland). Thanks to Farage, Johnson, Putin etc.

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Reposted by Liam K McGrath

Antonia Bance MP @antoniabance.bsky.social · 13/01/2026

Guardian report on today’s eye-opening select committee hearing…

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Liam K McGrath @liammcgrath.bsky.social · 08/01/2026

Would the Telegraph and this pub support a reform of taxes to remove business rates entirely? No. They would undermine every effort. www.telegraph.co.uk/money/consum...

telegraph.co.uk

Darren Jones’s local pub threatens to charge him double

Owner of MP’s regular haunt intends to personally pass on the cost of Labour’s tax rises

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Liam K McGrath @liammcgrath.bsky.social · 04/01/2026

Brexit may have cost 8% of GDP - pretty much the output of Scotland. The lies of Farage, Russian interference and collective complaceny has made us far weaker than we should be

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Liam K McGrath @liammcgrath.bsky.social · 04/01/2026

This is peak-UK and why we can't get anything done. No suggestion here of how we might make tax fairer and more efficient just moaning. We should replace council tax, business rates and stamp duty altogether and yes it will be a big multiyear job www.telegraph.co.uk/money/proper...

telegraph.co.uk

Access Restricted

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Liam K McGrath @liammcgrath.bsky.social · 30/12/2025

The UK runs on immigration. Our NHS, care sector, food and transport depend on it. Brexit failed. Racism is creeping back into the mainstream. We should name it, challenge it, and defend our neighbours, friends and family - every time.

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Liam K McGrath @liammcgrath.bsky.social · 29/12/2025

The rebuilt Colindale station is cool but so is the massive development of the area. High density for outer London and 10000 new homes.

High density by the standards of outer London. 15 floor blocks of flats.

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Reposted by Liam K McGrath

Jonathan Berk 🏠 @berkie1.bsky.social · 23/12/2025

Luxury Apartments Are Bringing Rent Down in Some Big Cities “New building openings are bringing rents down as wealthy tenants trade up, forcing landlords to drop prices for older apartments.” @bloomberg.com

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Reposted by Liam K McGrath

Mark D. Levine @marklevinenyc.bsky.social · 23/12/2025

Year 1 data on congestion pricing in Manhattan… * Vehicle traffic: -11% * Foot traffic: +3.4% * Storefront vacancy: -0.9% * Pollution: -22% * Revenue for mass transit: $548M So YES this has been a huge success.

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Liam K McGrath @liammcgrath.bsky.social · 20/12/2025

I often moan about things not working but there are some good things in the UK: road safety, three pin sockets, women's football, trees, boxing, high powered electricity in the home, and the trains in East Anglia 🚄

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Liam K McGrath @liammcgrath.bsky.social · 19/12/2025

New council flats going up in Bermondsey. Southwark is building more council homes than anywhere else in the UK.

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Liam K McGrath @liammcgrath.bsky.social · 19/12/2025

www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/coventr... The Coventry very light rail is exciting as its much cheaper than most trams, so could be viable especially if automated.

coventrytelegraph.net

Plans unveiled for driverless trams in Coventry city centre

New route could see autonomous vehicles travelling between technology park and station

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Liam K McGrath @liammcgrath.bsky.social · 18/12/2025

Failure to reform hopeless taxes (council tax, stamp duty, business rates) despite a once in a generation majority is frustrating. But people need to remember how bad it was before under Tories. Every day the government are pressing the right buttons but too slowly IMO.

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Liam K McGrath @liammcgrath.bsky.social · 18/12/2025

When we testet 10k+ automatically generated public transport routes we found those plugging into existing well-used network had far higher benefits in standard models. Expected really. This is a challenge for schemes like Leeds Tram. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

sciencedirect.com

Planning for gold: identifying opportunities for public transport interventions through machine learning and appraisal automation

Improving public transport connectivity is crucial for decarbonisation and economic growth. Current transport planning approaches to addressing connec…

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Liam K McGrath @liammcgrath.bsky.social · 18/12/2025

Stockport marketpkace. A great town to visit. Recently covered on YOG. yeoldeguide.com/stockport/

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Liam K McGrath @liammcgrath.bsky.social · 17/12/2025

Fair complaints about business rates this week. There is cross-spectrum support for replacing business rates, council tax and stamp duty with a single simple land value tax. Would help housebuilding and reduce tax for many homes and small businesses. More credible than nebulous 'wealth tax'.

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Liam K McGrath @liammcgrath.bsky.social · 16/12/2025

Replace business rates, council tax, and stamp duty with a 1.5% land value tax (raising 90bn & unavoidable). Good for pubs as their land take is smaller than supermarkets. Business rates a stupid tax, especially for pubs, where the rate calculation puts them at a massive disadvantage.

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Reposted by Liam K McGrath

Richard Bates @discript.com · 16/12/2025

The scale of these increases will force venues to cut jobs, raise prices and “in many cases close entirely”. Business rates will rise by 115% for the average hotel and 76% for a pub, compared with just 4% for large supermarkets and 7% for distribution warehouses. www.theguardian.com/business/202...

theguardian.com

‘Squeezed from every direction’: pubs voice fury at Reeves’s business rates changes

Chancellor’s claim to be helping trade met with disbelief in England and Wales amid soaring staff costs, energy bills and other overheads

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Liam K McGrath @liammcgrath.bsky.social · 16/12/2025

ONS on employment. Exactly what the government set out to do: shift economic activity towards healthcare. Something has to get smaller and it's retail, hospitality etc. All sectors at link share.google/uxK8LUh3h4lO...

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Liam K McGrath @liammcgrath.bsky.social · 16/12/2025

If the government proposed a 10-year transition from council tax + stamp duty to a progressive land value tax, would the media/thinktank ecosystem back it — or tear it apart? It seems a vital and fair approach towards taxing wealth, encouraging housebuilding and enabling economic mobility.

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Liam K McGrath @liammcgrath.bsky.social · 16/12/2025

This is true. A related rule is the journey time elasticity: a 10% improvement in journey time will lead to about a 6% increase in demand on average. Obviously there are detailed subtleties to these concepts. www.ianvisits.co.uk/articles/the...

ianvisits.co.uk

The 1.3-hour rule: Why quicker trains encourage longer-distance commutes

Regardless of how people get to work or where they live, it turns out that most of us tend to spend the same amount of time commuting to work.

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