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sjs1869.bsky.social
Academic (housing and economic inequality) at Girton College and the Department of Geography, Cambridge University, UK. President-elect, The British Academy.
163 posts 1,064 followers 122 following
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Posts 46 Comments 4

Absolutely key: there are 5m leasehold properties in the UK; what plans are there to get them feeling, costing and operating like commonhold?

submitted 1 hour ago • 1 comment

Another great read from @britishacademy.bsky.social Love the ‘blue economy’, young people’s embrace of the coast and, perhaps most of all, ‘the potential of creative methods to engage the public in policymaking’ www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/news/researc...

submitted 2 hours ago • 0 comments

A couple of days on the lookout for imaginative solutions to intractable problems…

submitted 2 hours ago • 0 comments

As well as being regressive regionally and by income, it’s more service charge than tax so trying to use it to ‘tax’ some (but not most) surplus property wealth is mindblowing… (imo)

submitted 13 hours ago • 0 comments

Breathtaking read! Some fantastic ideas in this mix; will be fantastic to see them flying high. www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/news/the-bri...

submitted 22 hours ago • 0 comments

Great news. Especially, apparently, for left-behind regions (so, first up, council tax reform?)

submitted 1 day ago • 0 comments

Fair move. However a key issue is building maintenance and repair which is less negotiable in flats than in single family dwellings. So don’t forget to regulate the corporates who extract the service charge … www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

submitted 1 day ago • 0 comments

Absolutely! Though in the end it’s about making all homes fit for the future - an altogether more radical challenge.

submitted 1 day ago • 0 comments

Just been to the launch of this epic album, the last in the Chains of Gold Trilogy. Thank goodness for #music and musicians, and sound engineers and videographers and all that jazz. www.orlandogibbonsproject.com/in-chains-of...

submitted 4 days ago • 0 comments

It’s surely time to rethink the balance of individual and collective responsibilities for the quality, condition, safety, security, affordability and future of the housing stock… www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

submitted 5 days ago • 0 comments

Thought-provoking day at the @britishacademy.bsky.social discussing pressing #housing issues packed into the latest @usociety.bsky.social insights report www.understandingsociety.ac.uk/wp-content/u...

submitted 6 days ago • 1 comment

A new must-read: time to rediscover the merits of housing as, well, a merit good; and not a moment too soon. Absolutely the right time to ‘disrupt policy approaches and rethink what housing is’!

submitted 6 days ago • 0 comments

A #brassband (possibly) heading for the charts, surely deserves a mention? www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

submitted 7 days ago • 0 comments

I am wondering who owns these nursing homes whose high median prices are so far out of reach of asset-rich elders… (tbh I think I know the answer)

submitted 7 days ago • 0 comments

Depressing reading… www.thetimes.com/article/bed1...

submitted 8 days ago • 0 comments

The very £big #housing question of what’s next for the private rented sector… www.ukpropertyaccountants.co.uk/corporate-la...

submitted 8 days ago • 0 comments

At last, after so much scrolling, some fantastic, uplifting news. Congratulations, @lorettaclees.bsky.social on this welcome recognition of your amazing work! 👏👏👏

submitted 13 days ago • 1 comment

I’m assuming that both are true, since the arts are the stuff of human life, but definitely worth a listen…

submitted 15 days ago • 1 comment

Welcome break at the end of a long week. (Still time to get there if you’re based in the North-east) www.voxpopulisingers.co.uk/event-detail...

submitted 16 days ago • 0 comments

A theme park in County Durham, doing #history; what’s not to like? ! www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

submitted 17 days ago • 0 comments

Less than two weeks to go, packed programme, pressing issues, fab venue. Today’s slide heading: ‘the not-too bad, for some, for a while’.

submitted 17 days ago • 0 comments

Absolutely, unmissable.

submitted 17 days ago • 0 comments

Fascinating list… womensprize.com/announcing-t...

submitted 17 days ago • 0 comments

I agree with you on this, except that it does focus attention on the tax anomaly associated with owner occupation - fix that and you can stop worrying about bedroom tax (unless you are a social renter - another anomaly)

submitted 18 days ago • 1 comment

I love the last line (no spoilers coming up), the data are striking, and the idea of going ‘back to the future’ is compelling, almost irresistible. So important though to be able to imagine different, better, fairer futures than those organised around the ‘same old’ tenure divide. Just a thought…

submitted 19 days ago • 1 comment

Hmmm Britain’s biggest housebuilder… if true that the best it can expect this year is 17,200 new builds, something is not adding up target-wise? www.thetimes.com/article/69ef...

submitted 19 days ago • 0 comments

‘Romantic #Brass’! If you’re anywhere near Glasgow on Saturday, don’t think of missing this remarkable event conceived and hosted by the irrepressible John Wallace with the fabulous Co-op band. www.thetimes.com/article/763c...

submitted 19 days ago • 0 comments

Neat opportunity to reflect on the #geography (well, place-sensitivity) in/of nature recovery for the @britishacademy.bsky.social (commissioned essays - deadline for proposals, 12 March) www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/programmes/s...

submitted 20 days ago • 0 comments

Absolutely! Too much public land has been sold over the years in the U.K. as a whole…

submitted 20 days ago • 0 comments

Not sure why this is news: labour, materials, funding… have for sometime been putting any party’s housebuilding plans in doubt… www.thetimes.com/article/b91e...

submitted 20 days ago • 1 comment

Ooh this is today! What has all that voting done for democracy? (would be my question, anyway…) @britishacademy.bsky.social www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/events/the-a...

submitted 20 days ago • 0 comments

So much to choose from (and a lot to lift the spirit) at the @britishacademy.bsky.social this spring: art club, storied landscapes, sung histories (can’t wait!) www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/news/folklor...

submitted 20 days ago • 0 comments

Neat idea… though you could also create a slicker market by replacing stamp duty with a more rational approach to property tax (just a thought). news.sky.com/story/amp/di...

submitted 22 days ago • 0 comments

Just a thought… ‘addressing wealth concentration could reduce #inequality while acting as a stabilizing force for financial systems’ wid.world/news-article...

submitted 23 days ago • 0 comments

Good news in the North-east! www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

submitted 23 days ago • 0 comments

A majority in 27 countries say ‘not enough attention is given to the issue of #housing’. So…

submitted 25 days ago • 0 comments

How to make ‘an already highly economically damaging tax even worse’. Harsh but true, especially for #housing outcomes, from @theifs.bsky.social ifs.org.uk/news/increas...

submitted 25 days ago • 0 comments

Sorry to hear about the proposed cuts to audio #drama at the BBC. The whole genre is apparently being dropped from R3. The Writers’ Guild of Great Britain, Equity and the Society of Authors have written a riposte and started a petition www.change.org/p/save-audio...

submitted 25 days ago • 0 comments

Yikes! Wasn’t this a non-partisan committee that argued for public arts education, valorised competency in foreign languages, encouraged tax incentives for cultural philanthropy, argued for arts education in poorly-performing schools, and tried to tackle loneliness? www.nytimes.com/2025/01/30/a...

submitted 27 days ago • 0 comments

One of the most income and employment deprived local authorities in England has the steepest increase… Time to reform this regressive, outdated ‘tax’/service charge rather than tinker with it? ( www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

submitted 28 days ago • 0 comments

Depressing news ‘the 2011 decision to reduce LHA rates from the 50th percentile to the 30th percentile, alongside periodic freezes, has made at least two-fifths of private rental properties less affordable’… 925k children potentially affected; huge disparity in impact of #housing costs on incomes…

submitted 29 days ago • 0 comments

Pretty shocking news about new homes in London. Anyone could need accessible #housing and all of us - if we’re lucky - will grow old. So… www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

submitted 29 days ago • 0 comments

Number one: tax ✅ www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

submitted 30 days ago • 0 comments

Interesting turn…

submitted 31 days ago • 0 comments

A bit of exciting news: #geography matters! Well, a joined up approach to Land and its myriad stakeholders and uses, at any rate. Maybe this will also address the #housing emergency… www.gov.uk/government/n...

submitted 32 days ago • 1 comment

Looking forward to reading this…

submitted 33 days ago • 1 comment