To provide councils with resources which are desperately needed for this unprecedented crisis, cancel the debt owed to the Public … MoreRead more…
The government must guarantee the means of life for those without the means
Great events make change possible, sometime inevitable. Johnson was elected with a working majority, Britain was going to leave the … MoreRead more…
The government is making “a deadly mistake”
“Our message to countries continues to be: you must take a comprehensive approach. Not testing alone. Not contact tracing alone. … MoreRead more…
2020 Budget: where’s the grant for council house building?
The 2020 budget indicates that the new Affordable Homes Programme starting in 2021 would have £12.2 billion funding. This is … MoreRead more…
Only 5% of new homes funded by Homes England grant are ‘social rent’
“Affordable rent is a new funding model, which involves three main changes: housing providers can charge higher rents for affordable … MoreRead more…
Councils need some serious funding if they are to return to large-scale housebuilding
This is an article for Inside Housing magazine A week after the General Election Swindon Council leader David Renard wrote … MoreRead more…
A lesson in the ruthlessness of the British ruling class
Whilst there will be no shortage of efforts to apportion blame for the electoral defeat of Labour an indisputable factor … MoreRead more…
Labour should reject the McCarthyite 10 Pledges – defend freedom of speech on Israeli
In a video of the Campaign Against Anti-Semitism, an ecstatic Joe Glassman, drunk on his ‘victory’ in the General Election, … MoreRead more…
War and democracy in the Middle East
Martin Luther King famously said that “The Vietnamese must look upon us strange liberators.” So must the Iranians in the … MoreRead more…
Rent increase: tenants should not pay the cost of government underfunding of council housing
Swindon council will argue that their proposed above inflation 2.7% rent increase for council tenants in 2020-21 is acceptable because … MoreRead more…
2019 General Election – what happened?
Hasty conclusions on the scale of Labour’s general election defeat and preordained ‘solutions’ are worthless. Sweeping generalisations are being substituted … MoreRead more…
Swindon as dormitory town?
According to government statistics not a single ‘social rent’ home was added to Swindon’s housing stock over the last five … MoreRead more…
Revolt in Green Party against support for Liberal Democrats?
There are clear signs of a revolt amongst members of the Green Party against their party leadership’s support for the … MoreRead more…
The government increases the cost of ‘borrowing to build’
When local authorities build council housing, even if they receive central government grant, they borrow from the government’s own Public … MoreRead more…
The “Addison Act” and the building of Pinehurst
Parallels between the housing crisis in 1919 and today This pamphlet draws on original research into the Addison Act and … MoreRead more…
Why Labour should commit to £10 billion a year for council housing
This article was published by Inside Housing . For those without access to IH you can read on below. Pete … MoreRead more…
A fundamental change in Labour’s housing policy?
The composite housing resolution which went before Labour’s conference on Wednesday morning was passed unanimously. It marks a fundamental shift … MoreRead more…
Labour shoud kill off Right to Buy, not breathe new life into it
This article was written before the Labour conference in response to a Financial Times article which reported that Labour was … MoreRead more…
How collective power is making a difference for tenants
This is an article published in Inside Housing. For those without access you can read the article below. News that … MoreRead more…
Swindon’s first council estate – The Addison Act and the building of Pinehurst
Pinehurst was Swindon’s first council housing estate. Building started under the 1919 Housing and Planning Act introduced by Liberal … MoreRead more…