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Anthony Painter @anthonypainter.bsky.social · 1h

There is no reason to require more than b1 English for care work or chefs. If you have it, great, but really not required. We grant visas because we need the workers. There has to be a reasonable balance.

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Anthony Painter @anthonypainter.bsky.social · 1h

The main issue with B2 English for skilled visas isn't just that it's excessive for many skilled occupations, but that it sets standards for those from overseas at a higher level than the UK born population. If a future Government went on a deportation drive, not hard to see why this is problematic.

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Anthony Painter @anthonypainter.bsky.social · 2h

Midjourney was foretold.

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Anthony Painter @anthonypainter.bsky.social · 2h

*fireworks*

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Anthony Painter @anthonypainter.bsky.social · 2h

Every tech revolution starts by promising a new enlightenment and ends in porn, poker and populism.

www.theverge.com/news/799312/...

Sam Altman says ChatGPT will soon sext with verified adults

ChatGPT is about to get flirty.

www.theverge.com

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Anthony Painter @anthonypainter.bsky.social · 2h

I bet Miliband treated himself to a new parker pen for this one. Then posted it as a gift to Andrea Jenkyns. With a bow.

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Ed Miliband approves UK’s biggest solar farm at Lincolnshire site

Tillbridge solar farm will be built in county where Reform UK’s anti-renewables agenda has rising support

www.theguardian.com

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Anthony Painter @anthonypainter.bsky.social · 8h

But, you know, the price of eggs.

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Anthony Painter @anthonypainter.bsky.social · 9h

Yes, and actually when we see small housing estates with no amenities pepper potted at motorway junctions, I think maybe not all development is good per se....

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Anthony Painter @anthonypainter.bsky.social · 11h

Is it this piece? Excellent. Asks the fundamental question- but what would the realistic alternative look like? "It was derelict!"

manchestermill.co.uk/the-billion-...

The billion pound Manchester question: Who has benefited from the city’s breakneck growth?

Critics say we have built a neoliberal playground for developers and middle class consumers. But that’s not exactly what the data shows

manchestermill.co.uk

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Anthony Painter @anthonypainter.bsky.social · 11h

Yes, totally behind it. It's a maximalist version of the current system. Which makes short term sense - as long as the new model is evolving within/alongside. Some signs with new towns but needs to be bigger/bolder.

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Anthony Painter @anthonypainter.bsky.social · 12h

(and living in a gentrifying area for twenty years, actually it worked out well overall because of large numbers of social housing which is key - safer, better health, better education).

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Anthony Painter @anthonypainter.bsky.social · 12h

Yes, lots of good stuff in there. Though I found a lot of it frustrating- just thinking back to Liverpool 30 or 40 years ago. It's far from perfect now and enormous inequality/social deprivation. But who would swap now for then?

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Anthony Painter @anthonypainter.bsky.social · 12h

If I were the Government I would push the current system hard- which it's doing.

But I would also create the new system alongside it. It is doing that with new towns but I would do that more widely. And create a new financial model for social housing.

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Anthony Painter @anthonypainter.bsky.social · 12h

And if I were a builder, and I am, that is the system I would back- the strategic development system that we see in most of northern Europe which meets needs in terms of numbers and factors in society and the environment too.

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Anthony Painter @anthonypainter.bsky.social · 12h

One of the most tedious aspects of this discussion is that we have countries very close to us who understand this.

You can't meet housing need through a private sector driven system. You need a strategic system that creates opportunities for housebuilders but also meets social and public needs.

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Anthony Painter @anthonypainter.bsky.social · 12h

One of the oddities of the current debate about house building is that the Yimby argument is in some respects a "blocker" argument in disguise.

If you want to understand why this report into what housebuilders tell their investors explains- cyclical demand.

housingevidence.ac.uk/project/why-...

Why have the volume housebuilders been so profitable? - UK Collaborative Centre For Housing Evidence

The power of volume housebuilders and what this tells us about housing supply, the land market and the state

housingevidence.ac.uk

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Anthony Painter @anthonypainter.bsky.social · 14h

Global heating 2025 in four headlines.

US offloads its consumption on the world. China wins the industrial future.

BYD

'The Stella show': the executive at the heart of BYD's global push

Solar power

US moves to cancel one of the world's largest solar farms

Climate change

Rising trend for warmer temperatures shows in latest monthly climate data

Renewable energy

China's Ming Yang to invest up to £1.5bn in Scottish turbine factory

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Anthony Painter @anthonypainter.bsky.social · 15h

Thief reports his swag bag stolen. Police roll on ground laughing.

on.ft.com/4h61Ong

Scott Bessent accuses China of trying to damage global economy

US Treasury secretary tells FT Beijing’s restrictions on critical mineral exports will hurt its own international standing

on.ft.com

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Anthony Painter @anthonypainter.bsky.social · 23h

Yes, completely unnecessary and counter productive.

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Anthony Painter @anthonypainter.bsky.social · 1d

Actually, rather than lobbying for dumb regulation, employers would be better advised to concentrate more on... being good employers. Radical, I know.

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Anthony Painter @anthonypainter.bsky.social · 1d

This is actually really dumb. Creates labour market stickiness rather than flexibility which is costly for productivity. Moving jobs becomes riskier.

Employers may think they benefit from it but they don't.

Resolution Foundation @resfoundation.bsky.social · 1d

The UK is an international outlier when it comes to protection from unfair dismissal.

Our two-year ‘qualifying period’ for unfair dismissal protection is completely out of step with other rich countries, where qualifying periods between three and six months are the norm.

Read more buff.ly/0OSArrI

Chart showing months in job until worker becomes eligible for unfair dismissal protection: OECD countries, 2019
The chart shows that the two-year ‘qualifying period’ in the UK before workers are eligible for unfair dismissal protection is completely out of step with other rich countries, where qualifying periods between three and six months are the norm

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Anthony Painter @anthonypainter.bsky.social · 1d

The smug up from London dinner party chat is only punctuated by a hushed "but the food is terrible isn't it?"

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Anthony Painter @anthonypainter.bsky.social · 1d

Basically, all innovation food wise is suffocated. Expensive high Street offerings only. It's why there's a vibrant street van scene - all the interesting outlets can't afford the space. A completely extractive food economy
....

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Anthony Painter @anthonypainter.bsky.social · 1d

No, Cambridge college ownership of freehold retail space.....

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Anthony Painter @anthonypainter.bsky.social · 1d

It's actually one of the better options... Sorry not to be the bearer of better news.

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