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Brian Robson

@brianrobson.bsky.social

1.3K followers 1K following 570 posts

I want more people to live in a decent, affordable home. Don't you? Work: Director Housing & Homelessness, @oak-foundation.bsky.social Dad, bookworm, sedate cyclist | Mackem in North Yorks | Views mine.

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Brian Robson @brianrobson.bsky.social · Nov 18

👋 Hello to new followers. My feed is shaping up into a nice mix of people I knew at the other place and new friends I haven't met yet.

Expect housing, homelessness and the joys of living in Yorkshire. Also interested in politics, philanthropy, and regional development.

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Brian Robson @brianrobson.bsky.social · 6h

Had my current @fairphone.com for just over two years, and battery beginning to fade quicker than it used to. So I ordered a new battery and now it's good as new :)

Reposted by Brian Robson

Inside Housing @insidehousing.bsky.social · 12h

40 UK sector organisations unite in call for government to unfreeze LHA in next Budget

Leaders of 40 groups across the housing sector are calling on the government to unfreeze Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rates for the next year to help reduce homelessness and the use of temporary accommodation

dlvr.it

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Reposted by Brian Robson

Crisis @crisis-uk.bsky.social · 1d

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Reposted by Brian Robson

Crisis @crisis-uk.bsky.social · 1d

Dear UK Government: Unfreeze housing benefit to lift 200,000 adults and children out of poverty and prevent homelessness.

We and 40+ organisations have come together to call on the Chancellor to boost housing benefit in the November Budget. bit.ly/3IVkFoy

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Brian Robson @brianrobson.bsky.social · 2d

5 events that defined your childhood
The Thatcher Government.

(more specific than that?!)

Miners Strike (remember the aftermath more than the strike)
End of shipbuilding on the Wear
Berlin Wall coming down
Sunderland becoming a city (92)

Tim Morton @timmorton2.bsky.social · 2d

5 events that defined your childhood
The winter of ‘63
JFK at the book depository
West Ham and Alan Ball Winning the Men’s World Cup of Football
Mexico Olympics Black Power Salute
The Apollo Soyuz missions

Paul Guinnessy @paulguinnessy.bsky.social · 2d

5 events that defined your childhood:

The end of home coal delivery & switch to gas
Pope John Paul II
Mikhail Gorbachev becomes soviet leader
Live Aid
Launch of the space shuttle (then Challenger)

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Brian Robson @brianrobson.bsky.social · 3d

American public transit in a nutshell:
🛬 Land at airport
🚍 Bus I want leaves from the 'Multi Modal Facility'
❓Can't find signs for this facility. Ask.
🚘 'You need to follow signs for car rentals, sir. It's the same place but the signs say car rentals because that's what most people go there for'.
🤯

Brian Robson @brianrobson.bsky.social · 13d

£60m for a fully operational 12km railway within 30months(!)

Mike @mikeyashworth.bsky.social · 13d

As the new B23 rolling stock heads out into passenger service on London's Docklands Light Railway - DLR - a look back to a c.1985 brochure issued by the 'turnkey' project of GEC-Mowlem who designed & constructed the initial system that opened in 1987. #london #transport

flic.kr/p/2rwApJU

Docklands Light Railway : project brochure : GEC - Mowlem Railway Group : nd [c.1985] : cover. A brochure issued by the GEC-Mowlem Railway Group, undated but likely to be c.1985 as illustrations are used rather than the 'finished product', and that appears to have been given away at the IVA 1988 Railway trade show in Hamburg, Germany, as I acquired it with a batch of brochures from that event. The Docklands Light Railway - DLR - was constructed as a 'turnkey' project by GEC, who provided the vehicles, and Mowlem's who did the civil engineering; the Group was also supported by W.S. Atkins who undertook the detail design.

The cover shows an aerial view of the old Docklands area and the River Thames with the proposed line in red.

Docklands Light Railway : project brochure : GEC - Mowlem Railway Group : nd [c.1985] : scan 2.
This scan of two pages describes the project and the delivery group. It includes an 'artist's impression' of one of the units. Also shown are the 'computer control centre' such as would run the system and a man usuing a computer to design the project.

Docklands Light Railway : project brochure : GEC - Mowlem Railway Group : nd [c.1985] : scan 3. This page shows a system map of the proposed railway along with possible extensions as well as "advantages" to the owner and operator of such a system developed under this management method. There is also a photo of the new viaducts taking shape in a then open area of dockland with a bridge spanning one of the old Docks.

Docklands Light Railway : project brochure : GEC - Mowlem Railway Group : nd [c.1985] : scan 4. The final scan shows a side on impression of one of the original two car units that were destined to have a relatively short operational life in London for various reasons; expansion to three-car units as well as the requirement for different door access/egress for units on the tunnelled extension to Bank saw them withdrawn with many sold to Essen, Germany, where some still operate on Stadtbahn and tramway services. Upper left is an artists impression of a section across a new elevated viaduct station wit many passengers and pedestrians milling around.

Brian Robson @brianrobson.bsky.social · 14d

FWIW my own GP surgery makes it easy to book a telephone appointment online (though can be some time off). Getting beyond that is the difficult part.

Brian Robson @brianrobson.bsky.social · 14d

GPs in England are threatening to take action over government plans to increase patients’ online access to appointments << God forbid citizens get access to the healthcare they're entitled to, eh? www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

GPs in England threaten action over online appointment booking plan

Doctors’ union says GPs will be overwhelmed by ‘triage tsunami’ and gives ministers 48 hours to take measures

www.theguardian.com

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Brian Robson @brianrobson.bsky.social · 14d

D66 ahead of VVD is, er, interesting, and some would say exactly what one of them deserves...

Reposted by Brian Robson

Pete Apps @peteapps.bsky.social · 15d

Can't think of many better illustrations of how badly we have botched housing policy than the fact that our bill for housing homeless families (£2.8bn pa) is now higher than the money we spend each year on new affordable housing (£2.3bn)

www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/english...

English councils’ temporary accommodation bill rises to £2.8bn

Councils in England spent a record £2.8bn on temporary accommodation last year, with the annual bill rising by 25% as the homelessness crisis deepens.

www.insidehousing.co.uk

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Brian Robson @brianrobson.bsky.social · 15d

Both..? Expect Steve Reed has achieved want he wanted from it. But maybe a hard hat with the same message would have been more construction related and less open to trans-Atlantic links.

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Reposted by Brian Robson

Ben Twomey @bentwomeyuk.bsky.social · 15d

Pleased to be part of so many conversations around housing at #LabourConference.

This morning I’ve asked questions of MPs @lukemurphy.bsky.social, @florenceeshalomi.bsky.social, Joe Powell and Londons Deputy Mayor @tomcopley.bsky.social about renters’ rights and the cost of renting.

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Brian Robson @brianrobson.bsky.social · 15d

Good listen on +ve findings of a pilot to provide cash rental assistance in Philadelphia.

Of course, UK has direct-to-tenant cash assistance : Local Housing Allowance. But ongoing freezes mean it's lost touch with real rents and risks becoming less effective unless uprated at Autumn Statement...

Shane Phillips @shanedphillips.bsky.social · Aug 27

Our latest UCLA Housing Voice episode is with Vincent Reina, discussing findings from a direct-to-tenant cash assistance program in Philadelphia, PHLHousing+. Reduced evictions, homelessness, and housing quality problems — and no unused vouchers! Give it a listen: www.lewis.ucla.edu/2025/08/27/9...

Episode 96: Direct-to-Tenant Rent Assistance with Vincent Reina - UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies

UPenn's Vincent Reina discusses research on a new pilot program that gives tenants direct cash assistance rather than a regular housing voucher.

www.lewis.ucla.edu

Brian Robson @brianrobson.bsky.social · 16d

Thought that was an interesting tell in the Starmer donkey nonsense. Back in 1996 ' I was a lawyer, I had quite a lot of money, I bought a field for £20,000'. Wonder if someone from Starmer's background in the same career today would feel *quite* so flush.

Brian Robson @brianrobson.bsky.social · 16d

And I particularly enjoyed this line…

‘I am certainly not without sympathy for the occasional frustrations of being a deputy leader’ 🔥🔥🔥

Brian Robson @brianrobson.bsky.social · 16d

This is a terrific book review - Nicola Sturgeon a great choice of reviewer for this particular book. observer.co.uk/culture/book...

Kamala Harris has no lessons for the Democrats – or herself

In 107 Days, her despair-inducing account of the 2024 presidential election, Harris is uninterested in the true causes of her defeat, and unable to offer...

observer.co.uk

Reposted by Brian Robson

Jim Pickard @pickardje.bsky.social · 17d

The Greater London Authority is drawing up plans to lower the proportion of affordable homes developers must provide when trying to fast-track planning, in a bid to spur housebuilding in the capital.

www.ft.com/content/dab0...

London considers lowering affordable homes target to spur house building

Developers complain that 35% goal is too high and makes schemes unviable

www.ft.com

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Reposted by Brian Robson

derek guy @dieworkwear.bsky.social · 17d

this is the housing market but at least we're investigating what happened to amelia earhart

A home in San Jose is listed for $500k. 2 beds and 1 bath on a 2,720 square foot lot.

220 770 5.1K

Brian Robson @brianrobson.bsky.social · 17d

I mean, those cobbles look arduous.

Brian Robson @brianrobson.bsky.social · 17d

I mean, who among us hasn’t fantasised about spending £1800 per month to live above a pet shop?

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Brian Robson @brianrobson.bsky.social · 18d

That's a fair point.

Brian Robson @brianrobson.bsky.social · 18d

her surname seems to be spelt incorrectly throughout that announcement 🙄

Brian Robson @brianrobson.bsky.social · 18d

And no elected GM Assembly asking Burnham tricky questions in public in the way that Sadiq Khan has to face Zack Polanski, Susan Hall etc regularly (and see clips on local news, social media etc)

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Brian Robson @brianrobson.bsky.social · 18d

Finished @samfr.bsky.social's book this week. Which is excellent. And this passage -about govts trapped in a Comms game they can't win - feels particularly important.

A passage from Sam Freedman's book Failed State. It says politicians are trapped in a (comms) game they cannot win and calls for prioritising policy over communications.