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Joel Budd @joelbudd.bsky.social · 22h

In this case 98% are both non-compliant and problematic. But how, exactly? The inspectors know, but the report doesn't say.

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Joel Budd @joelbudd.bsky.social · 22h

And journalists are finding examples of bad work and anguished residents. But neither the report nor the journalism answer those basic questions. Since hundreds of buildings were inspected, why not publish the detailed findings?

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Joel Budd @joelbudd.bsky.social · 22h

I think this also hints at the limits of Britain's audit culture. The NAO has produced a report that says 98% of external wall insulation is non-compliant. OK, sounds bad, so what does that mean? What should householders be looking for? How much work is needed? Figure 6 gives a couple of examples.

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Joel Budd @joelbudd.bsky.social · 23h

Latest evidence of state incompetence. The report lacks detail but is still pretty damning.

Hetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 1d

98% of homes with external wall insulation installed under the government’s ECO scheme require work to correct major issues that will cause problems such as damp and mould - our new @nao.org.uk report www.bbc.co.uk/news/article... (full report www.nao.org.uk/reports/ener...)

Thousands of homes with botched eco insulation 'must be fixed'

Insulation programmes costing billions of pounds have led to widespread problems with damp and mould.

www.bbc.co.uk

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Joel Budd @joelbudd.bsky.social · 3d

As James has observed before, EU migrants to Britain are also ethnically diverse—especially in the younger age groups.

James Bowes @jamesbowes01.bsky.social · 3d

ukandeu.ac.uk/diversity-eu...

The surprising diversity of the EU national population in the UK - UK in a changing Europe

James Bowes unpacks the latest census and EU Settlement Scheme data to explore the diversity of the EU national population in the UK.

ukandeu.ac.uk

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Joel Budd @joelbudd.bsky.social · 5d

This is nuts. Do read while eating.
www.theguardian.com/science/2025...

Grisly recording reveals bat catching, killing and eating robin mid-flight

Before the Spanish study, some scientists had been sceptical about the mammals attacking migratory birds

www.theguardian.com

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Joel Budd @joelbudd.bsky.social · 6d

It’s fine. Most of them are deactivated. I nearly always have more than 30 tabs open.

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Joel Budd @joelbudd.bsky.social · 6d

My main memory is that the climbing ropes in my primary school were (I am sure I am right about this) 100ft high.

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Joel Budd @joelbudd.bsky.social · 6d

which measures the extent to which the state tries to change society and culture (Denmark is very interventionist, so extreme by that measure; Britain leans the other way, as--I think--does France). But Britain is really unusual in the third sense, i.e. integration is rapid.

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Joel Budd @joelbudd.bsky.social · 6d

I like this. Sometimes I think about multiculturalism in 3 dimensions: ideology, policy and outcomes. Britain isn't all that ideologically extreme--it's not as multiculturalist in principle as Canada, nor as anti-multiculturalist in principle as France. It's more unusual in the second dimension...

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Joel Budd @joelbudd.bsky.social · 7d

This Briton scores 16/25. Any New Yorker who scores lower needs to leave immediately.
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Are You a True New Yorker? Take Our Quiz

Think you know the landmarks, legends and lore of the city that never stops reinventing itself? See how well you measure up.

www.nytimes.com

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Reposted by Joel Budd

Dylan Difford @dylandifford.bsky.social · 9d

What’s notable about Tory don’t knows is how they’re just Tories. They look like loyal Tories, think like them, and don’t like any other party. The only point of distinction is liking Badenoch a lot less, but otherwise basically 1m easily win-backable votes for the party.

Chart showing political characteristics of current Don't Know groups.

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Joel Budd @joelbudd.bsky.social · 9d

Testing the pop-culture fragmentation theory

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Reposted by Joel Budd

James Bowes @jamesbowes01.bsky.social · 10d

The 10 year wait for Indefinite Leave to Remain will make the UK very unattractive for high skilled workers who often have alternatives. 2019 data (excluding the NHS and universities) shows that high skilled workers on visas are heavily concentrated in multinationals who can move jobs abroad (5/x)

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Joel Budd @joelbudd.bsky.social · 11d

Crazy numbers for Reform supporters from the managerial group, both on the "white Britons are discriminated against" proposition and the "men are discriminated against" proposition.

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Reposted by Joel Budd

Duncan Robinson @duncanrobinson.bsky.social · 13d

No more hippy punching. Starmer decides to stop punching its own voters in the face www.economist.com/britain/2025...

Labour has decided to stop punching its own voters

Sir Keir Starmer has embraced peace and love of the party’s hippy base

www.economist.com

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Joel Budd @joelbudd.bsky.social · 13d

@ananyo.bsky.social will not mind confirming (if he remembers) that I once asked him how to pronounce his name, and he said: Do not try. It is impossible.

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Joel Budd @joelbudd.bsky.social · 13d

Feeling very badly for the authors of that report. Pushed out on a Sunday, it got little attention. Even I haven’t written about it yet, and a report on new towns to me is like catnip to a cat.

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Reposted by Joel Budd

Matthew Holehouse @matthewholehouse.bsky.social · 13d

Aux armes, citoyens!

On Starmer's headspinning change of strategy, and a rather Macron-like attempt to force a showdown between liberal Britain and Farageism.

www.economist.com/britain/2025...

Sir Keir Starmer declares a battle for the soul of Britain

The Labour Party takes aim at Nigel Farage and Reform UK

www.economist.com

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Joel Budd @joelbudd.bsky.social · 13d

Ooh, yes please! Not sure why the publisher decided not to indent the paragraphs, but it has created a book about Leicester council housing, so all is forgiven.

Joel Budd @joelbudd.bsky.social · 14d

Good piece. The UK line that smugglers are using bigger boats because it has become harder to get boats and engines to France seems a little unlikely. The bigger the boat, the bigger the profit margin.

www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...

Calais police up their game but migrants board bigger boats

This migrant camp in northern France has ‘never been so busy’, despite efforts from both sides of the Channel to get a grip on small boat crossings

www.thetimes.com

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Joel Budd @joelbudd.bsky.social · 14d

Yes, it’s a daft idea. But it did give us a spectacular city centre, recently restored to its modernist glory and now one of Britain’s finest.

Get rid of the e-bikes though.

Helen Day @lbflyawayhome.bsky.social · 14d

“An example of the town of the future is Coventry.... Traffic and pedestrians are kept apart and the roads are planned to let traffic flow smoothly”

(Our Land in the Making, 1966)
Artist: Ronald Lampitt

Illustration of the precinct shopping centre in Coventry, with its shiny 1960s architecture, walkways and colourful flower planters

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Joel Budd @joelbudd.bsky.social · 16d

So much of the discourse is just people expressing views that are entirely typical for their age group, and insisting they are being terribly original.

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Joel Budd @joelbudd.bsky.social · 16d

I’m trying to remember when I last saw a policy announcement on a non-urgent matter being made on a Sunday.

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Reposted by Joel Budd

The Economist @economist.com · 17d

Farewell to the road warriors

British men are driving less, and a culture is vanishing

Farewell to the road warriors

econ.st

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