Laird Ryan
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lairdryan.bsky.social
Laird Ryan
@lairdryan.bsky.social
48 followers 66 following 9 posts
The lived-in face of public policy. Lecturer at UCEM, meddling in urban planning, ESOL, social and environmental justice. Maker of music, marmalade and mischief.
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Reposted by Laird Ryan
Thank you to the folks you sent me this #badgeographyjoke! I’m living in the paradise half of Australia and am sending out special greetings to my Western Australian friends 😉
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It is probably fair for the survey respondents to have doubts. We recently published our vision for 21st Century New Towns.

The success criteria for new new towns must surely be whether the communities meet people's needs and are places in which people want to live. www.tcpa.org.uk/wp-content/u...
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Si monumentum requiris, circumspice
A #HappyEaster to your all! What better way to symbolise this than this photo of our #terracotta planter, whose knowing smile and sense of abundance transcend language itself?
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Time to read up on the French Revolution?
50 years ago this week, in #BamberGascogine's time on #UniversityChallenge, the #UniversityofDundee team (Ken Guild, Bob Hynd, Lindsay Easton and I) beat a #Cambridge college that numbers #CharlesDarwin among its alumni. Our student magazine, #Annasach, headlined our victory: " #Christs Crucified".
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“In short, European builders tend to build fairly tall buildings on a smaller portion of the lot than American urban builders, providing much more space for trees, green space, gardens, and so forth.”
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The latest title in the Routledge @rtpiplanners.bsky.social RTPI Library book series is Rural Planning Futures edited by @markscott-ucd.bsky.social John Sturzaker Nick Gallent @gavinparker.bsky.social Amy Burnett & @ianmell.bsky.social www.routledge.com/RTPI-Library...
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'Growing wealth inequality is increasing the risk of societal ­collapse, according to a new Fairness Foundation report that shows nearly two-thirds of Britons are concerned about the political influence of very rich people.'
www.theguardian.com/inequality/2...
Nearly two-thirds of Britons say very rich have too much influence on politics
Opinium survey of 2,000 adults found concern about the impact of growing wealth inequality in the UK
www.theguardian.com
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Lower-income households are set to become £500 a year poorer over the Parliament.

The Resolution Foundation's overnight analysis of the Spring Statement is available here ⤵️ buff.ly/AylYT09
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The charms of authoritarianism and fascism are not so hard to describe…
but don’t strap yourself to a pig.
simonduffy.info/blog/dont-st...
#StPatrick's said to be buried here at #DownCathedral - maybe under this granite slab? No matter: pilgrims and the curious, like these Polish tourists, have a taste for the tangible. Whether you're #Irish by nationality or just inclination, #LáFhéilePádraig sona daiobh! #HappyStPatricksDay to you!
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Trump never had a peace plan for Ukraine. He had a plan for Ukraine's surrender, with a colonial resource grab. As Zelenskyy rightly refused it, or to cooperate in Trump's TV spectacular, the US has now cut Ukraine off.
That's what blackmail looks like.
That's what the world is up against.
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I keep reading that Zelensky shouldn't have risen to the bait.

The man is human. He's seen tens of thousands of Ukrainians murdered, their cities blown apart & their children stolen.

He was sitting by a man who's looting his country's minerals & praising Putin.

And for 40 minutes, he held it in.
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On 15 March 1939 Hitler and his deputy summoned the Czech President to Hitler’s residence in Berlin and then bullied him to submitting to a German invasion of his country.
They drove him to the point of physical collapse, threatening him until he eventually signed his country’s death warrant.
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Disadvantaged communities routinely put up with poorly designed housing development.

But it doesn't need to be this way...

New research presents 20 stories from across England that buck this trend, and provides 10 strategies for successful design.

🔗placealliance.org.uk/from-inequality-to-quality/
At #Auschwitz on 19/02/1943, #Leon&MargarethaCohen met the fate shared by over 77% of #DutchJews.
Their tiny memorial plaques on a #Dordrecht sidestreet epitomise #HannaArendt's description of #Nazism's #banalityofevil. Now more than ever, we need to celebrate and defend our #commonhumanity.
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Retrouvé gravé par un prisonnier sur les murs de Auschwitz Birkenau : « si dieu existe, il va falloir qu’il me prie très fort avant que je le pardonne »
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Each Sunday at noon, #chihuahua-families share time together in #KensingtonGardens. #NewYearsDay inspires people everywhere to defy the boundaries and the barbed wire to share what's special to them. Whether it's chihuahuas, #townplanning or whatever, here's wishing you a 2025 rich in #togetherness.