Martin Wheatley
@martinhwheatley.bsky.social
Public service reform, housing, environment, active travel
Reposted by Martin Wheatley
Even after the mansion tax is applied, the owner of a £5m home in Westminster will pay proportionately less in property tax than the owner of a £210k Band B property in Sunderland.
November 30, 2025 at 4:15 PM
Even after the mansion tax is applied, the owner of a £5m home in Westminster will pay proportionately less in property tax than the owner of a £210k Band B property in Sunderland.
To think Cambridge could have got on same positive spiral if politicians hadn't bottled out @cambstravelall.bsky.social k
Stagecoach are introducing extra buses and extending services from today to take advantage of Oxford's temporary congestion charge. They claim faster journey times on routes from Barton, Blackbird Leys, and Kidlington, and are extending two routes to the Park & Ride at Oxford Parkway.
November 30, 2025 at 1:46 PM
To think Cambridge could have got on same positive spiral if politicians hadn't bottled out @cambstravelall.bsky.social k
!
Exempt supported accommodation company goes bust owing £12m. Administrators list incidents of threats, harassment, break-ins, arson attacks and deception.
www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midland...
www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midland...
'Threats, arson and lies' claims as Birmingham supported housing firm goes bust
A company with strong links to the controversial 'exempt supported housing' sector in Birmingham has been forced into liquidation amid shocking claims by administrators
www.birminghammail.co.uk
November 30, 2025 at 9:49 AM
!
Reposted by Martin Wheatley
Lying in politics is wrong and should never be rewarded, says newspaper which pays Boris Johnson £1 million a year to be its star columnist
November 29, 2025 at 10:01 AM
Lying in politics is wrong and should never be rewarded, says newspaper which pays Boris Johnson £1 million a year to be its star columnist
Reposted by Martin Wheatley
The whole idea that studying the history of a country constitutes an attack on the history of a country is deeply deeply stupid.
November 29, 2025 at 6:34 PM
The whole idea that studying the history of a country constitutes an attack on the history of a country is deeply deeply stupid.
Reposted by Martin Wheatley
Another day preparing for my stall at village Christmas Fair next Saturday.
November 29, 2025 at 6:46 PM
Another day preparing for my stall at village Christmas Fair next Saturday.
People apparently happy for journalists to parade their lack of self-awareness to the world. A bit like the staple of local papers: "Outrageous! I "didn't see" multiple traffic restriction signs and got a camera fine."
Huge respect to the papers for finding both an 88 year old worried about the tax bill on her 6 bedroom Kensington house and a 20 year old fretting about only being able to save £12k a year tax free.
Top work all around. These are not easy case studies to find.
Top work all around. These are not easy case studies to find.
November 29, 2025 at 12:01 PM
People apparently happy for journalists to parade their lack of self-awareness to the world. A bit like the staple of local papers: "Outrageous! I "didn't see" multiple traffic restriction signs and got a camera fine."
Reposted by Martin Wheatley
Wow - this guy must be really, REALLY bad with money if an extra £208 per month will “ruin” his retirement.
Let’s take a look at his situation based on what he told the @Telegraph
Because this does NOT add up!
No, this is not a “poor pensioner” scrabbling around for pennies…
🧵1/9
Let’s take a look at his situation based on what he told the @Telegraph
Because this does NOT add up!
No, this is not a “poor pensioner” scrabbling around for pennies…
🧵1/9
November 29, 2025 at 10:12 AM
Wow - this guy must be really, REALLY bad with money if an extra £208 per month will “ruin” his retirement.
Let’s take a look at his situation based on what he told the @Telegraph
Because this does NOT add up!
No, this is not a “poor pensioner” scrabbling around for pennies…
🧵1/9
Let’s take a look at his situation based on what he told the @Telegraph
Because this does NOT add up!
No, this is not a “poor pensioner” scrabbling around for pennies…
🧵1/9
Reposted by Martin Wheatley
It takes a special kind of right-wing British political party to literally sell black shirts.
Are you going to tell them?
Or shall I?
Are you going to tell them?
Or shall I?
November 28, 2025 at 1:55 PM
It takes a special kind of right-wing British political party to literally sell black shirts.
Are you going to tell them?
Or shall I?
Are you going to tell them?
Or shall I?
Reposted by Martin Wheatley
Part of the point of having a big, well-funded, well-respected state broadcaster is that it should be able to set high standards of intellectual rigour for the media as a whole - that the BBC is currently failing badly in this regard is a black mark of shame against it
I don’t think this is a “politicians have got dumber” issue for the most part. If you look at the *actual CVs* of previous cohorts of MPs, their background is not radically different when you account for, you know, the fact the economy is different! It is primarily a media and ecosystem issue.
We have got to make politics intellectual again. It is the only way that societies thrive is when politicians have the capability to actually think and reflect deeply:
November 28, 2025 at 2:38 PM
Part of the point of having a big, well-funded, well-respected state broadcaster is that it should be able to set high standards of intellectual rigour for the media as a whole - that the BBC is currently failing badly in this regard is a black mark of shame against it
and upward pressure on spending often reflects policy failure in the wider system, eg upward pressure on housing costs from weak supply and under-investment in social housing.
Is welfare spending ''out of control''?
Total welfare spending in Britain in 2025-26 is estimated to be 10.8 per cent of GDP.
That's just 0.8 per cent of GDP higher than in 2007-08, and total welfare spending has actually fallen fallen by 1.2 per cent of GDP since 2012-13⤵️
buff.ly/s5mz97u
Total welfare spending in Britain in 2025-26 is estimated to be 10.8 per cent of GDP.
That's just 0.8 per cent of GDP higher than in 2007-08, and total welfare spending has actually fallen fallen by 1.2 per cent of GDP since 2012-13⤵️
buff.ly/s5mz97u
November 28, 2025 at 8:43 AM
and upward pressure on spending often reflects policy failure in the wider system, eg upward pressure on housing costs from weak supply and under-investment in social housing.
Reposted by Martin Wheatley
Imagine the horror if property taxes were actually proportional! Or even progressive. Maybe surveyors might start accounting for this again when valuing properties, and it might affect buyer expectations and values... a man can dream.
Even after the mansion tax is applied, the owner of a £5m home in Westminster will pay proportionately less in property tax than the owner of a £210k Band B property in Sunderland.
November 27, 2025 at 5:03 PM
Imagine the horror if property taxes were actually proportional! Or even progressive. Maybe surveyors might start accounting for this again when valuing properties, and it might affect buyer expectations and values... a man can dream.
Reposted by Martin Wheatley
It's such a bizarre framing. Labour MPs think taking 450k kids out of poverty is putting the country first! That's why they wanted it to happen! It's not because they personally benefit.
Headline on The World at One just now:
"Sir Keir Starmer has denied putting the Labour Party before the country by ending the two-child benefit cap".
Can we please go back to reporting the actual news, not someone's partisan take on it?
"Sir Keir Starmer has denied putting the Labour Party before the country by ending the two-child benefit cap".
Can we please go back to reporting the actual news, not someone's partisan take on it?
November 27, 2025 at 1:16 PM
It's such a bizarre framing. Labour MPs think taking 450k kids out of poverty is putting the country first! That's why they wanted it to happen! It's not because they personally benefit.
Reposted by Martin Wheatley
These figures are bleak - and nothing at all in the budget yesterday to address them. Instead Local Housing Allowance remains frozen.
New homelessness figures today show a continued upwards trajectory in the numbers of children and households living in temporary accommodation, reaching new record highs.
Yesterday the OBR reported cost of TA to local authorities increased 20% *a year* between 2022-23 and 2024-25.
Yesterday the OBR reported cost of TA to local authorities increased 20% *a year* between 2022-23 and 2024-25.
November 27, 2025 at 10:59 AM
These figures are bleak - and nothing at all in the budget yesterday to address them. Instead Local Housing Allowance remains frozen.
Reposted by Martin Wheatley
Massive CONGRATULATIONS to @drblez.bsky.social for being the runner-up in the @thinkhouseinfo.bsky.social Early Career Researcher’s Prize for ‘Measuring What Matters: Tackling Structural Stigma in Social Housing‘ www.thinkhouse.org.uk/about/early-...
November 26, 2025 at 3:31 PM
Massive CONGRATULATIONS to @drblez.bsky.social for being the runner-up in the @thinkhouseinfo.bsky.social Early Career Researcher’s Prize for ‘Measuring What Matters: Tackling Structural Stigma in Social Housing‘ www.thinkhouse.org.uk/about/early-...
Reposted by Martin Wheatley
Good to see HMT has finally relented on the tourist tax. Important that mayors are allowed to keep all of the income and choose how to spend it without central interference. And that it's the beginning of fiscal devolution not the end.
November 25, 2025 at 1:14 PM
Good to see HMT has finally relented on the tourist tax. Important that mayors are allowed to keep all of the income and choose how to spend it without central interference. And that it's the beginning of fiscal devolution not the end.
Looking forward to comment from Toby Young and his "Free Speech Union"
I wish I didn’t have to share this. But the BBC has decided to censor my first Reith Lecture.
They deleted the line in which I describe Donald Trump as “the most openly corrupt president in American history.” /1
They deleted the line in which I describe Donald Trump as “the most openly corrupt president in American history.” /1
November 25, 2025 at 11:32 AM
Looking forward to comment from Toby Young and his "Free Speech Union"
Reposted by Martin Wheatley
The problem with UK fiscal policy is low productivity, Brexit and a refusal of Chancellors to be straight with the public about what it costs to have the services they want.
None of this is the responsibility of the OBR.
If anything, they've been too accommodating.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
None of this is the responsibility of the OBR.
If anything, they've been too accommodating.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
The difficult question about how powerful the Budget watchdog is
Ahead of this week's Budget, some have accused the Office for Budget Responsibility of being a
www.bbc.co.uk
November 25, 2025 at 7:00 AM
The problem with UK fiscal policy is low productivity, Brexit and a refusal of Chancellors to be straight with the public about what it costs to have the services they want.
None of this is the responsibility of the OBR.
If anything, they've been too accommodating.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
None of this is the responsibility of the OBR.
If anything, they've been too accommodating.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Reposted by Martin Wheatley
Twitter accounts are based in Russia. BlueSky accounts are based in homes with, frankly, too many books, plants, obsolete cables, and pieces of rustic pottery, that could do with a bit of a tidying up, to be honest.
November 23, 2025 at 8:29 PM
Twitter accounts are based in Russia. BlueSky accounts are based in homes with, frankly, too many books, plants, obsolete cables, and pieces of rustic pottery, that could do with a bit of a tidying up, to be honest.
Reposted by Martin Wheatley
Spent today prepping some of my artwork for the village Christmas Fair soon. First time neighbours will see what I've been working on
November 23, 2025 at 6:38 PM
Spent today prepping some of my artwork for the village Christmas Fair soon. First time neighbours will see what I've been working on
Anyone around Cambridge, Swaffham Bulbeck Church Christmas Fair on 6 December. Including @rcwheat.bsky.social stall with art works and cards
November 22, 2025 at 5:28 PM
Anyone around Cambridge, Swaffham Bulbeck Church Christmas Fair on 6 December. Including @rcwheat.bsky.social stall with art works and cards
I agree that a crude price cap would be likely contrary to equalities legislation. E-trikes and other non-standard cycles are transformative for healthy mobility but they are necessarily much pricier than other cycles.
Wheels for Wellbeing are concerned by reports that the Chancellor is considering putting a maximum price for cycles allowed through the Cycle to Work scheme.
We are calling for the scheme to be reformed rather than capped.
Read our full statement. wheelsforwellbeing.org.uk/wheels-for-w...
We are calling for the scheme to be reformed rather than capped.
Read our full statement. wheelsforwellbeing.org.uk/wheels-for-w...
November 21, 2025 at 1:19 PM
I agree that a crude price cap would be likely contrary to equalities legislation. E-trikes and other non-standard cycles are transformative for healthy mobility but they are necessarily much pricier than other cycles.
In terms of credit where it is due, 2-hour power outage here this morning. Comms from UK Power Networks really good, string of informative texts and website updates. So many utlities, banks etc stonewall and obfuscate when things go wrong.
November 20, 2025 at 10:10 AM
In terms of credit where it is due, 2-hour power outage here this morning. Comms from UK Power Networks really good, string of informative texts and website updates. So many utlities, banks etc stonewall and obfuscate when things go wrong.
The overarching point is right. At a more technical level, on issues I follow closely (eg housing and energy) there is a sense that government is getting on and addressing a lot of issues credibly, in a way which is different from what was typical pre-'24.
"It would mean more people could benefit from those frequent Central Line services. It is exactly what I hoped this Labour government might do.
"And I almost missed it, because they instead won’t shut up about being horrible to foreigners."
"And I almost missed it, because they instead won’t shut up about being horrible to foreigners."
The Weekly Howl
The British government just did something I agree with, and it feels almost gross to mention it. Also: who invented the week? And some Beeching-themed maps.
jonn.substack.com
November 20, 2025 at 9:59 AM
The overarching point is right. At a more technical level, on issues I follow closely (eg housing and energy) there is a sense that government is getting on and addressing a lot of issues credibly, in a way which is different from what was typical pre-'24.