To provide councils with resources which are desperately needed for this unprecedented crisis, cancel the debt owed to the Public … More
Author: martinwicks
The government must guarantee the means of life for those without the means
Great events make change possible, sometime inevitable. Johnson was elected with a working majority, Britain was going to leave the … More
The government is making “a deadly mistake”
“Our message to countries continues to be: you must take a comprehensive approach. Not testing alone. Not contact tracing alone. … More
2020 Budget: where’s the grant for council house building?
The 2020 budget indicates that the new Affordable Homes Programme starting in 2021 would have £12.2 billion funding. This is … More
Only 5% of new homes funded by Homes England grant are ‘social rent’
“Affordable rent is a new funding model, which involves three main changes: housing providers can charge higher rents for affordable … More
Councils need some serious funding if they are to return to large-scale housebuilding
This is an article for Inside Housing magazine A week after the General Election Swindon Council leader David Renard wrote … More
A lesson in the ruthlessness of the British ruling class
Whilst there will be no shortage of efforts to apportion blame for the electoral defeat of Labour an indisputable factor … More
Labour should reject the McCarthyite 10 Pledges – defend freedom of speech on Israeli
In a video of the Campaign Against Anti-Semitism, an ecstatic Joe Glassman, drunk on his ‘victory’ in the General Election, … More
War and democracy in the Middle East
Martin Luther King famously said that “The Vietnamese must look upon us strange liberators.” So must the Iranians in the … More
Rent increase: tenants should not pay the cost of government underfunding of council housing
Swindon council will argue that their proposed above inflation 2.7% rent increase for council tenants in 2020-21 is acceptable because … More
Martin Wicks 