Scaremongering

Scaremongering Readers may have noticed that the two respondents to my letter (You vote Reform at your peril) failed to … More

Vote Reform at your peril

Those people thinking about voting Reform “for a change” might well pay attention to the influx of Tories into the … More

Growth at any cost has consequences

For the government, ‘growth’ is a panacea, but just as with a human body growth can be healthy or diseased. … More

Necessity trumps ‘fiscal rules’

We cannot afford NOT to do what is necessary The message from Rachel Reeves is that because of the economic … More

“A corporate world that evinced almost psychopathic disregard for human life”

In his book, Show me the bodies – Why we let Grenfell happen, Peter Apps writes: “Over a period of … More

Denying the housing crisis in Swindon

Back in October David Renard, in his capacity as Environment spokesperson for the Local Government Association wrote that “There is … 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

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

Swindon as dormitory town?

According to government statistics not a single ‘social rent’ home was added to Swindon’s housing stock over the last five … More

The government increases the cost of ‘borrowing to build’

When local authorities build council housing, even if they receive central government grant, they borrow from the government’s own Public … More