James Riding

I'm in The Times today coming out to bat for Karl Ove Knausgaard, whose latest Christopher Marlowe-inspired novel is long, weird, frequently repulsive and brilliant

Link to read below

‘It’s a damned masterpiece’ — the new Karl Ove Knausgaard novel In The School of Night, the Norwegian rockstar novelist sets Doctor Faustus in 1980s London

www.thetimes.com/culture/book...

I'm in The Times today coming out to bat for Karl Ove Knausgaard, whose latest Christopher Marlowe-inspired novel is long, weird, frequently repulsive and brilliant

Link to read below

David Sexton argues this year's Booker Prize winning novel borrows "the whole plot, the entire arc" of Stanley Kubrick's film Barry Lyndon

Northampton empty flats to be bought for social housing Thirty-six apartments are empty on a new housing estate and ready to be moved into.

Another example here www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Council submits bid to buy 140 new homes off developer for social rent Harrow Council said it was given an opportunity to buy them at the last minute and didn't want to miss out, so called an urgent meeting to approve the potential purchase

I'm noticing an interesting trend of councils buying up new-build homes from housebuilders to use for social housing. With demand from first-time buyers so low, it makes sense that councils could get some good deals. They just need the money to buy them!

www.mylondon.news/news/north-l...

New homes: even if you build them, there’s no one to buy them We’re often told housing demand exceeds supply — so why are new homes struggling to be built and bought?

New homes: even if you build them, there’s no one to buy them on.ft.com/3Levumr | opinion

London's newbuild scandal as blocks develop issues within a few years The Fold was completed in 2022, but just three years later, its owners are forcing all residents to leave in order to carry out a full refurbishment of the mould-ridden building - and it's a symptom o...

A tower block completed in 2022 has to undergo a full refurbishment to fix damp, mould and fire safety defects

Amid criticism of the Building Safety Regulator holding up development, it's so crucial to remember why we need to drive up building standards

www.mylondon.news/news/south-l...

I'm extremely pleased to be shortlisted for a British Journalism Award alongside some truly top-tier talent

London’s housebuilding meltdown: what happens next? Shockingly poor housebuilding figures emerged from London over the summer. James Riding speaks to developers and London’s deputy mayor Tom Copley to find out where we go from here.

The government and Sadiq Khan have announced an emergency package for developers after shockingly low housebuilding figures in London

Affordable housing target lowered from 35% to 20%, PLUS government grant for developers

More on how we got here:

www.insidehousing.co.uk/insight/lond...

Public-private coalition calls for tax credits to build 90,000 social homes a year A coalition of private and public sector parties has called for the government to use tax credits to fund 90,000 new social rent homes a year.

New research shared with Inside Housing today calls for US-style tax credits to raise £18.83bn a year for social rent homes. That’s the level of public subsidy needed to build 90,000 social rent homes a year and make a huge dent in the housing crisis

www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/public-...

60 years on: the story of the Race Relations Act 1965 This Black History Month, Inside Housing looks back at the Race Relations Act to consider the legacy of the first anti-racism law in England.

“Ever since that [act], both the main parties constantly associated the two: that we can’t progress race equality without then also controlling how many immigrants we have in this country"

Fascinating piece in Inside Housing today from @sajeraj.bsky.social

www.insidehousing.co.uk/insight/60-y...

Exclusive: Investment giant widens focus from shared ownership to all affordable tenures Investment giant M&G has widened its focus from shared ownership to all affordable housing tenures, Inside Housing can reveal.

Exclusive: Investment giant M&G has widened its focus from shared ownership to all affordable housing tenures

www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/exclusi...

Reform will move to a pro-social housing agenda, says Starmer’s ex-economic advisor Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party will move towards a pro-social housing agenda because so many social renters are considering voting for them, Sir Keir Starmer’s former economic advisor has said.

New: Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party will move towards a pro-social housing agenda because so many social renters are considering voting for them, Sir Keir Starmer’s former economic advisor has said

www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/reform-...

Nothing in this acknowledges the economic reality of why many brownfield sites don’t get away as housing: they’re not financially viable unless someone (usually us, in some form) pays for them to be cleaned up and made ready

It's My Party and I'll cry if I want to

London’s housebuilding meltdown: what happens next? Shockingly poor housebuilding figures emerged from London over the summer. James Riding speaks to developers and London’s deputy mayor Tom Copley to find out where we go from here.

Here's my full report: www.insidehousing.co.uk/insight/lond...

Deputy mayor Tom Copley says “I’m quite confident, particularly as we go through this year, we’re going to see an uptick in terms of affordable housing delivery, and we are coming up with the next London Plan, which is going to absolutely have housing and growth at its heart."

The rise of single-family housing – institutional investment pouring into new-build houses in the suburbs – shows that private capital is willing to invest in housing. It’s just not willing to invest in high-rise flats because of all the risk.

“On the one hand more is demanded [of developers], but on the other side of the equation there’s less that can be offered, because the buildings that we’re producing now are a lot more complicated than they were 10-15 years ago,” says development consultant Nick Cuff

Higher interest rates and build cost inflation since 2020 eroded developers' profits. But one of the biggest challenges is the post-Grenfell Building Safety Regulator in 2024. The regulator has struggled to work through a backlog of applications and rejects over 70% of them

Sadiq Khan oversaw a boom in private housebuilding in London that peaked in 2019-20, with 45,676 net additions

Now the boom is over. Net additions are estimated at 31,800 for 2024-25 and will fall further as dire starts translate into completions

Shockingly poor housebuilding figures emerged from London over the summer

Just 2,158 private homes were started in the first half of the year according to Molior: the lowest figure since 2009

I spoke to developers and deputy mayor Tom Copley to find out where we go from here 🧵

Build-to-rent won't inevitably drive rents up Commentators have linked build-to-rent to rising rents but the truth is much more complex, writes Michael Keaveney, director of land and development at Grainger.

Does build-to-rent drive up rents in nearby areas? The truth is much more complex, argues Michael Keaveney, director of land and development at Grainger, in Inside Housing today

www.insidehousing.co.uk/comment/buil...

Just 27% of retrofits completed under flagship government decarbonisation scheme An £800m government scheme to decarbonise social homes has underperformed with less than a third of targeted retrofits completed, Inside Housing can reveal.

Exclusive: An £800m government scheme to decarbonise social homes has underperformed with less than a third of targeted retrofits completed

www.insidehousing.co.uk/home/just-27...

Definitely a contender for best list of Alternative Names on a Wikipedia page

Ian McEwan is back — and he’s had fun with his strangest book yet The acclaimed writer’s latest novel, What We Can Know, is a literary hotpot of poetry, social history, dementia and murder

“For all his reputation as an elder statesman of solid literary fiction, Ian McEwan’s 50-year career has been characterised by eccentricities and surprising left-turns.”

Me on McEwan’s strangest novel yet, What We Can Know, about poetry, murder and the long view of human development:

William Boyd’s new spy novel is full of JFK conspiracy theories The Predicament is a comfortably retro return to the world of Gabriel Dax, who is trying to foil a plan to assassinate the US president

www.thetimes.com/article/3605...

William Boyd’s new spy novel is full of JFK conspiracy theories. Who does he think is the most entertaining culprit for the president’s assassination?

Here’s my review for @thetimes.com - link below

One Boat by Jonathan Buckley — a hunky Greek, bad poetry and a lawyer at sea The author’s 13th novel, a Booker prize contender, explores guilt and grief against the backdrop of a Greek seaside town

www.thetimes.com/article/bbde...