Fraser Bell

Hiya, do you know if this well be recorded at all?

Private care providers in three English regions make £250m in three years More than third of profits analysed went to firms owned by private equity or based in tax havens, research finds Private companies operating care services in just three regions of England have taken more than £250m in profits in three years, with more than a third going to providers owned by private equity firms or companies based in tax havens. New analysis by Reclaiming Our Regional Economies warned that public money is being rapidly funnelled out of the care system into the hands of private companies, rather than reinvested to improve services. Continue reading...

Private care providers in three English regions make £250m in three years

We’re angry - you should be too.

If you've had to pay a fortune to put loved ones through care. You have a SEND child whose needs are not met. Or you went through the care system as a kid.

You would not expect money for the services designed to help, to be ripped away as profit. ⛴️🏝️⛴️ 🏝️⛴️🏝️⛴️ 🏝️

That in the #NorthEast, £94m has been made in profit from social and children's care over 3 years. Of which over a third (£34.5m) has been made by providers owned by private equity orgs, companies based in tax havens, or by orgs that fall into both brackets.

Private care providers in three English regions make £250m in three years More than third of profits analysed went to firms owned by private equity or based in tax havens, research finds

NEW: £250m+ has been taken as profit over 3yrs, by private companies running social care services in 3 English regions. By:
⛴️ Private equity firms
🏝️ Orgs based in tax havens
Read our new #RORE report (Reclaiming Our Regional Economies) in today's @theguardian.com
www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

What news editors and politicians think people want: "Just tell them they'll get a tram somewhere in their city if they're nice."

What people really want: "SHOW ME THE FULL GPS ROUTE PLAN COMPLETE WITH LINKS TO THE WIKIPEDIA PAGES OF THE DISUSED RAILWAY LINES THAT COULD COME BACK INTO USE."

If it's any help don't bother with the Manchester Metrolink extension to Stockport, it doesn't exist!

What does the Rich List really measure?  - Centre for Thriving Places BLOG: In an age when an individual can be richer than entire countries, Mike Zeidler, one of CTP’s co-founders and Board member invites us to reimagine our fetishising of extreme wealth.  The Sunday…

What does the Rich List really measure? In an age when an individual can be richer than entire countries, Mike Zeidler, one of CTP’s co-founders and Board member invites us to reimagine our fetishising of extreme wealth.

A photo of a room full of about 30 people sat round four tables deep in discussion

Yesterday, we workshopped how policies like retrofit can unlock dozens of co-benefits that enhance and revitalise our communities.

Thanks to the Centre For @thrivingplaces.bsky.social 📍

How much a heat pump could save you on heating bills - calculated Experts have used the calculator to estimate that the average three person household could save £465 on heating a year if they installed a good quality heat pump

NEW HEAT PUMP COST CALCULATOR: The i Paper just published an article about the new cost calculator I developed with Ambient through my research at the @ecioxford.bsky.social @orieloxford.bsky.social and @regassistproj.bsky.social
inews.co.uk/news/how-muc...

A photo of a man giving a presentation on a screen, showing the layout of a housing development

A photo taken from the back of a room full of about 20 people watching someone give a presentation

A close-up photo of a slide in a presentation with information about retrofit on it

A photo showing nine people walking along a path in an outdoor setting, surrounded by trees and greenery

"Retrofit is an essential component of decarbonisation – and if done properly, offers huge opportunities to build community wealth"

Yesterday at the @thegreenestate.bsky.social, we learnt all about creating resilient places through the built and natural environment with SY Ecofit.

#FofD

Gen Z, a much maligned and panicked-about generation, are behind a remarkable collapse in weekend violence. Great reporting from @fransham.bsky.social

www.economist.com/britain/2025...

Whither Vladimir Romanov.

Come and see the Centre for Thriving Places on Thursday 22nd March at the Showroom Workstation - more details on the main Festival of Debate website!

god I love slang, this young guy got on my train, pretty much immediately took a call and solemnly opened it with "man's on a train."

As the UK prepares its next carbon budget, what needs to be included? Expert recommendations will influence plans for energy, housing, transport industry and farming for decades

As the UK prepares its next carbon budget, what needs to be included?

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Good primer

as glorious as this looks I don't really see how a city of 150k gets to the top of the pile when cities of 1m don't have this yet

Screengrab from Mirror reading: Exclusive: ​MPs push for four-day week in what would be huge workers' rights shake-up Over a dozen Labour MPs are supporting an amendment to the landmark Employment Rights Bill - being spearheaded by Deputy PM Angela Rayner - to push for the change

MPs are supporting a four-day week amendment to the employment rights bill. It would establish a body recommend how a transition could be made to a four-day work week.

Really exciting news! A four-day week would benefit our wellbeing, our economy and our environment.

The allure of the fireside: log burners offer more than just warmth but there’s no place for them in a healthy, net-zero future Aimee Ambrose, a Professor of Energy Policy at Sheffield Hallam University, writes for Now Then about a research project that aimed to explore the emotional attachment people have to burning solid fue...

"Our deep attachment to the fireside suggests that burning solid fuel remains decoupled in our minds from the rapid warming of our planet"

Professor Aimee Ambrose writes about new research from @sheffieldhallamuni.bsky.social that explores our emotional connection to traditional wood-burning ⬇️

"There's no wallpaper as it's fell off with it being so damp."

Tonight a new BBC Panorama exposes the horrific damp and mould that's impacting residents on the Little London estate in Rotherham, which their landlords fail to take responsibility for.

More evidence on the positive health impacts of clean air zones. See summary from our previous study: www.bath.ac.uk/publications...

Bradford clean air zone saves NHS over £30,000 a month in first year After one year of the zone, which is the second largest in England, GP visits for respiratory illnesses were down by a quarter

*looks enviously over some hills from Greater Manchester*

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

I have nothing but respect for waiters – except when they interrupt me | Adrian Chiles I’m an undemanding diner who just wants to be left in peace to tell my world-beating anecdotes. So please don’t ask if I’m enjoying my meal when I’m mid-flow My dad used to say that the mark of a good waiter or waitress was that they would always be…

I have nothing but respect for waiters – except when they interrupt me | Adrian Chiles

Why am I so sad about seeing a robot get beaten up? | Adrian Chiles I watched a video showing three men kick, hit, then topple the poor humanoid. All I wanted to do was take the poor thing by the hand and lead it to a better life I saw a clip of a robot being pushed and shoved around by three men. I found it most…

Why am I so sad about seeing a robot get beaten up? | Adrian Chiles

Today ONS have published data on alcohol-specific deaths across the UK in 2023. We already knew most of the figures, but there are a few new bits of detail in today's release.

The headline is that alcohol deaths have risen to their highest level on record. Which is obviously pretty bleak.

Who started the culture war between cyclists and drivers? | Zoe Williams I’ve never actually met a cyclist who wants to be part of this battle. So what is behind this bizarre and stubborn standoff? Last week, I had a surprise coffee with Henk Swarttouw, head of the European Cyclists’ Federation. He used to be the Dutch…

Who started the culture war between cyclists and drivers? | Zoe Williams

Lots of people making statements of the bleeding obvious/recommendations for recipes, welcome to the party!

Paragraph from news article which reads Greater Manchester’s Labour Mayor, Andy Burnham has also raised concerns about London airport expansions potentially displacing growth. In 2020 the New Economics Foundation, a left-wing think tank, used Department for Transport data to argue that expanding Heathrow would shift 27,000 jobs and £43 billion of output away from regions outside London and South East through 2085.

Heathrow expansion isn't the way to achieve the economic growth Rachel Reeves is searching for and it could exacerbate inequality between regions.

Our research in Bloomberg: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Housing in the UK is expensive at 44% higher than the OECD average.

Meanwhile, food and clothing are cheaper than elsewhere, owing to price competition between retailers and Britain's various VAT exemptions.