Simon Kendler

A huge thank you to all who worked so hard to make this happen. I know my team have been very involved in making this happen so well done to all. ❤️ 🛤️

It’s hard to sum up how good it was. Sorry I can’t be there today but this event has been amazing. Yes the range of trains/events was amazing but the best bit for me was the people, all brought together & great to see some familiar faces! Thanks to #DCRail for hosting us!

A very nice day using #VolunteerLeave to host guests onto the #Railway200 #InspirationTrain also featuring some lovely #GBRailfreight locomotives, @clanline35028.bsky.social & a whole bit about careers including on being a #FreightManager

#Rail200 #FreightIsGreat

In short they will be the most powerful locomotive on the network (on electric) and have that combined with a punchy bi-mode capability that with clever traction technology can bridge gaps between wired sections bringing cleaner, greener & faster capability for rail freight.

A bonus clip of 001 moving under its own power on a mini demonstration.

The potential of these locos is immense!

A brilliant afternoon thanks to #GBRailfreight with the launch of the Class 99, a very exciting prospect for the future rail and freight

#RailFreight #GBRf #Class99

Israeli settlers kidnap, attack Palestinian-American brothers in West Bank village <article data-history-node-id="423342" about="https://www.middleeasteye.net/live-blog/live-blog-update/israeli-settlers-kidnap-attack-palestinian-american-brothers-west-bank" class="live-blog-update default clearfix"> <h2> <a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/live-blog/live-blog-update/israeli-settlers-kidnap-attack-palestinian-american-brothers-west-bank" rel="bookmark"> <span class="field field-title">Israeli settlers kidnap, attack Palestinian-American brothers in West Bank village</span> </a> </h2> <div class="content"> <div class="field field-field-text"><p>Israeli settlers kidnapped and tortured two Palestinian-American brothers from the village of Burqa near Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, the Wafa official Palestinian news agency reports.</p> <p>Ghassan and Imad Jaber were visiting relatives in al-Mughayyir village&nbsp;when the Israeli settlers started assaulting&nbsp;them, al-Mughayyir mayor Sayel Canaan told Arabic media. The brothers were later released and evacuated to a nearby hospital for&nbsp;medical treatment.</p> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> <p dir="ltr" lang="en">Palestinian-American Ghassan Jaber and his brother Imad were kidnapped by Israeli settlers in the village of Burqa and brutally tortured before being released and rushed to the hospital.<br> <br> In this photo, Ghassan lies on a stretcher, holding his American passport in his hand. <a href="https://t.co/Wgb4DRdYDL">pic.twitter.com/Wgb4DRdYDL</a></p> — Ihab Hassan (@IhabHassane) <a href="https://twitter.com/IhabHassane/status/1929316908282646619?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 1, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div> </div> </article>

Israeli settlers kidnap, attack Palestinian-American brothers in West Bank village - https://www.middleeasteye.net/live-blog/live-blog-update/israeli-settlers-kidnap-attack-palestinian-american-brothers-west-bank

Dozens of Palestinians killed en route to aid hub, health authorities claim Israel refutes the claims, which come amid broader criticism of aid distribution efforts backed by Israel and the U.S.

At least 31 people were killed and more than 150 injured today when civilians traveling to an aid distribution center in Gaza were fired upon, according to media reports citing local health authorities and witnesses.

Wrong, wrong and wrong again. That’s the last time you misrepresent my views. Bye.

I never argued for full market efficiency (you wanted an example of misrepresentation - well here’s one). Do it again and you’re blocked.

Well yes affordable means absolutely nothing. However, it’s the principle of profits over people which seeps into council policy, estate clearance, leaving everything to mercy of the market etc. which means fighting for every inch

Just posted a thread with all my thoughts. 80k is from action on empty homes estimates. Would happily read the article though & again, empty homes is a side point anyway (as per thread).

So the protests in Peckham are justified, building housing without consideration for what type of housing isn’t going to solve the current crisis & avoiding radical solutions will not tackle this mammoth problem driven, ultimately, by poor policy & capital interests.

The end.

We need new homes but we need a mix of housing, especially social/council rent homes and prioritise people over developers & maintain our communities.

These are basic principles. Housing is a basic right. Homelessness is a policy choice. People should be put before profits.

⬇️

1) rent controls
2) protect council/social rents
3) build homes with council/social rents
4) stop estate redevelopment & shift to refurb with no loss of council/social rent homes
5) take over empty homes & house people in them.

Only then can we begin to tackle this crisis ⬇️

& forces out people who don’t have wealth/assets/high paying jobs.

Those on lower incomes are being forced out of London & its impacts are already being felt. Primary schools are closing in some areas as family age people are disappearing. Where? Where they can afford!

Instead we should have ⬇️

don’t understand the crisis, are happy for developers to do anything to increase their profits & you don’t understand or care about the impact on poor, working class communities & support gentrification.

Gentrification is a social ill. It’s social cleansing. It rips out established communities ⬇️

offload cost, developers cash in, working class communities get socially cleansed. The rates/rents go up so that local businesses & people get forced out.

Why am I telling you this? Because just building market rate homes doesn’t go near to solving this issue.

So if you think it does you either ⬇️

and replace it with housing that those who were living there can’t afford. It’s happening everywhere across London at a rapid pace. Developers & councils are working hand-in-hand to facilitate it under the guise of improving housing & providing for communities. They are not. Cash-strapped councils ⬇️

for years & years. It’s Victorian.
How can we house these people? Well first of all, we can’t do that buy building market rate houses. We can’t do that by allowing councils to demolish thousands of council rent homes. We can’t do that by allowing estate redevelopments that take away social housing⬇️

We have to remember that there are over 70k households in TA & 1 in 49 Londoners are homeless. This includes 10s of 1000s of children. Those families not shipped out of the city like some kind of WWII evacuees are cramped into squalid conditions. That’s families parents+multiple kids sharing 1 room⬇️

Action on Empty Homes

that long-term empty homes (see actiononemptyhomes.org) are actually used to provide housing. Does it solve the crisis? No. Would it provide a simple way to make a dent in it? Yes, and it would make a small difference to thousands of households & people (and children) in poverty.

Next ⬇️

campaigning for housing for ALL people in our local communities, not just those who can afford it.

So, having covered that, this has thrown up some other very very problematic takes.

These are, the empty homes point.

There are over 80k empty homes across London. A simple policy of ensuring ⬇️

yourself, who’s going to live in those homes? And it’s people with money who can afford to buy/rent/afford the service charges & that ain’t poor & working class people stuck in TA.

So, support your local housing campaigners, like those in Peckham, who instead of being branded NIMBYs, are actually⬇️

sold at market rate, the freehold held by capital interests who can charge anything for service charge and that prices out everyone from the local working class community (those who are left). It doesn’t provide a way for ANYONE in temporary accommodation (TA) to be housed so you have to ask ⬇️

with “affordable” as it isn’t really affordable at all but the main point is this - allowing developers to circumnavigate the provision of cheaper homes is bad actually.

And let’s be real, poor, working class people in Peckham aren’t going to get near these 877 homes. Why? Because they’ll be ⬇️

acute housing crisis in London.

First, let’s look at this development. It faces opposition because the developer is weasling its way out of a pathetic 35% affordable homes element down to 12%. Out of 877 new homes, that’s now 105 instead of 307 that are “affordable”.

Now there’s another issue ⬇️

Here’s a thread about the housing crisis in London, starting from this really poor take.

The take is, “homes are being built in Peckham from an old shopping arcade, why are these silly locals against this”

This proffers the idea that “build build build” is the key to solving the ⬇️

cannot be ignored and that’s why simply “build build build” without the aforementioned is going to do barely anything to actually help the crisis. Also, the construction market isn’t responding either, as it’s flat.

No one is saying empty homes is the solution. But 80k empty homes is a massive thing to go out that can rapidly eat into the numbers of people in TA & that’s just a fact. And the issue isn’t with building, it’s what is being built and, crucially, comparing that with what’s being taken away. That ⬇️