Antony Carpen

The Housing Minister Matthew Pennycook whipped Labour MPs on the Commons Bill Committee to zap this amendment. @nataliegreenpeer.bsky.social is reintroducing it in the Lords which, if it is approved would require a full Commons vote to zap it again (in ‘ping pong stage’ before Royal Assent)

Our latest blog features a recent acquisition: a Parisian journal, in medieval style, inspired by the 1900 Paris Exposition. Read all about it here: specialcollections-blog.lib.cam.ac.uk?p=30510

VIP contract introduced by Tory peer left government owed £24m DHSC rejected as ‘unusable’ PPE supplied by company linked to Lord Chadlington, which later went bust

The House of Lords’ standards commissioner must be furious that Lord Chadlington’s responses to their enquiries don’t stack up against his evidence supplied to the COVID-19 public inquiry.
The Code of Conduct requires that peers “must not seek to profit from membership of the House”.

This - esp senior politicians. Will be interesting to see what impact a @zackpolanski.bsky.social leadership for The Greens would make if the polls are right in their leadership contest. Esp contesting the online broadcast media space.

🎙️How does migration change our world?

Catherine Barnard & Emmanuelle Auriol join Richard Westcott to explore how migration impacts labour markets & social cohesion, how economic incentives & border regimes shape who migrates & why, & what smarter, fairer policies might look like.

🎧 pod.fo/e/309b75

something I keep thinking about and which I can't make up my mind on is: were swathes of the right, centre-right and, in some cases, the centre, full of racists hiding their beliefs for decades, or are these people all incredibly suggestible? neither answer is good!

ICYMI via Politico: "The UK government [has] announced it will give 200 'working class' undergraduates paid internships in Whitehall departments...

"The criteria for who would be eligible depends on the kind of work their parents do, based on a list of roles the Social Mobility Commission sets out"

"I may have been completely wrong, but I was broadly right."

MPs ought to know better than this. The Met shouldn't have to tell you that some race-baiting blue-thick is not the most reliable source. ~AA

Another very good example of the Times spreading fact free propaganda.
It has been bad for a long time but feels like it’s getting worse over the last months.

More than fifty private schools shut since Labour put VAT on fees Department for Education defends ending tax breaks for independent institutions, after parents lost a legal battle at the High Court this year — view map

‘…the number of independent schools still rose slightly over the same period.’
www.thetimes.com/article/19ef...

The cancelling of The Big Weekend represents a collective failure of Cambridge’s wealthy business sectors to support our city And not just that. It reflects the complete breakdown of the functioning of our city and wider surrounding districts, from civic culture, governance structures, vision, and political leadership in …

Note this event replaced the cancelled Folk Festival which is normally over four days. Increasing expenses and limited desire of Cambridge's sci-tech wealth bubble to step up sponsorship of events is depressing. cambridgetownowl.com/2023/02/26/t...

Crowds flock to Cambridge’s Folk in the Park at Cherry Hinton Hall This year’s free replacement for the cancelled Cambridge Folk Festival attracted far more people than the council anticipated – as the extended queues to the beer and cider kiosk reflec…

NEW BLOGPOST: "Crowds flock to Cambridge’s Folk in the Park at Cherry Hinton Hall" cambridgetownowl.com/2025/08/03/c...

1 in 3 doctors were born overseas.

1 in 2 builders were born overseas.

1 in 6 nurses were born overseas.

1 in 4 transport workers were born overseas.

1 in 7 UK business founders were born overseas.

1 in 5 university academics were born overseas.

The UK would be screwed without them.

Thread via @socialsoprano.bsky.social - the snapshots sound like they are preparing students for the opposite of what both employers are looking for, and the wider demands of life impose. Feels like it's creating a dependency on AI where creativity, teamwork, independent thought, are needed.

If all that matters is being 'taught to the test' rather than making the most of what wider university life and living independently of parents/school is like.... 😞

Lovely spread in today’s Glasgow Herald for Red Duchess (though why they used a large picture of Nancy Astor I do not know - sort of makes my point that the duchess really ought to be remembered alongside, or ideally ahead of, Astor)

One year on, tensions still circle Britain’s asylum-seeker hotels A report from Epping and Diss reveals disconnected and resentful communities.

“I thought England was a good place, more welcoming than Europe, and would help a lot. Now it feels like a hostile land.”

My report on the asylum hotel tensions, and what they reveal about Britain:

The true spirit of Magna Carta.

UK has got ‘fat’ on decades of free labour by women, says MP Jess Phillips Minister points to ‘sexist’ practice of country relying on women to provide services so government did not have to

I see this every time I work with community groups. Women stepping in to fill gaps left by LAs and government, only to find the more they step in, the more gaps appear, as government sees this free labour as a solution that their funding crises. It is not. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Right to buy in England ‘fuelled housing crisis and cost taxpayers £200bn’ Common Wealth report calls discounted sales of council homes one of the ‘largest giveaways in UK history’

#RightToBuy - disastrous policy always opposed by @greenparty.org.uk.

#Privatisation - as always a few benefit and the rest of us pay

www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

Covers the history of the fabric too, and how technological changes resulted in cheaper but not necessarily better products

Will be interesting to see how MPs & peers (esp the tech-literate ones) react to all of this when Parliament returns. Will there be emergency legislation to strike out the clauses causing the ‘unforeseen’ (👀) consequences?

I don’t get out much these days! 🙃

I’ve not heard that phrase before!

With all the tech at our disposal why are we still insisting people work 40+ hour weeks?

I thought this even before AI, like we don't need it for office work hours to be drastically reduced so we can actually enjoy the short existence we have!!

The King’s path around East Anglia: Beauty, conflict and compromise The Norfolk stretch of UK's longest coastal path passes the final hurdle but the Suffolk and Essex coastal paths are still being finalised

England’s 2,674-mile King Charles III Coastal Path is unlocking new access to the wild and wonderful East Anglian coastline. Norfolk’s stretch is now approved. Suffolk & Essex, you're next!
#RightToRoam

@eastangliabylines.co.uk @oscarwoofs.bsky.social @owensennitt.bsky.social

Reminds me of David Cameron re ambition. Other than being ‘continuity Tony Blair’ I’m struggling to think of what he would want to achieve as PM.

The ‘bitter’ vote is a significant part of the U.K. electorate. They *want* to sound bitter. Bitterness is popular.

See also this bsky.app/profile/chan... - the stuff being amplified from TeamNigel’s outriders saying some groups should be banned from public office is particularly worrying.

‘Self-termination is most likely’: the history and future of societal collapse An epic analysis of 5,000 years of civilisation argues that a global collapse is coming unless inequality is vanquished

Oh boy

"An analysis of 5,000 years of civilisation argues that a global collapse is coming unless inequality is vanquished."

www.theguardian.com/environment/...