Julia Thrift

👀 VACANCY: Nature in Sacred Spaces Project Manager @naturalengland.bsky.social

www.civilservicejobs.service.gov.uk/csr/jobs.cgi...

Danish startup creates the world’s first cultivated outdoor paver - a natural alternative to cement - Visibuilt Cement is used to make concrete, which is among the most carbon-intensive building materials known today. Now, the traditional binder faces new competition. The Danish startup Visibuilt has developed ...

'Danish startup creates the world’s first cultivated outdoor paver – a natural alternative to cement' (Tip top) www.visibuilt.com/danish-start...

The DfT is doing some consultation on the new Manual for Streets with professional bodies and others (I don't know the full list). As I understand it, there will be three sections and section A was released just before Xmas with a response deadline just after.

Before Christmas the Baroness Amos report into maternity and neonatal care was pretty horrific reading. Women not being listened to, mums and babies being harmed or even dying.

And perhaps most depressing of all...none of it was a surprise. Multiple reports over multiple years have told us the same

Around 1 in 5 of us are harmed by gambling, including through stretched public services, financial problems and suicide.

These harms disproportionately impact the most vulnerable.

That is why we are supporting this campaign along with MPs from across the political spectrum⬇️

Good morning friends! While lupines are ubiquitous signs of spring & summer in both Chilean & Argentinian Patagonia, I find the color palette gets more interesting the farther south you go. These beauties literally line the streets of Punta Arenas.

Key figures in creation of Milton Keynes criticise UK’s new towns plan Exclusive: Planners behind postwar new towns hit out at government over lack of ambition and commitment to social housing

The post-war #NewTowns provided homes that people could afford to rent - there is a risk that the propsednext New Towns won't:

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

The opportunity gap facing boys from low-income families at age 5 and beyond | Institute for Government Early attainment gaps mean some boys don't just start behind, they stay behind.

📊At age five, nearly 60%of boys from low-income families are not ready to get the most out of school.

@instituteforgovernment.org.uk recent report 'Starting Behind, Staying Behind' explores how boys from low-income families are at risk of being overlooked or under-resourced by policymaking.

Voters want #housebuilding, but not at the expense of #nature, says @luketryl.bsky.social writing in the #FT.

Housing development that includes #parks and green spaces and enhances #nature would be a vote winner. Pitching nature as a blocker to progress is not.

Sign the petition to end peat sales! No more delays: Let's get peat out of gardens once and for all. The time for uncertainty has ended.

It's ridiculous that the Government *still* haven't banned the sale of peat.

Peat bogs are still getting dug up and used for compost and in horticulture. Ministers say they'll ban it 'when time allows'.

Get on with it already! Sign the petition:

actnow.peatfreepartnership.org.uk/end-peat-sal...

A very good read:

Significant detail in the government's #child #poverty strategy: section 1 of the #Equality Act (2010), the socio-economic duty, will be commenced and public authorities will have to consider the impact of their #policies on poverty and #inequality.

Could be transformational?

We're hiring! New Nature Recovery Ranger roles for healthcare sites in Manchester, Stockport, Bradford and London. Closing date - 12 January. Apply now: https://sustainablehealthcare.org.uk/career/nature-recovery-ranger/ #hiring #naturerecovery

BBC Radio 4 - Three Ages of Child, Episode 2: The Middle Years A journey through the landscape that shapes the health of our children.

Highly recommend 'Three Ages of a Child' #BBCRadio4!

@drguddisingh.bsky.social looks into why UK children face some of the worst health outcomes in Europe. Addressing housing, education, diet, the importance of play & community carers – + great projects on all these.

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

Last week I gave evidence to the House of Lords' Built Environment committee 🔻 saying that it's vital that every new #home is of a basic good quality such that its occupants can live healthy lives...

English Housing Survey 2024 to 2025: headline findings on demographics and household resilience Initial findings from the English Housing Survey 2024 to 2025 on the profile of household and dwellings, household demographics, housing costs and affordability, household moves, and wellbeing.

New English Housing Survey out today, and it is still saying that average household sizes are far lower than pre-pandemic even though (a) the population didn't fall and (b) neither did the number or rate of empty homes. Which is a puzzle. www.gov.uk/government/c...

Do listen to this, it's lovely 🔻

And if you can, please donate, to help plant #trees where they are needed most 🍂 🌳🪾

One Public Estate graphic

🏘️ Up to £19.8 million is available to councils in England to support the release of brownfield land for #housing development, delivered by One Public Estate.

Find out more and apply on our website:

www.local.gov.uk/our-support/...

This is really very good 🔻. The thing it misses is that air pollution is a *huge* public health problem: the cleaner air caused by the bridge being closed to traffic will be measurably improving the health of a large population and saving the #NHS a massive amount...

Oh no - not another one!
#planning #nature #environment

A bar graph showing that the life expectancy for females in the UK was lower than all other comparable countries. There is a gap of more than 4 years between Japan at the top and the UK at the bottom.

In 2023, life expectancy for females in the UK was 82.9 years, lower than all other comparable countries.

Veena Raleigh reviews the latest international data to assess how the UK’s health compares to other countries: https://bit.ly/47PQNSQ

UK weather: after warmest ever Bonfire Night when with UK temperatures drop? After the UK's warmest ever Bonfire Night, Helen Willetts looks at how long the mild November weather will last.

I remember the bonfire nights of my youth - absolutely freezing

As the warmest bonfire night on record hit the UK, the BBC managed to report it without mentioning climate change!
www.bbc.com/weather/arti...

The value of public R&D

Government has published one of those quiet but important documents that might get overlooked as it is not 'newsy'. The headline finding is that £1 of public R&D investment generates £8 in net economic benefits for the UK over the long term
www.gov.uk/government/p...

Ambitious £20m plans to transform North East town unveiled The Jarrow Forward neighbourhood board has produced a ten-year regeneration plan for the South Tyneside town after listening to the views of more than 1,000 residents

With some fabulous playwork, youth work, and school-based colleagues - and with local children - we’ve been working in Jarrow to shout about the value of play, so very very pleased to see “further investment focused on a new play strategy for children” in the developing plans of Jarrow Forward.

In 2012 I saw a similar ad, for a finance writer at The Economist. A few months later I got the job. It is not a pain-free application (you have to submit an original article) but I could only encourage you to have a punt.

In Paris, here in October, in the urban park on the banks of the Seine. It used to be a motorway, and now it is a public space for the enjoyment of inhabitants of all ages.

Breaking news: Councillors voted to approve redeveloping Lewisham Shopping Centre tonight amid angry scenes. We’ll have coverage of this on the website tomorrow.

Everyone should read this 🔻

Always a pleasure to visit #Manchester - but even more so now the #Bee integrated public #transport network is up-and-running.

Easy-peasy to get around, even for tourists like me...

Wot no #UniversityChallenge tonight? 😳