Liam K McGrath

Blue skies in Bermondsey December 3rd 2025

Talk of electricity grid upgrades today. I wonder if local energy like SE1 Solar could help. Currently we pay for national grid transmission even when energy is sold within the same substation as where it is produced. Solar panels in London can produce energy for London even on a winters day

The tenants forced to pay for their richer neighbours’ gyms | The Observer

observer.co.uk/news/nationa... stories like this at big new developments at Elephant and Wembley. Freeholder charging unfair service charges and threatening those who complain. Another slow motion scandal unfolding.

Oh great chart

yeoldeguide.com/stockport/ latest podcast episode out. The town on many levels: Stockport. History of the industrial and social development of Stockport in part 1 🎩👒🤠

Worth signing to bring community energy at scale so we can have cheaper and greener energy in our communities.

Stockport: The Town Built in Layers - Ye Olde Guide Welcome to Ye Olde Guide, the podcast where we uncover the hidden histories and overlooked heritage of England’s towns and cities. Today, we’re heading to Stockport—a place built in layers. Imagine it...

yeoldeguide.com/stockport/ Stockport is a town the train crosses over on the vast brick viaduct south of Manchester. It's a very cool place to visit: stacked layers of history with great museums. It's the latest stop in Ye Olde Guide 🎧

Miserable levels of investment in the UK are the reason for the malaise we suffer and nothing working. Perhaps the Today Programme, Peston etc should have given this more critical coverage over the years instead of nonsense like the dreadful budget coverage this weekend.

I am driving Ipswich's culture bid forward because it will help revive our town.

As we have seen throughout this year, when people come to an event or exhibition, they spend money in our shops, restaurants, pubs, bars and hotels.

This bid is our regeneration project.

Agree. It's a non story but Peston appears to have an emergency podcast on it

Banking firm Goldman Sachs to double workforce in Birmingham The company says it is deepening its commitment to the UK economy.

www.bbc.com/news/article... at very low end its surely £50m added to the GDP of Birmingham, and £20m tax intake. Good jobs. Good news.

A Centre for Cities figure showing how integration changes the number of people within easy reach of their nearest large city by public transport.

.@centreforcities.bsky.social research finds that integrating public transport in England’s 6 Established Mayoral Strategic Authorities would improve public transport connectivity to city centres for up to 1.2m people.

Read more in this guest blog.

www.urbantransportgroup.org/blog/2025/11...

www.southwark.gov.uk/news/2025/al... good to see local government expressing its view on immigration which is so vital to London.

The Tories need to shut up during the budget. Totally disrespectful to businesses and the population who need to hear the budget detail. #budget

It's #fuelpovertyawarenessday. SE1 Solar is helping hundreds of residents in Southwark with support from NEA. Behind the scenes we are working on rooftop solar models to generate a finding stream to tackle fuel poverty.

Two of the six categories of Radiohead miserable songs

Grateful to our friends in California for this structured breakdown of Radiohead's most miserable songs in six categories.

New block of flats on a winter day

40 new social rent homes sensitively added to Maltby Street, Bermondsey. Replacing old car parks. Very good.

Map showing imprortant bus priority corridor along Walworth Road, Camberwell Green Denmark Hill, East Dulwich

Improving bus speeds one of the most underrated actions in transport planning. Increases mode share & revenue while lowering cost. Step free. It's about prioritising the road space for productive use. This corridor is ideal- a big gap in the rail network, dense, busy, but slow speeds lowering demand

www.southwark.gov.uk/news/2025/so... great news for the Walworth Road corridor and Southwark. An area dependent on buses and with deprived areas. Faster buses will attract more passengers, make getting to jobs easier, and lower bus operating costs.

Food left on bus as standard

How much of UK GDP is spent cleaning up after muppets? A poor deployment of productive capacity. Sorry we can't build homes or provide care because x% of our workers are cleaning up lazy people's crap.

3 trains (including mine) racing into London Bridge. All of them have all seats taken. Plenty of demand for sustainable travel into London at 2pm on a Saturday.

Inside ‘mind-blowingly good’ plans for new cycle lanes in central London The West End’s traffic-congested streets could get a radical redesign.

www.timeout.com/london/news/... good to see our city getting healthier by the day

Brightly coloured trees in Southwark

Great trees this autumn

Analysis: China’s CO2 emissions have now been flat or falling for 18 months - Carbon Brief China’s carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions were unchanged from a year earlier in the third quarter of 2025, extending a flat or falling trend that started in March 2024.

China pouring ahead on decarbonising it's energy and especially with batteries. We could have a rooftop solar revolution on UK housing estates, but we need to reduce distribution costs for solar powering local facilities via local grid www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-chi...

Interior of a greater anglia train to Lowestoft.

I regularly travel around East Anglia. The railway is the best in the country. High punctuality, level access, clean trains. It pays a premium back to the government. The six year old trains still feel new. A success.

In today’s media climate, progressives face an asymmetry: any mistake or misleading impression is treated as a scandal, while the right’s constant stream of misinformation is normalised.

Silvertown Quay's first block nears completion after 25 years of talk - Murky Depths The first block of 6,500 homes at Silvertown Quays is nearing completion after a quarter of century talking but no action

www.fromthemurkydepths.co.uk/2025/11/06/s... despite some of the most expensive prices in the world and huge demand, vast areas of vacant land sit in London. 25 years wait is absurd. If developers can't make these sites work, feel free to give them to me.

‘Hopeful and imaginative’ modern almshouse Appleby Blue wins RIBA Stirling Prize 2025 Witherford Watson Mann scoops architecture’s top prize for the second time with an agenda-setting older people’s social housing scheme in Bermondsey, south London that is designed to foster human conn...

www.ribaj.com/buildings/st... this wonderful building in Bermondsey has won the Stirling prize

London developers to be allowed to reduce percentage of affordable homes Housing secretary and capital’s mayor draw up plans to boost housebuilding, but homelessness charities protest

www.theguardian.com/society/2025... I'm desperate for the maths behind this decision to be published. Given the prices these flats are sold at I cannot believe they are not viable but could be convinced by some numbers e.g. cost per unit, land cost, policy cost etc.

www.leathermarketcbs.org.uk/project/elim... 35 new council rent homes approved! 🌟
Sustainable, accessible, green — with a new games area and biodiversity improvements.
Because everyone deserves a safe, affordable home. 🏡💚

One of Ipswich's oldest buildings taken off the market The Old Neptune Inn, a 13-bedroom building on the Ipswich Waterfront dating back to the 15th century, has been taken off the market.

For historical buildings, Ipswich is massively underestimated www.ipswichstar.co.uk/news/2553888...