The catastrophe unfolding in Gaza – where Palestinians are freezing to death in tents – is not a natural disaster but a calculated outcome of Israel’s ongoing blockade, aid restrictions and continued violence, argues CLAUDIA WEBBE
Latest editorial
Housing: how hard is it to keep people, not profit in mind?
House building must be ‘attractive’ to people who need a house, not to the for-profit private developers, writes SOLOMON HUGHES
Evidence suggests Lammy’s proposals would come at a high cost: reduced fairness, diminished trust and greater racial inequality in the criminal justice system, argue TARA LAI QUINLAN and KATHARINA KARCHER
After years of austerity and denial under a new Reform UK council, a failing Send service was pushed into the spotlight by staff, unions and parents — culminating in a £1.3m funding boost and a 50% increase in front-line workers. MARTIN PORTER explains
Trump’s escalation against Venezuela is about more than oil, it is about regaining control over the ‘natural’ zone of influence of the United States at a moment where its hegemony is slipping, argues VIJAY PRASHAD
Trade union leaderships have so far stopped short of the bold industrial action over Gaza seen in Italy and Greece. NATHAN HENNEBRY calls for a re-radicalising of the union movement and rebuilding class power as vital to turning solidarity into action
Held at a last-minute undisclosed venue amid fear of disruption, a Women’s Rights Network event brought together authors and activists, offering a day of debate on feminism’s past, present and future. JADE MIDDLETON reports
LABOUR says if it is elected, their big idea to help the housing crisis is deregulation.
Everybody knows not enough houses are being built and the price of houses is too high, leaving many trapped in poor quality private rented accommodation or struggling with hard-to-afford mortgages. Labour proposes making planning laws more developer-friendly.
They hope that if developers find it easier to build on the green belt, overcome local rejection of proposed estates, or get free development areas in “new towns,” they will build more houses and prices will come down.
But the latest accounts of Bloor Homes, like the accounts of so many housebuilders, suggest this “market” solution to a market failure won’t work.
Bloor Homes are a mid-sized housebuilder, but one with a fair political influence. John Bloor is one of the Tories’ top donors, having given the party around £2.7 million since 2015.
The latest accounts, released this month but covering the year to June 2023, show Bloor Homes is finding the market a bit tighter. The accounts note that “increases in mortgage loan rates” have “made the landscape more challenging” for housebuilders, while they are also being squeezed by “cost inflation in our supply chains.”
Similar stories
CAROL WILCOX argues for the proper implementation of the land value tax, which could see unused plots sold off and landlords priced out of landlordism, potentially resolving the housing and planning crises
Our housing crisis isn’t an accident – it’s class war, trapping millions in poverty while landlords and billionaires profit. To solve it, we need comprehensive transformation, not mere tokenistic reform, writes BECK ROBERTSON
