The loss of council housing is creating a rural dystopia
Decades of right to buy have eroded the social balance of our countryside — and now holiday lets and second home owners from the cities are compounding the crisis, writes DAVE BANGS
The welcome news that Cuba has finally been removed from the State Sponsors of Terrorism list is tempered by the fact that Donald Trump, the man who put it there, is returning to the White House, warns NATASHA HICKMAN
Thanks to impressive progress in Britain with wind and solar generation, clean electricity now costs a fraction of the price of gas — yet the current system keeps bills artificially high to protect fossil fuels, writes TOM HARDY
By spreading race-based conspiracy theories, the billionaire tycoon turned right-wing provocateur has been seriously undermining the case against those who really did let victims of the grooming gangs down, writes SOLOMON HUGHES
Many Western countries are grappling with deep political instability. What are the causes of this, and what could be a possible way forward? asks MARC VANDEPITTE
KEITH BENNETT explains why, despite its present meagre economic outcomes, an honest and fruitful partnership with China is worth pursuing
Nick Wright talks to photographer and author JANINA STRUK
IT IS the council housing that can leave the strongest impression in the villages, small towns and hamlets of our countryside.
Still today, it is the well-built council family houses, mostly semis or small terraces, with their generous garden and community spaces, often paying homage in their design to local building traditions, that seem most practical and homely.
With their old privet hedges, mini-greens and trees often older than the houses, they are as much part of our countryside as old churches, pubs and timber-framed cottages.
More from this author
From John Clare country to ancient fenland, Ed Miliband’s solar farm approvals risk industrialising precious rural spaces — we must find greener solutions that don’t sacrifice our countryside’s beauty, writes DAVE BANGS
Spring has sprung in all its glory — but DAVE BANGS is disturbed by the absence of a crucial sound
These twin Sussex co-ops selling their produce directly to locals offers a glimpse of a future of sustainable, democratised food production – all in harmony with nature, says DAVE BANGS
Similar stories
MARTIN WICKS argues that the government’s reduced discounts for council house purchases don’t go far enough, and we need to be calling for the complete abolition of this regressive Thatcherite policy
As Angela Rayner pushes for a small but not totally insignificant number of council houses, SOLOMON HUGHES reveals how the Starmer-backed pro-developer Growth Group of MPs is likely planning to undermine this anyway
Low pay and spiralling rental costs mean women are all to often trapped in appalling accommodation, writes LYNNE WALSH