Mask-off outbursts by Maga insiders and most strikingly, the destruction and reconstruction of the presidential seat, with a huge new $300m ballroom, means Trump isn’t planning to leave the White House when his term ends, writes LINDA PENTZ GUNTER
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Above-inflation rents to finance housing deficit
Labour’s about to shift cost of new housing onto tenants, writes MARTIN WICKS arguing instead for cancelling the councils' HRA debt
SUDDENLY LESS THAN IDYLLIC: 1970s council housing in Haringey, north London, backing onto the River Lea
[Iridescenti/CC]
BEN CHACKO speaks with Knesset member OFER CASSIF about rising political violence, the prospects for peace and his continuous ‘silencing by suspension’
The City is leaning on Rachel Reeves to cut welfare spending — when what’s needed is cuts to all the benefits given to the mega rich, corporations and banks to help them not pay or blatantly dodge their fair share of tax, explains BERNIE EVANS
The choice between two Blairites to revamp the tepid centrism of our ruling party doesn’t even come as cold comfort as we wander the city streets suffering from their third decade of austerity and the fifth of wage stagnation, writes MATT KERR
ANN HENDERSON looks at the trailblazers of the Women’s Trade Union League and their successful fight for female factory inspectors — a battle that echoes in today’s workplace campaigns
HENRY FOWLER puts the strike of public-sector workers in New Zealand in the wider context of deteriorating employment conditions throughout the world’s major economies
MAT COWARD looks back at a protest 105 years ago this month, whose reporting by the media bears uncomfortable similarities with demos today
THE government is consulting on the introduction of a new rent policy from April 2026. It runs until 11.45pm on December 23 2024.
The government is consulting on rent policy for council and housing association homes for 2025/26. It is proposing that a rent formula of a maximum of CPI+1 per cent for five years be introduced, although it is prepared to consider it for up to 10 years. Housing Associations and some councils will press for 10 years. This was the Tory government’s policy introduced in 2020, for five years.
What is the argument of the government for the formula of above-inflation rent increases for some of the poorest people in the country? Essentially councils and housing associations don’t have sufficient money to deliver new homes.
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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
Above-inflation rent increases will push council tenants deeper into poverty while failing to address the housing crisis — and it won’t really raise any money, as council rent arrears are doubling across the country, argues MARTIN WICKS
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