(Originally written 29th November, 2013) I’ve made various references recently to this book, and meant to write something more directly about it. The main problem is that there is so much interesting stuff in it, that it’s hard to know where to start, let alone end. I might add, also, that I have some fairly… Continue reading A Good Read
Post theist Christians
I’ve self identified as a post theist Christian for years, but back to back reading of a couple of contrasting books by authors who are also prompts this blog. The books are ‘Humankind’ by Rutger Bregman, and ‘Dominion’ by Tom Holland. Both authors are atheists, but both able to acknowledge the Christian origins of their… Continue reading Post theist Christians
What Germany can teach us about renting
Many readers will be aware that being a private sector tenant is quite normal in Germany, without the stigma it carries here. Some may also have heard of recent measures in Berlin to cap private sector rents. In due course we should see their long term impact, but looking at policy over the last 50… Continue reading What Germany can teach us about renting
A d’Hondt() Excel function
I saw a spreadsheet with some VBA macros recently to calculate numbers of seats awarded in elections conducted using the d’Hondt system, so I thought I’d have a go at a single Excel function to do the same. WordPress doesn’t allow the Excel workbooks with VBA to be uploaded, so the file which can be… Continue reading A d’Hondt() Excel function
Signage for volunteer initiatives
Summary This is an argument for a scalable initiative to support volunteers who want to make their neighbourhoods look better. In summary, there should be some high quality, consistent but adaptable branding, to identify volunteer initiatives, and support communications with and about them. The initiative would be owned by a professional managed organisation, ideally operating… Continue reading Signage for volunteer initiatives
“Wutbürger” – The German for NIMBY
Originally posted in the Sydenham Town Forum, 30 June, 2013 Last week’s uncharacteristic radio silence was thanks to cycling round Normandy. With my rusting French revived, I came across an interesting article in Le Monde on the way back, dealing with a report into the sorts of people who in 2010 gave German this new ‘word of the year’,… Continue reading “Wutbürger” – The German for NIMBY
Brexit and Housing, London and Oxford
Something of a personal announcement here.
A former bond analyst thinks again about house prices
I was going to title this blog ‘house prices, supply, rents, incomes and interest rates‘, but then wondered if any would be readers would still be awake. The background is the discussion which has been going on for a while about whether UK house prices so high because of a lack of supply, but it… Continue reading A former bond analyst thinks again about house prices
We need more evidence on tenure and occupancy
It is sometimes argued that policy changes which affect landlords can have no effect on the balance of supply and demand for tenants because the properties which may move between being rented and owner occupation will still exist, and will be occupied all the same. See for example these recent tweets
Flooding, engineering, planning and politics
Reposted from my local Forum, 16 Jan, 2014, with a more helpful title, and some editing. It rambles a bit, but putting here now because it touches on various questions which arose yesterday (July 25, 2018) when I attended a consultation event on ‘De-risking’ growth in the Cambridge Milton Keynes Oxford arc. I’m thinking about… Continue reading Flooding, engineering, planning and politics