Cameron Martin

My favourite thing about the Elizabeth Line is that they didn’t consider for a moment that people might take luggage on a railway line that transports you directly to the world’s busiest airport.

The very fine British economist @GregoryClarkUCD found that Norman Conquest surnames are still overrepresented at elite British universities 950 years after Hastings. The result holds at Columbia! Battle Abbey Roll surnames like Mortimer, Percy, Neville and Darcy have an admit rate of 12.7%, vs 7.2% for White applicants overall. Higher test scores too—though the sample's pretty small.

Blade Runner 2049

Retail sales volumes fell by 0.4% m/m in February, following a strong start to the year (sales rose by 2.0% in January). Despite this decline, underlying momentum continued to improve, with sales volumes rising by 0.7% over the three months to February.

Still outrageous that the British government allowed this to happen.

📉 OUTLOOK FOR PRIVATE SECTOR ACTIVTY REMAINS SUBDUED The CBI’s latest surveys report that firms anticipate another decline in activity in the three months to June, continuing a run of negative expectations going back to the end of 2024.

🇺🇸🇨🇦 You asked for North America. I heard you. 👉New York is a different beast. 👉Toronto already hits European-style density. But Phoenix and Houston? Come on, America!

"Is macready or childs The Thing at the end?" theorists are idiots. The answer is John Carpenter. It's in the poster. John Carpenter's The Thing. Dumbass

UK CPI inflation held steady at 3.0% in February, in line with consensus expectations. Core CPI inflation (excl. energy, food, alcohol, and tobacco) edged up slightly to 3.2% (from 3.1% in January).

What’s a British guy doing in suburban Tennessee?

I promised a Europe vs UK comparison. 👇Here it is 🤯The difference in central density between Paris & London is striking. The other massive stand out is Brussels vs the likes of Manchester/Birmingham.

Breathtaking rent seeking

I can feel my shoulders getting broader already

This is unreal. Believe it or not, in London parents are trying to reduce their income because they are better off earning £99k than £144k. The UK is on track to replace Germany as Europe's champion of absurdities. How is this even possible?

So here would be an amazing data story in housing. It's looking quite possible in the data so far that Dublin will complete more homes than London in 2025. Not per capita. Absolute number of new homes completed. Higher in Dublin than London.

Blink and they’re all grown up and off to university 💔