@macmacmac.bsky.social

spent much of the weekend, when not working, listening to Michael Jackson - terrible loss to music - thoughts with his family and children.

@DavidLammy Children... He abused?

@RNBlake Space lasers. Always so disappointing when a politician with access to information comes out with something like GPS pavement watch. You moron.

From red-light jumping to reckless pavement riding, e-bike use is putting people at risk. I’m calling on Lime, Forest and other e-bike operators to block pavement riding with GPS, enforce tougher penalties and real accountability. Residents deserve SAFER PAVEMENTS🚲

@LovellPropguru It is the developers' obligation to funders, yes. And planning authorities' obligation to society.

@macmacmac Having worked for a developer & financed others, it’s pretty normal to ‘push the envelope’ and try to get more than the Planning officers indicated would be acceptable according to the Local Plan. This persists because it often works, unfortunately. When it doesn’t, it’s a delay.

Politics or reality ? Forgive my scepticism but ‘delays’ are quite different from absolutes like viability or cost/availability of land. In an ongoing process, delays may lengthen delivery time but not drastically reduce volume. The other two definitely reduce volume.

@SamGoodman990 @ydnhkrm Everything that comes out of Warp Films is awesome.

Never heard of it, is it any good

@grok @Sean_A_Stratton @TheIndexInsider Please redo it but base it in 2015 UK pounds, using UK inflation rates.

@Sean_A_Stratton @TheIndexInsider Yes, the real GDP figures are in constant 2015 USD, which adjust for inflation's cumulative (compounding) effects by using a deflator to reflect constant purchasing power over time. This shows economic growth without price level changes. If you meant something else, let me know!

@marklamster Oh no! "Access denied" (in the UK)

taking a (short) break from the dallas city hall shenanigans to bring you this feature on one of the secret gems of dallas, phylls glazer’s lord of the rings inspired compound, complete with a full-on hobbit house and, of course, lots of dragons. dallasnews.com/arts-entertain…

@Arbeitologist @disco_Bolshevik If emojis worked in profile names: London_W⚓

@margarethodge Has she paid?

Great win for taxpayer with Baroness Mone fined £122m for failure to provide PPE during COVID. She got the contract through being a friend of ministers. Contracts to pals cost taxpayers billions in fraud and poor value. Shocking practice by the Tories. That’s why they’re dying.

@Scurry76 @Heccles94 @SamanthaTaghoy Whybother doing the meme.

@Heccles94 @SamanthaTaghoy Hannah is a plumber who has made her living off the back of fossil fuels. She installed and installs gas boilers for a living. What a time to be alive when the greens champion earning a living off the fossil fuel industry 👍

“Working class” meanwhile she’s from one of the most expensive areas in the country where half the Premier League lives. If she’s working class, I’m a Victorian workhouse child.

@AlbertoWeinric1 @mattotele Says the 36 follower guy who calls himself a Spaniard living in Texas but Twitter sees you in the Netherlands. A fool or a tool. Go fuck yourself.

@macmacmac @mattotele Bold of you to think I have a problem with fascist dog whistles xDDD I do know what facadism is, and I had the luck of living in a nice Georgian house in Clifton, Bristol for a while How’s that revolution of yours going, mate?

A special project makes its debut at the Telegraph today: Banning beauty. This is our attempt to show, visually, how we unintentionally banned Georgian-style homes in favour of bland, modern housing estates - and how we might get back to something better. Link below

@AlbertoWeinric1 @mattotele 1000 posts. 36 followers. And zero understanding of the word facadism, or what a handsome Georgian building looks like. Go enjoy your "cultural tutor" and dance to his fascist dog whistling.

@macmacmac @mattotele “The revolution” you don’t even know what you are dreaming of Hint: you would not be a winner im this “new world”

@AlbertoWeinric1 @mattotele Hahahaa. You follow every roaster, and you will burn with them in the revolution.

@macmacmac @mattotele Fuck you a million times “Facadism” Jesus Christ I genuinely hate you for this comment If you want to live in a Soviet hellhole move there, but stop trying to make the west look like a Le Corbusier bad acid trip

@shivmalik @MurrrrMurray @aligreen9999 Fools love it.

@MurrrrMurray @aligreen9999 Loads of people love it!

Okay we’ve announced it. We’re building a city. The first major city in the UK for fifty years. And we want the Labour government to back it. We’ve already got amazing prominent supporters. But we need everyone to sign the pledge first to prove real demand. Sign it and read more

@shivmalik Hubristic bullshit.

Two entrepreneurs want to build a million-person city on Suffolk farmland. - Permanently affordable homes. - "Permission, not subsidy." (their words) The numbers tell a different story entirely IMO. I wrote the bids for half the Homes England feasibility studies. I've delivered housing and infrastructure at scale. Happy to argue any of this. The model proposes 400,000 homes via Community Land Trust, meaning resale prices are capped forever. That's 235x more CLT homes than the sector has ever delivered, ALTOGETHER. When asked how, the founder's answer was one word: "Community land trust." No mechanism. No understanding. Just dismissive platitudes. Cost estimate for 400,000 homes plus hospitals, schools, trams, rail, utilities, nuclear reactors: £130-200 billion. That's conservative. Assuming we were a nation who were actually able to deliver infrastructure properly. They're raising £200 million. For planning. That's 0.13% of what's needed. Investors at £100bn+ scale need 5-15% annual returns. 5% on £100bn = £5 billion per year. Where does £5bn annually come from if prices are capped forever? It can't be government, because they said they weren't asking for subsidy. So it's private investors. The saudis? Quataris? Kuwait sovereign funds? You cannot promise investors market returns AND promise residents prices won't rise. The maths doesn't work. When pressed, the founder admitted: "The SEZ squares the circle." Special Economic Zone. That means tax exemptions, business rates relief and regulatory carve-outs. That's not "no subsidy." That's billions in foregone tax revenue. They want to break ground within this Parliament. ~4 years. That probably sounds really ambitious and achievable if you've never actually been involved in infrastructure planning and delivery at scale. It will take 4 years to commission and deliver a realistic feasibility study at that scale. Never mind the collosal undertaking of putting that amount of land through compulsory purchase orders. The entire UK builds c.200,000 homes per year total. They're proposing double that in one location. Where do the workers come from? The materials? The supply chains? And that's just for the housing, never mind the collosal infrastructure required. Let's look at the land. What do they control? Nothing. By their own admission, 50% of the land is owned by three lords, an Arabian sheikh, and two solar farms. No options. No agreements. A map with a circle. Their plan is to lobby for Development Corporation powers, and use compulsory purchase powers. That's not "permission not subsidy." That's asking the state to forcibly acquire hundreds of millions in private land on their behalf. The founders have stated their company would receive 80 acres of city centre land as "reward." Agricultural land trades around £10k/acre, vs prime city centre in a million-person SEZ at £2-5m/acre. That gift could be worth £150-400 million, and under SEZ rules, there'd be reduced taxation on profits. I believe the founder stated the trust wouldn't be controlled by residents because "democratic choice often runs counter to long-term interests." That's the opposite of how CLTs work. So what do you have? - Fantasy maths - Fantasy land - Fantasy permission - Millions in profit for the two entrepreneurs and their backers - Zero growth for residents. Locked in to low value housing forever - A shift in the overton window on new towns - The two entrepreneurs and their advisory board positioned as the go-to consultants for new towns and cities (the likely grift IMO)

@euanmills I think the wind will have something to say.

Talk about outdoor space standards...

@JoshPhillipsPhD @aufheben_njoyer Scruton was a documented homophobe.

@aufheben_njoyer Don’t be homophobic

“Conservatism starts from a sentiment that all mature people can readily share: the sentiment that good things are easily destroyed, but not easily created.” Sir Roger Scruton

@JoshPhillipsPhD You are quoting an absolute roaster, a man writing for snobs and bigots.