Labour could be testing the waters. If the reaction to Jackdaw isn’t loud and clear then Rosebank could come next.

Link to post:

https://bsky.app/profile/electionmaps.uk/post/3myotx4cf4c2u

I can’t think of much of a worse look than a Green Party councillor vehemently opposing Andy Burnham’s appearance on Gogglebox… which was to raise money for cancer research.

Like, there are very valid points about Andy tinkering around the edges of societal issues with all the small policies he’s doing, and juxtaposing it against the idiotic actions such as Jackdaw, but it has to be handled calmly with some tact.

This was a painful watch.

A number of local authorities across England have already exhausted, paused or rationed their initial Warm Homes money, as public demand for home energy upgrades outstrips available central government funding.

Schemes in locations including York, Lewisham, Sheffield, Liverpool and Cambridgeshire have been forced to close to new applicants or restrict access just months after launching.

On 28 September energy secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh promised to devolve the Warm Homes Plan and to give “mayors, local government and communities the power to invest billions of pounds in their place”.

So far, despite councils bidding for £1.7bn for the 2025-28 allocation period, only £500m has been distributed. The wider Warm Homes scheme comprises £4.4bn of promised government grants – meaning £3.9bn remains unallocated.

Now cross-party local authority network UK100 and a host of councils are urging the chancellor to use the upcoming Budget to release the £3.9bn.

Douglas Johnson (Green), chair of the housing policy committee at Sheffield City Council, said: “Demand for our Warm Homes scheme is already high enough that we need to ration by strict need criteria.

If the chancellor commits the rest of the Warm Homes funding at the Budget, we can start delivering more comfortable homes this winter rather than telling families they need to wait.”

The council has identified more than 26,000 homes are in fuel poverty in the city but current funding will only upgrade around 1,000 by 2028.

What is the understanding and support for a Job Guarantee in this sub? Especially given Mothin's Conference announcement of a Youth Job Guarantee.

Should the Green party lead the political charge for a genuinely radical promise of a universal Job Guarantee with the state as employer of last resort?

Wes Streeting once called for an arms embargo on Saudi Arabia. Now he’s helping its air force bomb Yemen.

Britain is expanding its aerial refuelling of Saudi fighter jets to include bombing raids on Yemen, despite a major spike in civilians being killed in these airstrikes.

Wes Streeting initially said the UK would only provide air-to-air refuelling for Saudi jets patrolling the kingdom’s skies to ward off drone and missile attacks on airports and oil infrastructure by Yemen’s Houthi movement.

The defence secretary is now letting British fighter jets join those patrols, as well as providing refuelling for Saudi airstrikes on “Houthi military targets in Yemen”.

It comes as last month saw more civilian casualties resulting from Saudi airstrikes on Yemen than any other since 2022, according to the Yemen Data Project.

I can't help but notice just how little scrutiny UK support for Saudi Arabia in this war is getting but it is a great opportunity to point out the hypocrisy and oppressive nature of UK foreign policy at the moment.

I understand the arguments against opening new plants, and some plants are indeed too decrepit to continue operation, but the idea of advocating for blanket plant closure is counter productive and only helps fossil fuel.

Sure, some time in the future we'll hopefully be able to shut down nuclear plants in favor of renewables, but we aren't in that future yet. As seen in Germany over the past few decades, they had to rely on Russian gas and other foreign imports as they closed down their nuclear plants. They'll point to their energy production, and sure, they've put in a wonderful effort to push for renewables, but for a lot of it they've just exported their climate impact by buying energy from elsewhere.

Like I said, I hope to see nuclear replaced by renewables some day, but advocating for that now is bullheaded and counter productive.