I live pretty much on the intersection of your historical lines - I'm a bit west of Ludlow, and I carefully worked out the exact X marks the spot by squinting slightly and guessing it's very close to my house. Anyway, during the will-we-won't-we-leave hiatus of Brexit, a local farmer told me that if we didn't get out of the EU after all this, he would never vote for anyone ever again. He didn't need doorstopping for this gem - he seemed keen to pass his thoughts on. But sadly, he's still voting.
Happy New Year Jonn. Such an interesting read - I do subscribe to the theory put forward by Professor Tom Shakespeare that the breakdown of the UK - England particularly - should result in our reverting back to the original Saxon Seven Kingdoms of governance with devolution.
The six biggest house builders completed c. 64,000 new homes last year, which is less than 30% of the total new homes completed (although our data on how many new homes we build each year is *terrible*). Those six are, as it happens, the only developers who built more than 5,000 homes a year. We can argue over what Isaac might mean when he says they’ve “captured” the market, but to my mind it doesn’t really seem like they have.
“Land banking” gets investigated every 4 or 5 years - most recently by the Competition and Markets Authority in 2024 - and there’s never been any evidence found that it actually happens.
Happy New Year! Thank you for your writing - it is a bright spot in my inbox
I live pretty much on the intersection of your historical lines - I'm a bit west of Ludlow, and I carefully worked out the exact X marks the spot by squinting slightly and guessing it's very close to my house. Anyway, during the will-we-won't-we-leave hiatus of Brexit, a local farmer told me that if we didn't get out of the EU after all this, he would never vote for anyone ever again. He didn't need doorstopping for this gem - he seemed keen to pass his thoughts on. But sadly, he's still voting.
Happy New Year Jonn. Such an interesting read - I do subscribe to the theory put forward by Professor Tom Shakespeare that the breakdown of the UK - England particularly - should result in our reverting back to the original Saxon Seven Kingdoms of governance with devolution.
https://farmerofthoughts.co.uk/article/bring-back-heptarchy/. I like your line of chalk and granite theory too.
I’m not resisting you in kimg Lynn
On the subject of surprising insults, I'm always amused when I remember that "Dundee United" is an insult in Nigeria.
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2021/mar/11/the-unlikely-story-of-how-dundee-united-became-an-insult-in-nigeria
The six biggest house builders completed c. 64,000 new homes last year, which is less than 30% of the total new homes completed (although our data on how many new homes we build each year is *terrible*). Those six are, as it happens, the only developers who built more than 5,000 homes a year. We can argue over what Isaac might mean when he says they’ve “captured” the market, but to my mind it doesn’t really seem like they have.
“Land banking” gets investigated every 4 or 5 years - most recently by the Competition and Markets Authority in 2024 - and there’s never been any evidence found that it actually happens.