Liam K McGrath

New maps on Oxford Street

Oxford Street London pedestrianised!

The London population decline appears to be mostly families with children

A flat 0.48% property tax taxes what you build, not the land — penalising dense inner-London flats, rewarding sprawl. LVT flips it: build up, your bill doesn't move. Burnham should back LVT. Yes it's harder and will perhaps need steps to get there but it's fairest and encourages density.

www.observingthecity.ca/downtown-def... cool website where you can set where you think downtown is. London's user submissions generally smaller than the Central Activites Zone, but I suppose downtown isn't the same as city centre.

Council tax + stamp duty + business rates = 90bn = 1.5% of land value

Sorry but low sympathy with rich people making easy money off the hard work of people paying ground rents. Microscopic violin etc. thenegotiator.co.uk/news/regulat...

Massive anti fascism demo in London today. Great to spend an afternoon with kind people across a wide spectrum of backgrounds

Robbing Ant to pay Dec. Build housing!

Great to attend and speak at Community Energy London on behalf of SE1 Solar. We need Elexon P441 to unlock estate rooftop solar energy at scale

All the processes that led to this should be identified and stopped

Ipswich Town should distance itself from Nigel Farage. His campaign backed by opaque, foreign-linked funding and amplified by populist messaging—is deeply divisive. Football clubs should stay neutral; platforming him risks normalising this and influencing local opinion ahead of Suffolk elections

secretldn.com/southwark-li... I'm not surprised. Nice libraries all over Southwark. And they are busy.

40% reduction in harmful pollutants in a whole load of cities breathecities.org/breathe-bett...

Delighted we have planning permission for more fantastic social rent homes in Southwark. Thanks to Southwark council, architects, and our team at LeathermarketCBS www.e-architect.com/london/leath...

www.theguardian.com/politics/202... If anyone is in any doubt. A Reform government is terrifying. They are pouring millions into their political campaigns. We cannot be complacent.

"The UK has been colonised by immigrants, really, hasn't it? I mean, the population of the UK was 58 million in 2020, now it's 70 million. That's 12 million people." According to one of the richest men in the UK. Incorrect on many levels - an 8 year old could make more informed analysis. Tax idiots

Delighted to see the Telegraph backing mid-rise, walkable, well serviced, transit orientated development, of the European kind. I look forward to support when these kind of developments are proposed in the UK. www.telegraph.co.uk/money/proper...

yeoldeguide.com/londons-west... London is famous for its squares. This episode covers the very first of these squares in the West End. Covent Garden, Leicester Square, Soho Square and more.

Disgraceful Starmer hasn't returned with a Panda. He needs to go.

The British Property Fedration think capping ground rents will deter investment. So they are saying we only invest to fleece and exploit? Lower grounds rents and service charges put more money back into the economy.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article... a decent policy that the tories didn't do in 14 years and Reform would never do. People moan about this government but they are steadily tackling injustice across the board. Rome wasn't built in a day.

www.centreforcities.org/blog/cities-... analysis showing which cities are achieving improvement to living standards

yeoldeguide.com/warrington/ not surprised Warrington is doing well economically. We did a podcast there and found a tranformed Time Square and indoor market. Cool place with good transport links.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article... great news in Ipswich

New Bazalgette Embankment with great views in all directions. Built ok the site of the Thames Tideway sewer construction site.

What a great spot to build some homes!

Another Brexit dividend. Alongside the loss of 8% of GDP (roughly the output of Scotland). Thanks to Farage, Johnson, Putin etc.

Guardian report on today’s eye-opening select committee hearing…

Would the Telegraph and this pub support a reform of taxes to remove business rates entirely? No. They would undermine every effort. www.telegraph.co.uk/money/consum...

Brexit may have cost 8% of GDP - pretty much the output of Scotland. The lies of Farage, Russian interference and collective complaceny has made us far weaker than we should be

This is peak-UK and why we can't get anything done. No suggestion here of how we might make tax fairer and more efficient just moaning. We should replace council tax, business rates and stamp duty altogether and yes it will be a big multiyear job www.telegraph.co.uk/money/proper...

The UK runs on immigration. Our NHS, care sector, food and transport depend on it. Brexit failed. Racism is creeping back into the mainstream. We should name it, challenge it, and defend our neighbours, friends and family - every time.

The rebuilt Colindale station is cool but so is the massive development of the area. High density for outer London and 10000 new homes.

Luxury Apartments Are Bringing Rent Down in Some Big Cities “New building openings are bringing rents down as wealthy tenants trade up, forcing landlords to drop prices for older apartments.” @bloomberg.com

Year 1 data on congestion pricing in Manhattan… * Vehicle traffic: -11% * Foot traffic: +3.4% * Storefront vacancy: -0.9% * Pollution: -22% * Revenue for mass transit: $548M So YES this has been a huge success.

I often moan about things not working but there are some good things in the UK: road safety, three pin sockets, women's football, trees, boxing, high powered electricity in the home, and the trains in East Anglia 🚄

🌞 SE1 Solar is gearing up for 2026 - rooftop panels, clean energy, fuel poverty relief. We need a new Volunteer Non-Exec Director to help make it happen. www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/43...

Some great photos of HS2 in New Civil Engineer. HS2 completes final slide of 4,600t viaduct across M6 without closing motorway | New Civil Engineer share.google/HyCxxXdwTNu4...

New council flats going up in Bermondsey. Southwark is building more council homes than anywhere else in the UK.

www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/coventr... The Coventry very light rail is exciting as its much cheaper than most trams, so could be viable especially if automated.

Failure to reform hopeless taxes (council tax, stamp duty, business rates) despite a once in a generation majority is frustrating. But people need to remember how bad it was before under Tories. Every day the government are pressing the right buttons but too slowly IMO.

When we testet 10k+ automatically generated public transport routes we found those plugging into existing well-used network had far higher benefits in standard models. Expected really. This is a challenge for schemes like Leeds Tram. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Stockport marketpkace. A great town to visit. Recently covered on YOG. yeoldeguide.com/stockport/

Everyone in the world has heard music recorded in Stockport as we discuss in part 2 of the guide to Stockport podcast 🍓🎸🎹https://yeoldeguide.com/stockport/

Fair complaints about business rates this week. There is cross-spectrum support for replacing business rates, council tax and stamp duty with a single simple land value tax. Would help housebuilding and reduce tax for many homes and small businesses. More credible than nebulous 'wealth tax'.

Replace business rates, council tax, and stamp duty with a 1.5% land value tax (raising 90bn & unavoidable). Good for pubs as their land take is smaller than supermarkets. Business rates a stupid tax, especially for pubs, where the rate calculation puts them at a massive disadvantage.

ONS on employment. Exactly what the government set out to do: shift economic activity towards healthcare. Something has to get smaller and it's retail, hospitality etc. All sectors at link share.google/uxK8LUh3h4lO...