Thread 1 Starmer: A New Hope

[DuncinToffee]

Please tread lightly on our dreams.

Previous thread
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/5112428-thread-55-sunak-gives-up

Thank you @NoDishiForRishi . Love it!

Hope we can keep a nice tone 🧐now that the common foe is departed! 😄😉

Day 1 of Labour and after 14 years of Tory - of course it's all Labours fault.

We predicted that

Ignoring the fact they have repeatedly said the reason they won't go back into the single market is they compromise on freedom of movement after the vote to end it 🙄

Totally random snippet this but it brightened my rubbish afternoon -

"Lovely unscripted moment this morning in the Welsh Parliament as a brilliant young choir from Ysgol Treganna in Cardiff - singing Safwn yn y Bwlch in rehearsal - bump into the Prime Minister (watch their reaction at the end 🎶)"

x.com/adavies4/status/1810310621495222674?s=46&t=Uw4lJNwxFZFnX0Xs3doHYg

(I am tone deaf and am always impressed by anyone that can sing. Children singing is practically automatic waterworks for me.)

Was reading an article in some sort architectural blog a while back, was incredibly interesting they were celebrating some of the design of post war social housing how some well known architects entered competitions tendering for the bids, some of of the estate’s/flats were so well thought out plenty of storage light large rooms etc, I’m not sure if I’m mis-remembering was legislation on the room sizes of LA housing & homes were much more spacious until this was rescinded some years ago.

I’m in Wales so the same for the Senedd (more or less). I’m quite exalted because my MS is the First Minister and my MP has just become a Minister of State in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. Feeling all important.

He wants to be Tory leader, so that seems unlikely.

He's never going to be Tory leader. One nation Tories have been sidelined.

I loved the fact that after criticism of the RNLI by Reform (last year?) donations went up (for RNLI).

Was just reading their statement about rescue work in the Channel.

https://rnli.org/news-and-media/2021/july/28/statement-on-the-humanitarian-work-of-the-rnli-in-the-english-channel

Now - can someone settle a discussion I was having at work? Is Reform a ltd company or a political party? Can you be both at the same time?

Oh, don't read anything into pretty's emojis! She uses millions! 😅😇🤔😁

If she name changed we'd all spot her PDQ!

Oh my god that's so cute. Love them.

Oh, and btw, I wasn't trying to reignite the debate re gender. Genuinely recommending a book!

I saw that, so sweet at the end. There is also another snippet of a PC MP being serenaded at the train station as she leaves for Westminster.❤️

Aren’t they just, nothing like hearing children sing.

That’s so lovely! The choir are fab and the way both Keir and Vaughan interact with them is brilliant.

Well, probably. But he won’t want to be speaker while he has intentions to try.

Returning to post war building (the FIRST world war, that is) this really should be the model.

Millions of houses thrown up in a few years. To the extent that it's possible to pretty much interchange developments from Harrow (where I grew up) through Watford, Oxford, Bristol, Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, Liverpool, Newcastle, Exeter, and all the towns in between. The street I grew up in took just over a year to build - 400+ houses. When we moved in, our neighbours had lived there since day one in 1933. The builders were about 10 houses ahead, and the local primary/middle school was bang in the middle of the road and finished a couple of months later.

That's how you solve a housing crisis. Not piss about with the fonts on mortgage offers.

Starmer looks so relaxed and confident. More please!

Build housing near to railway lines. And ensure those lines have great transport links. Of course Avanti West had delays for those MPs going down to Parliament this morning from the North West and Birmingham. A Monday rush hour delayed.

I hope that Avanti West has no further contract. That's a change I would applaud.

Ds bought a two bedroom ex-council house flat last year. While he couldn't afford a lovely high ceilinged 2 bedroom tenement flat, the 1960s ex-council housing flats were a good 2nd choice: solidly built, decent sized rooms and good storage

When db was over last year (he now lives in France) we were walking back to my place past some new social housing. It's actually not bad looking but his comment was why couldn't they put in a little bit of contrast brickwork or something to make it look a bit more interesting. It wouldn't cost much more.

To be fair, db did exactly that when he built his factory unit (built for his woodworking business but 3 times larger than he needed so that he could rent out the 3 other units to cover the mortgage). He built it with the help of his girlfriend's father (who was a builder), as well as his girlfriend and our parents (came across pictures of them all spreading concrete for the base last year when I was going through old photos for dad's memory board collage). There are lovely - but simple - contrast brickwork details on what otherwise would've been a long plain rectangular building.

yes legislation changed to allow more houses, smaller rooms and enforce less green space over time. My feeling is, if they addressed this people would object to developments much less. If they were seen as adding something to community’s not taking away.

There’s an interesting new development on the north circular, it’s been praised for what it’s managed to achieve in an awkward space and position.

https://www.ribaj.com/buildings/edgewood-mews-housing-london-north-circular-road-peter-barber-architects

they don’t have to be cut and paste monopoly houses all crammed in. But it needs legislation as the developers will always chose profit (more so if they have to give 50% away).

theres a Beth chatto development that has done wonders with planting and biodiversity.
https://www.bethchatto.co.uk/discover/our-blog/guides/planting-at-chattowood-housing-development.htm

and of course Prince Charles’s development.

https://duchyofcornwall.org/poundbury.html

but. It takes legislation and will to make that happen. And I’m not wildly optimistic that will happen.
id want to see green roofs or solar panels, decent water management to prevent flooding and hold water for later use.

Lovely!
DD texted me in excitement because she got stopped by lights to allow Starmer’s convoy to pass in Cardiff earlier.

Answering my previous question found this on my tv listings app:-

I had a friend who studied Housing Studies at degree level in the early 1980’s and at that time he said that council housing had to be built to higher standards than private housing.