Charity CEO and trustee. These views, though, are my own.
Cardiff
Joined March 2010
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Charities are asking interns to work 252 hours unpaid. That’s a scandal. My latest @GdnVoluntary piece on unpaid jobs disguising as internships.
theguardian.com/voluntary-se…
Leon Ward retweeted
Britain's growth problem is a grid problem.
We paid almost £2bn last year to switch wind farms off because the grid couldn't carry the power. Households are struggling under weight of rising bills and British industry pays more than double what US firms pay for electricity. Investors make decisions worth billions based on that.
So much gets unlocked once there's a national consensus to throw everything at the grid. Planning. Capital. Just go at it. Winning that argument, while taking the decisions now to speed up the rollout, should be the political priority.
Which is why it's crazy for Wales to even contemplate making it slower and more expensive.
Wales plans to ban steel pylons as government launches consultation bbc.in/4z7nnMx
Leon Ward retweeted
Good news for anyone concerned that electricity was getting a bit too cheap.
Wales plans to ban steel pylons as government launches consultation bbc.in/4z7nnMx
Leon Ward retweeted
“The question for the government is whether the proposed reforms give the owners of the existing 5m leasehold homes a credible route out of their dependency – or just regulate their continued subservience,” says The Guardian in a scathing editorial. theguardian.com/commentisfre…
Leon Ward retweeted
Really important this gets done
Tories vow to scrap £100,000 ‘tax trap’ for UK’s higher earners ft.trib.al/8et0rTF
This solution is nothing to do with the problems of leasehold and will just drive up costs for leaseholders. 🤡 🙄
Leon Ward retweeted
This will just increase service charges, sadly.
And I don’t know a single regulator that hasn’t been captured by the very interests it is meant to police.
It’s revealing that the freeholder and managing agent lobbyists at the RFA and TPI have pushed so aggressively for this.
Leon Ward retweeted
I've spent a fair bit of time at LHR over the last 15 years or so. In that time, Frankfurt has opened a new runway (2011) and also opened a brand new terminal (2026). Istanbul have managed to open one of the largest airports in the world, with construction first starting in 2015 and opening in 2019. LHR's first third runway discussion is difficult to pinpoint, but dates back to at least 2003 - 23 years ago, when Alistair Darling first endorsed it. Whatever way you look at it, this epitomises many of the issues that constrain modern Britain today. Bear in mind that FRA has 4 runways, CDG and MAD have 4 and AMS has 6. LHR has 2.
🚨 NEW: Heathrow’s third runway has been delayed and won’t be completed until 2039
[@Telegraph]
Leon Ward retweeted
This is an absolute joke that will hurt first time-buyers, as @moving_charlie has been saying for years
We’re finally in a buyers market. What happens if first-time buyers all get an extra 5% to buy?
The market for first-time homes jumps by 5%, meaning they’re borrowing from the gov to buy more expensive homes
Emblematic of this Labour government
Burnham set to revive Help to Buy scheme in bid to boost housebuilding ft.trib.al/gpEan4o
Sorting this out, once and for all, would be a massive differentiator for Labour and for voters. It would certainly show there is no ‘continuity Keir’. 👀
Leon Ward retweeted
The approach to council tax in Wales in two images.
Budget pressures could mean further council tax rises, leaders warn bbc.in/4xlyFvu
Leon Ward retweeted
Shall we just fast forward to the inevitable scrapping of leasehold?
Housebuilders are offering to pay buyers’ estate agent fees in a desperate attempt to offload luxury new-builds.
Oakley, a developer in Sussex, said it would cover the costs as an incentive for buying an apartment at the Argentum development in Hove, according to an email seen by The Telegraph.
telegraph.co.uk/money/proper…
Great example of British decline - we charge everyone to take a wee.
'I needed to spend a penny, I spent a pound'
Mousumi Bakshi spoke to Cambridge City Council about a £1 charge for new public loos, which include some "squat-style flushing toilets" for tourists
bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c9q9…
Leon Ward retweeted
Putting a good man who has served this country for years out of a job as his first act as PM. Disgusting.
Leon Ward retweeted
I’m 49 and have already fully qualified for a full state pension
If my state pension age is increased from 67 to 68 as expected, that could mean another 19 years of paying National Insurance
That’s why it’s important to understand NI is effectively another tax used to pay current pensioners, it’s not a contribution to my state pension
Basically everything but a mass programme of AC installation to address our new reality… 😬 bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cz0j…
Leon Ward retweeted
Why I have decided to back Andy Burnham for Labour leadership camdennewjournal.com/keir#.V…