What should Labour's political economy be? In my contribution to "hot essay summer", I argue that Labour should define itself as pro-work, and anti-slop. Good work is productive, the best that slop can be is distracting. Slop gives the impression of frenetic activity, but without creation of real value. This turns out to be a pretty good description of Britain's economy. We've created an economy of rent-seekers and extractors rather than risk-takers and builders. I look at: 🍬 tax-avoiding American candy stores that crowd Oxford Street 📖 the 44,000 page planning document for Sizewell C (33 times longer than War and Peace) 🚄 the unbuilt railway that cost £100 billion 🏦 the cheapening of designs in our public spaces 🏗️ "fire safety" rent seeking that is stopping homes being built The common theme is slop. To escape this, Labour needs a plan to take on slop-generating tech companies, but also other rent-seekers throughout the economy that have made it impossible (or very costly) to build anything of value. Labour was founded to represent workers in the tangible economy: those who were physically building things. Today, 37% of British workers do not believe that their job makes a “meaningful contribution to the world”. Whoever leads Labour must have an answer to this, and it begins with tackling slop. Read the full piece here: substack.com/home/post/p-201…

Utterly embarassing from Rob Kenyon. What he clearly doesn't know is Labour MP Josh Simons confirmed just over a week ago that this library would be reopened and work is starting soon, following a 6 month campaign by Labour Councillor Christopher Ready. What total numpties Rob and Zia are.

Housing is only as scarce a resource as we want it to be. There is a choice for everyone here. We can accept the status quo of scarcity and fight over prioritising certain groups, or we can build more. Too many in politics choose the former. Choosing the short-lived dopamine of the reactionary, rather than building the case for something better. More than half a million Londoners now live in flat shares. The average private rent in London is nearly £27,480 a year. London is adding 33,000 homes a year, while its population is projected to rise by around half a million over the next decade. If tensions feel high today, imagine what they will look like after another decade of failure. ✍️@KaneEmerson newstatesman.com/housing-hel…

Somewhat taken aback to hear @GeorgeMonbiot liken the Government's Judicial Review reforms to **rape** on Radio 4. Offensive and intellectually lazy. As my co-founder @dc_lawrence explains, the reforms actually strengthen democracy. It enables the state to deliver the infrastructure it has promised, including the energy projects we so badly need.

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