Much as I hate to disagree with @FraserNelson et al, I think young people not being able to afford their own homes is a teensy weensy bit more of a factor spectator.co.uk/article/baby-d…
See eg this US research which shows a pretty clear correlation between house prices and fertility rates zillow.com/research/birth…
People like to wait to have kids until they have a home of their own. If they can't get a home of their own, they delay becoming parents - sometimes permanently.
A bit odd to take the polling on 'climate anxiety' as a given but not mention housing literally anywhere in the piece.
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The latest job stats from the @ONS are extraordinary (and revealing re shortages). Employment now back above its pre-crisis peak - but still a record surge in vacancies too (above average in every single sector).
Obviously this is causing dislocation but it's worth repeating the fundamental point that if you'd told the people at the start of the pandemic that our big problem now would be too many empty jobs they'd have bitten your hand off - after they'd stopped laughing.
Just digging into recent @yougov polling and found a fascinating reproof to Boris's conference speech - even Tory voters want more housing built! (second column)
It's true that the numbers fall when you change the question to 'in my local area', but it is still a majority - and much, much tighter among Tory voters than you would expect from the rampant Nimbyism on stage.
(Anecdotal side note: it is worth flagging that the true blue activist crowd at our @CPSThinkTank fringe meeting with @jacob_rees_mogg went near-unanimously for more housebuilding when he asked for a voice vote.)
Then we’re asking how clean free trade can help the planet (1400), launching our Road to Net Zero series with @aviva (and @andrealeadsom, @BenHouchen and @FrankLuntz) at 1530, and bridging the digital divide with @mattwarman & Patricia Hewitt at 1700.
Finally, I’m in conversation with Foreign Secretary @trussliz at 1830. Join us for any/all of the above - full details at cps.org.uk
Right. Keir needed a good speech - and that was a good speech! Or at least, it was a good speech that was unfortunately followed by a longer, much duller and far more muddled speech.
But it also leaves us sort of where we were (as these speeches always do). If you were keen on Starmer but worried about his party, you still are (which is why I think those heckles do actually hurt, even though he dealt with them well).
If you think Starmer is a good administrator but worry about his political antennae, the failure to chop much of the second half (where the crowd basically went into a coma) probably reinforces that.