Private equity and offshore investors continue to extract millions of pounds from children’s homes and foster care, even as the cost of children’s social care pushes councils into bankruptcy. 🧵

1/ LARGE LOCAL DIFFICULTIES: collapsing councils and the next Labour government New piece in which I strain every sinew to get beyond the ever-deepening problems, and suggest some solutions prospectmagazine.co.uk/politics/65664…

The way migrant care workers are made vulnerable to labour exploitation by the UK's visa rules is a huge scandal. Great to see Emiliano Mellino and The Bureau of Investigative Journalism continue to raise this issue - we can't let it be ignored.

You might have missed this yesterday… Home Office minister Lord Sharpe of Epsom admitted he doesn't know how many labour inspectors the UK has to monitor exploitation in the care sector, despite growing reports of abuse. Why do inspectors matter? ...

A typically forensic Jennifer Williams piece on levelling up programme failings. It didn’t: - compensate for #localgov ££ cuts - allocate promised funds (below) - target ££ to deprivation It did: - add to funding complexity - waste scarce bidding capacity ft.com/content/45c12c…

The story of austerity’s false economy in a nutshell. See also: Sure Start, youth services, libraries…

Thousands of care workers who came to the UK to fill vital shortages in the care sector have been told by the government they have 60 days to find a new visa sponsor or leave the country, under threat of deportation & prosecution. Our latest w/The Observer thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2024-0…

‘I’ve called a general election by mistake’

Since 2010, government cuts to our public services mean the UK has lost 200 museums 🪙 750 youth centres 🏃 793 playgrounds 🛝 800 libraries 📚 1086 swimming pools 🏊‍♀️ 1416 children's centres 🧸 8000 bus routes 🚌 And we wonder why the economy isn't working FUND PUBLIC SERVICES

Britain’s Lost Generation NEW report by UNISON: Government cuts have shattered council youth services and left vulnerable youngsters exposed. Based on FOI requests to local authorities in England and Wales Read the report: unsn.uk/LostGeneration

Our new UNISON - UK's largest union research shows that 1243 council run youth centres were closed between 2010-2023 across England & Wales. Far higher than the 750 previously reported and hugely damaging for our communities. ft.com/content/6952c5…

On top of the 1243 youth centres that have been closed between 2010- 2023 at least 1168 children's centres have been closed because of the funding crisis in local government.

They partied , they bet on elections , they crashed the economy, they broke every public service, they destroyed integrity and honesty in public office , they paid their mates billions , they put their friends in the House of Lords, they gave their cronies knighthoods, they went

In August 1992 German neo-Nazis set fire to an apartment block in Rostock, Germany, in bid to drive asylum seekers out (right) In August 2024 British racists set fire to a hotel in Rotherham in bid to drive migrants out (left) Appalling

IMAGINE BEING IN A HOTEL FEARFUL FOR YOUR CHILDREN WHO COULD POSSIBLY RELATE TO THAT?

Happy Labor Day! “If we raise the minimum wage, then prices will go up.”

Councils across England, Scotland and Wales have a collective hole in their finances amounting to more than £4bn for the coming financial year, way beyond any previous estimates, according to research by UNISON published today. Read the full report: unsn.uk/4gfjdZT

Think tonight I’ll watch The Straight Story. Not because it is Lynch’s best, or even my favourite of his, but because it is a kind, humane film, and proof that if he had wished to make conventional mainstream cinema for a general audience he would have excelled at that too.