News

Lets talk about debt

By Rebecca Dillon / January 25, 2016

I’ve written before about my fascination with George Osborne, and so in my first blog of 2016 I wanted to return to that subject. Last year George was very keen on talking about building, you could barely move for pictures of the Chancellor dressed in a high vis and a hard hat, his conference speech…

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The Private Rented Sector a necessary evil or good and vital partners?

By Rebecca Dillon / January 4, 2016

I have long been an advocate of making use of and working with the private rented sector to meet housing need.  Partly through pragmatism (realising there was simply not enough publicly funded social housing) and partly through a strong belief in multiple options and choice. The private rented sector in various guises has been a…

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Impact investment: it cannot be just about the wow …… look at the fairness!

By Rebecca Dillon / December 4, 2015

Housing solutions to social injustice – a phrase I have used countless times since first joining Commonweal back in 2010.  Our strap line continues to say it all for me – housing as part of the solution to bigger, sometimes more intractable problems in people’s lives that mean they are systemically and repeatedly getting the…

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George Osborne; the Cristiano Ronaldo of British Politics

By Rebecca Dillon / November 27, 2015

I am a follower of George Osborne. In the same way that I am a follower of Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo. It’s quite different from being a “fan”.  I watch his performances closely in the knowledge he possesses the most tricks of any player of his generation. Let me explain. This Chancellor’s set piece financial statements…

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The World turned upside down

By Rebecca Dillon / October 14, 2015

As I hurtle towards the end of my fifth decade I am at serious risk of having my world turned upside down.   As a child of the latter half of the 20th Century; as someone who rapidly switched from his intended Physical Geography degree at university to human and social geography ‘you’ve seen one…

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Immigration Bill 2015-16

By Rebecca Dillon / October 12, 2015

This week the government’s Immigration Bill 2015-16 reaches its second reading, which will see it debated on the floor of the House of Commons for the first time. The Bill seeks to enact several of the Conservative Party’s manifesto commitments on Immigration, but there are also revisions to existing legislation around support for Asylum Seekers.…

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