Josh Nicholson

Head of Housing & Communities @csjthinktank | all views my own

[Josh Nicholson @JoshNicholson50]

Over 2/5 independent shopkeepers have reported their stolen products being resold locally in criminal high street businesses.

Britain's high streets are broken. Later this summer @csjthinktank will set out a plan to repair them.

@MatthewTorbitt explains ⬇️

[The Centre for Social Justice @csjthinktank]

Britain in 2026: Locking up chocolate instead of shoplifters.

The government must crack down on prolific high street theft, which is now fuelling an underworld of organised crime.

More👇
@MatthewTorbitt

[The Centre for Social Justice @csjthinktank]

🚨BREAKING: A renewed @ukhomeoffice effort to crack down on dodgy high street shops is welcome.

But trading standards need stronger powers to shut them down. 96% of standards professionals surveyed said they had encountered organised crime groups @CTSI_UK ���

Our plan will set out how we get our high streets back👇

[Dan Carden @DanCardenMP]

Working class communities don’t want to be told they got Brexit wrong. They were sending a message, and Labour still hasn’t properly heard it. They voted for change, and they’re still waiting for politicians to deliver it - for their towns, their industries, their way of life. That means secure work, pride in place, and control over their own communities. A Labour party worth its name stands with them, not above them. That is the test for any Labour leader.

[The Centre for Social Justice @csjthinktank]

Here we go again.

Sick of the Westminster psychodrama?

We’re focused on learning from the charities getting on with fixing broken Britain.

Find out more👇

[Josh Nicholson @JoshNicholson50]

An important and timely report. Good to see this issue, and the brilliant work of Trading Standards officers, get the coverage it deserves.

[Chartered Trading Standards Institute (CTSI) @CTSI_UK]

CTSI and @The_ACG have launched a report on the spread of "dodgy shops" on UK high streets. We are urging the Government to provide enforcement agencies - including Local Authority Trading Standards - the resources and powers needed to clamp down on the issue. #ShutTheDodgyShops

[Josh Nicholson @JoshNicholson50]

Concerning that Rachel Reeves is apparently considering rent controls.

Rent controls do not work, and would cause huge damage to our housing market.

Instead, Labour should take on the NIMBY interest groups stopping Britain building.

https://t.co/ww7xjRnCPi

[The Centre for Social Justice @csjthinktank]

‼️NEW: Data out today shows that 2/3 of convicted shoplifters reoffend.

The CSJ can reveal that the average number of offences committed by a shoplifter has nearly DOUBLED in the last 5 years, increasing from 5.5 to 9.1.

We must address soaring shoplifting levels if we are to repair Britain's broken high streets.

[Josh Nicholson @JoshNicholson50]

New @csjthinktank analysis shows the extent of career criminality in Britain.

🚨 67% of shoplifters go on to reoffend, committing an average of 9 additional crimes each 🚨

When did such criminality become tolerated?

https://t.co/wffgeW743W

[Mark McVitie @MarkMcvitie]

Public know they have to pass criminal record checks and references for their jobs, just as intuitively they know that for some powerful elites the same rules don’t apply.

Somehow it’s still considered a head scratcher in SW1 why ppl want to smash it all to pieces.

[createstreets @createstreets]

Street Scar. If you would like to stop this degradation of our high streets & town centres and think that it matters then you might find it useful to read…

[The Centre for Social Justice @csjthinktank]

New data analysis by @LibDems MP @MPMWilko shows that reported thefts have risen by 133% in the past 5 years📈

However, only 19.83% of offences resulted in a charge❗️

@JoshNicholson50 explained why this infuriates the public in our inaugural episode of Double Take🎙️

[Josh Nicholson @JoshNicholson50]

Absolutely right.

The surge in shoplifting is being driven by organised criminals, and is linked to the growth in dodgy vape shops and mini-marts.

@ACS_LocalShops Crime Report 2026 found that 1/4 legit retailers have noticed stolen goods being resold in their area 👇

[Lara Brown @lara_e_brown]

We need to tackle the pervasive myth that most shoplifters steal to feed themselves.

The most commonly stolen items are meat, alcohol and confectionary. They are being taken by ultra-prolific offenders for resale.

This increases food prices for everyone.

@JeremyVineOn5

[Josh Nicholson @JoshNicholson50]

@BenNebGregg and I try our best to imitate @holland_tom and @dcsandbrook with some robust analysis of the top political issues this week + hopefully some interesting policy solutions...

[The Centre for Social Justice @csjthinktank]

How does a government lose track of £850m in benefits? And why was a supermarket worker punished for stopping a theft?

🎙️Double Take - the latest podcast from the CSJ is out now.

Two stories. Two researchers. One podcast.🎧

This week, Ben Gregg and Josh Nicholson break down the week's biggest welfare and high street headlines.

▶️Listen at the link here or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Josh Nicholson @JoshNicholson50]

@ChristineKayNew A good point but extend that graph to the 1930s and you'll see that private housebuilders built hundreds of thousands of new homes before our prohibitive post-war planning system was introduced!

[Josh Nicholson @JoshNicholson50]

The Green's housing policy must be a wake-up call for Labour.

Rent controls and fantasy social housing quotas distract from the root cause of why housing is so unaffordable and would do more harm than good.

Some thoughts on how Labour should respond 👇

https://t.co/ww7xjRnCPi

[Josh Nicholson @JoshNicholson50]

@BenNebGregg @Harrybrads01 The common law is no laughing matter, friend.

[Ameer Kotecha @Ameer_Kotecha]

Walker Smith’s unjust sacking has united the nation.

The fact that Waitrose management are being this tin-eared in refusing to give him his job back just shows how deeply embedded our health and safety crazed, liability-panicked, HR dominated, corporate culture has become.

We must once again become a country that praises heroes and denounces villains

[Josh Nicholson @JoshNicholson50]

Pleased to join @ACS_LocalShops in Parliament this week to discuss illicit trading on our high streets, and the explosion in dodgy shops plaguing communities.

Find out more about the @csjthinktank campaign to repair Britain's broken high streets 👇

https://t.co/Bb1e1mCjWr

[The Centre for Social Justice @csjthinktank]

We've launched a campaign to fix Britain’s broken high streets🛣️

But we need your help. Get involved👇

[The Centre for Social Justice @csjthinktank]

🚨NEW: Data just released shows that the number of pupils missing more than half of classes hit an annual record high last year.

An unprecedented 176,000 kids were severely absent in 2024/25 - 193% higher than pre-pandemic levels.

If we are to save these children from the lifelong consequences of missing school, we must urgently tackle the root causes of the absence crisis.

More👇

[Steven Swinford @Steven_Swinford]

Labour MPs are on a 'holiday from reality' and the governing class is 'more comfortable speaking in the padded idiom of values than facing facts', Paul Ovenden writes in The Times today

'Labour politicians are currently fighting a rearguard action to ensure the 1.6 million migrants of the so-called “Boriswave” are eligible for lifetime benefits, paid out of the pockets of other already hard-up, fed-up constituents.

'Meanwhile, some argue for full-scale government intervention to shield us all from energy price rises on the basis that “we can’t be seen to do less than the Tories did”.

'At a time when our national debt is 93 per cent of GDP, borrowing costs are soaring and we have barely scratched the surface of the £320 billion of debt we accrued at the start of this decade, a disinterested observer could only conclude that either MPs know something wonderful about the public finances that no one else does or there is an acute madness inflicting the body politic.'

https://t.co/vMS8XQ8t8F