Sebastian Milbank

Senior Researcher @csjthinktank. Writer and columnist. Previously @JSMilbank

[Sebastian Milbank @SebMilbank]

Apologies for long Twitter absence. My previous account - JSMilbank - has been hacked and I'm locked out for the foreseeable future. If you've received a message from that account its a scam. Would deeply appreciate if previous followers would follow me here at @SebMilbank

[Sebastian Milbank @SebMilbank]

@canisgrisevs You know who else moved country in search of a better life

[Sebastian Milbank @SebMilbank]

I challenge anyone to read up on the interminable negotiations, pleading and backstabbing by the Late Roman Empire and not conclude that the Germanic "tribesmen" had the patience of saints. Alaric tried very hard *not* to sack Rome.

[Talmud Enjoyer 🇬🇧 🇮🇱 🧬 @jewndahalfmen]

Germanic tribesmen, 390AD:
“lmao let’s go sack Rome”

Germanic tribesmen, 410AD:
“lmao let’s go sack Rome”

Germanic tribesmen, 455AD:
“lmao let’s go sack Rome”

Germanic tribesmen, 550AD:
“lmao let’s go sack Rome”

Germanic tribesmen, 800AD:
“wtf this sucks. I miss Rome. We should bring back Rome.”

[Sebastian Milbank @SebMilbank]

@canisgrisevs You’re literally an American what are you on about

[Sebastian Milbank @SebMilbank]

@johndotwills Don't forget stamp duty...

[The Critic @TheCriticMag]

In one of our most read articles of the week, @SebMilbank argues that Britain is killing the golden goose
https://t.co/GWsQwicp4j

[Talk @TalkTV]

🚨“We don’t talk about a people’s history, a national history that’s about democracy and a vote we all fought for.”

Dr Sebastian Milbank, associate editor of The Critic, breaks down why he thinks there’s a lack of patriotism across the UK.

@iancollinsuk | @SebMilbank

[Sebastian Milbank @SebMilbank]

@JaroslavH It's the fault of the 1977 housing act which would make such a mixture illegal to deliver in practice

[Sebastian Milbank @SebMilbank]

“Affordable housing” is a great British Orwellian term which means “making your housing less affordable so people who refuse to work can be given free housing”

[max tempers @maxtempers]

Britain's "YIMBY problem" is basically a Social Housing Problem. Almost everything else is peripheral. You could very easily (a) make new housing developments less undesirable and (b) massively improve their viability at a stroke of a pen... (courtesy of @CPSThinkTank)

[Sebastian Milbank @SebMilbank]

@JaroslavH HB may be expensive but it doesn't load costs onto developers, and incentivises the state to lower private sector housing costs. Fully agree re perverse incentives of SH, and one reason HB is better is that it isn't for life and more easily made conditional on jobseeking

[Sebastian Milbank @SebMilbank]

@JaroslavH But its no longer a "last resort" when there are people who will be born in social housing and die in social housing. Housing benefit should be the safety net, not social housing, which was originally intended to improve housing conditions for *workers*

[Sebastian Milbank @SebMilbank]

@black91153 It’s social housing so more out of reach for most people than the moon — I can go through what it takes to get into social housing if you’re willing to set your life on fire or lie in return for a free house

[Sebastian Milbank @SebMilbank]

@JaroslavH In what way is it a market if most people, including almost anyone with a job, can’t access it, and if those who live in it never leave or move to other forms of housing?

[Sebastian Milbank @SebMilbank]

@JaroslavH You haven’t actually defended any aspect of social housing, presumably because you can’t

[Sebastian Milbank @SebMilbank]

@barbicanman1 What do you think 3x-4x as many large roads would do to the English countryside?

[Sebastian Milbank @SebMilbank]

Why is the example always America (which has some of the most horrible and dystopian roads I've ever seen) and not the driving bliss that is France?

[Tom Harwood @tomhfh]

The lack of motorways in Britain is actually criminal.

Living in the US, it’s remarkable how well connected major cities are. I’m often shocked by how quick travelling from A to B is by car.

It’s *insane* we back home have refused to connect Oxford and Cambridge.

[Sebastian Milbank @SebMilbank]

@calciferesque The examples are crazy

[Sebastian Milbank @SebMilbank]

Most experiences of modernity are a mixture of all 5. England imported plenty of modernity from i.e. France, thrust modernity upon many segments of its own population, absorbed it via globalisation and we've also resisted aspects of modernity (see our monarchy/parliament)

[𝖓𝖎𝖓𝖊 🕯 @atlanticesque]

There are five types of cultures.

1. Those who created modernity (English, American, Dutch)
2. Those who sought out Modernity (French, Chinese, Mexican)
3. Those who had modernity thrust upon them (Japanese, Jewish, Turkish)
4. Those for whom modernity slowly slithered in (Indian, Arabian, Indonesian)
5. Those for whom modernity still has not arrived

[Sebastian Milbank @SebMilbank]

@MatthewJDalby Yeah we do live in the age of the city break

[Sebastian Milbank @SebMilbank]

Cyclists will jump onto the pavement whenever they feel like it without warning, but just watch how hard they chimp out if you dare to venture into the hallowed cycle lane

[NFBUK @NFBUK]

Went with @newdawn75 earlier in the year to review the floating bus stop on Harleyford Road in Vauxhall London. The design is an accessibility nightmare & it is dangerous. No real kerbs, very narrow pavement on the building line & red tactile blisters with no controlled crossing.

[Sebastian Milbank @SebMilbank]

@MatthewJDalby Are they driving in America?

[Sebastian Milbank @SebMilbank]

@ASI Understates fiscal impact of Bristol, if you include South Gloucestershire (which you should) it's doing better than breaking even.

[Chris Howell @ChrisHowellFCA]

MPs spend all day discussing trivia. If only they could scrutinise why tf opening HS2 is still 17 years off. We aren't optimising for early opening or overall cost. My guess is artificial delay to keep an arbitrary treasury spreadsheet happy but who knows. https://t.co/lc9B6sjQx6