Christopher Murray

PhD researcher at the @univofstandrews @JamesHuttonInst - studying housing, rurality and precarity. Funded by @SocSciScotland @ESRC

[Geoff Brumfiel @gbrumfiel]

An absolutely astonishing account of Israel's AI-assisted targeting in the @latimes

They called 62-year-old Ahmad Turmus and asked: “Ahmad, you want to die with those around you or alone?” His response, below, is chilling.

Story by @nabihbulos
https://t.co/sBVBNxOMnA

[Donald Macaskill @DrDMacaskill]

This week’s blog explores some practical ideas to address the immense challenges facing #carehome and #homecare provision in the Highlands of #Scotland. It explores ideas such as a #HighlandWeighting & other international ideas. #socialcare #workforce https://t.co/eGkaHwhkAP

[Magnus Davidson @DavidsonMagnus]

Blades in Scrabster Harbour for the 6.2MW Vesta turbines set for Strathy South wind farm.

Under construction after close to 20 years in development, with it going to public inquiry, and conservation landowner interests clashing with the pro-turbine local crofting community.

[Neil Gray @NeilGray00]

This is insidious crap. Means-testing was one of the major destroyers of universal 'general needs' public housing in the UK and the same playbook is being played out here. The correct response? Demand more public housing, more rent control, more rent stabilisation. FOR EVERYONE.

[Magnus Davidson @DavidsonMagnus]

Forbes speaks as well as she writes on this, particularly to Highland audiences, but the challenge is that the successive governments since 2007 have failed to make the case for the Highlands and Islands, particularly through the lens of HIE.

[Magnus Davidson @DavidsonMagnus]

Depopulation is around post-war rates in Caithness and Sutherland. At that time the HIDB was formed as a somewhat radical regional development intervention. Its successor HIE has had its budget cut by about 70% in real terms since 2007.

https://t.co/9lHREVUkKp

[Menelaos Gkartzios @gkrtzs]

📢 New book: Postcapitalist Countrysides @UCLpress! From land commoning and rural social enterprises, to experimental food commons, Indigenous collectives & land art practices. And more! Co-edited with @gallent_n, @marksco_envplan & A Purves
#OpenAccess
https://t.co/oUkcBOPSwO

[Magnus Davidson @DavidsonMagnus]

Good to see discussion on demographic challenges at a national level. Worth paying attention to where this change is already gutting rural communities.

Centralisation of basic services, skills shortages, loss of commercial transport routes, big pressure on healthcare.

[Joseph Elliott @J_Elliott94]

More private renters are now in poverty than social renters.

4.8 million private renters are in poverty, up almost 300,000 on the previous year.

Of these, almost 2 million are only in poverty when we factor in housing costs – around 40% of those in poverty.

[Conchúr Ó Giollagáin @ConchurOG]

Scottish Languages Bill "will outlive the remaining #Gaelic-speaking communities. ... It represents an institutionalised vision, both unsympathetic towards community reality and nonchalant about the risks of terminal demise" #GaelicCrisis @TheScotsman https://t.co/JzBuPgYgmn

[Gerry McCartney @gerrymccartney1]

1/12 Our book, ‘Social Murder? Austerity and life expectancy in the UK’, by David Walsh and I, is out today. It details how mortality stopped improving in the UK and other countries as a result of austerity policies damaging the building blocks of health. Here’s a brief summary:

[The Herald @heraldscotland]

New community-led homes development on Colonsay will be ‘transformational’

https://t.co/IXmBf5YVwJ

@glasgowmixtape

[Luis F Yanes @LuisFYanes]

Our report on economic, social, and cultural rights in the Highlands and Islands is out.

So, what do we say?

A thread with all key issues. 🧵

https://t.co/k0Hg82SvZp

[Magnus Davidson @DavidsonMagnus]

SLE bang on here. This fund should shift eligibility from levels 4, 5, and 6, of the six-fold classification to levels 5, 7, and 8, of the eight-fold classification.

[Neil Gray @NeilGray00]

Very pleased to have an article published in the excellent Radical Housing Journal @Radical_Housing with @HamishKallin and contributors to the international rent control symposium we organised in Edinburgh in 2023. Read our reflections on the event here.
https://t.co/K7BhJduWfB

[Vicky Spratt @Victoria_Spratt]

🧵 4,000 homeless families are being banned from social housing because they have debt. Exclusive Freedom of Information requests shared with me for @theipaper show. This is shocking for several reasons https://t.co/JQmbHnSas5

[Vicky Spratt @Victoria_Spratt]

🧵In Wales, the Government defied critics and raised council tax on second homes. This part of the UK had some of the lowest first-time buyer numbers, the results of this bold action show what can be achieved...@theipaper https://t.co/fi1PBwEcxq

[Magnus Davidson @DavidsonMagnus]

“Partly as a consequence, population continues to shift away from remote and rural areas, leaving them short of workers for these expanding industries.”

[Magnus Davidson @DavidsonMagnus]

Grim news at a time when organisations like RHS have never been needed more.

[Siân Swinton @sianswinton]

A 10% increase will mean a return journey with a car and two people from Lochboisdale to Mallaig will cost £204.93.
“It’s not your only route off the island!”
Via Barra - £270
Via Lochmaddy - £113 (plus all the extra miles)
Not to mention the cost of going via Stornoway…