Gus

my views, soon yours

[Jake Richards MP @JakeBenRichards]

The World Cup starts tonight! ⚽️ But by the end of the first match, we’ll be one man down.

Someone dies by suicide in our country every 90 minutes. Three-quarters of these are men.

I spoke with Luke the co-founder of @andysmanclubuk about male suicide, mental health and the help that is out there. 👇

Andy's Man Club is an incredible organisation that helps men across Britain open up, talk about what is going on in their lives, and help one another. I have been to sessions in my constituency and was overwhelmed by the support they can offer men dealing with all sorts of problems in their lives - small or large.

In each session, a football is passed around the group to share thoughts, challenges, and successes. Simple, but effective and liberating!

As a government, we take mental heath - and men's mental health - seriously. We published England’s first Men's Health Strategy last year, which committed further funding for suicide prevention programmes, recognising that suicide is one of the biggest killer of men under 50.

We are investing £3.6 million in community based suicide prevention projects - and supporting the @premierleague Together Against Suicide initiative with @samaritans.

And this is a challenge for all of us, not just government. As a society we can do more to encourage men to open up, get the weight off their shoulders. That is a key part of our Men and Boys work led by @DavidLammy - amplifying the issues, assuring folk there is help out there.

Enjoy the football, look out for one another, and know there is support out there!

[Gus @se15gb]

💯

[Kate Ferguson @kateferguson4]

People are back talking about council tax reform.
So I'm plugging my call for councils to be reformed / abolished.

Why are there 33 councils in London electing so many nimby cllrs who appear unable to do anything much?

Give their powers to City Hall & ditch the bureaucracy

[Tommo @Only1tommo]

Look how many fans that showed up to the Etihad when they won the league…😂😂😂

[Gus @se15gb]

We should only build beautiful houses, with spaces for birds and green spaces and parking places and net zero that do not block anyone’s views and are sympathetic to local areas! Oh they should all be affordable. And if this proves impossible, homelessness and horrible overcrowding for children and a strangulated economy is a price worth paying. Cool!

[David Seaman MBE ~ SafeHands @thedavidseaman]

Morning CHAMPIONS!!! How we all feeling today?! ♥️🤍👊

[Gus @se15gb]

Why does it exclude housing?

[Ben Judah @b_judah]

This is great news from @RachelReevesMP.

[Tony Adams @TonyAdams]

Back where we belong

[Gus @se15gb]

@DuncanStott Stopping developments is not a very effective way to punish NIMBYs

[Gus @se15gb]

FWIW, I entirely acknowledge the intense political pressure to do the wrong thing. Comfortably housed people with placards. Rich homeowners who don't want more people on their trains. Forces of conservatism whatever colour rosettes - and the borough would be in a worse state if you listened to them more

[Gus @se15gb]

@Livingstone_RJ @johndotwills @SouthwarkLabour I rented in Southwark in an HMO. Then I bought a new build in Southwark. Freeing up that rental. The new build wasn't affordable. But the HMO was. Should foreign money not have built my new build?

[Gus @se15gb]

@Livingstone_RJ @johndotwills @SouthwarkLabour And "people from outside Southwark"?! Do you mean Lewisham? Or is this really thinly disguised xenophobia? I *want* foreign investors providing the capital to build homes - don't you? Do you propose we solve the housing crisis without foreign money? How?!

[Gus @se15gb]

@Livingstone_RJ @johndotwills @SouthwarkLabour Did you have evidence about what %? And even so, would they have rented them out? What %? Do you agree there’s a desperate shortage of rental homes too?

[Gus @se15gb]

@Livingstone_RJ @johndotwills @SouthwarkLabour I don't accept many would have stood empty. But if they did, you (entirely rightly) would have clobbered them for double council tax. More housing. More council tax. https://t.co/jFWLcDRyAt

[Gus @se15gb]

@Livingstone_RJ @johndotwills You and @southwarklabour (of which I was a member for 10 years until moving to Lewisham, not quitting) are doing a horrible disservice to low income residents. And in blocking supply you’re inflating the local house prices benefiting owners like me (and I suspect you).

[Gus @se15gb]

@Livingstone_RJ @johndotwills But please, please read and think about the academic studies that universally show housing supply increasing makes rents and prices fall. See the amazing increase in affordability places like Austin (booming economy but also lots of building) https://t.co/n1Lqvd6pLb

[Gus @se15gb]

@Livingstone_RJ @johndotwills Why do only the 77 homes matter to you? Can you accept that if every LA rejects housing developments because there isn’t enough affordable housing - then housing will become even less affordable generally?

[Gus @se15gb]

@gemmacdoyle No Gemma. I’m not proud. I was a Southwark member for years (now Lewisham) and to have council leadership boasting about blocking building is bad, actually.