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Tom Spencer Profile
Tom Spencer

@TomJackSpencer

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Interested in law, land use, and growth. Usual disclaimers

London, England
Joined July 2017
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@TomJackSpencer
Tom Spencer
10 months
1/5 Fantastic evening last night launching @PricedOutUK new manifesto in 10 Downing Street and at the @ASI . To pull this off is a credit to the fantastic team we have. Thank you to everyone who helped get us to this point.
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@TomJackSpencer
Tom Spencer
1 year
Americans often mock Europe for not embracing air conditioning, despite our summers becoming hotter annually. Turns out the London Plan specifically warns local planning authorities against permitting air conditioning systems in new developments. Crazy stuff
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@TomJackSpencer
Tom Spencer
2 years
The housing theory of everything should be expanded to the NIMBY theory of everything. Why can't we build enough trainlines - NIMBYs. Why can't we generate more electricity - NIMBYs Why can't we move to more renewables - NIMBYs Why can't we improve water quality - NIMBYs
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@TomJackSpencer
Tom Spencer
1 year
@LesRallizes77 @HCH_Hill They’re pretty carbon exhaustive but progress on making them less so is advancing rapidly. Regardless decarbonising the grid is a much better way to reduce hydrocarbon consumption than making our lives worse.
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@TomJackSpencer
Tom Spencer
6 years
Absolutely loving how @Jacob_Rees_Mogg is the only one in this debate who seems to have actually read the deal #C4BREXIT
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@TomJackSpencer
Tom Spencer
1 year
We know high temperatures make workers less productive, and harm public health. This is climate change 101. It is obvious that a consequence of this is that we should make it easier for people to voluntarily install air conditioning to make the heat more bearable.
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@TomJackSpencer
Tom Spencer
3 years
If the UK were to be one of the United States, then only Mississippi would be poorer. Intuitively this doesn't sound right, but it is. Why is this and how can we fix it? In my first substack, I argue that the answer lies in housing. Please read & subscribe
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@TomJackSpencer
Tom Spencer
2 years
This charade reveals several problems with British law. 1. Neighbours being able to veto activities they knew occurred when they moved in 2. The club could not rectify the situation due to tree preservation orders
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@TomJackSpencer
Tom Spencer
1 year
Our planning system is absolutely mental! Primarily, by providing so much power to NIMBYs to block actually good developments, but also making anything that does get built worse by putting stupid rules like this in place.
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@TomJackSpencer
Tom Spencer
2 years
Supply and demand don’t cause house prices, instead high prices are because there is high demand relative to supply. I am very smart
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@TomJackSpencer
Tom Spencer
4 years
@Pale_White_Dot I liked this response
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@TomJackSpencer
Tom Spencer
4 months
@adb0wen Maybe he was on 97k and would’ve lost his personal allowance + childcare support etc
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@TomJackSpencer
Tom Spencer
1 year
It’s great to hear Labour starting to confront the housing crisis with questions like this, but he’s many scales off. In 2022 the average sole first time buyer paid a deposit of £61,100, almost 7x more than his figure.
@BBCPolitics
BBC Politics
1 year
The average deposit for a first time buyer is going to £9,000 Sir Keir Starmer says, he asks how long the average person would have to save to put that money aside Rishi Sunak says last year the UK saw a record number of first time buyers #PMQs
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@TomJackSpencer
Tom Spencer
5 months
Extremely proud to graduate from the University of Cambridge today
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@TomJackSpencer
Tom Spencer
3 years
Barron Trump is a neoliberal?
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@TomJackSpencer
Tom Spencer
2 years
The most on brand meme I have ever made
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@TomJackSpencer
Tom Spencer
2 years
It's in Politico so it must be official. I'm delighted to be starting as Director of Research for @PricedOutUK , the Britain's leading campaign for affordable housing. Stay tuned for good housing takes.
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@TomJackSpencer
Tom Spencer
1 year
🚨 Nerdy urban econ thread 🧵 1/6 This is tongue in cheek but is sadly quite true. In a market where housing supply is inelastic to changes in prices, then most increases in productivity is ultimately subsumed into land prices. cc: @shreyagnanda
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@TomJackSpencer
Tom Spencer
3 years
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@TomJackSpencer
Tom Spencer
3 years
In 1950, West German GDP per Capita sat at just 61.3% of Britain’s. By 1973 Germany led Britain by 9.3%. Blame for this lies at the hands of Clement Attlee - the worst Prime Minister of the 20th Century. Check out my latest Substack to find out why
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@TomJackSpencer
Tom Spencer
2 years
It really should be a crime how early everything shuts in Soho on a Sunday night. It’s stupid that so many people are forced out at 10pm. Licensing regulations are hurting both company and consumers to no one’s benefit
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@TomJackSpencer
Tom Spencer
2 years
A lack of long term planning is responsible for so many of the structural barriers that this country has. Anyone with half a brain can see that capping med school places, and enforcing those caps strictly, is a silly idea.
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@TomJackSpencer
Tom Spencer
2 years
Given housing makes up the majority of most peoples living expenses, it’s crazy that politicians do not address stats like this with more urgency. The Gov constantly fall to Tory NIMBYs, and the other parties haven’t seized the scale of the problem yet.
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@TomJackSpencer
Tom Spencer
1 year
Unlocking land in Cambridge is crucial for growth. Its already Europe's Silicon Valley, but potential is constrained by limited development rights. Resolving this is an easy route to enhancing living standards nationwide
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@TomJackSpencer
Tom Spencer
2 years
Why do some cities become rich and some stay poor? In my latest blog I argue the difference always comes down to urbanisation. The bigger your cities, and the more you build, the better the outcomes will be for the people of any country.
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@TomJackSpencer
Tom Spencer
3 years
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@TomJackSpencer
Tom Spencer
11 months
Absolutely shocking news from Scotland that will surprise nobody.
@richard_donnell
richard donnell
11 months
Rent controls in Scotland might benefit existing renters but not those looking for new tenancies reports @Robert_Booth @guardian Loophole in Scotland’s rent controls sees new tenants facing largest rises in UK
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@TomJackSpencer
Tom Spencer
2 years
Economic historians will look back at this period as one of the darkest in modern British history. Successive poor Governments have utterly failed to grow and we’re all suffering because of it
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@TomJackSpencer
Tom Spencer
3 years
Mr. Bond, it's over. You can't stop me from launching my NGDP futures market
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@TomJackSpencer
Tom Spencer
1 year
Very sad to hear about the death of Robert Lucas, one of the best economists of the 20th century. This passage from his 1988 JME paper has always stuck with me more than any other.
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@TimTkehoe
Tim Kehoe 🇺🇦
1 year
Today is a sad day for economics. Robert E. Lucas, Jr., a great researcher and teacher died this morning.
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@TomJackSpencer
Tom Spencer
2 years
Ronald Coase 1937
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@TomJackSpencer
Tom Spencer
2 years
Managed to graduate
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@TomJackSpencer
Tom Spencer
3 years
1/9 Memories of the Great Recession are quite fuzzy for people my age (I turned 7 in 2008), but we should not forget that we are still living with the consequences of it. GDP per capita has still not reached pre-crisis levels, let alone its trend line.
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@TomJackSpencer
Tom Spencer
2 years
Cities are for jobs. They occur naturally, create more growth than any other force known to man, and they normally die by Government action. For more detail on what cities are for check out my latest substack below
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@TomJackSpencer
Tom Spencer
4 months
Recognising campaign posters are visual nuisances, the Law requires that they are removed within 2 weeks of the polling date. 3 years since the first lockdown we should do the same with covid posters
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@TomJackSpencer
Tom Spencer
2 years
Just been offered a Bastiat fellowship at Mercatus which means I’ll be in DC a few times over the next year. If any of my mutuals live there and want to meet give me a shout
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@TomJackSpencer
Tom Spencer
2 years
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@TomJackSpencer
Tom Spencer
2 years
Save the High Street. Build above it
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@TomJackSpencer
Tom Spencer
2 years
This quote by Hayek from The Fatal Conceit says everything I think about cities - "Order generated without design can far outstrip plans men consciously contrive".
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@TomJackSpencer
Tom Spencer
2 years
Definitely countless other examples, but key thing is that NIMBYs don't just prevent housebuilding. They prevent all productive uses of land.
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@TomJackSpencer
Tom Spencer
3 years
The Squad are wrong to call for Biden not to reappoint Jay Powell. During the pandemic, he has saved the American economy seeing the way for a rapid recovery. He is clearly the best man for the job Check out my latest piece for @NRO below
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@TomJackSpencer
Tom Spencer
1 year
@JamesInCity So many iconic moments
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@TomJackSpencer
Tom Spencer
3 years
@duncanrobinson The austerity driven decline in state capacity simply made it a lot more expensive to do the same things. In the long run it’s ended up with more waste due to increased inefficiencies.
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@TomJackSpencer
Tom Spencer
1 year
Seeing Labour pledge to build on the greenbelt is massive, and a testament to the hard work done by groups like @PricedOutUK in recent years! But will it work? Without more detail unfortunately not. Check out my latest in @CapX below.
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@TomJackSpencer
Tom Spencer
3 years
Really pleased to announce two bits of good news today. Firstly, I’ve recently learnt I have been promoted by @YoungVoices_UK to an Associate Contributor. Secondly, till December I will be a Don Lavoie fellow at @mercatus .
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@TomJackSpencer
Tom Spencer
1 year
£15Bn and a boatload of private debt on buying + retrofitting privately rented homes isn’t solving the housing crisis - it’s rearranging the chairs on the titanic. Reforming planning doesn’t cost a penny and will improve lives. See my latest in @CapX
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@TomJackSpencer
Tom Spencer
1 year
There are strong ethical debates over compulsory purchase reform, but the fundamental question is whether it will work. Well... here's the amount of publicly owned land in Islington. Doesn't seem to be much of a shortage. Almost as if the problem is permissions.
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@TomJackSpencer
Tom Spencer
2 years
Asylum seekers have broken no law, and are coming to the UK for a better life. We should be embracing these entrepreneurial individuals and allowing their families to make a better life here - not sending them off to a country with a more than questionable human rights record.
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@TomJackSpencer
Tom Spencer
4 years
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@TomJackSpencer
Tom Spencer
1 year
1/4 One massive constraint in British regulatory policy is our failure to embrace losses to create net gains. This example from the London plan is a typical. Even if there is a net gain in biodiversity, the plan warns against any loss anywhere.
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@TomJackSpencer
Tom Spencer
1 year
1/12 #BrownfieldFirst : a thread 🧵 Underlying the Government's changes to national planning policy is a belief that we should prioritise brownfield land for development. But what does this mean? How would it work? And What would be the consequences?
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@TomJackSpencer
Tom Spencer
3 years
@nominalthoughts @dznyella @meIisactu It’s only squirty cream if it comes out of an aerosol. Otherwise it’s just whipped cream. Cream is very important to us, and expecting whipped and getting squirty is very disappointing, so we must differentiate between the two.
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@TomJackSpencer
Tom Spencer
2 years
Finally got my exam results back so can let people know that I will be studying an MPhil in Land Economy by Research at the University of Cambridge. Any tabbers who want to grab a beer hmu
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@TomJackSpencer
Tom Spencer
2 years
@JosephPolitano @_night_brain__ @Sharon_Kuruvila Why do you only tag me in stuff to remind me how bad my country is doing? I already know this.
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@TomJackSpencer
Tom Spencer
3 years
Extending into the suburbs is no solution to a housing crisis. Instead we should reap the agglomeration effects of densification and build more in our cities. Read my response to @joelkotkin for @pairagraph below
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@TomJackSpencer
Tom Spencer
2 years
Just come across a good passage in a book - “On the urban fringe and in the countryside, greenbelts and related restrictions helped create a land shortage which contributed to skyrocketing prices” The year this was published? 1962
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@TomJackSpencer
Tom Spencer
2 years
@nominalthoughts @michigeese_ Nah, our libel law is bad and that case is real. Think they made a film about it
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@TomJackSpencer
Tom Spencer
1 year
Great to see my article on property tax reform for @thefabians in print. The next Labour Government need to realise that council tax & stamp duty are regressive and hurt productivity. If we want to deliver a growing economy it must start by reforming these taxes.
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@TomJackSpencer
Tom Spencer
3 years
@policyfailure Women posting Dudes W’s
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@TomJackSpencer
Tom Spencer
4 years
@RWeedenSanz You realise you’ve just deprived an area with a housing crisis of over 150 new homes with a good amount of them being affordable? This is not something to celebrate.
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@TomJackSpencer
Tom Spencer
3 years
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@TomJackSpencer
Tom Spencer
2 years
Visiting the Torre de los Ingleses (Tower of the English) on Plaza Britannia in Buenos Aires today to celebrate 40 years since Britain successfully defeated Argentinas war of aggression in the Falklands.
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@TomJackSpencer
Tom Spencer
2 years
In the famous case of Miller v Jackson, Lord Denning rather persuasively explained why it would be improper for the cricket club to be forced out.
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@TomJackSpencer
Tom Spencer
2 years
1/19 Extremely happy to see my article, “Planning policy, the public interest and the discharge of restrictive covenants” published in the Conveyancer and Property Lawyer. A thread explaining the article 🧵
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@TomJackSpencer
Tom Spencer
1 year
Wokingham’s average home has increased by an average of £17.7k every year since May 2010, despite supply growing pretty quickly there. This present a great example of the problems with the greenbelt. As people can’t live near London they rush to nearby commuter towns like this.
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@politicshome
PoliticsHome
1 year
Tories blame too much housebuilding for local election losses
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@TomJackSpencer
Tom Spencer
3 years
On the way to the Ball #AutumnBall
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@TomJackSpencer
Tom Spencer
4 years
As a right winger, who expresses right wing thoughts in my essays, taught mostly by left wing people, I have never been marked down for having such thoughts. Please stop trying to import culture wars
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@TomJackSpencer
Tom Spencer
2 years
If your GDP doesn’t double every 20 years you’re failing as a country.
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@TomJackSpencer
Tom Spencer
2 years
"What we need is someone, anyone, prepared to do what it takes to create growth and make ourselves a more productive nation again. If this doesn’t happen, recessions are only going to become more and more common." Check out my latest in @CityAM for more.
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@TomJackSpencer
Tom Spencer
2 years
The water point is niche, so see below
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@TomJackSpencer
Tom Spencer
3 years
Romeo & Juliet
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@TomJackSpencer
Tom Spencer
3 years
My Tamworth Prize winning essay on how proportional property taxes can support levelling up has just been published in @WeAreBrightBlue 's Centre Write magazine. Please do check it out below!
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@TomJackSpencer
Tom Spencer
3 years
Thank you very much to the lovely team @GBNEWS , @mrmarkdolan and my fellow panelists @MoLovatt & @OliviaUtley tonight. Was quite nervous going into the studio for the first time, but thoroughly enjoyed myself.
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@TomJackSpencer
Tom Spencer
3 years
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@TomJackSpencer
Tom Spencer
1 year
The council could within their existing powers develop this area to look this any of these pictures presenting significantly denser neighbourhoods. The problem is they choose not to do so, because the planning system is not designed in a way that incentivises them to do so.
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@TomJackSpencer
Tom Spencer
2 years
Quite chuffed with this
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@TomJackSpencer
Tom Spencer
6 years
When joining the Euro was up for debate we were told capital flight will occur if we do not join. Now the same people are telling us that if we leave the EU capital flight will occur so we need to vote again until we get it right. The Majors and Mandelsons should just be ignored.
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@TomJackSpencer
Tom Spencer
4 years
Definitely the most important cause I’ve been able to write about. What’s happening in Xinjiang is nothing short of a genocide. Thanks to 1828 for giving me the platform to raise attention to the issue. Please do give it a read and let me know what you think.
@1828uk
1828
4 years
The UK must not stand idly by as the Chinese regime subjects Uighur Muslims to a campaign of genocide, mass internment in concentration camps, family separations, forced labour and forced renunciations of faith
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@TomJackSpencer
Tom Spencer
1 year
Fundamentally demand is much higher than supply in most parts of the country. The fact large increase in borrowing costs haven’t stopped house price growth shows that boosting supply is the answer. As @s8mb reminds us - it’s supply, stupid
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@TomJackSpencer
Tom Spencer
5 months
Delighted to have been invited to sit on PricedOut’s Advisory Board! Looking forward to helping drive home the fight for housing affordability
@PricedOutUK
PricedOut
5 months
🚨 Announcing the PricedOut Advisory Board... We have assembled a cross-party team of industry leaders, local champions and policy experts. Making house prices affordable should not be a political issue - and the following people agree 👇
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@TomJackSpencer
Tom Spencer
1 year
The potential of Cambridge is limitless, but without housing reform this potential will never be actualised. This is why it’s so great to hear Gove’s speech today detailing his plan for the City! See my article for @BetterScienceUK
@s8mb
Sam Bowman
1 year
This Cambridge housing plan sounds so good. A new quarter for the city, with a gentle density, agreeablist design code, hundreds of thousands of new homes and lots of new lab space. Incredibly good news for UK science & tech. Remarkably anti-cheems!
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@TomJackSpencer
Tom Spencer
1 year
🧵 The life sciences presents the biggest growth opportunity for the UK in a generation, but planning rules are preventing it from growing. My new article for @BetterScienceUK details why that's the case. See thread below: 1/7
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@TomJackSpencer
Tom Spencer
2 years
What a beautiful country Belgium is
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@TomJackSpencer
Tom Spencer
2 years
@meIisactu Tbf I think the real reason most coffee shops aren’t open this late is lack of demand. Most people don’t want caffeine at night.
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@TomJackSpencer
Tom Spencer
1 year
On another note a lot of this stuff is just wrong. Given the huge opportunity costs of growing food in London, it is very unlikely that this is sustainable. What would be more sustainable is creating more spaces for people to live/work and producing food in less valuable land.
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@TomJackSpencer
Tom Spencer
1 year
1/4 One massive constraint in British regulatory policy is our failure to embrace losses to create net gains. This example from the London plan is a typical. Even if there is a net gain in biodiversity, the plan warns against any loss anywhere.
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@TomJackSpencer
Tom Spencer
2 years
1 like = 1 hot take
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@TomJackSpencer
Tom Spencer
3 years
Delighted to have been awarded the Deans Commendation for Land Law this evening. Posting about housing constantly has finally paid off.
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@TomJackSpencer
Tom Spencer
2 years
Capitalism is a system for winners
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@TomJackSpencer
Tom Spencer
3 years
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@TomJackSpencer
Tom Spencer
2 years
@HalSinger Interesting post mate, just wondering what's the R²?
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@TomJackSpencer
Tom Spencer
4 years
I’m running to be the vice chair for international chapters of the @ne0liberal steering committee. If you have any questions let me know
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@TomJackSpencer
Tom Spencer
3 years
Really pleased to have been selected to be a Tech Policy Fellow with @YoungVoicesOrg . Over the next 6 months, I will be working on a Capstone project on the motivations and incoherencies of the Neo-Brandeisian movement.
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@TomJackSpencer
Tom Spencer
4 years
Me and @Patrick_Da_Mann when we win the @ne0liberal steering committee elections
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@TomJackSpencer
Tom Spencer
3 years
2/9 America's record of dealing with Covid suggests that recessions are often a policy choice. Where you provide enough fiscal support, and increase the supply of money, then their worst impacts can be resisted with a quick recovery. Source: @jasonfurman
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@TomJackSpencer
Tom Spencer
2 years
@JakeAnbinder Lawyers, specifically Queens Counsels
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@TomJackSpencer
Tom Spencer
2 years
Wet day at the Palace for my Gold Duke of Edinburgh Award Presentation
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@TomJackSpencer
Tom Spencer
1 year
5/6 We can take two major conclusions from this literature: 1) where housing supply growth is limited then a large proportion of productivity gains go to landowners as opposed to wages 2) this is happening across the developed world and is resulting in greater inequality.
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