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Tag: FT

It’s time for Shapps to find a big bazooka

It’s time for Shapps to find a big bazooka

In September 2010 Grant Shapps set a “Gold Standard” against which he, as housing minister, would be judged – to see a house-building rate at least matching that achieved before the recession. There are few targets (political hostages to fortune, perhaps) discernable from the reams of documentation and hours of speeches and statements made by this Government. But this is one. It is important. The consensus is England needs more homes. Sorry, a lot more homes, more even than the previous…

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The Financial Times, Barbour ABI and construction prospects

The Financial Times, Barbour ABI and construction prospects

Did you see the FT piece with the Barbour ABI figures? What do you think? A bit worrying don’t you think? That set of questions in various guises came at me a few times yesterday as I was sipping a cappuccino in a sunlit Covent Garden cafe and while lunching on tapas with an old friend in Soho. My rare treat of an away day from numbers was not to be. Still. My initial reaction was: the figures may look scary, but…

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