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2 weeks ago | 
politicshome.com | Alan White |Niamh Regan |Sam Robinson
We need a new approach to water bills – a rising block tariff would be transformative
Our water system is at a tipping point. Water infrastructure is in urgent need of an upgrade to address the dual pressures of record demand and a volatile climate.
The prospect looms of more hosepipe bans and even supply shortfalls as early as 2036 if we don’t act to reduce demand and invest in infrastructure.
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Jan 16, 2025 | 
smf.co.uk | Sam Robinson |Niamh Regan
Published: 16 January 2025 As households struggle to afford their water bills, social tariffs have a crucial role to play in ensuring that water is affordable for everyone who needs it. While social tariffs are in place already, their design and eligibility is largely left to companies to decide – resulting in worrying postcode lotteries and poor targeting. This briefing lays out some options for unified social tariff design.
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Dec 3, 2024 | 
detroitonemillion.substack.com | Sam Robinson
Hey, friend…It’s bittersweet writing to you in this way. I want to acknowledge the support I’ve received since leaving Axios. When you tell me I am your favorite journalist, it feels weird without my byline appearing above a story. That’s why I’m starting a new journalism project called Detroit one million. I want to answer this question in a way that brings life to the past while looking ahead.
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Nov 27, 2024 | 
smf.co.uk | Sam Robinson
Published: 27 November 2024 Artificial intelligence and automation are ideally suited to do many of the tasks that public servants in user-facing roles currently spend hours managing. This report outlines the benefits the civil service and public sector can reap by further integrating AI and automation into its user-facing workstreams, as well as the time savings available to the public which use them.
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Sep 30, 2024 | 
footnotes.substack.com | Sam Robinson
Shades of pink and orange, the watercolors of dawn, blur through the fog along the escarpment of the Oakland hills, drawing color down into the rift valley below. For a moment, confronted with this technicolor canvas, you wonder if this is artifice, some painted background for a cinematic tableau. Lake Temescal itself is indeed an artifact, the result of an earthen dam tossed against a canyon creek in 1868.
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Sep 16, 2024 | 
ndsmcobserver.com | Sam Robinson
The Raclin Murphy Museum of Art debuted the temporary exhibition “Through the Lens of Father Francis Browne, S.J.: Photographic Adventures of an Irish Priest” on Aug. 27. This is the museum's second temporary exhibition, following “Equal Forces: The Sculpture and Photography of Kenneth Snelson” which was on display from March 19 to July 7. The Fr. Francis Browne exhibition will be on display until Dec. 1.
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Sep 9, 2024 | 
footnotes.substack.com | Sam Robinson
In February of 1924, Harland Bartholomew, a city planner from St. Louis, stood before the Chamber of Commerce of Oakland, California and proclaimed to a room of local notables that the town’s streets were generally shitty. The evening had begun as a chipper occasion. It was a period of rapid growth for Oakland and opportunities abounded to shape the future of the city on the San Francisco Bay’s eastern shore.
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Aug 21, 2024 | 
politicshome.com | Sam Robinson |Nadine Batchelor-Hunt
5 min read
A new push by the Labour Government to make sure pensioners do not miss out on financial support they are entitled to is unlikely to avert a rise in fuel poverty, charities have warned.
Age UK and the End Fuel Poverty Coalition also criticised ministers for failing to consult with them on their recent decision to scrap universal Winter Fuel Allowance.
Last month, Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced that the Winter Fuel Payment would be moving to a means-tested arrangement.
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Aug 12, 2024 | 
chinookobserver.com | Sam Robinson
In a recent New York Times profile, Congresswoman Marie Glusenkamp Perez reiterated her commitment to putting people ahead of ideology, her marquee “right to repair” legislation, and her support of rural, working class communities. Now, she needs to honor her promise to her Chinook constituents in Washington’s Third Congressional District by introducing the Chinook Indian Nation Restoration Act of 2024.
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Apr 30, 2024 | 
politicshome.com | Nadine Batchelor-Hunt |Sam Robinson
4 min read
As spring brings us longer and warmer days, it is tempting to think of the energy crisis of last year as a short, sharp, unpleasant episode now in the rear-view mirror.
But even if the worst is behind us, the crisis remains all too real for many households. Though the price cap fell in April, it is still almost 40 per cent higher than it was before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and it is unlikely to return to those pre-crisis levels this year.
