Penny Bernstock
Penny Bernstock
@pennybernstock.bsky.social
I am a visiting Professor at UEL Housing Knowledge Exchange Unit and co chair of TELCO's Olympic Strategy Group
Reposted by Penny Bernstock
Listen to Sh’s story from Gaza, told through Amal:

Children in Gaza, like 17-year-old Sh, have not been able to return to school. This year nearly 660,000 students will once again miss the start of the school year, their classrooms turned into rubble and daily struggles to survive. (1/2)
September 1, 2025 at 4:12 PM
Reposted by Penny Bernstock
Every year homeless photographers are handed single-use cameras to take photos of London to turn into a calendar they can sell.
This is London as seen through the eyes of homeless photographers
www.bigissue.com
August 23, 2025 at 6:07 PM
Reposted by Penny Bernstock
UNICEF has warned that Gaza is now the most dangerous place in the world to be a child. There is no safe corner, no promise of medical care, no proper school routine to anchor them. Childhood itself, curiosity, play, safety, has been turned upside down.
(4/5)
August 20, 2025 at 6:31 PM
Reposted by Penny Bernstock
Today, Palestinian mothers are denied the ability to feed their children at all. The same systems of control, exploitation, and violence that shaped these earlier injustices enable this one.

The right to feed one’s child should not depend on the permission of an occupying power.
August 21, 2025 at 9:40 PM
Reposted by Penny Bernstock
In July 2025, the Israeli army made survival even harder by banning all access to the sea, which means no fishing to earn a living, no fresh fish to feed families, and no swimming to cool down. (4/5)
August 12, 2025 at 5:46 PM
Reposted by Penny Bernstock
Read these words posted online by Palestinians in Gaza. Let them horrify you. Because this reality is intolerable and it cannot continue.

As trucks of aid – food, water, medicine, and hygiene supplies – wait at the border, millions of people are hungry. Stop this catastrophe.
July 20, 2025 at 12:09 PM
Reposted by Penny Bernstock
Now in Tel Aviv: Thousands of Jews and Palestinians are marching together against the starvation in Gaza and for an immediate ceasefire deal to end the annihilation and return the hostages
July 22, 2025 at 5:26 PM
Reposted by Penny Bernstock
The 2012 London Olympics bid promised affordable homes for East London. But they have not materialised. This is the real legacy of the Games.
The 2012 London Olympics promised to boost deprived areas. What went wrong?
www.bigissue.com
July 18, 2025 at 1:59 PM
Reposted by Penny Bernstock
This week’s Big Issue is out today!

🪧 What modern protest looks like
🏅 London 2012’s true legacy
💷 Brian Cox takes aim at big banks

Buy a copy from your local vendor, and read a sneak peek here. 👀https://www.bigissue.com/behind-the-scenes/inside-the-big-issue-the-shape-of-protest-in-2025/
July 14, 2025 at 7:16 AM
20 years ago London won the bid to host the games based on a promise to regenerate the area serving as a model of social inclusion. This has not happened. The key beneficiaries are professional groups. Here we set out a plan for a community led housing and employment inclusion zone on the park.
3 years on from the London Olympics, we ask: did the Games really deliver the promise of regeneration to local communities?

✍️ @pennybernstock.bsky.social, co-chair of the East London Citizens Olympic Strategy Group, writes for The Big Issue.

www.bigissue.com/news/social-...
The 2012 London Olympics promised to boost deprived areas. What went wrong?
The 2012 London Olympics bid promised affordable homes for East London. But they have not materialised. This is the real legacy of the Games.
www.bigissue.com
July 18, 2025 at 2:37 PM
Reposted by Penny Bernstock
#DontForgetGaza
Briefing by Jonathan Whittall, Head of OCHA OPT, to journalists in Deir al Balah, Gaza Strip
While the world’s attention is elsewhere, people in Gaza today are being killed trying to reach food. The attempt to survive is being met with a death sentence.
is.gd/s8MV0r
Briefing by Jonathan Whittall, Head of OCHA OPT, to journalists in Deir al Balah, Gaza Strip | United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs - Occupied Palestinian Territory
Text as prepared for delivery: While the world’s attention is elsewhere, people in Gaza today are being killed trying to reach food. The attempt to survive is being met with a death sentence. Since th...
www.ochaopt.org
June 23, 2025 at 8:50 AM
Reposted by Penny Bernstock
Anne Phoenix & John Solomos great talks in celebration of Phil Cohen. Some good optimism
June 19, 2025 at 5:57 PM
Reposted by Penny Bernstock
This Palestinian girl in Gaza is mourning her younger brother who was killed by Israeli forces while trying to collect aid from Rafah.
June 16, 2025 at 11:00 AM
Reposted by Penny Bernstock
Becky Tunstall’s report looks like a grim but compelling exposition of the state of the nation.
www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
‘Stress crisis’ in UK as 5m struggle with financial, health and housing insecurity
Exclusive: Levels of ‘multi-stress’ at highest since 2008 crash, study says, with people feeling profoundly powerless
www.theguardian.com
June 6, 2025 at 5:47 AM
Reposted by Penny Bernstock
Dock workers in Marseille are refusing to load a ship with military cargo destined for Israel - they need our support. They are doing what’s right, where their government has failed
Sign the open letter of solidarity, send a message to these brave workers standing up for Palestine?
is.gd/0kzAIv
Dockworkers defy arms shipment to Israel - stand with them ✊
A ship loaded with weapons for Israel is docked in France - but courageous dockworkers are refusing to load it. They’re taking a stand for peace, justice, and Palestine. Let’s flood them with support ...
secure.avaaz.org
June 5, 2025 at 11:48 AM
Reposted by Penny Bernstock
A group of UN human rights experts is raising alarm over a recently-passed Israeli law that allows children as young as 12 years old to be sentenced to life in prison, saying that the legislation is likely a violation of international human rights law.
truthout.org/articles/new...
1/2
New Israeli Law Allows Palestinians as Young as 12 to Be Imprisoned for Life
UN experts said that the law is explicitly written to target Palestinian children.
truthout.org
May 29, 2025 at 10:15 AM
Reposted by Penny Bernstock
Award-winning actor Juliet Stevenson has released the short film, ‘A Licence to Kill’, calling on the UK government to stop providing Israel with the weapons it uses to commit what Amnesty International described last week as a “live streamed genocide” against Palestinians in Gaza
is.gd/HYEnRR
‘A Licence to Kill’: UK government to face High Court over arms to Israel
Award-winning actor Juliet Stevenson has released the short film, ‘A Licence to Kill’, calling on the UK government to stop providing Israel with the weapons it uses to commit genocide against Pale…
artistsforpalestine.org.uk
May 7, 2025 at 11:34 AM
Reposted by Penny Bernstock
More than 3,500 children below the age of five in Gaza face “imminent death by starvation”, and about 290,000 others are “on the brink of death” as Israel continues to prevent the entry of baby formula, nutritional supplements, and all forms of humanitarian aid
aje.io/p407e2
Over 3,500 children below five ‘face imminent death by starvation’ in Gaza
About 290,000 children are ‘on the brink of death’ due to Israeli blockade on Gaza that started on March 2.
aje.io
May 4, 2025 at 9:51 AM
Reposted by Penny Bernstock
Today, Gaza’s one million children have been plunged back into a world of fear and death.

We appeal for the ceasefire to be reinstated immediately.

Full statement from UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell: unicef.link/43SB19i
March 18, 2025 at 6:36 PM
Reposted by Penny Bernstock
We congratulate all who worked on No Other Land on winning an Oscar last night. 

May this moment serve as a reminder to all of us to stand in steadfast solidarity with those enduring ethnic cleansing at the hands of the Israeli military in Masaffer Yatta and all of Palestine.
March 3, 2025 at 8:17 PM
Reposted by Penny Bernstock
Residents trapped with service charges of up to £8,000 a year to take legal action against government. #sharedownership

www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
Residents trapped with service charges of up to £8,000 a year to take legal action against government
Owners of homes marketed by housing associations as ‘affordable’ are planning a challenge as service costs spiral
www.theguardian.com
March 1, 2025 at 6:12 PM
Reposted by Penny Bernstock
Good people of London, hands are needed!

Join us on Snowdrop Sunday 23rd Feb to plant out thousands of snowdrops 'in the green' in the museum garden.

Provided:
Gardening gloves and tools
Instructions
Hot drinks and cakes

Needed:
You!

Guaranteed mood lift. Families welcome. See you there 💚
February 8, 2025 at 8:05 AM
Reposted by Penny Bernstock
Homes for families not investors - what Labour could learn from other centre-left governments ...

My piece for @labour-hub.bsky.social

labourhub.org.uk/2025/01/17/h...
Homes for families, not investors
Labour should emulate radical policies being adopted elsewhere, argues Andrew Fisher. Housing is an essential need and therefore a basic human right. Democratic governments should therefore protect…
labourhub.org.uk
January 17, 2025 at 3:45 PM