Sutton Estate dual aspect
October 26th, 2018
Further to Grenfell – Guardian
November 10th, 2017
Click image link – I am Flamingo Wader
Click link for Hatherley Jacobin article.
For clarity I am not opposing the views of the London Fire Brigade that sprinklers save lives, and indeed I would not dream of disagreeing with that simple fact, but in this specific case of concrete high rise tower blocks built to contain a fire inside one flat then sprinklers are not required in my opinion. Once the occupants are outside the flat and have closed the front door the fire will be contained.
Conclusion
For safety in a tower block circulate hot water from a ground floor boiler room – not gas to individual boilers.
On passing the Apollo pavilion – Peterlee
October 6th, 2017
2017:09:29 16:22:44
It was a beautiful warm and sunny afternoon in Peterlee and as I was taking photographs of the pavilion against the sun a teenaged girl walked past me on the footpath, underneath the pavilion, and up a staircase I had barely registered on the far side.
Joe Halewood on the end of social rent
July 17th, 2017
@SpeyeJoe has been writing about social housing for a long time and in vivid terms with figures to back up his assertions. Today is no exception and if you haven’t heard of him now is the time to start.
Affordable housing? Oh no its not! End of social housing too! We need to talk ..
In his latest article he writes about the end of social rents across the country as housing associations abandon rents based on income for an “affordable” model which isn’t.
I’ve added his blog link to my “blog roll” in the right hand column as Joe Halewood.
Grenfell Tower – Lakanal report
June 15th, 2017
Subsidy II -> this from ASH
May 28th, 2017
Far from being subsidised by the state, the rents on most post-war estates paid off the cost of their construction and debt interest years ago, and are in fact making a profit for councils and housing associations. It is the Right to Buy council homes, the Help to Buy affordable housing, the housing benefit paid to private landlords, …
Read the whole thing, all the ten points. I know ASH have made enemies but they mostly get it right and I respect their intentions. The Guardian not publishing the ten points says more about the Guardian’s rightward drift than it does about ASH.
Our Friends in the North – random thoughts
January 31st, 2017
Jules and Geordie on a bench in Regents Park in London
The character who seems to me the least successful and yet most likeable is Geordie played by Daniel Craig, who by accident or design is a drifter. Of the four of them his life appears to be the least planned out, and the least fortunate, especially given that his earlier success in Soho was based on criminal activity, which was never likely to end well.
Our Friends in the North [1995] – a personal view
January 30th, 2017
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Four friends in Newcastle have the strands of their lives interwoven with the political and economic events over three decades. Superficially it’s a nine hour film about housing, but it’s much more than that.
The Labour Party, corruption in public life and housing, the rise and fall of T. Dan Smith (Mr Newcastle), John Poulson and Reginald Maudling, sleaze in Soho, corruption in the Met, the Tories rise to power, the violence and politics of the Miners’ strike in 1984 to name but a few of the political events covered.
Our Friends in the North [1987] – a personal view
January 29th, 2017
Felix has dementia
Four friends in Newcastle have the strands of their lives interwoven with the political and economic events over three decades. Superficially it’s a nine hour film about housing, but it’s much more than that.
The Labour Party, corruption in public life and housing, the rise and fall of T. Dan Smith (Mr Newcastle), John Poulson and Reginald Maudling, sleaze in Soho, corruption in the Met, the Tories rise to power, the violence and politics of the Miners’ strike in 1984 to name but a few of the political events covered.