Our Friends in the North [1984] – a personal view
January 28th, 2017
Scabs
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 [1979] – a personal view
January 27th, 2017
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 [1974] – a personal view
January 26th, 2017
Claud Seabrook – Arthur Fieldson – Ron Conrad
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 [1970] – a personal view
January 25th, 2017
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 [1967] – a personal view
January 24th, 2017
Eddie Wells and Nicky Hutchinson talking
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 [1966] – a personal view
January 23rd, 2017
Mary and Tosker at Willow Lane Flats
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 [1964] – a personal view
January 22nd, 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 – a personal view
January 21st, 2017
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Mary explains Alan Roe’s plan – Elaine looks like thunder
“Let those who want to buy, buy. Let those who want to rent, rent, but what will they rent if I’ve sold all the council houses?” asks Mary of her replacement, Elaine.
“Well, why not use the proceeds to build more council houses?” replies Elaine.
“Because a) I have to sell them dirt cheap, and b) I’m only allowed to use half the proceeds to build replacement houses.” – replies Mary. “The other half has to finance a reduction in the rates.”
This exchange is one of the reasons OFITN might fairly be described as a Northern housing drama. The above exchange is one of many examples illustrating the effect the housing situation had on its residents, from the shoddy system built flats of the 1960s through to the Thatcherite push for home ownership via right to buy and its concomitant effect on the declining estates and their residents signified here by the desperate situation of Sean Collins at Valley View.
The scene near the end in the bar, between Geordie, Sean Collins, a young lad of 10 or 11 and his dad Christopher – is one of the most moving and powerful in the entire film, and the empathy shown by Geordie towards Sean, says a lot for his strength of character, his own life having suffered hours dreadful and things strange to say the least.
Zeilenbau orientation
December 8th, 2016
Churchill Gardens Pimlico – Powell and Moya
On reading Lewisham, the Notopian future of London by Owen Hatherley the other day, I was struck by this sentence.
“This particular part of the development is darkened by the canyon-like effect of tall blocks looming over a narrow service road, something avoided by postwar council estates, what with their green space and carefully arranged orientation to the sun.”
[…]
“Third, the new vernacular, so long as it coexists with a developer-driven urbanism which sees spaciousness as so much wasted, unrentable space, means little more than politesse curtain-walled over plutocracy.” [Owen !!!]
Moving on, the estate that comes most quickly to mind and probably to any member of the C20th Society or DocomomoUK is Churchill Gardens by Powell and Moya.
Paul Watt at the RA – September 26th 2016
November 24th, 2016
He was one of four speakers and a chair, and his talk was such a good summary of what has happened to council housing under New Labour and since that I have transcribed it, with the help of YouTube (upload, wait, download captions), below:-
Okay I’m going to start somewhat differently I’m not really going to talk about the architecture I’m not going to talk about the estates, in a way the concept of a council estate is epiphenomenal to really the fundamental key aspect of what we’re dealing with. The key aspect for council housing for me is that it’s a part of the welfare state.