Single Aspect Blog

Music – Erire – Dusk ‘Til Dawn

It was as the line of cyclists passed me, one of them pointing and laughing at my progress as I bounced along the footpath, that I wondered if I had chosen the right way of getting fit and losing weight.

Read the rest of this entry »

Having been reminded of one of my articles on housing and the Tories by people in the stats reading it this week I decided to take another look and revisit the links where necessary.  They’re all still valid and now perhaps more so given what we are about to face if he lasts five years. [See note at bottom * – Ed.]

From October 6th, 2011

Here are a few links I gathered together last year in 2010 on Cameron’s attitude to housing.  I’m loath to delete them so here they are (again) as a reference point of 2010 in politics and the Tory approach to those in need of a roof over their heads.

It seems quite apt to post them again given that the Tory conference 2011 has just finished and the only thing we’ve heard is the utter stupidity of widen right to buy.

Read the rest of this entry »

This collection of links appears to have caused something of a minor flurry of interest, at least in proportion to the hits my blog normally gets. A few weeks ago I had a clear out of minor and link based articles from a few years ago which had Cameron’s name in and seemed irrelevant. Thanks to Google cache I’ve recovered them so for what it’s worth here they are in short order.

Read the rest of this entry »

Read the rest of this entry »

Click the image

I’m not on Twitter so I can’t tweet this but if you care about council housing and right to buy you ought to be aware of this article in the Daily Mirror. Heard through @gamecounsel

I read this letter by Andrew Brewer last night in the London Evening Standard (online) and it struck a chord. At last I understand clearly why the Scots will not be voting Labour. They’ve got more sense.

Click image for original letter

Their politics are more progressive than we have had the benefit of South of the border for 35 years although I suspect just as many down here think left hence the #greensurge. The Scots still understand what left wing means, unlike the Labour party, and they are prepared to vote in favour of a party with left wing policies. If only @uklabour were more courageous they’d have my vote.

Link to referenced article:-

https://www.standard.co.uk/Matthew D’ancona

I disagree with D’ancona. It’s typical of the LES to employ columnists with those views but he underestimates the feeling in the rest of the country, outside London, and with regard to housing, inside London, for a wind that doesn’t blow from Eton.

Click image to watch

A clip I found by accident while changing channels on the TV one morning. A quick precis of 1950s architecture.

“Certainly for me understanding more about the history behind this architecture has given me a deeper appreciation and respect for their vision of a brighter tomorrow” – Jasmine Harman

Perched in London is somebody I have a lot of time for.  Working in the housing sector and with extensive knowledge of the problems faced by the elderly who undertook right to buy while being poorly advised in many cases, @cityeyrie is acutely aware of the problems faced as councils routinely land leaseholders with bills for thousands of pounds at the wrong end of their lives when many if not all would have been better off remaining as council tenants.

Read the rest of this entry »

This article is worth reading

“As large housing estates are being demolished and the age of great social democracies recedes, taking with it any notion of an architecture for the public, OMA partner Reinier de Graaf asks if there is any alternative to building capital”

https://www.architectural-review.com/8681564.article

Read the rest of this entry »

Click image for film

Last night ITV devoted their programme to the London housing crisis in the course of which they visited Cressingham Gardens Estate. That clip is linked above and the 30m programme from the link below.