Probation back in public hands
June 11th, 2020
This is welcome news for everybody concerned, the members of the public and the people on probation themselves. I well remember the furore on Twitter some years ago when then members of the probation service were up in arms about the damage being done to their service.
Apparently this process started a year ago
It’s not the first time a Conservative Government have thought better of allowing a natural monopoly to be run by private companies. When Boris Johnson was Mayor of London he ended the Public Private Partnership, then in place for maintenance of London Underground, and hid his announcement by releasing it during a General Election campaign, but he did so nonetheless. You can read about it here:-
Election result explained from @Sheff_socialist
December 25th, 2019
The only sensible thing I’ve seen written about the election result since the day it happened.
Taken from @Sheff_socialist with link at the end:-
A long thread about my own personal experiences during this election dealing with my Labour voting family deciding to out themselves as casual racists by voting Tory / Brexit Party in traditional Labour “Red Wall” heartlands
I come from a genuine working class family .
Grandparents were miners and domestic cleaning staff
Dad was butcher , mum was a cleaner and when she remarried after their divorce she married a miner .
I grew up in a two up two down terrace house that my parents rented from the local Co-op society and then moved into a council house in Kendray (Barnsley) when my mum remarried
Public Works Loan Board – notes
November 23rd, 2016
Start here -> The_UK_Public_Works_Loans_Board.pdf
As Phillip Hammond outlines his Autumn statement in the HofC with some news on housing I continue to worry about how we (England) can dig ourselves out of the housing mess we’re in with a lack of housing for rent most people can afford. Some years ago I read about the PWLB which seemed to be a wonderful thing and I have thought ever since that this may be the answer if councils ever go back to building housing for rent on a large scale.
Unfortunately comes news that the PWLB is to be abolished and incorporated into the Treasury, further limiting the ability of councils to borrow cheaply.
Then this -> Analysis-claims-labour-councils-secure-worse-pwlb-rates
From -> Local Government Debt Report.pdf
From -> Debt Resistance UK
Now this -> PWLB be scrapped government confirms 15th November 2016
Some history here -> Public_works_loan_board_1817-76.pdf
The current situation here:-
Stats
June 10th, 2016
Since the Dan Cruickshank programme on flats, visits to my blog regarding scissor flats and dual aspect have shot up and these are the top ten at the of writing.
In the above image scissor flats are page 5595, crap flats page 884 and dual aspect page 5779.
Bankers and Blair
February 29th, 2016
Economics for the election
April 15th, 2015
Click image for article
If your head swims every time the word deficit or debt is mentioned you may like to follow Another Angry Voice and Ha-Joon Chang, the Cambridge economist who is able to put complex economic matters over in terms the layman like me can understand.
Five more years of Tory rule?
April 14th, 2015
Update 2017 Volunteers help preserve London’s parks as funding withdrawn
Tax the rich: an animated fairy tale
A while back when I was still on Twitter (yes I know) I came across this animated video about unrestrained neo-liberalism. Despite retweeting it at the time it didn’t take off. I was surprised because to me it is an accurate graphic representation of what is and has been happening to our society in the UK since 1979.
It ties in with an analysis I did a while back of a Stuart Hall paper where he examines what will happen if neo-liberalism is allowed to continue to dictate policy in public life.
Estate Regeneration – UDG – Wed 23rd April
April 12th, 2014
Architectural audio – podcast list
March 21st, 2014
This list prompted by Tom Dyckhoff @tomdyckhoff on Twitter
1) I wish every architectural and political campaigning organisation would find £50 to buy one of these and use it.
2) Royal Academy podcasts, some but not all -> RA-Architecture
3) History Spot, these are good -> http://historyspot.org.uk/podcasts/latest
4) World Service Archive -> Housing podcast list
5) Politics of Architecture -> Jonathan Glancey
Talks about architecture – Royal Academy
December 3rd, 2013
UPDATE: See this page for the programmes -> Programmes
The Architects Who Made London with Maxwell Hutchinson: Series 1
Inigo Jones, Sir Christopher Wren, Robert Adam, John Nash, Sir Charles Barry RA, Sir George Gilbert Scott RA
Architects who made London with Maxwell Hutchinson – Series One
Architects who made London – with Maxwell Hutchinson – Series One