As mad as a March hare, but in April
Micturating circumstances
It is that time of year again 鈥� spring is truly sprung and a distinct tang of local elections hangs in the air. The manifestos have all been launched and battle has been joined. Every angle is exploited, so it comes as little surprise that housing is a major issue for the various parties.

I can't help mentioning however, that the Lib Dems may want to rethink their grandly titled affordable housing manifesto, Golden Shares. Far be it from me to drag these normally high-brow debates into the gutter, but they may just have laid themselves open to other parties taking the piss somewhat 鈥�

LGA suffers 'senselessness'
The Local Government Association is clearly feeling the strain of being stuck in election purdah. Its website introduces readers to the interesting concept of "worklessness" instead of "unemployment".

If they are bored perhaps they could come up with some more Blairite jargon: perhaps "cashlessness" instead of poverty; or "drinkingendlesscupsofcoffeeness" instead of "meetings"?

The knackered civil servants
After a tough six months, many Supporting People staff were off for a well-earned break last week. One officer 鈥� exhausted after the relentless build-up to the launch of Supporting People on 1 April 鈥� suggested that the ODPM set up a holiday camp where hard-pressed teams could share their implementation experiences.

Perhaps an asylum would be slightly more appropriate?

No coughing
Homelessness service providers in Yorkshire were invited to put themselves in the shoes of a homeless person at a roleplaying event set up by Kirklees council as part of its homelessness review.

Participants also played games such as "Who Wants to Be A Housing Needs Officer", based on Who Wants to be a Millionaire, and a snakes-and-ladders-style game illustrating the problems faced by homeless people. All of which makes life on the streets sound rather entertaining.

Running joke
I was pleased to see the number of housing bods that dragged themselves around the streets of London in aid of charity in the London Marathon. Housing Today's news editor Stuart Macdonald was narrowly pipped by two snails, a cigarette and designer Wayne Hemingway 鈥� although not in that order.

Hemingway sent out an email this week chasing up sponsors for cash. Apparently his time was 20 minutes slower than last year and he was rather peeved.

Lack of training? The hot weather? Not a bit of it. "I was tripped at six miles and ran with a bleeding knee and elbows for 20 miles," he says. Now that's dedication!

Bishop鈥檚 move

Everyone else may have been winding down for Easter over the past week or so, but not the canny folks at Richmond Housing Partnership. They spotted a potential marketing coup when the retired former Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr George Carey, announced that he was on the look-out for 鈥渁 four-bedroom house in Twickenham鈥�. Dr Carey was last reported as being led on a tour of RHP鈥檚 18 retirement schemes in the west London area. Social Animal is sure he would make a heaven-sent tenant.

Source

Housing Today