Beavering away to get the latest on the otter situation
Baywatch it ain't
Employees of housebuilder John Laing Partnerships are probably quite used to swimming against the current, given the tide of bad news that has swept over the company in the past 12 months.

However, an enterprising employee at one of the firm's training centres in east London is proposing a change of tack by offering lessons in life-saving. Ironic? Perhaps. But in the age of multi-skilling and diversification, it makes perfect sense – doesn't it?

Tales from the riverbank
Ah, the otter. Playful, water-bound, bewhiskered; immortalised as Tarka in the book by Henry Williamson; and now the latest natural element to slow the fevered pace of the construction industry.

Following last week's news that a family of thrushes had invaded a building site in the North-west, the Environment Agency has warned heavy-booted builders to beware of destroying otters' habitat when building around rivers and marshland.

Keep your eyes peeled for otter-based excuses to come flooding in once development stalls in the Thames Gateway.

The sound of the suburbs
Politicians have long been aware of social housing's importance, and now Britain's more right-on popular musicians are getting in on the act, too.

Art-school mockneys Blur are no strangers to the world of public amenities, hitting the charts with songs inspired by the built environment such as Park Life and Country House.

So it's no surprise that they've named their new album Think Tank after one of Housing Today's regular features. Perhaps frontman Damon Albarn would like to join our own beat combo – sorry, expert panel – and offer advice on the sector's dilemmas?

I'm an executive, get me out of here
How kind of John Craggs, group strategic executive at Sunderland Housing Group, to go all the way to Glasgow to help Glasgow Housing Association interview prospective staff. So engrossed was he in the job, however, that he failed to notice time ticking by, until, trying to leave, he found the doors had been locked and everyone else had gone home. Luckily for Sunderland, he was rescued after setting off the alarm system.

Get a grip
A good, firm handshake is vital in any interview situation – and the secret of success for Keynote Housing Group chief executive Tom Murtha.

Many years ago, the young Murtha was close to losing out to another candidate until the other candidate shook the prospective boss' hand – and delivered a masonic handshake. Murtha was later told he got the job "because of his non-masonic handshake" – his intelligence and experience go without saying, of course.

Home match

A clash of the titans took place in east London last week when charities Centrepoint and Crisis met each other on the football pitch. Crisis went 2-0 up in the first half after goals from fundraisers Ed Tait and Mark Powell and it continued to look like Crisis’ match until a spectacular hat trick from Centrepoint’s own Beckham, otherwise known as central services administrator Mike Wood, carried them to a 3-2 victory. The dejected Crisis team were left to skulk around the streets of Whitechapel after having been told by chief executive Shaks Ghosh not to come back to the office if they lost. Poor lambs.

Source

Housing Today