The albatross around the sector's neck
Irritant Labour
Chief secretary to the Treasury Paul Boateng is a man who knows the meaning of job satisfaction. "I'm paid to be a nuisance," the MP for Brent South announced happily at a London conference on 9 September.

"At a local level," he added, after a moment's hesitation. "Hopefully, at a national level I'm paid to do something else."

That's Dunstable ruled out
Madonna strolling hand in hand with Prince Charles. J-Lo and Salman Rushdie giggling in a corner. The political bigwigs of the South-east know what they want from a town. When delegates at the regional assembly's urban conference were asked to decide what made a successful town, they came up with "celebrity diversity". Hollywood, eat your heart out.

Gnome sweet home
Everyone knows nimbyism isn't restricted to Daily Mail-reading housewives in the home counties. But I expected better from Robin Cook. The former foreign secretary has just lost an appeal to Edinburgh council on an application to register the flat block he lives in as a house in multiple occupation.

The erudite redhead complained that HMO tenants would lead a lifestyle "at variance" with the quiet he needs to work. He also expressed a desire to be "secure from any form of confrontation".

Of course Cook couldn't possibly be stereotyping HMO residents as criminals and antisocial louts, could he? It's nice to see the party of the working man is sticking to its roots.

Brand on the run
The perfect present for the housing association chief executive who has everything hit the shops this week. Wally Olins, the branding mastermind behind iN Business for Neighbourhoods, has published a book. Wally Olins on Brands is a riposte to the anti-globalisation "branding is bad" philosophy. He argues that brands can be a force for social good. As social and cultural bodies brand themselves, he hopes we might align ourselves with good causes rather than flashy products. So is social housing the new Nike?

It's a mystery
Rumour has it that Peter Bush, the Housing Corporation's personnel head, had a former life as a pop star. Apparently he was once in Toyah Wilcox's backing band. A quick search on the internet found a Peter Bush who played keyboards for Wilcox. Any chance of a comeback tour of corporation offices?

He's just a laid-back entertainer
I notice that the ODPM now refers to itself in all tender documentation as "the Office". Does this make John Prescott David Brent?

Strife on the ocean wave

Oh, the high sea. The feel of the wind in your hair, the salt in your eyes, the roar of the waves. And, rolling out before you, a magnificent vista of Mancunian council housing. But not any more. One Manchester tenant has received a court order to remove his boat from his back garden or risk being found in contempt of court. So we suppose he’ll be setting sail for, um, Blackpool?

Source

Housing Today