Fashion is so last year, dahling
Housing's where it's at, daddio
Poor Wayne Hemingway. The former fashion designer and chair of Fashion Rocks for the Prince's Trust had a ticket for the latter's all-star gig at the Albert Hall last week – and was no doubt eagerly anticipating the performances from such talented pop artistes as Blue and Plastic Has Memory.

But he was forced to miss it because his previous engagement – a meeting with the planning department at Gateshead council – overran.

"It was much more exciting than watching some ponces walking up and down a catwalk," our Wayne told delegates at a Northern Housing Consortium conference. Clearly, he doesn't go to the same planning meetings as the rest of us.

Where is the love?
Paul Boateng, chief secretary to the Treasury, recently took the time to meet Tom Manion, chief executive of Irwell Valley.

Boateng reportedly asked him how the government could convince public sector workers to improve customer services. "Give them a hug," he was told. "Make them feel better." Social Animal looks forward to the Whitehall love-in but wonders, will it survive the next spending review?

That's a little harsh, madam
Peter Walls is on a mission to rebuild Sunderland, and no one can doubt his commitment to the cause or his energy in pursuing his ambitious demolitions and building programme. Anxious to win hearts and minds, he organised a day of tenants' meetings to get his vision across. But halfway through his first sales pitch, a stony-faced pensioner declared she had seen this kind of demolition once before: "You've knocked down more homes than Hitler," she told him. Hearts and minds, Peter, hearts and minds.

Lend me your earplugs
At last week's press conference to launch the Home Office's antisocial behaviour action plan, Louise Casey, head of the Antisocial Behaviour Unit, advised the audience to cover their ears during the screening of a hard-hitting short film.

But surely if any of the assembled specialists were upset by strong language, they're in the wrong job?

The good old days
Dorset's Poundbury village, Prince Charles' interpretation of a sustainable community, may have overdone it on the nostalgia. Inspired by the villages of yesteryear, when neighbours knew how to make their own entertainment, an ODPM study by Design for Homes has found that residents there can interact without leaving the comfort of their living rooms.

Apparently, people can hear neighbours' conversations from two doors away and the fear of being overhead is one of their major concerns.

Rat a ding ding

Kids in Bootle, Merseyside, were so stung by a damning BBC documentary on the vermin problem in the area that they formed a Rat Pack to deal with it. Sponsored by Riverside Housing, the Housing Corporation and Sefton Neighbourhood Renewal Fund, the group of children are solving local problems and collecting opinions about the unwanted furry residents. Unlike the original Rat Pack, though, the plan doesn’t involve nightclub singing, heavy drinking and connections with the underworld – actually, the idea is to reduce antisocial behaviour.

Source

Housing Today