星空传媒

JED means jeg elsker deg

LASHG, KLOE, ALMO 鈥� there鈥檚 nothing housing folk like better than a good set of initials. Here鈥檚 my current favourite: SUMO, which stands for 鈥渟hut up and move on鈥�.

No, it鈥檚 not the Home Office鈥檚 new antisocial behaviour catchphrase but apparently what one should do in the face of change, or so members of the Housing Association Internal Auditors Forum were told at the organisation鈥檚 annual conference in Manchester this month.

In order to reinforce the message, delegates were asked to make a love pledge to each other in Norwegian.

Social Animal is not convinced that flowery Scandinavian prose will help you face down redundancy, but I guess it could help you drown your sorrows in Oslo.

Lame academy

Hacas Chapman Hendy鈥檚 Derek Joseph is a regular fixture in the housing press but, at Trowers & Hamlin鈥檚 reception at the Royal Academy last week, he confided that television is where his heart truly lies.

Indeed, fans of early 1990s holiday programmes may have seen Joseph鈥檚 first starring role 鈥� touring theme parks with his family to mark the opening of Eurodisney.

Unfortunately, disaster struck when Joseph twisted his ankle and had to soldier on with subsequent shots redesigned to hide the injured limb. What a pro 鈥� Judith Chalmers would be proud.

Camera loves you, baby

Also spotted at the Trowers bash: New Islington & Hackney chief executive Brendan Sarsfield with his daughter Tessie.

You鈥檒l have seen Sarsfield, of course, looking pensive on the cover of Housing Today鈥檚 16 April issue after he pounded the mean streets of east London to ask tenants how he could improve services.

But Tessie revealed exclusively that, chez Sarsfield, our black-and-white pics met a cool reception on the grounds that he looked like 鈥渁 Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels gangster鈥�.

So, is this the end of Sarsfield鈥檚 career in front of the camera? 鈥淲ell, I suppose I could model balaclavas,鈥� he suggested to Social Animal with, I鈥檓 sure you鈥檒l agree, undue modesty.

Social housing democrats

鈥淒emocracy is the worst form of government except all those others that have been tried,鈥� according to Winston Churchill. Tenants of New Charter Housing would probably agree.

A total of eight tenant representative places are up for grabs on the RSL鈥檚 two subsidiary boards and, so far, nine candidates have put their names forward.

Four will be elected unopposed; the other five await their peers鈥� verdict. All in all, though, as only one person out of the nine stands to fail, it looks like excitement will fail to reach fever pitch on 26 July when the result is declared.