It was a spat of which I'm sure the scriptwriters of the august BBC radio drama The Archers would have been proud. Ewen Cameron, chairman of the Countryside Agency, squaring up to the ODPM's housing, homelessness and planning matriarch Genie Turton. Cameron bristled at Turton's suggestion that the fact that housing was at the top of the agenda in Ambridge mirrored real country life.
True as this may be, Cameron pointed out that the fictitious country village was still a fantasy of rich city folk. Now, now – whatever will the neighbours think?
Mission Nationwide
It's a dangerous game this housing finance lark. Negotiating your way through reams of government guidance on housing PFI and ALMOs is bad enough, but being grilled at gunpoint by a police SWAT team is surely above and beyond the call of duty.
Not for the hardy people at Nationwide. Whilst undertaking a site visit, the group, led by general manager Gavin Mackinlay, were "caught" red-handed by the police team, which happened to be investigating a shooting in the Plymouth Grove area of Manchester. The fleet-footed gang escaped this time, but flak jackets have since been issued as standard to all employees.
Twinkletoes they ain't
Good grief. Another CIH annual beano in Harrogate, another trip into the very bowels of hell that is the Thursday night disco.
I know the sector doesn't really get much of a chance to let its hair down, but some of the behaviour on display would turn the stomach of hardened anthropologists. And if the laddishness wasn't bad enough, there's always the … shudder … dancing.
One can't help but think: if this is what the sector is like, is it any wonder there are vast swaths of low demand? Perhaps an £8bn, decade-long mass enrolment in a charm school is in order, not a market renewal fund.
It's a jungle out there
Attention was drawn away briefly from Harrogate by the antisocial behaviour of my colleagues in the animal kingdom.
It would appear that the furry brethren are going on a crime spree. A chimp was believed to be responsible for a break-in in east London and a suspected intruder in Henley turned out to be a wallaby. The mind boggles. What's next – acceptable behaviour contracts for pets?
From choppers to loafers
Business magnate Julian Richer suffered a setback on his way to hear his colleague Tom Manion speaking at Harrogate. Dastardly officials would not let him land his helicopter in the grounds of a nearby hotel so he had to make the final bit of the trip by a four-wheeled form of transport.
Meanwhile, Dr "Imelda Marcos" Tom bought new shoes for the occasion but, fearing a platform pratfall, spent the hour before going on stage scuffing those shiny soles all around conference. Bless.
Wake-up call with a difference
As there was no room at the Harrogate inn, I retired to a kennel in Ripon this year and received an unusual wake up call. I was shocked out of sleep on Thursday morning by the sound of loud and decidedly violent regurgitation emanating from the room next door. You know who you are. Then again, it could have been anybody judging by the Majestic the previous evening.
That'll help the networking
Gremlins got into the badge printer at Harrogate last week. One delegate just had her name followed by "Dire housing".
Source
Housing Today
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