Fashioning a crude nest from shredded policy documents
Bullet holes not included
Worried about the future? The prospect of a claustrophobic life in an ever-shrinking prefabricated pod getting you down? Fear not – the Design Museum has stepped in to see if it can make high-density living fun.

An upcoming year-long series of installations at the museum promises to explore "visionary" ways to improve the quality of life for people who live in compact homes. The first is called "Bonnie and Clyde", and is "a moulded polyurethane foam replica 1985 Ford Escort Coupe" which can be used as a sofa, a DJ booth for parties and a bed. If that's the future, I'm moving to a low-demand area.

Eau my goodness
My suggestion that "eau de PM" should be the correct pronunciation for the acronym of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister prompted one wag to point out that anything that emanates from "Maison Jean Piès Côte" will almost certainly get up your nose. While I have nothing but admiration for the work of Monsieur du Double Jaguar, there is one Welsh farmer who could testify to the nasal impact of the great man after last year's highly entertaining scuffle.

The prince and the pauper
What have slow-witted Big Brother inmate Jade Goody and French aristocrat Prince Henri d'Orleans got in common? More than you would think.

Somewhat bizarrely, they're both said to be in rent arrears with their local council. I was incredibly moved to hear about poor old Prince Henri VII (great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandson of Louis XIV for those not up to speed on their history of European royalty). Prince Henri has been forced to sell some family heirlooms, given by Louis XIV to Marie-Antoinette, to settle a £96,000 bill from the Paris town hall for unpaid rent on his council flat.

Before you could say "off with his head", the ever resourceful Henri handed over the heirlooms, door panels painted by Nicolas Poussin, one of the world's great classical painters, to the awaiting bailiffs.

Rumours that a Mr P Henri's name had appeared on the Notting Hill Trust housing waiting list had yet to be verified at the time of going to press.

Meanwhile, bubbly Londoner Jade is not only at risk of eviction from the Big Brother house. She's also reportedly in trouble with Southwark Council over the small matter of "thousands" of pounds of unpaid rent. Ah well, it's only a game show.

Well-read Ken
At a recent London Housing Federation event, I was gratified to learn that none other than Mr London himself, Ken Livingstone, has found time to devote to reading these very pages. He must need some stimulation now that he's stopped buying the Evening Standard.

Up, up and away ...

Further evidence of new Labour’s blue-sky thinking on the privatisation of air traffic control: new housing minister Tony McNulty, on a maiden flight at a London Housing Federation event, called for more imaginative use of London’s airspace for housing purposes. Presumably he means putting homes above supermarkets, petrol stations and the like, not flying freeholds. Could this be the big opportunity Airways Housing Society has been waiting for? Or will it all turn out to be pie in the sky?

Source

Housing Today