Roasting old chestnuts on the open fire
Funny money
Horizon chief exec Ben Wilson showed he was getting into the festive spirit nice and early this year at a meeting of the Solomon Project for small RSLs last week. Wilson, also the chairman of the London Housing Federation, pulled out a bag of chocolate money – a Christmas favourite of many children down the years – saying it illustrated the role of the Housing Corporation.

Sadly, Wilson wasn't implying that the Corpy was about to get all generous and shower the sector with gifts. Instead he declared: "It's chocolate money because they ran out of money this year – they had a cash crisis." Possibly more Scrooge than Santa then.

Rouse and about
Speaking of busy people, another civil servant eating up the miles is the head of the government's design watchdog, the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment. John Rouse – who also finds time in his busy schedule to grace these very pages – was due to attend an awards ceremony near London Bridge station. Attempting to avoid the traffic, canny John got the train, only to find to his horror as it rolled straight past London Bridge that the first stop was Sevenoaks in Kent. Still, I'm sure he got a nice view of plenty of buildings on his unscheduled round trip.

Dreams of Field
I caught up with that one-man radical think tank otherwise known as Frank Field MP at a seminar last week. We're happy to report that he was at his entertaining, imaginative best.

A couple of his new ideas on tackling antisocial tenants stood out in particular: who's for indestructible accommodation under motorways to house those who absolutely refuse to mend their ways?

Unfortunately, I suspect that Field's enthusiasm for the discipline formerly instilled in young men by seeing colleagues lose the odd limb in Liverpool's once ubiquitous shipyards, was misplaced.

When even grizzled hacks grimace at a comment, you know you're on to a loser.

The Corporation vs Saddam
The war against terror has finally touched social housing. When the Housing Corporation inspection team, the UN weapons inspectors of the sector, paid a visit to Metropolitan Housing, director Graeme Moran quipped: "We have nothing to hide but weapons of mass construction."

Will we see aircraft carriers massed on the Thames if they don't get three stars? And where is the sector's axis of evil located? Answers on a postcard …

Where no RSL has been before

It’s staff training, Jim, but not as we know it. The employees of Coventry-based Whitefriars Housing Group were last week taken to the final frontier of customer service by theatre company Oddsocks in a bid to emphasise the importance of teamwork and staff motivation. The actors used a full stage set of cult sci-fi television series Star Trek, in a bid to put the corporate “stardust” message across to staff. According to Whitefriars chief executive, Howard Farrand, the day was a huge success. “I’m delighted with the results of our conference,” he beamed, “and look forward to repeating this success in future training experiences.” Could this be the birth of the next generation of training?

Source

Housing Today