Every dog has its day, and now it’s every Friday
Nightmare at the house of Wicks
After last week’s tirade by work and pensions minister Malcolm Wicks against the attitude of housing professionals towards antisocial behaviour, I delved deeper into the minister’s past. It seems that Wicks has engaged in similarly bellicose fashion with the housing world on at least one previous occasion. Wicks accused “a housing association in my constituency” of failing to deal effectively with the problem of antisocial tenants. Spurred into action, the National Housing Federation did the necessary digging, but was unable to trace the rotten landlord. Bemused, my snout at the Fed concluded it must have been a figment of the minister’s imagination.

Tony’s war on litter
It seems that, aside from Saddam Hussein, Tony Blair has another bugbear on his mind that simply cannot be ignored: litter. Cabinet ministers who would often tremble when faced with the prospect of a walkabout in some of the less salubrious parts of their constituencies now have to watch out for excessive littering and report back to the PM. Will poor Louise Casey , head of the antisocial behaviour unit, now be tasked with marshalling discarded crisp packets?

The other side of offence
It seems my colleagues at HT really ought to get out more. Apparently the phrase “shadow boxer”, which appeared in relation to Office of Deputy Prime Minister shadow David Davis in last week’s issue, has a rather less than complimentary meaning. I would like to take this opportunity to assure readers that this – if true – was wholly unintentional and should in no way be construed as a response to the attitude of Tory governments to the sector down the years.

The runaway minister
It emerged this week that John Prescott has experienced the sharp end of housing. While working on a report into young runaways, social exclusion unit director Claire Tyler found out that her boss had run away as a child. Apparently, the young Prescott decided he had had enough after an argument with his mother. On his return there was a “colourful” exchange – as you might imagine. Tyler asked whether she could use the incident in the report but for some reason Prescott refused the request.

So, farewell then …
It is with great sadness that I must report the departure of that bastion of Housing Today, Janis Bright, to pastures new. Janis has succumbed to the charms of Alistair McIntosh at the Housing Quality Network, although she will remain with the magazine as a consultant. I have spent many glorious hours with Janis gossiping about all the dubious and occasionally hilarious rumblings in the housing world. However, I am certain that she will enjoy it just as much in her new role as prey for my insatiable appetite for tittle-tattle …

The grey terror

Admit it – it’s always a pleasure to see a politician, regardless of political leaning, being given a hard time in public. At an anti-transfer rally last week, trade union bosses and MPs had to sheepishly endure a barrage of heckling from a harmless-looking little old lady in the front rows. Not even Labour old favourites like Austin Mitchell escaped her wrath. “Yak, yak,” she jeered every time he opened his mouth. Thank goodness John Prescott wasn’t there: it’s hard to imagine how fisticuffs could have been avoided.

Source

Housing Today