The column that's put together on a folding dinner table
It's good to talk
The National Housing Federation has been engaged in an increasingly bitter war of words with BT over the failure to connect its new Holborn headquarters – to which it plans to move this weekend – to the outside world.

Although BT has promised its angry client that the work will be completed on time, just to be on the safe side, the Fed has bought 60 mobile phones as emergency back-up.

Reality bites TV
Social Animal is not one to get all partisan, as you know, but I've come across one cause that's so worthwhile I can't resist a bit of shameless campaigning. The upcoming BBC series Restoration, in which restoration projects compete for funding, will feature one that includes social housing.

Castle House in Bridgwater, Somerset, would provide three flats to be managed by local registered social landlord SHAL Housing, so remember that name when the text voting starts.

A decent home?
Speaking of text voting, it's that time of year again: Britain's most famous house in multiple occupation will be on our screens and in our tabloids 24/7 from tonight, when Big Brother begins on Channel 4.

According to the show's executive producer, this year's house has been specially refurbished by designer Markus Blee (whose CV also includes the set for Gordon Ramsay's latest show, Hell's Kitchen) to be "difficult for people" to live in.

This involved fitting beige carpets and fluorescent strip lights and painting the walls green, grey and white. Reportedly, "the space is so small that designers had to create a dining table that can be folded up and pushed away"! Gosh! How will the poor contestants cope?

It'll only hurt for a minute
Friendly relations between Hull council and the Audit Commission are to be rekindled sooner than expected. Along with 17 other council "guinea pigs", plucky Hull has put itself forward for an Audit Commission initiative that aims to assess the overall quality of life in local authority areas. Its recent history – specifically its run of damning zero-star inspections from the commission – suggests Hull might be trying to get the painful process over as quickly as possible.

Media studies
So the Home Office has decided to plough some of its media budget into a promoting a positive image of migrants. Considering the recent round of delays, last-minute announcements and High Court wrangles, I wonder if the money might be better spent on putting its own house into order before taking on Richard Desmond and the dastardly Daily Express?

Room 106

The ministerial taskforce consulting on the future of section 106 agreements is due to meet for the second time this week. However, it’s unlikely the rest of us will get an inkling of what’s being said until it reports in the autumn. Members of the taskforce have been warned that the meetings are being conducted under “Chatham House Plus” rules – which seem to mean that taskforce members can’t talk to anyone about anything said, er, ever. Anyone who blabs can be struck off the board. Is it me, or does the ODPM seem a mite sensitive about this one?

Source

Housing Today