Who said history never repeats itself? In Whitehall, Gordon Brown was known as “the Great Clunking Fist”. Now, in his “Plan for Change” speech last Thursday, Sir Keir Starmer promised that his plan would “land on desks across Whitehall with the heavy thud of a gauntlet being thrown down”. He promised his “mission-led government” would be dynamic, more decisive, more […]
John Prescott – a prophet without honour
Most, if not all, senior politicians fulfil the old quip about every political career ending in failure. John Prescott, who died last week was unfortunately no exception. Much ink has been spilled since he died on his remarkable, bumpy and loud political career. But no-one really seems to have celebrated his valiant four-year attempt to point the nation’s planning and […]
New towns, old mistakes
New towns are much in the news at the moment – not least at the house builders’ house magazine, The Times. Just this week, Emma Duncan’s column was apologising for the mess that post-war towns created and claiming the “next iteration” (you have been warned) needs to get five things right: place, politics, plan, people and money. No pressure then. […]
A national housing and planning illusions unit
The last time a Labour government took power, in 1997, it began with big ambitions to unite policy on planning, the environment and transport through a super-ministry overseen by deputy prime minister John Prescott. His Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions achieved great things in the four years of the first New Labour Parliament. Its Urban Taskforce and […]
Outside housing
Sir Keir Starmer has set out his plans for house building for Inside Housing magazine – a paper I used to write for. But I can’t help feeling that if I’d written such a confused and contradictory piece, I’d have been in real trouble with the editor. After a routine complaint about the difficulties young people have in buying a […]
Time to “defang” the propagandists?
A popular technique among propagandists is to take a single example of something, distort it, and then present it to those they wish to persuade as a disgraceful but typical example of something or somebody they wish to attack. It’s cheap, easy and mendacious. Commercial promoters have also long used the technique to big up the product or service they […]
Something to ruminate about
I was an early enthusiast for “rewilding” at a time few people had heard of it and vividly remember a reporting visit to the nascent Carrifran Wildwood project in southern Scotland 25 years ago – in a snowstorm. At that time the Carrifran valley was like most of the Moffat Hills – grazed into nothing much ecologically by sheep and […]
The value of matrimony
“Political change can itself introduce barriers in the operation of the planning system,” said the Royal Town Planning Institute’s latest State of the Profession report. Who knew? Local authority planners and politicians have had a long and turbulent marriage ever since the 1947 Act took them to an austerity registry office wedding. Now, after three-quarters of a century of bickering, […]
Darkness, light – and light-pollution
The ancient religious philosopher Mani believed in a stark dualism between the spiritual world of good and the materialistic world of evil. Manichaeism has predictably since become a clumsy description of any binary dispute. Perhaps it’s time for a revival of his more sensitive teachings. We do, unfortunately, live at a time of sharply divided opinions on most issues and […]
Red corner blues
It’s 26 years since a Labour government with a big majority replaced a tired Conservative administration. People who look back on the New Labour years, however, are inclined to bemoan its lost opportunities – a key message for the current Labour Party, as it tries not to get too complacent about the general election. Although many people, looking back on […]