Michael Edwards

My brother gave me for christmas Perry Anderson’s The New Old World (Verso 2009) and I have just finished reading it, mostly with huge enjoyment, and have learned a lot. I rarely read 500-page books (the last time was Braudel during a Greek island holiday ten years ago) but this one has grabbed all the time Read the rest of this entry »

The Woodberry Down social housing estate in Hackney, subject of a “regeneration” scheme in which blocks are demolished to make space for private developers to build flats for sale and for a “city academy” school. This sign must be a lawyer’s attempt to prevent anyone claiming that the land is public and thus inhibiting its privatisation. The site is a fine hill top with long views. I sent the picture round the pnuk list as a new year greeting and Peter Marcuse replied, saying he would use it in a lecture in Taiwan (with attribution). Nice.

Later: London Federation of Tenants is campaigning (with others) against the displacement of social rented housing to make way for owner-occupers, legitimated on the grounds of “social mix”.  See their submission about the draft London Plan.

Debates, discussions and solid work are building up as part of the consulltation process on Boris Johnson’s ‘Draft Replacement London Plan’ with a small but excellent group of UCL students working to support Just Space network of community and voluntary groups.  Strong and rapidly-developing set of critiques at http://ucljustspace.wordpress.co The 22 strong  submissions by groups in Just Space which came out of all that can be seen at http://justspace2010.wordpress.com

In December there was a seminar at LSE on the London Plan.  The main presentations are here.  In the mean time this is what I contributed. Read the rest of this entry »

I have just been reading a report by the great and the good, The Future of Housing: rethinking the UK housing system for the twenty-first century, being the result of a 3-day seminar chaired by Richard Best and published by the “Building and Social Housing Foundation” of which I had never heard.  It came free in the post (from Coalville) and… Read the rest of this entry »

Very stimulating few days at seminars on a programme for the restoration of old buildings in 50 villages in Palestine, hosted at Bir Zeit by a wonderful team of people led by Suad Amiri and the organisation Riwaq which organised it as part of a biennale. This picture is a link to my photos. Read the rest of this entry »

[action at last! - December - but an ice hazard in January. Serious action in February. See end. ] For four decades I have been commuting daily through Euston in London where I (and thousands of others) walk to and from the station through a public garden, Euston Square. Just where we all pass through a narrow gap (between railings and a wall) there is a puddle. It’s been there for decades and looks like this
[click the picture for more shots] On 2 September 2009 I decided to report it. Read the rest of this entry »

At past inquiries we have often been told that the plan is “evidence based” and wished we had “evidence” with which to challenge it. The planning team has told us (in a Just Space meeting) that now is the time to tell them if we think the research they are doing is the wrong research. So we have made a submission and it’s here as the rest of this post Read the rest of this entry »

A sustainable economy for London, submitted to the GLA by David Fell (the main author), Michael Edwards, Richard Lee, Jenny Bates, Richard Bourn and Darren Johnson. PDF version at http://www.brooklyndhurst.co.uk We hope soon to have a wiki version because it is designed as a basis for discussion and further development. Later:  revised version as  David Fell’s submission to Boris Johnson’s draft plan 12 January 2010 here.

Ken wrote in the Evening Standard on 6 July and they asked me to comment. They edited my letter but this was what I actually wrote:
London v Paris

For a socialist, Ken Livingstone is too easily dazzled by the bright lights of capitalism and he’s still behaving like the rabbit in the headlights. Ken is being hysterical when he argues that London needs a grand strategy like Sarkozy’s to prevent Paris overtaking London as Europe’s capital (ES 6 July).

As usual, his position is a mix of radical good sense with utter rubbish and we have to try and disentangle them. Read the rest of this entry »