Month: February 2010

A week with a lot of stimulating events and exchanges, and no time to write them up and digest them. It was a good start when I returned feedback on 45 essays – which had taken me ages to prepare and was a great weight off my mind. I get faster at most things but slower at that.

Then on Monday evening the LSE had a seminar by Ian Gordon – very stimulating and data-rich as usual – in which he was trying to work out why London has such high levels of worklessness. Part of the concentration of worklessness is, of course, an illusion Continue reading “Going too fast…”

Last night the proposers of a major new medical research centre at Brill Place (King’s Cross St Pancras) showed their scheme at a meeting called by Camden Council in Somers Town, the adjoining district.  There is huge conflict about this project because the site has long been earmarked for a mix of activty including social housing and community facilities, none of which could be built if the research centre goes ahead.  It was a fraught, tense, meeting at times with objectors expressng variously frustration, impotence and rage while the proponents were very civilised and rather peeved to be seen as anything other than battling for the public interest.  It tells us a lot about the balance of power in urban decision making, the weakness of the planning system and the transformation of democratic local govenment into a neutered facilitator of the city’s transformation.  This is a quick short note to capture some reactions and I may expand it later. Continue reading “Medical research v social housing: UKCMRI”