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[updated 7 July] A year ago I was commissioned to contribute a report on housing to the Government Office for Science’s Foresight programme on the future of cities in the UK.  I did it, referees commented, I revised it, then it was (along with other papers in the series) held over until after the UK parliamentary election. Now the GOScience has released it and you can download it and read more on societycould.wordpress.com

9 December 2013:  This message has come in today from Grischa in Berlin:

Dear international friends,

on November 21st we had an event in Berlin with Eileen Short from Defend Council Housing / Anti bedroom tax campaign and Paul Watt from Birkbeck University, both situated in London.

They told us about the housing crisis in England and the biggest anti-cut protests since many years against the bedroom tax. We have documented the event in both English and German, find the links below: Continue reading “UK – German housing exchanges”

Last session in the LSE London seminar series 18 March 2013 Michael Ward (now at Smith Institute) on Localism in London Continue reading “Localism in London – Michael Ward”

notes at LSE meeting 13 March 2013. Lots of speakers. Continue reading “Class (thinktank) #SocialState meeting”

***London launch 5 February 1330 for 1400 at TCPA. Second launch soon in Sheffield. Details at http:pnuk.org.uk***
After a lot of drafting and re-drafting we now have a usable draft of this great document, aimed at people working in and around planning in the UK (especially England, so far as the detail goes) from PNUK Planners Network UK. We hope it will rally dispirited souls who have been sucked or seduced into market-led orthodoxy or just feeling lonely in their scattered resistance. The team has been Bob Colenutt, Tim Marshall, Andy Inch and me + some others at earlier stages and with a feed-in on housing from Duncan Bowie. All white males so far. Please read, comment, discuss. Some meetings in various parts of the country coming up. The draft is here as a PDF: http://bit.ly/Vduhe6

We vote in May for Mayor and for the London Assembly. Today I did a letter to the Evening Standard and a piece for the election blog of the London Civic Forum where Deirdre McGrath had asked me to do something on the economy. Difficult to think what to be demanding where the Mayor/Assembly can do so little. Continue reading “London Elections coming up”

Just come from a talk by Henry Overman at LSE and jotting down some reactions. He has that kind of cocky, glib, style of presentation common among liberal (mainstream) economists which I find very hard to challenge in the heat of the session. Continue reading “Liberal nostrums, relaxation of planning…”

Usual fine orgy of eating and drinking and playing games with words. Two good big fat books came as presents: Osssie gave me Hobsbawm’s How to Change the World: tales of Marx and Marxism and Gavin gave me David Graeber’s Debt: the first 5,000 years. I have started on Hobsbawm, though I struggled with the first chapter—on the pre- and post-Marx history of socialism—because I just don’t know enough history to follow it all. But then Continue reading “christmas, eating, reading”

Life has been busy, what with capitalism melting in Europe, the Occupation in London and elsewhere, plus domestic life and UCL. I seem to be more active on Twitter these days, where there is more interaction and immediacy. And 140 characters suits me. Immediacy is gripping at the moment and I had some cheering (actual) visits to the Occupation. Continue reading “Catch-up: deck chairs moving around”