Tuesday, Jul 15, 2008
Boris sees the light... sort of
Boris Johnson: Housing in our age
"If you want housing that is beautiful as well as affordable, if you object to the clap-clinic air of some modern blocks, then join me now and build the movement."
(Also published in the Daily Telegraph.)
Comment is Superfluous.
Posted by brian t @ 01:12 PM (559 views) Add Comment
6 Comments
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1. Sneaker said...
The idea that there is a housing shortage is simply a fashionable myth that has been stoked by housing-industry cheer-leaders, and is now repeated as if it’s gospel by people who appear not to have checked it for themselves:
http://www.moneyweek.com/file/48055/what-housing-shortage.html
http://firstrung.co.uk/articles.asp?pageid=NEWS&articlekey=4363&cat=63-0-0
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/the-drain-drain-what-if-all-the-poles-went-home-817153.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7281608.stm
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article3378877.ece
2. drewster said...
I like Boris's writing style but can anyone explain, without resorting to ad hominem arguments, what exactly his point is?
Tesco Metro provides affordable good-quality fresh food (try finding a fresh tomato in Spar or Budgens); and as he points out, hideous blocks of flats provide somewhat affordable housing. The only way to guarantee high-quality architecture would be to enforce style rules in local authority planning departments, which at the moment (afaik) they can only do in designated conservation areas.
3. last_days_of_disco said...
What I find unforgivable is that even when there was loads o fmoney sloshing around many of these new builds are still butt ugly.
4. brian t said...
I think he's admitting that he has to be a little more pragmatic about housing, and he's using his reaction to the Tesco as a metaphor for his thought processes. He has to accept that Tesco makes sense in that location, due to public demand, just as people who need housing might not be as fussy about looks as he is.
"My heart might sink at the slabby red brick, but someone else might think, yippee: it’s warm, it’s safe, it’s near the Tube, it has decent plumbing and it’s within my means"
However, that doesn't mean he's going to like ugly housing, and I think he's trying to encourage people to think about more than just price and convenience: "if we want our housebuilders to create things of lasting beauty, with the adornment and colour and individuality that the Victorians took for granted, then we have to shout for them".
Nothing particularly new there, but considering the author's day job, it's encouraging. People have said a lot of things about Boris, and I'm hardly keen on his politics, but I could not objectively call him "stupid" or "ignorant".
5. icarus said...
Like the line "Tesco cuckooed its way into the neighbourhood". Very poetic, Boris.
Why should the worm intrude the maiden bud?
or hateful cuckoos hatch in sparrows' nests?
Or toads infest fair founts wirh venom mud
.............
But no perfection is so absolute,
That some impurity doth not pollute.
(Shakespeare, The Rape of Lucretia)
But Boris is in a position to ensure that impurities don't 'cuckoo' themselves anywhere. London First, the business lobbying group is working with the mayor on London's future. It's made up of property developers including British Land (a large part of their portfolio includes retail property purchased from and leased back to Tesco and other supermarket chains) and other big developers of retail, office and residential property. Boris met with this lot recently to discuss 'development and social housing'. He has just appointed the new London Development Agency chairman, who stepped down from the chair of London First in order to take the job. Charities and others involved in social housing weren't invited to the development and social housing meeting, so it's not hard to guess who is setting the agenda and who decides who cuckoos his way into which neighborhoods.
6. cyril said...
I quite like this article although it is a bit rambling. I think the main point is that people are naturally hypocrites.
I think Boris J is a bit of an idiot at times but I'm glad we have someone who is a bit outspoken at last. It's about time someone punctured the NuLabour drivel with a few home truths (if you can forgive the mixed metaphor).