Author: Simon Elmer

Most of us by now are familiar with how our national press and media worked to shape public opinion immediately after both the police assault on picket lines at Orgreave Colliery in 1984 that resulted in niney-five charges of riot being made against striking miners, and the death of ninety-six football supporters in the Hillsborough … Continue reading The Tower: Rewriting Grenfell. ASH response to Andrew O’Hagan

1. Empty Housing In January of this year the Liberal Democrat Party published data gathered from Freedom of Information requests to 276 councils revealing not only the number of empty dwellings in the UK and how long they have been left empty, but the lack of action by local authorities to bring them back into … Continue reading London’s Empty Housing: Causes, Existing Policy, Future Solutions and their Enforcement

https://vimeo.com/215303809 1. Cleaning Up Recently I watched the film iBoy, which was first released by Netflix in January 2017. Based on the 2010 novel by Kevin Brooks, which is set in the fictional Crow Lane estate in South London, the film relocates the story to the Middlesex Street estate in Aldgate, just off the Petticoat … Continue reading iMayor: The Ideology of GLA Housing Policy and the New Policy we need on Estate Regeneration

I’m dreaming dreams, I’m scheming schemes, I’m building castles high. They’re born anew, their days are few, Just like a sweet butterfly. And as the daylight is dawning, They come again in the morning! – Jaan Kenbrovin, I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles (1918) There’s been a lot in the papers and on social media lately about … Continue reading Scheming Schemes: A Street View of Gentrification