Homes for Londoners? Sadiq Khan’s Record on Housing

‘The housing crisis is the single biggest barrier to prosperity, growth and fairness facing Londoners today. I’ve found that, both as a MP, and throughout my campaign to be Mayor of London, it doesn’t matter whether you’re talking to business leaders, local residents, charities or community groups: far and away the biggest issue across the … Continue reading Homes for Londoners? Sadiq Khan’s Record on Housing

ASH Christmas Carol

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7IPpHP7dFU&fbclid=IwAR3ToP1YrXaEVH17fjEZpyNZq-3uLmAg3tupi9JSM950wynD3iwVcz7pv0A At the first stage of Regeneration My council promised me Resident-led is what this will be At the second stage of Regeneration My council promised me Transparency Resident-led is what this will be At the third stage of Regeneration My council promised me High density Transparency Resident-led is what this will be At the … Continue reading ASH Christmas Carol

Whatever Happened to the Working Class? The British Ideology

‘The ideas of the ruling class are in every epoch the ruling ideas; that is, the class that is the ruling material force in society is, at the same time, its ruling intellectual force. The class that has the means of material production at its disposal has control, at the same time, over the means … Continue reading Whatever Happened to the Working Class? The British Ideology

The Costs of Estate Regeneration: A Film for Everyone

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXzM56YIVW0&fbclid=IwAR0nhaN8IfvxEF6kUE_iupahjx24oefNO8gtKIRJdIAntxs_talg8HxWKHc The report on which this film is based can be read in the pdf titled The Costs of Estate Regeneration. I first gave this presentation at a conference held by the Socialist Workers Alliance back in June; then again at a meeting of the Revolutionary Communist Group in July at the launch of their pamphlet Whose … Continue reading The Costs of Estate Regeneration: A Film for Everyone

A Home for All? The Art Exhibition as Political Propaganda

The ‘6 radical experiments in social housing’, which include the Spa Green estate (1946-49), Keeling House (1954-59), the Alexandra Road estate (1968-78), and the Byker estate (1969-82), currently on show at the exhibition at the Victoria & Albert Museum will be familiar to anyone with an interest in the history of council housing, and by … Continue reading A Home for All? The Art Exhibition as Political Propaganda

Invisible Britain: The Art of Catharsis

‘I have spoken of the operation of a certain type of fashionable photography that makes misery into a consumer good. When I turn to the New Objectivity as a literary movement, I must go a step further and say that it has made the struggle against poverty into a consumer product. In fact, in many … Continue reading Invisible Britain: The Art of Catharsis

Two or Three Things to Remember on this Day of Remembrance

A conflict started by the ruling classes of Europe’s imperialist nations for the right to expand or maintain their empires in the Balkans, the Middle East, India, Africa and Asia, the Great War (1914-1918) was overwhelmingly fought by the working classes of those nations, who — even if they saw through the nationalist rhetoric of … Continue reading Two or Three Things to Remember on this Day of Remembrance

Supply and Demand in Centre Point Residences

Last week I was commissioned by VICE to write about the news that the unsold apartments in Central Point Residences had been taken off the market by the developer until offers met their multi-million-pound sale price. VICE only wanted 800 words; but this is the longer article I got out of it, in which I … Continue reading Supply and Demand in Centre Point Residences

Questions without Answers: Reginald House and Old Tidemill Garden

On 19 October I wrote the following on the Save Reginald Save Tidemill Facebook page. My comment was written in response to a shared statement by Lewisham Labour Councillor Joe Dromey, the Cabinet Member for Finance, Skills and Jobs, that he had originally made on the I Love Deptford page about the regeneration scheme. The son of Harriet … Continue reading Questions without Answers: Reginald House and Old Tidemill Garden

Policy Proposals on Estate Regeneration: ASH Presentation to the Tulse Hill branch of the Labour Party

Last night I gave another presentation of the findings in the ASH report on The Costs of Estate Regeneration. This time it was to the Tulse Hill branch of the Labour Party, one of whose members had invited me to come and talk. He told me that, while the previous Chair had always refused any … Continue reading Policy Proposals on Estate Regeneration: ASH Presentation to the Tulse Hill branch of the Labour Party