Recently in David Cameron Category

I must apologise for the radio silence these past few days. I haven't been on holiday or ill or anything. I am just, I guess like so many of our countrymen and women, so... well.... so very distracted by it all.
 
It isn't just the actual games (of which I have the most hazy understanding) or the spectacle of the Olympics, although these are compelling enough: the heroics of Ennis, Murray and Bolt, the surprise results, Super Saturday, the medal tables, and so forth; it is also what it has done for the national morale, the commentary on the Twitter feed (these are the first "Twitter Olympics" I guess), the display of national pride normally so alien to the British psyche; the nuances of what it says about Britain and our culture.

So.... Manchester, Nottingham, Coventry and Bradford have rejected the proposal for a directly elected mayor. 

I am mildly surprised actually.  But I guess there was always a philosophical disconnect between a centrist London cognoscenti push to get regional cities to adopt elected mayors and the ethos of localism and the general power of competence.  You do have to ask why successive governments get it so wrong with trying to persuade the nation that regional government is the way forward.  Nobody seemed to learn much from the ill fated attempt by John Prescott trying to convince very sceptical, and very opposed, regions to vote for a regional government structure back in the day.  That was a complete waste of time, but we didn't read the runes.  The mayoral referenda were touted as a key part of localism and improving democratic accountability but, contrary to everything which the Government promoted, the public seem to have perceived it as absolutely the opposite.

The news that George Clarke, the media campaigner against empty homes, is to advise CLG on same, has predictably prompted some comment. Jamie Carpenter in a brilliant piece in Planning goes so far as to ask whether the department should rename itself as the "Department of Celebrities and Local Government" citing this as the last in a long line of sleb appointments to CLG (although no mention of Mary Portas) listing Tommy Walsh and complete with pictures of government ministers with Kirstie Allsopp, Kevin McLoud and (most hilariously) a choice shot of Eric Pickles with Russell Grant, celebrity astronomist (and... er... a county flag).  
 
Suppose 'twas ever thus! Politicians kissing TV stars.  Whatever next, I ask you?  
 

The lovely David Thame of EG called me to pick my brains about his upcoming feature for the magazine on the prospects for London regeneration schemes.  In a (somewhat breathless) list he was seeking intelligence on Elephant and Castle, the East End (Stratford, Bromley by Bow, Royal Docks) and Battersea Power Station ("just because something is up for sale", he asked, "does that mean there will be activity?") with Nine Elms generally.  Oh, and for good measure, Earls Court, Wembley, the Greenwich Peninsula, Canning Town, Lewisham Gateway and Brent Cross/Cricklewood.
 
Whew! I said.  Calm down dear, for goodness sake, you'll have a hernia!  
 
But he was seeking some proper thoughts on which of these could be serious prospects for progress in 2012, and which might end up moving a little slower, so of course I tried to be helpful.  But you won't be surprised to learn my prognosis was a little bleak.

I attended the greatest "hot ticket" event last Friday morning in "London's Living Room" (sorry, but really! "London's Living Room" is  just too fey for words! Whimsical or what? But a nice space nonetheless). 

The sun was streaming into City Hall (the Thames was twinkling), onto the great and good of the housing industry out in force. Charmaine Young of St George, in the most extraordinary feat, has corralled a massive number of industry leaders to produce the most formidable book Working Together. Delivering Growth through Localism (details can be found at www.berkeleygroup.co.uk/growth-and-localism).  And it is a most assured treatment for the enlightened house builder.  She is indeed a force to be reckoned with. And everyone was there.  

We're so busy in UKR these days that it isn't until the weekend that I get to catch up with the news and commentary.  Much on Boris's Fantasy Island story (gaining traction methinks, and good for him!) and a very damning piece in the Sunday Times Magazine on One Hyde Park, which will be bleak reading for the Candy boys. 
But...did the National Trust really say that the Eurozone crisis is linked to "lax planning" one day last week in the Daily Telegraph or have I entered a parallel universe?  Absolutely surreal.  To hit out at the government's drive to lift planning restrictions by claiming that the economic plight of European nations such as Greece is linked to the fact that they have "lax planning regimes" must surely test the patience of even the most diehard Sir Bufton-Tufton Telegraph reader.  Is there no end to this obsessive behavior?  Planning regimes will be responsible for world poverty and pestilence next.  Beggars belief!  And it made me laugh so much I choked on my cup of tea.  The words "calm down dear" spring to mind, I'm afraid, forgive the sexist connotation.
Of course the big bit of news last week for us in (what is left of) the regeneration sector is the appointment of the sainted Sir Bob Kerslake to be Chief of the Civil Service. 

I watched David Cameron's speech to Conservative Party Conference in eager anticipation, but I am now forced to agree with those pundits who think that annual party conferences should be consigned to history. In an era when the New York Stock Exchange can significantly rally on the slender basis of ONE favourable headline in the Financial Times, it beggars belief that Mr Cameron did not use his platform yesterday to deal decisively with the crisis in the world economy.

Without a huge amount of risk to him or his government, he could have done a bit of serious grandstanding for strong political leadership and collaborative working across the globe in order to significantly change sentiment (the mood music) in the world economic community and to face down hysteria. But there was a complete absence of any analysis as to the seriousness of the situation we're in, in what could only be described as a thoroughly competent domestic speech. And you have to wonder: who is he leading? The country, or the folk in the hall?

Local government finance? There be dragons! Apparently, our esteemed secretary of state Mr Pickles had been hoping to make a firm announcement on the local government finance review in his speech at the New Local Government Network think-tank's conference yesterday. But by the start of this week it was publicly clear there was major disarray in the camp. Good job the secretary of state's team had had the good sense to not set a firm deadline, although sources still describe the review as "imminent" (another one of those great civil service words!).

There are rumours that nice Mr Clegg and... er... Mr Pickles hold different views over the scope of the finance review (well, I never!). This spat threatens to put a bit of a spanner in the works, being as it forms a key plank of the coalition government's long-term plan to overhaul local government and to reduce councils' heavy reliance on central government funding.

A leaked letter from Mr Clegg to Mr Cameron and Mr Osborne reveals that the deputy prime minister wants a root-and-branch review of local tax-raising powers - including the consideration of American-style local sales and fuel taxes, reformed parking levies and wider borrowing powers - to help councils become increasingly self-sufficient (any warning bells sounding yet?).

But, true to form, Mr Pickles takes a more traditional view. Following years of sharp rises in council tax, it is understood that Mr Pickles (and Mr Osborne) are hell bent on limiting the number of new taxes (warning bells getting any louder?) and will stick to their guns in kick-starting a standard finance review that is more narrow in scope. For this, read, "never mind, nice Mr Clegg, Mr Pickles will be fighting hard for the answer he thought of in the first place" (and, moreover, he has the support of Mr Osborne).

It was hugely encouraging to be invited to be part of a panel discussion for Young Entrepreneurs in Property last Friday morning at law firm Nabarro.

We were all there to give a verdict on the government, six months in.

I was mightily impressed by the event, even though it made me (and my fellow panel members) feel very very (very very) old.

The audience was not only young (ridiculously so, muttered one of m'learned friends), they were good looking, bright, feisty, informed, and roughly 50/50 men to women with a good showing from minority ethnic groups.

The quality of the questions was unbelievably high and they really put us on the spot. Damian Wild of EG in the chair was seriously infused with optimism; it made you feel proud to be part of the property industry and convinced we have a vibrant and vital future.

Sophie Eastwood of Holistic, who chairs YEP, and Liz Russell of Nabarro are to be hugely congratulated on facilitating an event in which the "old guard" felt proud to invest: this is the future, and thank the good gawd for it! A "feel good event" and no mistake.

Liz Peace was her normal authoritative self, and I did my usual combative and impassioned plea for urban regeneration. No surprises there then.