GOV.UK: "New rail franchising deal set to transform passenger services across London and south east" (oh, yeh?)

"Three new state-of-the-art electric train fleets will mean more services and seats, faster journeys and better connections across many of the busiest rail routes in London and the south east after the government announced today (23 May 2014) its intention to award the new Thameslink, Southern and Great Northern (TSGN) franchise to Govia Thameslink Railway Limited.

"The 7 year franchise – the largest ever let in terms of passenger numbers – will help deliver the government’s multi-billion pound investment in the region’s rail network, opening up new routes across London and improving services to scores of destinations, including:

• Brighton
• King’s Lynn
• Peterborough
• Cambridge
• Bedford
• Luton
• Gatwick Airport
• Moorgate

"Nearly 1,400 new electric carriages will be rolled out across the new franchise, providing 50% more capacity and 10,000 extra seats every weekday into central London during the morning peak by the end of 2018, and delivering quicker, cleaner and more reliable journeys for passengers and businesses.

"In addition, the new franchise will see millions invested in improving stations and staffing, a simplified ticketing structure and tough new targets for Govia to improve punctuality by reducing delays by around a fifth and improve cleanliness.

Rail Minister Stephen Hammond said:

"A world class railway is a vital part of our long-term economic plan. New state-of-the-art trains, more seats, better connections and improved stations will transform travel across London and the south east. That’s great news for businesses and the hundreds of thousands of passengers who use these vital services every day."

"The TSGN franchise will play a crucial role in delivering the government’s £6.5 billion Thameslink programme – a major programme of infrastructure work that is helping create 8,000 jobs and will allow 24 trains per hour to travel in each direction from Blackfriars to St Pancras. New tunnels will link Peterborough and Cambridge to the existing Thameslink route providing easy access across London via St Pancras to Gatwick and Brighton.

The franchise will introduce 1,140 new carriages – already under construction - on the Thameslink network, improving services to scores of destinations, including the introduction of new cross capital services and a connection at Farringdon to London’s newest railway - Crossrail.

"In addition, Govia will order a new fleet of 108 carriages for the Gatwick Express service, replacing the current 25-year-old trains with a fleet better suited to the needs of airport passengers. It will also secure 150 new carriages to replace the 40-year-old trains currently operating on the route between Moorgate, north London and Hertfordshire.

"That means the total number of carriages in service will grow to 2,631 by 2019 – an increase of 27%. It will also release some existing electric carriages to be used elsewhere in the country.
Govia will invest significantly in improving stations, including free wi-fi at more than 100 stations, better retail and catering facilities and improvements to customer information systems. Staffing hours will also be extended so that at more than 100 of the largest stations there will be staff available from the first train in the morning to the last train at night.

"Demanding contractual obligations on the operator will deliver cleaner and more spacious trains and improve passenger satisfaction. Tough new benchmarks for performance, train and station cleanliness and customer service information have also been agreed.

"The operator will also develop website, smartphone and tablet apps that will make door-to-door travel easier for customers, including planning journeys, buying tickets and booking onward taxis.

"The TSGN franchise will replace the existing Thameslink and Great Northern franchise (operated as First Capital Connect) from 14 September 2014 and will include the South Central franchise (operated as Southern and Gatwick Express) when it expires on 26 July 2015. A small number of services and stations will also transfer from the South Eastern franchise by 21 December 2014. The current franchises provide around 273 million passenger journeys annually.

"Following the announcement, and in accordance with usual procurement practice, there will be a standstill period of 10 days before the department will be a position to enter into, and complete, the formal contractual documentation and make the award to the successful tenderer."

PlanningResource: "Cable: Britain needs to build 300,000 homes a year"

Link to web site

"The UK must more than double its delivery of new homes and take 'tough decisions' on the green belt if it is to plug the 'enormous gap' between housing supply and demand, business secretary Vince Cable has said.

"Speaking on ITV news, Cable said the UK is falling 'way short' on the housing supply needed.

"He said housing inflation is reaching dangerous levels, and the number of new homes being built needs to be increased.

" 'Tough decisions' about using green belt areas for new planned cities, such as garden cities, will also need to be taken in the future, he added."

Link to The Guardian

"Housing booms are today's medieval plagues. Boils suppurate on the political backside. People rush to find culprits to lynch. Quacks appear on street corners with fake remedies. Reason takes a holiday.

"Thus it was yesterday, as the Today programme's John Humphrys chided David Cameron for the 'housing crisis' and for not building more houses in the Tory shires. It was like curing famine by sending caviar to Africa.

"Meanwhile, everyone from Ed Miliband to the governor of the Bank of England screams crisis. There is a crisis when prices fall and a crisis when prices rise. Almost everywhere house prices are still bouncing along the bottom, but at London dinner parties they are a 'bubble'.

"... It may be true that income inequality lies at the root of housing inequality. As such both will always be with us. But housing policy should not make inequality worse."

Wed 11 June: "Event: London 2050 – Grow up or grow out?"

"With the Infrastructure Investment Plan heading toward final draft, Future of London offers a brief pause to consider the practical aspects of London’s rapid growth. Do we densify? If so, where, what might that look like, and how do we do it in a useful timespan? Do we make a decisive push through the Green Belt and GLA borders – we’re doing it with transport; what about housing, governance and funding? If we build more Garden Cities, who will live in them?

"These issues are tightly interwoven with infrastructure planning; before tackling the daunting political framework of London’s evolving shape, let’s consider what densification or expansion offers – and what it risks.

"London 2050 – Grow up or grow out? will bring together senior public- and private-sector practitioners from across the Capital to debate what form a growing London could take. The results will set the scene for practical exploration of next steps, through Future of London seminars, briefings and visits through the balance of the year."

London 2050 – Grow up or grow out?

Date: Wednesday, June 11th, 2014, 09:00 – 11:30 AM
09:00 – Registration, coffee & refreshments | 09:15 – Session begins | 10:45 – Networking & refreshments
Location: ‘London’s Living Room’, City Hall, The Queen’s Walk, London, SE1 2AA

Confirmed speakers:

• Keynote: Sir Edward Lister, Deputy Mayor, Planning, Greater London Authority
• Why where we build is so critical: Michèle Dix, Managing Director, Group Planning, Transport for London
• What density looks like: Speaker TBD – please check back
• What density actually looks like: Andrew Beharrell, Executive Director, Pollard Thomas Edwards Architects
• Beyond the belt: Adam Challis, Head of Residential Research, JLL
• The borough response, and a call to action: Pat Hayes, Executive Director, Regeneration and Housing, LB Ealing

"Registration is required, and places are limited. Please RSVP to events@futureoflondon.org.uk and we will confirm if you have secured a place."

A London Council's "Submission to the Spiv Gods of Speculator Power" (no. it's not about Barnet, but good phrase, eh?)

Link to The Guardian

"Plenty of councils in London, Labour and Tory alike, do business with developers, often with laudable goals of job-creation, enhancing streets and generating a few affordable homes.

"For many, for many years, it's been one of the few options for bringing in investment they have had. Such partnerships always have hotly-debated pros and cons, but Hammersmith & Fulham's with Capital and Counties hardly deserves the name partnership at all. It's an adoring submission to the spiv gods of speculator power. Even by the dubious standards of its own progaganda the Earls Court Project can only fail.

"... For H&F, planning powers are not levers for regulating the way space is made use of and evolved, they are a means for letting big money do whatever it wants, all the time insisting that nothing could be better for the borough, for the city, for the world. The West Kensington pensioners asked the prime minister:

"We appeal to you to intervene to stop the council forcing us to move against our will. We have made our views known to the council. Despite the harm it will cause to us as elderly residents, they are pushing on regardless. We you stand up for us? We you make the council reconsider decisions that destroy all that we have?"

Daily Telegraph: "David Cameron's first flat worth £1.4m, as owner says now 'hopeless' for first-time buyers"

Link to web site

"The flat which David Cameron cited as an example of the 'pride' people can feel at earning their first home would now cost a first-time buyer up to £1.4 million, the Telegraph can disclose.

"The property could now net ten times the price paid by the Prime Minister as a 25-year-old Conservative advisor in 1992, experts say.

"The current value, based on the sums paid for similar flats in the area, would be around 30 times the average income of people purchasing their first properties and seven times the typical price paid by first-time buyers.

"The current owner of the flat, in Notting Hill, told the Telegraph it would now be 'impossible' for young people to buy the flat without the help of 'wealthy parents'."

The Guardian: "Fat-free chocolate and absolutely no smoking: why our guilt about consumption is all-consuming"

"From fear of being seen smoking, to Starbucks' 'coffee karma', we've arrived at a cultural impasse as consumers.

"As 2014's Prix Pictet photography prize tackles the theme of consumption, Slavoj Žižek traces how we've ended up buying into lifestyles, rather than living our lives"

Take me away from all this

"What we are witnessing today is the direct commodification of our experiences themselves: what we are buying on the market is fewer and fewer products (material objects) that we want to own, and more and more life experiences."

[The comments section may be easier to understand than the article.]

The Independent: "Tories’ scepticism about climate change melts after winter floods – in their constituencies"

"John Gummer tells Tom Bawden a thawing in attitudes is down to recent bad weather, and a tide of scientific evidence"

Link to web site

"Senior Tories have shed their scepticism about climate change after winter floods wreaked havoc on rural constituencies and scientists debunked key sceptic arguments, according to John Gummer, the government’s top independent climate advisor.

"In an interview with The Independent, Mr Gummer – life peer Lord Deben – acknowledged that the rise of the climate-sceptic UK Independence Party meant environmentalists might have to 'fight more' for green causes in future.

"But he said that this was offset by a growing acceptance of the dangers posed by climate change among Tory MPs and members who had previously been reluctant to take the issue seriously.

" 'There is a countervailing thing happening. There’s less of the climate dismissing in the Conservative party now than there was six months ago,' said Lord Deben, a former Tory Environment Secretary under John Major in the mid-1990s."

[Reposted] Brent Cross? Hammerson, Standard Life, London Communications Agency: they couldn't do without the banks, bless them.

(Daily Telegraph)

GOOD NEWS ON HOUSE PRICES: "London house prices soar by 17 per cent to new record"

Link to Evening Standard

"London property prices have rocketed by 17 per cent in a year, putting homes further out of reach for millions of people.

"The average home in the capital shot up to a record £459,000 at the end of March, said the Office for National Statistics.

"The increase — slightly smaller than the 17.8 per cent rise in February — came as higher fares helped push inflation up for the first time in 10 months.

"The rate jumped from 1.6 per cent to 1.8 per cent, which means prices are outstripping wage rises of 1.7 per cent, forcing most households to tighten their belts. Food inflation, however, was the lowest since 2006."

PlanningResource: "Johnson approves Hackney regeneration masterplan"

Link to web site

"The mayor's office said that in total the masterplan for the Woodberry Down regeneration project will deliver 4,284 homes, of which 2,214 will be affordable, with 60 per cent for affordable rent and 40 per cent intermediate.

Stewart Murray [Big Cheese of Barnet Planning, in a former life], assistant director [only 'assistant'?] of planning at the mayor of London’s office, said:

"This is one of the biggest estate renewal schemes in the capital and will provide a boost to Hackney by delivering much needed new homes and infrastructure."

The Guardian: "The truth about gentrification: regeneration or con trick?"

"Woodberry Down is a vast north-east London council estate undergoing an ambitious transformation. But while eager developers court foreign buy-to-let investors, are they casting aside long-term residents like 'social rubbish'? We spent six months on site to hear the locals' stories"

Link to web site

"Google Tony Pidgley, chairman of one of Britain’s biggest housebuilders, and you’ll find a video in which he shows off his latest toy. The plaything in question is a giant council estate that his firm, Berkeley Homes, is smashing up and building over.

"... [The original] neighbourhood was an endangered species: a patch of inner London belonging to the elderly, the working poor, the unemployed. Now it was being broken up to suit an international company selling homes to the well-off. The fact their council was leading this dismemberment made some especially angry.

"Even tenants in the new social housing reported how they or neighbours had been plunged into debt because of the higher bills incurred through having a private housing association as a landlord. Despite Berkeley’s promise to 'bring together all people in Woodberry Down', social tenants reported that those living in the expensive private blocks 'cross the road to avoid us'. They had been made to feel like second-class citizens in their own home.

"What follows are stories of the people best placed to tell you about what regeneration does to a community: the ones who come from it. Some have lived on Woodberry Down for more than six decades; others are in their 20s. Their photos don’t feature in the civic-centre case studies or corporate press releases. They haven’t got local elections to win, or a profit target to chase. They’ve just got to live with the results."

GOOD NEWS ON HOUSE PRICES: "House prices in Tower Hamlets jump 43 per cent in just one year"

Link to Evening Standard

The 10 London boroughs with the biggest house price hikes:

1. Tower Hamlets: 43.1 per cent, to £620,131
2. Croydon: 26.4 per cent, to £384,900
3. Wandsworth:  26.4 per cent, to £908,175
4. Kingston-upon-Thames: 25.8 per cent, to £851,634
5. Newham: 23.4 per cent, to £305,193
6. Merton: 23 per cent, to £591,671
7. Ealing: 21.6 per cent, to £604,316
8. Hackney: 21.6 per cent, to £731,346
9. Hounslow: 21.4 per cent, to £655,178
10. Lambeth: 20.1 per cent, to £635,505

---

Link to web site

The Guardian:
"UK property prices have made us millionaires – but damaged democracy"

"One in 10 of UK adults is now a millionaire, thanks mostly to soaring house values. The main political parties can't help but cater to property owners, so who will represent the rest?

"... [In the 1960s,] half the population rented, with their income rather than their assets dictating the level of financial security they felt. At present, property ownership may be in decline. But only a third of the population now rent. And half of those are renting from the two-thirds who own.

"What this means, politically, is that members of Thatcher's property-owning democracy outnumber everyone else by two to one. For many of us, the value of our assets is just as important to our concept of ourselves as financially secure as is the size of our incomes, if not more so, because for some time now, generally speaking, our houses have been earning more than we do. The total wealth in private hands in this country in the years from 2010-2012 was £9.5tn – more than six times the value of all goods and services produced in the country every year.

"Any British political party that doesn't put the needs of property owners first risks alienating the majority. That's why Labour targets not the poor, but the 'squeezed middle'. It might be nice to believe that the last time Britain ousted the Conservatives, it was because we were appalled by the ravages of de-industrialisation and privatisation. But a lot of people – the 'squeezed middle' – were probably just sick of high interest rates and declining property prices.

"Any party that presides over low interest rates and rising property prices will now achieve good poll ratings. No wonder politicians have, for decades now, been calling for a house-building boom to tackle the supply problem, while remaining privately relieved that it never really quite seems to take off."

CBRE: "Towers of London" [Gettit?]

LInk to PDF on web site

"New research by CBRE has found that the resurgence of high rise living – driven by a need to build up rather than out – means that 13,600 residential units are currently under construction in new towers in the capital, with a further 70,000 units now in the planning pipeline, enough to meet the Mayor of London’s housing target for two years.

The move towards constructing taller residential towers has been ignited by an upsurge in land values in London, with a consequent need for developers to be more efficient with their sites.
Tower developments are increasingly synonymous with luxury living and being higher up can add substantial value to units. This means that end values can more frequently support the higher build costs attached to towers.

The research also found that towers are emerging in clusters. This is driven in part by planning policy, which drives tall buildings to the central activity zone and opportunity areas.  It also guides them away from sites in the viewing corridors designated in the London Plan, which guard views of the river and existing skyline.

CBRE has also found that clustering is driven by local values, with locations close to the river particularly attractive to buyers and, therefore, to developers.

Mark Collins, Chairman of Residential at CBRE, comments:

“Towers are valuable instruments for providing much needed homes. In the last decade, tower schemes have generated just under 10,000 new homes, but there now are 13,600 currently under construction and a further 70,000 units in the planning pipeline, all of which can help to play an important role in meeting the requirement for new homes in the capital.”

Jennet Siebrits, Head of Residential Research at CBRE, comments:

“As London’s skyline continues to grow, we have seen an array of towers being submitted for planning, under construction and now completed right across the capital. Despite the  higher build costs associated with developing high-rise, developers have recognised the increased premium that these developments can expect to enjoy, making them increasingly viable.

“Through examining the unit by unit pricing of 15 current and recent schemes across a range of price points and specifications, CBRE has calculated an average price premium per floor of 2.3%. The largest ‘tower premium’ was achieved on the highest specification and value product, ranging between 1.3% and 3.25%.”

Stuart Robinson, Chairman of Planning at CBRE, comments:

“In London we have a tradition of setting broad guidelines for the clustering of tall buildings, so that they do not harm important views. This requires a high standard of design, so that London’s skyline is enhanced.

This approach will come under increased pressure in the future, as we will increasingly need to create higher density in our city in order to meet London’s housing need.”

Sunday Telegraph: "Governor of the Bank of England warns that Britain's housing inflation threatens the entire economy"

Link to web site

"Britain’s housing market has deep structural problems, and rising prices represent the biggest risk to the economy, the Governor of the Bank of England warns today.

"Mark Carney expresses concerns about another 'big debt overhang' building up, with homebuyers taking out loans many times larger than their salaries.

"He says in an interview with Sky News that the UK desperately needs new house-building to help control price inflation. He added:

“We don’t want to build up another big debt overhang that is going to hurt individuals and is very much going to slow the economy in the medium term. We would be concerned if there were a rapid increase in high loan-to-value mortgages across the banks. We’ve seen that creeping up, and it's something we're watching closely."

---

Link to web site

The Guardian:
"Buy-to-let return of 16.3% since 1996 dwarfs other investments, says lender"

"Buy-to-let investors have made £12,000 profit on every £1,000 they put into property since mortgages for landlords were first launched in 1996 – returns that have far outstripped every other type of investment, according to an analysis by one of Britain's biggest lenders.

"The report by Paragon Mortgages to mark the 18th birthday – or 'coming of age' – of buy-to-let, predicts that landlords will continue to make an average of 11% a year for the next decade.

"It found that since 1996, £1,000 invested in a buy-to-let property has turned into £13,048, an annual rate of return of 16.3% a year, buoyed by fast-rising house prices and rents. Over the same period shares would have earned investors 6.8% a year, bonds 6.5% and savings in the bank 4%."

Sun 18 May: Clitterhouse Farm

'London Forum': "The Campaign for Better Transport London branch has published its May 2014 newsletter" (mentions Brent Cross)

Link to newsletter PDF file

The Guardian: "London housing crisis: who dares to brown the greenbelt?"

"A London School of Economics professor argues that we should build homes on the capital's greenbelt, but London politicians prepared to back this view are few"

LInk to web site 
(and to the full LSE version from there)

"I liked Paul Cheshire's diagnosis of Britain's housing affordability crisis from the off:

"When things go wrong it is always handy to blame foreigners and currently even the liberal press are blaming them for our crisis of housing affordability.

"... "The problem is not 50 luxury houses empty on London's Bishops Avenue or foreign speculators buying luxury flats to keep empty. It is that we have not been building enough houses for more than 30 years – and those we have been building have too often been in the wrong place or of the wrong type to meet demand."

"So, what would Cheshire do to put things right? He'd start by busting a few myths about the greenbelt, not least by demonstrating its lack of actual greenness compared with urban parks and gardens and its lack of value to people who aren't farmers, golfers, consumers of 'horseyculture' or home owners within greenbelt areas. He writes:

"The reality is that a child in Haringey gets no welfare from the fact that five miles away in Barnet, there are 2,380 hectares of greenbelt land; or in Havering another 6,010 hectares.

"... What greenbelts really seem to be is a very British form of discriminatory zoning, keeping the urban unwashed out of the Home Counties - and of course helping to turn houses into investment assets instead of places to live."

New York Times: "Looking Toward Sweden for Road Safety"

Link to web site

"Across this Scandinavian capital of graceful cyclists and speed-regulating shrubbery, cabbies who drive Volvos, and pedestrians who look over their shoulders before jaywalking, a simple figure rules:

"Zero. It is the number of people permitted to die in Swedish traffic, according to national law.

"For nearly two decades, every rising barrier and reduced speed limit has been tailored to this seemingly impossible goal, of eradicating traffic deaths and serious injuries, and its guiding premise: Every inch of street space must anticipate, and accommodate, human error.

"While roadway deaths have not been eliminated, the country’s rate of fatalities has been whittled down to an international low. Now its approach faces perhaps its stiffest test: the streets of New York City."

Joseph Rowntree Foundation: "Segregated neighbourhoods and mixed communities: A critical analysis"

Link to web site (image is from 'Frost Report', 1966)

"This 2007 report examines why residential segregation arises, and how it relates to the distribution of incomes.

"It also challenges the belief that mixed communities are an effective way to reduce deprivation and social exclusion.

"The report looks at:

• the origins of the idea that mixed communities increase social welfare and help to address deprivation
• whether living in a deprived neighbourhood damages a person’s chances in life – known as the 'neighbourhood effect'
• why neighbourhoods segregated by income persist.

"The author concludes that mixed neighbourhoods treat a symptom of inequality, not its cause, and the problem is poverty and not where people live. He argues that there is evidence that living with similar people – for both rich and poor – can generate some advantages."

Wed 14 May: Waterways of Finchley

A sunny day, and the TfL tram arrives at the enlarged Allianz Park, Mill Hill, heading for Mill Hill East and Finchley Central. Ding-ding!

(Edinburgh trams are currently undergoing trials)

"Mayor sets out plan for 22-mile ring-road tunnel under London" (Good grief)

Link to Evening Standard

"Plans to transform central London with a 22-mile-long underground ring road can be revealed today.

"Costing £30 billion to construct, it would remove tens of thousands of cars from the crowded streets above.

"The Inner Orbital Tunnel would be one of the most ambitious infrastructure schemes ever seen in the city, with subterranean dual carriageways linking key routes, from the A40 Westway to the A12 in the east, and the A1 route north to the A2 running south." 

---

Jeff Speck en Exploraciones para una Megalópolis 002: Ciudad Peatón from Laboratorio para la Ciudad on Vimeo. (Video in English!)

"La segunda edición de Exploraciones para una megalópolis, Ciudad Peatón, fue un espacio de diálogo y propuesta en torno a la recuperación de la escala humana, los espacios subutilizados, y el enfoque en el peatón –una de las prioridades del gobierno actual de la ciudad y una de las provocaciones a las que el Laboratorio dedicará especial atención este año.

"Jeff Speck es urbanista y arquitecto. A través de textos, conferencias y trabajo construido aboga internacionalmente por el crecimiento inteligente y el diseño sustentable. Como Director de Diseño del National Endowment for the Arts de EUA trabajó en un programa para erradicar la degradación urbana. También fue Director de Planeación en Duany Plater-Zybek and Co., agencia líder en Nuevo Urbanismo. Es coautor de Suburban Nation y de The Smart Growth Manual. Su más reciente libro se titula Walkable City, o Ciudad Caminable, y explora “cómo los centro urbanos pueden salvar Estados Unidos paso a paso."

Google Translate: "The second edition of Explorations for a Megalopolis, City Pedestrian, was a space for dialogue and proposal regarding the recovery of the human scale, underutilized spaces, and focus on the pedestrian-one of the priorities of the current city government and one of the provocations to which the Laboratory devote special attention this year.

Jeff Speck is a town planner and architect. Through texts, lectures, and built work internationally advocating for smart growth and sustainable design. As Director of Design at the National Endowment for the Arts U.S. worked in a program to eradicate urban blight. He was also Director of Planning at Duany Plater-Zybek and Co., a leader in New Urbanism agency. He is co-author of Suburban Nation and The Smart Growth Manual. His most recent book is titled Walkable City, or City walkable, and explores "how urban center can save the United States step by step."

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Barnet Press (Population increase without light rail: Haven't-a-Clue Hammerson and the other usual suspects)

£$*%&@ Bankers - "WE KNOW WHERE YOU LIVE!"

Link to Londonmapper web site

"[Our] website aims to provide comprehensive insights into the state of poverty and inequality in the capital. It is a work in progress, and we are just at the start of what will be a growing repository of a wide range of maps."

The Guardian: "Show and Tell":

"London is a complicated city with many distinct languages, cultures and wildlife sitting alongside one another. One of the best ways to show this is to use cartograms, maps that are distorted by underlying statistics. The website Londonmapper, created by academics from Oxford University, has produced over 300 maps of the capital, including ones that show the distribution of homeless people, obese children, rent prices and even hedgehog sightings."

Base map of London boroughs:

London24: "Video shows how London evolved since 410 AD" (Brent Cross isn't evolving, it's regressing due to unsustainability)

Link to video

"This fascinating new video made for English Heritage shows how Greater London has grown over the space of almost 2000 years.

"The video focuses on roads and settlements and also shows where listed buildings are around the city.

"It’s very cool to see how our sprawling city all began in just the City of London’s square mile.

"One Reddit user summed it up: 'It’s crazy to realise how little I know about this place despite having lived here my whole life'."

The Guardian: "Potholes, parking and Ukip: main parties primed for local election battle"

Link to web site

"Inevitably, focus in the local elections is on London, where all seats in the boroughs are up for grabs. Just under half the 4,200 seats being contested are in the capital. There are also four mayoral contests in London, as well as a fifth one just outside the city in marginal Watford.

"Labour already runs 17 mainly inner London boroughs, the Conservatives 11 and the Liberal Democrats just two. Labour's six battleground boroughs are Harrow, Barnet, Redbridge, Tower Hamlets, Croydon and Merton. In terms of London seats, Labour has the most to defend as it currently holds 870 seats, the Conservatives 712, and the Liberal Democrats 246.

"... The borough of Barnet, in suburban north London, has a history of being a base for Conservative radicals, including Margaret Thatcher's tenure as MP for the now abolished Finchley constituency. Losing Barnet to Labour would be a harsh blow.

---

Barnet Bugle:
"Video: Four years on the BBC revisits Barnet to report on change from EasyCouncil to OneBarnet"

Has isobel [sic] struck already? An image from its Brent Cross pitch? "I AM OUT-OF-TOWN, SO COME BY CAR"

"Late night shoppers! Take your time and relax as you can now shop longer and eat later with an extra hour for food and dining.

"Grab a coffee, enjoy a leisurely meal with friends or pick up a bite to cook at home until 9pm, Monday to Saturday and 7pm on Bank Holidays."

The Drum: "Hammerson appoints isobel to £2m creative account"

May 2014: "Real estate company Hammerson has appointed isobel to work across four shopping centres: Brent Cross in London, Centrale in Croydon, Oracle in Reading and WestQuay in Southampton.

"Isobel was appointed to the £2m creative account following a four-way pitch.

" 'Hammerson was our second ever client, so this appointment means a lot to us,' explained Dave Alexander, creative partner at isobel. 'The work has consistently set the pace, and we relish the opportunity to work with the London and South East shopping centres.'

"The agency will now create a new campaign for each centre, including TV, print, outdoor and POS."

---

The new pitch?

"I'm a car-based out-of-town shopping centre"

"I'm doubling in size"

"I claim my new shoppers will arrive by bus" 

(Admittedly no-one believes that)

"I'm therefore clearing off after just Phase One!"

"There are many sides to

BRENTCROSS [sic]

LONDON"
(and some are just unsustainable disasters)

[Reposted from Aug 2013] The Guardian: "The death of the middle class will undermine our democracy"

"The squeezed middle yelps. Indeed, on the latest statistics, it is gasping for air. Will they riot, or form an orderly queue to loot Debenhams?"

Link to web site

"A while back we heard a lot about the 'squeezed middle', the decent, hard-working people who were having to tighten their belts or expand them according to the price of spelt. No more long breaks at Easter. More Lidl, less Ocado. Less discussion of house prices, more of the cost of education, all of this underpinned by a niggling anxiety about long-term employment.

"Sure, zero hours and freelance life is great for young 'creatives'. Less good if you have children, ever get ill, or (and this may come as a blow) you are not actually a 'creative' but a worker. A middle-class one with a salary, but a worker nonetheless.

Workers should be able to save, but are finding it impossible. The squeezed middle yelps. Indeed, on the latest statistics, it is gasping for air."

Evening Standard: "Walk away from kerb to avoid fumes in London, adviser urges"

Link to web site

"Londoners should walk away from the kerb on busy roads to avoid inhaling traffic pollution blamed for a shocking number of premature deaths, a Government adviser urged today.

Dr Iarla Kilbane-Dawe stressed pollution levels can be a third lower on the inside of the pavement on roads such as Putney High Street, in south west London, compared to the kerbside.

He also recommended that drivers keep the air vents in their car closed, when on roads with heavy traffic, to limit the health impacts from dirty air.

"... Further work by Dr Kilbane-Dawe showed that in a string of boroughs, long-term exposure to particulate pollution is the fifth biggest killer after causes such as cancer, cardiovascular diseases and communicable illnesses.

"These boroughs include Kensington & Chelsea but also several in outer London such as Bromley, Barnet, Bexley, Havering, Sutton and Richmond."

Lincolnshire Echo (Echo, echo, cho, cho, o...): "Lincoln firm Simons Group start work on London Fenwick store"

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"Lincoln-based construction firm Simons Group is starting a 42-week project to revamp the London store of major retailer Fenwick.

"Enabling works and construction start this week on the city store at the Brent Cross Shopping Centre.

"A rooftop extension will create extra warehouse space and new staff offices, which will lead to more retail space on the existing floors.

"Work will also include building a customer lift to all floors, along with a staff lift."