CHURCHILL WAY BEATS THE THATCHER WAY

 

The rotten housing

bosses` rule is doomed

The headline in a recent issue of The Times newspaper read:”It`s time for another council house  revolution”.The  article that followed that headline described the revolution which is now surely coming.

The revolution is coming at a time when the floodgates have suddenly been swept  away and rotten rule of  housing associations with their inefficient and undemocratic ways has been exposed.

The rotten rule has been attacked for nearly a quarter of a century by this blog`s publisher, Carlisle Tenants` and Residents` Federationin its campaigning that housing associations are  accountable to no one but themselves. They do just as they like

Now we know they are vulnerable. Their rotten rule is finished because the government has stepped in.It  has cut off their cash supply and told  them to get  their house in order.

How we reached this necessary position is related in The Times  article which was written by Emma Duncan. This is what she wrote:

“ `Housing is the first of the social services` .No, that wasn`t an opposition politician needling the government about its failure to solve the housing crisis. It was Winston Churchill in his thundering introduction to the 1951 Tory Manifesto.

 “It has taken the death of a two-year-old in a mouldy flat to make us realise how right he was. Britain is a rich country and yet the story of Awaab Ishak(pictured) is Dickensian.He died because we failed to satisfy the most basic of human needs. The main reason  is that we have taken a Thatcherite rather than a Churchillian view of housing.

“The Thatcherite revolution overturned the postwar default of state command of the economy and replaced it with the assumption that the market would dominate. In much of life that was the right thing to do. The state had bogged up industry and communications for instance and the market improved the quality and quantity of what was on offer.

“But  demand brings forth supply, people have plenty of choice and providers are under pressure to improve qua;ity. That`s not the case in housing.”

Emma Duncan`s article comes to this hopeful conclusion:”Let`s hope the death of Awaab Ishak pushes us to change our system so people no longer have to live in houses that kill them”

 Community Voice Carlisle is the blog of Carlisle Tenants` and Residents`Federation. Information about the Federation is available on 01228 522277.

GLARING ERRORS ARE NOT WHAT THIS PAPER IS ALL ABOUT

 

The Times deserves

to be

slated!

The Times newspaper  has slipped up this week  in its report  of  the Lake District planners banning the use of Welsh slate on a development at Braithwaite. The planners insist on Lake District  slate.

That decision will have the backing of many local people who have long  considered  Welsh slate to be very inferior in quality to the local slate.

 And local  slate, apart from being more in keeping with this area is a lovely shade of green which is much more attractive  than the drab black of its  Welsh counterpart.

Interestingly, the green colouring is caused by chlorine in the rock.

Sadly, the Times report is  not  “in keeping”. Certainly not as “in keeping” as is the  Lake District slate because it contains a glaring error.  And errors are not  what  the Times is all about.

Lake District slate house at Coniston

The error is the report`s claim that the Cockermouth, Keswick and Penrith railway connected the Lake District with North Wales which is the home of the Welsh slate.

Of course, there never has been such a connection. Most people would say such a connection was impossible. And the two areas are nearly 200 miles apart.

 The Times claims in a headline over the report  that  the planners had “hit the roof” over the use of Welsh slate.

In view of that headline,Times readers are entitled to “hit the roof” over their paper`s inaccurate reporting.

Put it another way: The Times deserves to be slated

 Community Voice Carlisle is the blog of Carlisle Tenants` and Residents`Federation. Information about the Federation is available on 01228 522277.