• And now an update on a well-loved tale currently doing the rounds. A visiting Spanish housing expert is studying the Corporation's online bidding system. She says a problem sometimes encountered at home is an attitude of "mañana" – what would that be called here? "That's a difficult one," says the corpy chief. "We don't have a means of expressing that sense of urgency."

  • Housing's own agony uncle Dr Tom Manion puts his roaring success at the public service "Oscars" last week down to his new fitness regime. Other staff get fitness training, head massage and singing lessons gratis to keep them in shape, but they didn't fancy having their chief joining the party.

    So Tom has hired a Fijian triathlete to teach him how to swim – with amazing results. Just when you thought it was safe to get back in the water...

  • Will the arguments about the sovereignty of Gibraltar lead to any upgrade to its housing stock, whether as a gesture by the UK to mollify the inhabitants, or an inducement offered by Spain?

    Despite its Mediterranean location, most of the public housing in Gibraltar looks remarkably like many 1960s deck access estates in Britain. This is perhaps hardly surprising as the architect of a good deal of it was John Poulson, the leading figure in the eponymous scandal of the 1970s and large-scale designer of housing for northern local authorities.

  • Everton footballer Alan Stubbs has reportedly become the most noticeable resident on a council estate in Liverpool – it's the problem parking the Merc, don'tcha know.

    It seems he and his family moved in temporarily while their luxury home is under construction.

    Rumours that neighbours are printing stickers with the legend "my other house is a castle" are of course completely untrue.

  • Genesis Housing Group plans to change the name of its subsidiary West Hampstead Housing Association. Reality Check is hardly surprised since "West Hampstead" will be forever associated with the sudden discovery of huge losses when a computer took a vow of silence, and with the Housing Corporation having to stump up a £3.5m overdraft guarantee.

    What will be the new name? Genesis' name was itself a rebranding, so how about carrying on the biblical theme with Revelations (Unpleasant) Housing Association?

    • Source

    Housing Today