Can Man plan?

“Can man plan?”  This was the response of one of my university lecturers in 1963 when I told him that I had decided on a career in town planning.  At the time I thought it was a silly question, but 56 years later I now think he had a point.

More thoughts on the election disaster - and the next Labour Leader

This is really a supplement to my earlier article. Most of it is actually quoted from a letter to an old friend, in which I described my own experiences canvassing in Portsmouth. This is what I wrote:

Time to scrap the Green Belt?

Most planning policies only last a few years before they are officially abandoned or they are undermined and nullified by events.  But one flagship planning policy has survived for over a hundred years with little amendment or public opposition – not even from those people who would benefit most from its abandonment.  That policy is the rule that cities must not be allowed to grow outwards but must be constrained by an ever tighter Green Belt. 

[Warning: I got carried away when writing this, and it has ended up far too long. But I quite enjoyed it, so I hope somebody finds it worthwhile to plough through to the end]

Right decision – wrong reasons.

The media are reporting that Winchester and Dulwich Colleges have rejected an offer of an endowment that would provide a scholarship for a white working class boy (not a girl apparently) to attend one of these elite public schools.  The reported reason for the rejection is that the schools do not want to discriminate on grounds of race.  While they each may have had the best of intentions, both the donor and the schools have got it wrong.

Some thoughts on the election disaster

Although the polls had been predicting it for weeks, the election result has come as a terrible shock and disappointment.  I am appalled at the prospect of losing my European citizenship, my right to live and work anywhere in the EU, and the prospect of another 4½ years of homeless rough sleepers, food banks, growing NHS waiting lists, failure to tackle the climate emergency - all presided over by a dishonest charlatan and his fan club of right wing populist ideologues, Britain’s answer to Donald Trump.  I feel ashamed of my fellow countrymen and women who voted for this.

How has this come about?  And who is to blame? 

Is it about the gas?

This is a little story that I should have written up more than two years ago, but I never got round to it.  However, as we may be approaching an election in the near future, it may still be of interest.

Constitution needed

Whatever the eventual outcome of the Brexit mess (at the time of writing it could still be May’s Deal, No Deal, or No Brexit) what it has conclusively demonstrated is that the British “Constitution” is not fit for purpose.