bottom drawer

Did my first bluegrass gig on English soil last night, stepping in at the last minute with the thoroughly excellent Coal Porters , headed up by Sid Griffin of Long Ryders fame, who I heard in London on St Patrick's Day last. Had to learn a whole load of their original material from scratch in a couple of days and one rehearsal...and last night we were down in Bristol at the Prom with me casting glances at my crib sheet (Idiot wind...f*** those chord changes...when does my break come...what, now?!? help!!) but nevertheless I did have the best time and I think we all had fun. They have an excellent fiddle player usually in Gemma White so it was truly a privilege to step in. It felt so good to get back to playing some of that ol' lonesome sound music again...with a bit of ruckus thrown in at the end! Fingers crossed I may get a few more gigs with them in the future, so watch this space. And if any of you have the need for a fiddler, I'm getting back in the scene!

The damn thing died. Not immediately after I dropped it on the floor - oh no, it continued to play the track quite happily. But then I tried to skip to another track and a dreadful clicking noise started. It carried on clicking until it ran out of battery. Then if I tried to restart it, the clicking started again. Hate gadgets. Desperately want a new one. Sod's law will have it die when I actually NEED it to work, when I'm desperately trying to learn a whole bunch of new songs for a last-minute gig I've been asked to play, bringing me onto stage for the first time in a year. Well - I have resisted temptation only so far: it is on my wishlist , and my unchecked out shopping cart...

Money, money, money...that's what it's all about in the news. After all the front page splashes over the rising costs of the Games, it is all about where to find the extra cash - and indeed, how much to find. The Treasury wants a huge 60% contingency to be factored in, whereas the Ken and the ODA call this "breathtakingly ridiculous" and call for a still massive 30%. And where to get it? Well, according to Ken, he wants to effectively introduce a planning gain supplement levy on the uplift in land prices. “Land prices in the Olympics area have doubled. I will be looking at using the profits from developers on additional profits to service any cost overruns [on the Olympics].” Neale Coleman, policy director to the mayor and a member of the ODA board, said “If we had reliable receipts of what the land values would be after the Games, we could borrow against that now and the money could be used to fund extra Games costs. The two are connected because the LDA owns the lan...

I wish I had more time to do a proper post on the Stern report and reaction. Luckily a colleague at WorldChanging has done a fantastic article here . But suffice to say it has only fuelled the fire of those who are trying to push zero-carbon development. In particular, publicly funded development is going to have a lot more demanded of it in the next few years. Ruth Kelly has already committed to developing a timescale, but the WWF is proposing that within five years residential development that is financed by the Housing Corporation, or that uses land supplied by English Partnerships, should be zero carbon. The WWF argues further that all residential development that receives public finance should be zero carbon within 10 years. This would include the former ODPM’s growth programmes, including the Thames Gateway. They want these goals to be achieved using the Code for Sustainable Homes. This document, which is due to be finalised by the DCLG next month, will set mandatory standar...

In the last census, 390,000 people listed Jedi Knight as their religion, making it the UK's fourth largest belief system. Today they are marking the UN's International Day of Tolerance by asking for them to gain official recognition. "Like the UN, the Jedi Knights are peacekeepers and we feel we have the basic right to express our religion through wearing our robes, and to be recognised by the national and international community. "Tolerance is about respecting difference where ever it lies, including other galaxies. Please don't exclude us from your important work. May the Force be with you." They want the day to be renamed Interstellar Day of Tolerance.

The ever fantastic mysociety have come up with another genius project of the sort that you think 'how come no-one did this years ago?' They've launched the beta of an e-petition site that enables you to launch a petition, email all your friend,s gather electronically verified signatures and then email it off to Downing St all in a few easy clicks. It's all done in partnership with the Prime Minister's office so super-legit and might actually work. Now I've just got to think of something to petition about...

Derwent Valley is buying London Merchant Securities for £1bn to create a combined £2.25bn portfolio of mainly commercial West End property. In other takeover news, Crest Nicholson is in talks with consortium HBOS despite rejecting a £660m takeover offer from them last Friday, and Henderson has increased its bid for John Laing in the bidding war with Allianz. GMW Architects with developer Hammerson is on the verge of being appointed to the massive redevelopment of Victoria Station in central London. Land Secs posted a healthy rise in net asset value ahead of its confirmed conversion to a REIT in January. The last details of Argent's s106 agreement will go to Camden committee on Thursday. The remaining objectors are expected to protest but it should, hopefully, be a formality. A new unit has been set up by the government to provide independent advice on improving the provision of affordable homes. The National Housing and Planning Advice Unit will help provide evidence an...

I feel a little sorry for the Queen, having to mouth the politicised words of 'my government'. Today's speech was dominated by security, immigration and the environment, and the Queen confirmed that the government would introduce a climate change bill “consistent with the need to secure the country’s long-term energy supply”. The Climate Change Bill commits to a 60% reduction by 2050 but there was no mention of annual targets. Other measures: A new Local Government Bill will overhaul the regulation and inspection of councils while devolving more powers. Greater London Authority Bill will strengthen the mayor's powers on homes, strategic planning and climate change issues. Planning reform proposals to be published in spring 2007.

Looks like its all systems go, despite some murmurs of discontent from the Treasury about the costs of setting up the new body. Apparently we may hear something officially on the 20th. Likely to be called Communities England, it also appears that it will be headed up by civil servant Richard McCarthy, currently a senior director of the DCLG, and presently chairing the joint EP/corporation board that is managing the merger. It held its first meeting last week. McCarthy is also close to Baroness Ford, EP’s chairman, and is a former chief executive of the Peabody Trust and chairman of the National Housing Federation. Communities England would take over the DCLG’s responsibilities for programmes such as stock transfer, arm’s length management organisations, housing market renewal, the Thames Gateway and neighbourhood renewal. It will take between nine and 18 months to set up because of the need to secure parliamentary approval for winding up the corporation and EP, as they...

Richard Rogers kicked up a storm last week by claiming that he and Ken Livingstone are 'deeply concerned' about the procurement strategy being undertaken by the Olympic Delivery Agency. Rogers attacked the planned use of design-and-build contracts, and threatened a boycott, saying that he wouldn't compete for buildings that were going be be delivered by D&B. Meanwhile his practice RRP is going to compete for the only remaining non DB contract - for the velodrome, which sees every ambitious and big-name architect in town joining the competition. His brother Peter, who chaired the Strategic Forum 2012 task group, has told everyone to 'stop bashing' the Olympics. Effectively criticising Jack Lemley's comments that there was too much talking and not enough action going on, he said “I think what they are trying to do, which is think before they act, is absolutely right. We’re far too prone to coming up with good ideas and getting on with the building, before we...

The developer of Battersea Power Station has been given the go-ahead to develop on the adjacent site, before actually completing the renovation of the power station itself. Wandsworth Council agreed to Parkview's plans, as well as the amendment to the Section 106 agreement, which defined how ‘complete’ renovations needed to be on the power station before work could continue elsewhere on the site. They now just have to secure the site and do a few repairs. Leslie McDonnell, of Wandsworth Council, said: ‘Parkview now have the consents they need to get on with the job of restoring this famous building. They have told us they will be ready to start the work in earnest in the New Year – we expect them to keep to this.’

A call by Conservative Party cities taskforce chief Michael Heseltine to privatise the planning system has been slammed by planning officer representatives. Heseltine said that he would favour the privatisation of some planning functions to speed up the system, saying that currently, public sector planning applications were often dealt with by inexperienced and overcautious staff. He said that planning consultants and surveyors could be licensed to take planning decisions, rather than planning officials. But Planning Officers Society president Hilary Herbert said: "We do not think he should be preempting the work of Kate Barker's review. The government has also just implemented a fundamental reform of the planning framework, and this should be given time to bed down." She added that privatising the system would remove the democratic mandate currently held by planning departments. After the row, Heseltine appeared to backtrack, saying that he specifically meant only issues...

One pathfinder is innovating: Ikea is about to enter the first planning application for its BokLok homes in Gateshead. The flatpack homes will have their UK launch at the Building Centre later this month. But another is in the news for all the wrong reasons: because it is apparently 'ignoring' a design review panel in the area, seeing it as a thorn in the flesh. Liverpool’s design review body has not been shown any detailed planning applications for new housing in the controversial housing market renewal area. The Liverpool Urban Design & Conservation Advisory Panel (Ludcap) has grave concerns about the quality of schemes now being built and passing through planning, which it has been denied the opportunity to comment on because it is seen as “a thorn in the flesh”. The panel’s frustration follows a row between the pathfinder and Cabe in the summer, when the design watchdog opposed compulsory purchase orders in the area. It later dropped its opposition. A sou...

Yesterday I received my contributor's copy of the eponymous book from worldchanging.com (where my latest post on on Google Sketch-up is up, btw) and it is humungously exciting. Beautifully designed, packed with authoritative, pithy articles on everything from nanotechnology to urbanism to lightbulbs, it really is the definitive "User's Guide to the 21st Century" as the strapline has it. And all priced at a very reasonable £24.95 (£16.46 on Amazon , though please support your local bookshop...) so guys, you know what to get all your friends for Christmas! Shameless plug, I know - but with a foreword by Al Gore and rave reviews from the other side of the Atlantic where it is already released, the book speaks for itself. Out officially on the 24th November in the UK.

Yesterday I received my contributor's copy of the eponymous book from worldchanging.com (where I write, recently on Google Sketch-up and before that on Kinsale's Energy Descent Action Plan , Ecoliteracy and more ) and it is humungously exciting. Beautifully designed, packed with authoritative, pithy articles on everything from nanotechnology to urbanism to lightbulbs, it really is the definitive "User's Guide to the 21st Century" as the strapline has it. And all priced at a very reasonable £24.95 (£16.46 on Amazon , though please support your local bookshop...) so guys, you know what to get all your friends for Christmas! Shameless plug, I know - but with a foreword by Al Gore and rave reviews from the other side of the Atlantic where it is already released, the book speaks for itself. Out officially on the 24th November.

Wow. Pointing out the obvious...A study by the Economic & Social Research Council (ESRC) reveals that middle-class people aspire to suburban living and see regeneration as an aid to that - but working class people are less convinced by such change. "The lesson for regeneration agencies is that they need to understand how people feel about them, not assume that they will be understood. This shows just how successful middle-class residents have been at imposing their tastes when it comes to the places in which we live." Basically, it says that working-class residents don't see themselves on a housing ladder and don't see any way of moving 'up in the world', so don't value regeneration for bringing an uplift in property values. They were most affected by lack of jobs and services and thought that public agencies generally did 'nothing' for them, while the middle-classes saw themselves as 'here for now' and didn't mind a bit of scruff...

In case you haven't heard: I forgot to mention in yesterday's Gateway round-up the pretty hilarious news that part of the DCLG's strategy is to rebrand it as Thames Estuary Parklands in order to attract investors and residents. That's as well as the 'oops' from the Olympics team as it was revealed that they had forgotten to add VAT to their budget estimates. You might think that at that level, mistakes like that wouldn't happen? Residents of Croydon are bracing themselves for the big man after Will Alsop won a competition to carry out a 'visioning exercise' for the town centre. Unconnectedly, plans for the controversial Gateway site in Croydon are apprently pushing ahead with a new planning application from Stanhope imminent. Clever old Davis Langdon have announced they are going to offset all their carbon emissions and also start a carbon consultancy service for clients. CABE has rapped the wrists of Dev Secs and Sheppard Robson for not being green...

Talk about planning reform is hotting up ahead of the Barker review publication. Tony Blair has pledged to introduce a new planning bill, pre-empting the Barker report. This is despite Barker hinting in her interim report that she didn't think there should be another major shake-up of the planning system. The government is also considering establishing an independent commission to examine major infrastructure projects including nuclear power stations, transport schemes and possibly large housing schemes. This comes as the proposals in last week's White Paper, to remove major planning decisions from council committees to a nominated individual, received a mixed response, with the LGIU worrying that it will lead to corruption. The proposal suggests a single elected mayor or council leader could take all decisions on strategically important applications. Meanwhile, a committee of MPs have reported on the planning gain supplement idea and said that it needs a lot more work to ensu...

No phasing in Barking, barks Ken at Bellway Homes. A report presented to the mayor's latest planning meeting said Bellway and EP, its JV partner, had proposed a cap of 4,000 units on its Barking Riverside scheme until funding has been secured for a £295m extension of the Docklands Light Railway through the site. The joint venture envisages 10,800 homes spread across the 179ha brownfield site. But basically Ken wants no phasing to force the government to commit funding for the DLR. Meanwhile the DLR link to Stratford International got planning approval, which will come as a relief. It will mean there is an alternative to walking 400m with your wheely suitcase between the Eurostar and the Tube station, although you will have to endure more escalators/crowded DLR carriage/etc in the process. Proposals for an airport-style travelator are still being contested by the government (pro) and LCR (anti). Moving further out, a couple of EP projects around Basildon have hit the buffers, due to...

Over the weekend, I'm sure a lot of you read or heard about an idea from La Cameron's fave think-tank (the Policy Exchange) to x-list building s that 'the people' find ugly and demolish them. As almost everything the PE suggest seems to get made into Tory policy about a month later, this is one to spend a minute untangling. From the Observer: "The X-list manifesto, part of a collection of essays on a new 'green' approach to cities, admits that simply being ugly won't be enough to condemn a building to the wrecking ball. Candidates for destruction will also have to be uninhabited or unused, have 'a distressing and anti-social impact' and blight the local economy. "Under the Policy Exchange plan, local residents would nominate urban architecture for X-listing. There would then be a three-month period for debate, a selection of a long list by the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment, and a final selection by an 'X-list ju...

Ooh, how embarrassing. After resigning a couple of weeks ago as the chair of the ODA, when everyone said nice platitudinous things about him, Jack Lemley has exposed the real reasons for his departure to his local paper, the Idaho Statesman. He claimed that politics was threatening to bring the project in late and over-budget. He said there had been a “huge amount of local politics” involved in moving the 300 businesses from the 700-acre Olympic site in East London. He said that the issue was the “kind of thing that confuses and frustrates the process.” Lemley said that he resigned because he did not want to have his reputation of delivering projects on time ruined. He said: “I felt it better to come home now than face that in five or six years. I went there to build things, not to sit and talk about it, so I felt it best to leave the post and come home.” Lemley also criticised the current debate over whether the main Olympic arena should be converted...