Category Archives: housing

Bob Dylan: Liverpool 1966

Posted on February 5, 2022 by odeboyz
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Canary Wharf Housing Opening Soon

Posted on September 3, 2020 by odeboyz
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Councillor Accountability in the 1990s

Posted on August 6, 2020 by odeboyz

Between 1990 and 1998 I was Chair of Havering’s Housing Committee, which I enjoyed hugely. Because so many council tenants exercised their ‘right to buy’* this led to a worrying fall in the Council’s housing stock. This especially effected people … Continue reading →

Posted in Autobiography, housing, Politics | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Book Review: James Hawes ~ My Little Armalite (2008)

Posted on July 20, 2020 by odeboyz

I wrongly believed that this would stand in the tradition of Tom Sharpe and so looked forward to slap-stick humour. It isn’t Sharpe it’s a biting satire with lots of black humour. John Goode is a 45 year old university … Continue reading →

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Havering’s ‘Streets in the Sky’

Posted on June 25, 2020 by odeboyz

Tower Block Residents High rise tenants and leaseholders pay for communal lighting as a separate charge. This additional to Council tax. Apart from Tower Block Residents Council tax covers street lighting, which is part of the service embedded within the … Continue reading →

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British Health and Covid-19

Posted on June 21, 2020 by odeboyz

Coronavirus is a well understood disease.* There are international strategies in place for meeting the challenges which are presented. Covid-19 is a novel sub-species of a well known disease. Public ignorance, fuelled by governments, has given it lethal qualities which, … Continue reading →

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A visit to Aunty Hilda’s, 1949

Posted on May 14, 2020 by odeboyz

In 1949 I lived in the stark secure world of north London. Being five years old I didn’t realise that differences in living conditions could be enormous. My two brothers and I lived in a large ten room house in … Continue reading →

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Recycling, Craftsmen and Bonuses

Posted on April 30, 2020 by odeboyz

In the 1970s I worked for Hackney Council at the Defoe Road Depot, as a plumber. Once I was paired with George the roofer, and his labourer Tom. We had to strip and renew an ‘up and over’ slate roof … Continue reading →

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A Tale from a Tower Block

Posted on March 19, 2020 by odeboyz

Life in a Council tower block has its problems. Noise and other selfish behaviour can be significant. Social housing has been available to the working classes since 1945, which massively reduced private rented accommodation with improved housing at a lower … Continue reading →

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The price of paranoia

Posted on February 6, 2020 by odeboyz

“On Friday, we received a 911 call from Ronald Cyr’” a police spokesperson told reporters in Van Buren, Maine, “who said that he’d been shot. Officers arrived at his house, along with Van Buren Ambulance Service, and the US Border … Continue reading →

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