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Dave Hill  Somewhere in my basement I believe there's still a large box with the words "Shirley Porter" written on the side. It does not contain the former leader of Westminster City Council - these days, you'll find her in Tel Aviv - but a great stack of documents relating to the scandal that remains firmly attached to her name.
Dame Shirley, some will recall, became Westminster's Conservative boss during the 1980s. A gleaming, bustling presence on London's political scene, she was admired or reviled as a sort of mini Margaret Thatcher: a no nonsense Tory lady who got things done. One of the things she did was devise a secret policy called Building Stable Communities [BSC]. It was applied to eight Westminster wards, ostensibly to foster greater social cohesion but in reality to massage their political character in order to keep the Conservatives in power after the 1990 borough elections.
BSC involved earmarking council dwellings for "designated sale" to private buyers when they fell vacant, rather than letting them to new tenants. The eight wards were political marginals, and private buyers were more likely to be Conservative voters. After years of legal argument, Dame Shirley, whose father Jack Cohen founded the Tesco empire, reluctantly coughed up £12 million to make the authorities go away. But the legacy of her contempt for people who live in social housing endures.
The Conservative politicians currently in charge of Hammersmith and Fulham Council knew this even before Thursday's latest reports in the Guardian - here and here - and in the Evening Standard on the plans of its leader Stephen Greenhalgh to demolish seven estates that he defines as "not decent neighbourhoods". Documents obtained by local Labour MP Andrew Slaughter reveal the recognition within H&F that its plans risk attracting accusations of "Porteresque" gerrymandering.
These would be unjustified in some clear ways: BSC was all about "homes for votes", whereas Greenhalgh's main preoccupation appears to be with what he considers the unacceptable moral and economic costs of concentrations of residents in Council houses and flats. Yet the seeming lack of provision for the future of those H&F residents who might lose their homes under Greenhalgh's strategy makes him vulnerable to attacks very similar to those that scarred Porter. Slaughter accuses him of "social cleansing". Tories across London - including in City Hall - will watch the progress of this battle warily.
One and Other
I've yet to visit Antony Gormley's fourth plinth project but a part of me feels as though it's taken up residence there more permanently than any of the human self-exhibits who've so far occupied the space for a single hour each. There's not a minute of the day when I can't transport myself to that curious corner of Trafalgar Square. The Guardian's coverage is comprehensive, participatory and reflective of the divisions such enterprises always inspire: Adrian Searle is enthusiastic, Jonathan Jones indifferent, and you can offer your opinion here. If all that's not enough, I can get close to the plinth action with the live feed. And if I grow sick of it, I can empathise with science fiction writer Mike Harrison who derides it as "Big Brother on a stilt." Suitably enough, One And Other offers something for everyone.
London blogosphere
If
you don't have the group blog Londonist bookmarked, you should correct
the omission right away. It's got news and views on everything from
transport to politics, from lunches to cemeteries, from theatre cats to
eel art - the world in one city on one blog.
Cheaper Than You Think
London's reputation as an extortionate location has taken two significant blows this week. The first came with its fall from third to sixteenth place in a survey of the world's most expensive cities, a plunge interrogated for you here and here. The second was the voluntary online publication of the expenses claims of all London Assembly Members and Boris Johnson's advisers.
This orgy of transparency followed the trauma (for the Mayor) of Ian Clement's fall from grace and the hoo-ha about Boris's taxi bills. Even the incorrigible Brian Coleman complied, albeit only after a display of truculence brought to an end either by Coleman himself out of consideration for his harassed staff or by the persuasive charms of the Mayor and Tory group leader Roger Evans, depending on whom you believe.
Coleman's bills did rather underline his "taxi man" reputation, and deputy mayor Richard Barnes seems not averse to a fat fare or two. In general, though, our elected representatives and Boris's appointees alike have been admirably careful with our money. What a pleasing contrast with too many of their counterparts along the river.
Next Week
If it's entertainment you crave, look no further than next Wednesday's Mayor's Question Time, which could be the toughest Boris has yet faced. Don't laugh, but the following day's gathering of the Assembly's Audit Panel could be a little thrilling too, in its own way. And then there's drains: specifically the Victorian variety being replaced all over London including in my own back yard. I'm going to look into those drains on your behalf. This is one Londoner who knows how to have a good time. Keep in touch.
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