Pop mystery man

A new face in Welsh housing is Ian Williams, the civil servant appointed to take care of the Welsh regulatory system.

But, if the rumours at the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) Tai conference last week were true, Mr Williams has a very interesting CV. According to a source, Mr Williams was a “pop star in the late-1980s” and has also worked as a TV presenter, and had a stint at oil company Shell.

Closed Circuit hasn’t confirmed the rumour with its dedicated research (the only pop star Ian Williams on Wikipedia is a rock guitarist from Pennsylvania) but it has reached out to Mr Williams for comment. If the rumours are true, we hope Welsh housing will be dancing to Mr Williams’ tune soon.

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At the Tai conference gala dinner last week, Francesca Martinez turned, as comedians often do, to the front row for a participant in her next joke and picked Terrie Alafat, chief executive of the Chartered Institute of Housing and former top civil servant.

In a comment about society’s attitude towards disability, Ms Martinez, who has cerebral palsy, then asked Ms Alafat if there was anything she was “sh*t at”.

“Cricket,” said Terrie, after a pause.

“Oh my God, you’re so brave,” said Ms Martinez – asking if her parents were also sh*t at cricket, did she go to a special school, was it genetic or environmental. And finally the pay off: “Do you mind me asking – can you even have sex?”

Closed Circuit missed Ms Alafat’s response, but it appears the CIH boss took the ribbing in good humour.

“Gosh wasn’t Francesca Martinez brilliant last night,” she said in her conference address the next day.

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There have been rumblings from many quarters about the speed at which the Housing and Planning Bill was drawn up. During a debate last week, Lord Gary Porter, chair of the Local Government Associaiton, did his best to play for time.

He said the month-long scrutiny in the House of Lords meant the bill was better now than when it started and “if we had it for two years, it would be perfect.”

Sadly, parliamentary process is unlikley to allow that long - as Lord Porter quickly found out. “I have already been told to speed up,” he acknowledged.