Wear the Norwich shirt

It is debatable the extent to which Brandon Lewis has so far broke new ground in his role as housing minister.

However, the Great Yarmouth MP was thrilled to achieve a first last week when he became the first minister to introduce legislation to the House under new ‘English votes for English laws’. These are rules aimed at ensuring English MPs have a greater say on legislation affecting England only. This hardly makes Mr Lewis Winston Churchill, but he seemed very pleased with himself. “History made in the @HouseofCommons today. Proud to play my small part,” Mr Lewis tweeted.

Altogether now, Mr Lewis, “And did those feet in ancient time…”

Ahem. Closed Circuit’s spy has reason to be a little sheepish this week. Some time ago, said spy lost a bet with Norwich City fan Jamie Ratcliff (the man who comes up with housing policies for Boris Johnson to take the credit for) over the result of a match with West Ham. As a result, the spy agreed to wear a Canaries shirt for half a day in the office and post photos to Twitter.

However, as Mr Ratcliff has noted, said spy has failed to do so. But thanks to Michael Newey, the venerable chief executive of Norwich-based Broadland Housing, this will be remedied this week. He will provide a shirt, and said spy will wear it for a full day to make up for his tardiness.

Closed Circuit can also announce that Mr Ratcliff is challenged to an equivalent bet for the next Norwich vs West Ham clash in February.

And finally – the social housing sector’s finest have been trying to get fit this January by using a pedometer device and phone app known as ‘Fitbit’.

However, judging by a tweet conversation this week, sector figures have had mixed success. “I’ve been wearing mine for three weeks now and don’t feel any fitter,” complained former housing association chief executive Tom Murtha, while Clare Tickell, chief executive of Hanover Housing Association, blamed the fact she has a cat rather than a dog to walk. Her namesake, consultant James Tickell said his Fitbit “does count the number of cream buns ingested”, suggesting he might have a sweet tooth.

Not everybody has failed miserably, though. Lucy Ferman of Placeshapers rather smugly tweeted: “Dog walk will add to my steps… may even turn into a jog.” Alright, nobody likes a show-off.