Closed Circuit: nimbys and Marxists

The housing world has been abuzz in the past couple of weeks over Haringey Council’s plan to privatise more than half of its commercial portfolio.

Amid much criticism on Twitter, one keen observer’s feelings on the issue were so strong that they were moved to create an anonymous Twitter account under the name ‘Heavy Duty Veracity’ to praise the Haringey Development Vehicle.

This pro-council crusader has been tweeting at activists, journalists and politicians for a week calling people with concerns “NIMBIES”, “Marxists” and “slanted and inaccurate”.

So who is this anonymous troll so passionately in favour of public/private partnerships?

Closed Circuit has managed to trace Heavy Duty Veracity to the City of London, somewhere in the postcode EC4N.

Aside from determining that their email address begins with a ‘c’, however, no further details have been forthcoming.

Those who attended the Housing 2017 conference in Manchester two weeks ago were treated to an eight-minute speech by local government minister Marcus Jones, who fled the stage before taking any questions.

However, the minister didn’t escape quite as easily as he’d hoped – he was pursued by Channel 4 news cameras with footage showing him studiously trying to ignore a question about how much the government would pay for cladding removals, while struggling to operate a revolving door.

Perhaps a polite Q&A would be less hassle next year, minister.

Closed Circuit has had an awful lot of fun with silly names for merged housing associations recently, but sadly the most recent completed deal has denied us our moment. Two large, historic housing associations completed a deal last week to bring Peabody and Family Mosaic together.

What name would they go for? A word beginning with a modern and distinctive ‘K’? Or maybe ‘EVOCATIVE’ in all caps? Or perhaps they would take inspiration from their local high street optician?

Sadly, the pair have plumped for ‘Peabody’. Where’s the fun in that?