Closed Circuit: shrinking trousers
Hedge wars concern DCLG and Kate Davies talks trousers
Ever had a row with a neighbour about a hedge? No? Good. Glad to hear you worry about more important things.
But apparently, for swathes of the population, ‘hedge problems’ are a big deal – so big that the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) has stepped in. Its guidance, published earlier this month, titled Over the Garden Hedge, tells you what to do. It warns: “You might be told some things about yourself that you’d rather not hear. It will force you to examine your own behaviour and do some soul searching. But by trying to understand each other’s point of view you can reach a lasting solution.”
So this is what the DCLG civil servants have been doing since the Housing White Paper was published. Small wonder it’s taking so long to implement.
This is the official government guidance for having a row with your neighbour about a hedge. Soul searching. pic.twitter.com/9QDguYSXRR
— Peter Apps (@PeteApps)This is the official government guidance for having a row with your neighbour about a hedge. Soul searching. pic.twitter.com/9QDguYSXRR
— Peter Apps (@PeteApps) August 18, 2017
Also focused on important issues is Kate Davies, chief executive of Notting Hill and soon to be chief executive of Notting Hill Genesis. “Gents,” she tweeted last week, tagging a selection of male sector figures. “Are your trousers shrinking?”
Ms Davies, who is a fashion blogger as well as a leading figure in the housing sector, had written a piece about men’s trousers decreasing in length. “I often stare at menswear in shop windows,” she writes in its opening.
In response to the question, Tom Murtha, everyone’s favourite chief executive of Midland Heart between 1996 and 2011, said: “My tailor tried to convince me otherwise but I still insist on break and a slightly higher waist.”
Meanwhile, James Tickell called bare ankles an “anathema” and Jan Taranczuk claimed his shirts were getting smaller (boom, boom). So now you know.
Gents @AsifChoudry @Knightsinwhites @tomemurtha @Jamrat_ @jamestickell @cedifrederick1 @jonhoult @TimMorton2 Are your trousers shrinking? t.co/AAfeZIIQVw
— Kate Davies (@KateDaviesNHHT)Gents @AsifChoudry @Knightsinwhites @tomemurtha @Jamrat_ @jamestickell @cedifrederick1 @jonhoult @TimMorton2 Are your trousers shrinking? https://t.co/AAfeZIIQVw
— Kate Davies (@KateDaviesNHHT) August 22, 2017
In a past edition, one of our spies was rather rude about some ‘turd T-shirts‘ which were floating around the sector.
The tees, favoured by communications professionals, bore the catchphrase “you can’t polish a turd but you can roll it in glitter”, making an unfortunate innuendo that the housing association sector is a turd, albeit a glittery one.
Anyway, fate came back to haunt said spy this week when he himself was snapped wearing one of the T-shirts he had mocked. So well done, digital editor Carl Brown. Closed Circuit salutes you for rolling so successfully in glitter.