黑洞社区

Fracked off

Energy secretary Ed Davey may have secured a historic policy reversal at the Liberal Democrat conference this week, with delegates voting in favour of nuclear power for the first time in the party鈥檚 history, but that is no justification for a speech littered with flat one-liners and puns that were not so much tired as comatose. The worst was his riff on what must be one of the most over-used double entendres this year, when he told delegates he was 鈥渇racking responsible鈥� for putting an end to the mania surrounding controversial shale gas exploration. It was so bad delegates could barely even muster a groan. A career in stand-up comedy isn鈥檛 for you, Ed.

Me, me, me

I was pleased, nay privileged, to attend the inauguration of Stephen Hodder as the new RIBA president. Hodder did his best to put on a bit of a show but it was difficult to compete with the (in every sense) outgoing president Angela Brady, surprisingly not decked out in her usual arresting magenta. Even on an evening that was ostensibly meant to be looking to the future, Brady couldn鈥檛 resist stealing the spotlight and dedicated her 20 minute speech to a retrospective of her own presidency with little mention of Hodder. Still, next time he鈥檒l have the stage to himself.

Fashion statement

This year鈥檚 RESI conference was held within the plush confines of the Celtic Manor resort. Essentially, it is the event where a bunch of senior estate agents and housebuilders travel all the way to Wales to talk about London. Speakers were as entertaining as ever - HSBC鈥檚 Frederick Nerbrand was followed by Savills鈥� Lucian Cook, who mocked Nerbrand鈥檚 somewhat formal three-piece attire. 鈥淵ou know you鈥檙e in trouble,鈥� he said, 鈥渨hen you鈥檝e got a man dressed as an undertaker giving a talk on the economy鈥�.

All talk, no trousers

A speaker who definitely didn鈥檛 disappoint was Bristol mayor and former RIBA president George Ferguson (he of the famous red trousers). He was selling to delegates the benefit of investing their cash in housing schemes in the city, underlined by what he described as a flexible attitude on the part of the council to enable investment. This culminated in a declaration: 鈥淓ssentially I鈥檓 up for anything legal,鈥� which prompted no shortage of tittering in the audience, and the most disturbing images to crowd into Hansom鈥檚 coffee-addled brain. Please George, no more.

Early morning mauling

Head of infrastructure, building and construction at KPMG, Richard Threlfall, had to fend off two of the BBC鈥檚 biggest beasts last week. Promoting the firm鈥檚 new HS2 study - which claims the high-speed rail link will boost the UK economy by 拢15bn a year - Threlfall appeared last Wednesday on Radio 4鈥檚 Today programme where the fearsome John Humphreys wasted no time in baiting him and pointing out the potential bias of the report given it was commissioned by HS2 itself.KPMG鈥檚 report was then monstered by BBC business editor Robert Peston. Threlfall had clearly had enough by this point and replied to Peston on Twitter, claiming he had 鈥渕isunderstood鈥� the report. Well, at least Threlfall will have the pages of this magazine to continue to make his case - without interruption (read his latest column here).