UK housing crisis

The Failures of “Regeneration” Exposed on the 6th Anniversary of the Violent Eviction of the Tidemill Garden Occupation in Deptford

30.10.24

My reflections on the two-month occupation, and the subsequent violent eviction of the Old Tidemill Wildlife Garden in Deptford, to try to prevent its destruction as part of an ill-conceived and inappropriate housing development, undertaken by the housing association Peabody, in conjunction with Lewisham Council. Six years on, building work is still not complete, with most of the flats in the dense and unattractive blocks raised on the ghosts of the garden unoccupied, and work still ongoing on the conversion of the former primary school into ‘luxury’ flats and townhouses for private sale. I conclude that the Tidemill re-development — now known as ‘Frankham Walk’ — is part of a downturn in the whole wretched business of “regeneration” that has been so dominant over the last 20 years, and make particular reference to Thamesmead, the Brutalist estate on the outskirts of south east London, where Peabody’s £2bn plan for its “regeneration” is stalling, and where the developer is also in conflict with tenants who want their properties refurbished rather than destroyed. I also discuss how the new Labour government, despite promises to build 1.5m new homes, has no vision whatsoever about how to build genuinely affordable housing, and remains wedded to the private developer-led model that has been such a disaster over the last two decades.

The Four Fathers Release New Album, ‘Songs of Loss and Resistance’, on CD and as a Download

22.9.24

Announcing the release of The Four Fathers’ new album, ‘Songs of Loss and Resistance’, on Bandcamp, featuring ten original songs — mostly protest songs, nine by me, and one by our guitarist Richard Clare — which is available to listen to for free, or, if you’d like, to buy as a download, or even as a limited edition CD. You can also buy individual tracks as downloads. The album covers tumultuous events in the UK and globally over the last eight years, including the existential threat to humanity posed by climate collapse, the Grenfell Tower fire, the Brexit referendum, the anti-gentrification Tidemill garden occupation in Deptford, the ongoing plight of Guantánamo’s “forever prisoners”, and the unjust imprisonment of WikiLeaks’ founder Julian Assange. It was recorded sporadically, between July 2018 and January this year, with the great Charlie Hart, a multi-instrumentalist and producer, best-known as a member of Ronnie Lane’s Slim Chance in the 1970s and ‘80s, who also plays electric piano and accordion on three of the songs.

Despite the Landslide, Labour Have No Vision and Only Won the UK General Election Because the Tories Lost So Spectacularly

5.7.24

My analysis of yesterday’s General Election in the UK, which, after 14 years, swept aside the Tories, and ushered in a Labour government under Keir Starmer, with a huge but disproportionate majority that didn’t reflect the number of votes received (less than Jeremy Corbyn in 2017 and 2019), but rather the collapse of the Tories, finally undone after years of cruelty, incompetence and corruption, and facilitated by the sudden rise of Nigel Farage’s far-right Reform UK Party, which helpfully split the right-wing vote. Wonderful though it is to see the back of the Tories, and also to see noticeable successes for the Green Party, the Liberal Democrats, and a number of independents including Jeremy Corbyn, power is now in the hands of Starmer and his cabinet, including his Chancellor Rachel Reeves, who secured victory despite having almost no policies that distinguish them from the Tories. I discuss my many concerns, criticising Labour’s adherence to neoliberalism, and urging it to be bold on re-nationalisation (especially of water), and expressing my shock that Starmer has so openly declared his opposition to any kind of rapprochement with the EU, even though Brexit has done more to damage the UK than anything else over the last eight years, wrecking trade, and leading to a disgraceful rise in racism, which, in the hands of the Tories’ parade of leaders in the years since, led to a morally repugnant fixation on making it illegal to be a refugee, and seeking to send asylum seekers on a one-way trip to Rwanda. I hope this anti-immigrant hostility will be abandoned, and I also hope that other draconian Tory innovations — in particular, an attempt to ban all meaningful protest, through the criminalisation of climate activism — will be ditched, although on this particular point I fear that Starmer, as the former Director of Public Prosecutions, has troubling authoritarian impulses that may not augur well for civil liberties. I also urge boldness — true boldness — on climate collapse, and end by expressing my fears for foreign policy under Starmer, most noticeably because of his uncritical support for Israel and its ongoing and unforgivable genocide in Gaza.

Britain’s 9/11 and Cannibalistic Capitalism: The Grenfell Tower Fire, Seven Years On

14.6.24

Marking seven years since the Grenfell Tower fire in west London, in which 72 residents of a tower block of social housing died because of cost-cutting and profiteering, facilitated by central government and the local council, and in which almost the entire building industry — and especially the manufacturers of insanely flammable cladding materials — were complicit, I invite you to reflect on my conclusions seven years down the line, as, still, no one with responsibility for the safety of tenants has been held accountable for their deaths, that it represents a prime example of what I call cannibalistic capitalism, or economic terrorism, whereby our lives are, at best, secondary, and, at worst, irrelevant, to the all-consuming greed for profits of the corporations and the politicians who ought to be responsible for our safety. Examining the housing crisis in its entirety, I note how this cannibalistic capitalism is so rapacious that it also includes those who have bought into the notion of a property-owning democracy, as the cladding scandal also involves numerous private new-build projects, and I point out how it also extends to the privatised water industry, and to the greatest crisis facing all of us: the runaway climate collapse that is already happening, but which those wedded to cannibalistic capitalism (the politicians, the corporations and, for the most part, a servile media) are doing all they can to ignore or to sideline. I conclude by asking how, with a General Election just weeks away, in a broken system that can only enshrine a corrupted party in power, anyone with any sense cannot conclude that what is actually needed is a revolution.

Celebrating 2,400 Days of ‘The State of London’: Please Donate to Support This Unique Photo-Journalism Project

5.12.23

Celebrating 2,400 days since I first began posting photos and essays about London as ‘The State of London’ on Facebook (and later on X), and seeking donations to enable me to continue this unique photo-journalistic project, in which, as I describe it, I look at “London’s history, its social housing, its takeover, in recent decades, by predatory capitalism, the changing seasons, forgotten corners, rivers, hills and canals, parks and graveyards, seats of power, poverty and protests.”

Five Years Since the Violent Tidemill Eviction, Its Ghosts Still Haunt Peabody’s New ‘Frankham Walk’ Development

29.10.23

On the 5th anniversary of the violent eviction of the Old Tidemill Wildlife Garden in Deptford, occupied for two months by campaigners (myself included) to try to prevent its destruction, and that of a block of council flats next door, for a housing development, I bring the story up to date, looking at how Peabody still hasn’t finished building its development — known as Frankham Walk — and wondering whether, after all this time, expense and physical and environmental violence, it has all been regarded as worthwhile by Lewisham Council and Peabody.

Marking 11 Years of ‘The State of London’, An Appeal for £1000 to Support My Unique Photo-Journalism Project For the Next Three Months

12.5.23

Marking the 11th anniversary of ‘The State of London’, my ongoing photo-journalism project recording the changing face of the capital, with a fundraiser seeking your support for what is an entirely reader-funded project. Over the years, I have particularly focused on the blight of ‘regeneration’ programmes, whilst also celebrating London’s astonishing history of buildings, its nature and its history of protest, although the latter is now being challenged in an unprecedented manner.

‘Frankham Walk’: Peabody’s Cynical Rebranding of the Destroyed Old Tidemill Garden Site in Deptford

27.2.23

My analysis of Peabody’s launch of ‘Frankham Walk’, their new housing development in Deptford, which has been carefully named to avoid any reference to Tidemill, the name of the former primary school that is being converted into flats for private sale, and, most contentiously, the school’s magical former garden, the Old Tidemill Wildlife Garden, which was occupied in 2018 to try to prevent its destruction, and violently evicted two months later. Today marks four years since its trees were torn down by a tree services company hired by Lewisham Council, although building work still didn’t begin for another year and a half, and, nearly two and a half years later, the launch of ‘Frankham Walk’ really doesn’t seem to have much to recommend it.

Quarterly Fundraiser: Seeking £1,000 For ‘The State of London’, My Unique Reader-Funded Photo-Journalism Project

16.2.23

The latest fundraiser for my unique, ongoing, reader-funded photo-journalism project ‘The State of London’, which I began in May 2012, and have been posting photos with detailed accompanying essays every day since May 2017 (and, since last summer, every two days) on ‘The State of London’ Facebook and Twitter pages.

Celebrating 2,000 Days of ‘The State of London’, My Unique Photo-Journalism Project

31.10.22

Marking 2,000 days since I first began posting a photo a day, plus an accompanying essay, on my Facebook page ‘The State of London’, taken from my archive of photos taken on daily bike rides throughout London’s 120 geographic postcodes, which I’ve been undertaking since May 2012.

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Andy Worthington

Investigative journalist, author, campaigner, commentator and public speaker. Recognized as an authority on Guantánamo and the “war on terror.” Co-founder, Close Guantánamo and We Stand With Shaker, singer/songwriter (The Four Fathers).
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