No blogs for some weeks, partly due to personal issues taking priority and partly due to lack of substantive planning and housing supply catalysts. In fact I feel the vested land interests are now fully aware of, and are absorbing thethe realities of no housing. Recognition we have a problem and no solution is actually important progress. I do intend to say a word on the Conservative Party’s progress on these failures, as they too are now awake. But not today.
This morning’s newspapers (Monday, 22 June) make me step outside housing and say a word about how we seem to have lost sight as a nation of realities and national objectives, if as seems likely the Prime Minister will soon be stepping down.
My anger, and it is strong, is directed at the media. The PM is doing his best and so it seems to me has integrity even if he also has naivety (on housing, on risk incentives and on taxation, and on Ukraine policy) but most of all, I trust him. This stands in vivid contrast with the other six recent PM’s. So if he goes we loose a rare asset. My view about his likely replacement Alan Burnham is mixed. I I like his background and hard experiences of delivery homes in Manchester. . This expertise is rare too. On his political ideology and understanding of the power of entrepreneurs to create wealth, I am not so sure.
But this chat is all beside the point. The media has concocted this PM crisis. And it should be ashamed.Thank goodness my father cannot see what has happened in eighty plus years. Well, actually about thirty or forty years, say a generation to destroy national trust. Led by the media with an agenda of its own, fed by phoney political leaders who thrive on polarisation not on people’s prosperity or the planet’s survival. Worth remembering why we have a PM succession crisis- because the government lost a lot of seats in May’s local elections. Nothing new here. But enough it seems to sell papers and harvest clicks. And lots of opportunities to engineer phoney division and divisive diversion.And throw in Trump’s Iran war, without worrying about the reasons for international misunderstanding. Most of the UK media no longer does the other point of view. Hardly surprising that the BBC is making redundancies when old dogs like me must reluctantly abandon old habits, like listening to, or watching BBC news programmes in favour of going to YouTube for up to date, penetrating and informed comment on real news, in preference to sofa gossips talking about empty headed celebrities opinions on nothing except you cannot build here or here.
These moans may sound like a grumpy old man. So they are. But unusually they are also true. I hope to be able in my time ahead to say more about these media made dead-ends. Who knows. One day perhaps we will suddenly accept they other lot too have a legitimate point of view, and until we understand it, and absorb it, unnecessary conflict will continue.Now if I can help on this pathway I will be proud.
Ian Campbell
22 June 2026
