好色先生TV

Housing merry-go-round

The Construction Products Association鈥檚 economic director Noble Francis has put together a chart of the 16 housing ministers appointed in the past 20 years. Previous incumbents include Nick Raynsford, Caroline Flint and the longest server, Yvette Cooper, who racked up more than 30 months in the post. Grant Shapps, who was outed last autumn as the ringleader of a failed coup against Theresa May, is next best with just over two years. But I must confess I really can鈥檛 remember the reign of Kris Hopkins, who got the job in October 2013. He probably doesn鈥檛 want to think back on it either. His appointment wasn鈥檛 popular with everyone, with one fellow Tory MP, Nadine Dorries, calling it a 鈥渢ruly awful decision鈥� to give him a junior minister鈥檚 post. He only lasted nine months in the job and lost his seat in last year鈥檚 general election. So the role isn鈥檛 always a passport to great things, then.

For everyone鈥檚 eyes only

One of my hacks was sent a reminder last week that the press office of the US embassy has now moved to its new location at Nine Elms. The building will be opened on Monday 鈥� but no longer by president Trump, who seems to want nothing whatsoever to do with it. Anyway, back to the press office鈥檚 reminder. The email was given an unclassified rating, which seems a little over the top to me. Most press releases I get are unprintable, never mind unclassified.

Rising to the top

Canada鈥檚 first funicular has been up and running for just over a month 鈥� an inclined elevator taking passengers from a valley floor to a lookout point in Edmonton, the capital of Alberta. Drawn up by local architect Dialog Design, the elevator runs next to a 170-step staircase for those who fancy a more exhausting way to the top. Not content with that, Dialog has incorporated a special path for runners to bomb up and down. Those Canadians didn鈥檛 get their reputation for extreme sports for no reason, I guess.

Decoding Alconbury

The launch of Homes England, the new name of the Homes and Communities Agency, took place at Alconbury Weald, a former Cold War RAF base that was bombed several times by the Luftwaffe during the Second World War. It was bought by developer Urban & Civic in 2009 and is now being turned into a low-carbon enterprise zone. AHMM has designed one of the first buildings to be constructed, the mysteriously named Incubator. Intrigued, I had a nose on the architect鈥檚 website to see what this bewildering structure could be 鈥� perhaps the kind of sinister scientific laboratory seen in 1960s James Bond films, with the supervillain Blofeld somewhere in there. Apparently, it 鈥渁nchors an emerging Enterprise Campus to catalyse the development of a new mixed-use community鈥�. That鈥檚 office space to you and me. Very disappointing.

A challenging role

For any secretly power hungry types wondering whether a career in politics might be for them, have a look at the rather grim schedule for London mayor Sadiq Khan鈥檚 first question time of the new year, which took place at City Hall last week. The topics down for discussion included knife crime, hate crime, clean air and the New Year鈥檚 Eve stabbings in the capital. How he must pine for the days when he could just happily slag off the Garden Bridge 鈥�