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A fickle friend 鈥�

The role of planning minister has a notoriously short tenure. But if the role is tacitly understood by Whitehall watchers as a stepping stone for ministers on their way to greater things, the golden rule is to never acknowledge that when in the post. Hence delegates at last week鈥檚 Tory conference were surprised to hear planning minister Nick Boles respond to a question about the planning policies he expected to go into the next election with, by saying: 鈥淵ou can shoot me if I鈥檓 planning minister after the next election.鈥� It鈥檚 almost as if he doesn鈥檛 believe it鈥檚 important. Nick, what happened? We thought you liked us 鈥�

鈥� or a young knight?

But it may be that the youthful and upwardly mobile minister has other things on his mind. When asked to describe his favourite developments in the same conference fringe session, he picked as one the b锚te noir of modern architects, Prince Charles鈥� model village at Poundbury, Dorchester. 鈥淣ot everyone likes it,鈥� he conceded, 鈥渂ut the residents think it鈥檚 absolutely fabulous and the builders of it have made a ton of money.鈥� One wag in the audience disagreed with his assessment, saying it was expensive for residents. 鈥淪till it鈥檚 probably the right thing to say if you鈥檙e after a knighthood.鈥� We can only assume that Boles, who sat stony-faced through the intervention, vigorously denies the toadying charge.

I鈥檒l huff and I鈥檒l puff

Which housebuilder had to knock down a half-built house after a supplier ran out of the right bricks? The top 10 builder, who declined to be named, had to go to these extreme lengths to restart the property because of an inability to source matching bricks 鈥� a telling example of the serious supply shortages starting to hit the industry. Hansom would be very keen to hear if there are any other similar tales of woe from the front line of the housing boom. 

The imaginary tower

So you thought the Burj Khalifa was big? Scientist and science-fiction novelist Neal Stephenson is not impressed by the world鈥檚 tallest tower and has laid out plans to develop a skyscraper 24 times as tall as the Burj 鈥� 20km tall, to be precise 鈥� using high-grade steel. If that sounds fanciful to you, Stephenson will be pleased. The American writer believes the public is losing its imagination for fantastical scientific and engineering projects and believes fiction has a role to play in inspiring the next generation of innovators 鈥� think Isaac Asimov鈥檚 robot and Arthur C Clarke鈥檚 communications satellite. He has launched a competition for writers and researchers to come up with the 鈥渘ext big thing鈥�. So get dreaming 鈥� or visit hieroglyph.asu.edu.

The enchanting bank

Anonymous high street stores are out, individuality and personality are in 鈥� so say my friends in the world of retail consulting. But be careful what you wish for. A Norwich-based correspondent informs me the town鈥檚 new personality-infused branch of Richard Branson鈥檚 new bank, Virgin Money, branded a 鈥渓ounge鈥� and sporting a grand piano, free tea, coffee, and a games area to keep children busy with games consoles, has in fact been 鈥渢aken over鈥� by local teenagers as their new hang-out. Probably not the most flush of potential customers.