All articles by Steve Norris – Page 2
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InsightBoris Johnson may yet survive
And so we bid a none-too-fond farewell to a year of frustration and disappointment for millions across the country.
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InsightGove must avoid levelling down
Just when we thought the worst of Covid was behind us, along comes Omicron. It may or may not be massively serious but meanwhile travel restrictions are tightened, supply chains disrupted and life in general is just a tad more miserable.
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InsightWe must make sensible changes
The media have been gorging themselves on COP26 all this week despite the obvious, which is that as ever with conferences of this kind, there will be lots of hot air and promises and very little action will follow.
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InsightGove is the right man to fix housing
Given that we’ve had 12 housing ministers in as many years, it is really very good news that while Chris Pincher, the housing minister in what was MHCLG, has retained his job, his boss is now the one man whose record in three departments – education, justice and DEFRA – ...
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InsightPredicting the legacy of Covid
We may not be entirely out of the Covid woods yet, but at least we can assume the worst is behind us.
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InsightBoris failed to show leadership
I know nostalgia isn’t what it used to be, but in my time in parliament I served two prime ministers who I looked up to.
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InsightThe glory may be fading for Boris
Last Thursday’s by-election result in Chesham and Amersham where the seat that was last held with a Tory majority of 16,000 turned into a Lib Dem majority of 8,000 has shocked Westminster to the core.
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InsightWhy the planning bill won’t pass
I am clearly not the only commentator who takes the much-trumpeted commitment in the Queen’s Speech to reform of the planning system with a large pinch of salt.
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InsightNegotiation with tenants is vital
For some time now I’ve enjoyed following my old friend David Cooper’s epic battle on behalf of a quite unique business in London’s Jermyn Street that sells incredibly expensive carpets.
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InsightWhy the Right to Buy is a good policy
Readers of this column will be bored rigid by my frequent denunciations of Help to Buy. My developer friends may well have taken me off their Christmas card lists but the fact remains that if you increase demand and supply remains constant, prices rise. It really is Rule 1.01 of ...
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InsightNew leasehold reforms are unfair
Nobody said it better than the late great Kenneth Williams: “Infamy, infamy, they’ve all got it in for me”. But that phrase must have also passed the lips of a few landlords over the past months.
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InsightNormality is still a long way off
All the good news about vaccines has led to most of us looking at the rest of this year and wondering how long the lockdown can last and when life can get back to some semblance of normality.
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InsightTories need to fight for London
One of the intriguing aspects of the 2019 general election was the Conservatives winning seats they hadn’t won for nigh on a century.
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InsightJohnson’s days are numbered
So we go from lockdown to… lockdown. Unless you live in Cornwall or the Isle of Wight, in which case – lucky you.
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InsightCan everyone please get a grip?
Apparently more people are worried that we are not taking enough precautions to protect ourselves from Covid-19 than want to get the economy moving again. In which case, I fear that — not for the first time — I shall be in a minority.
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InsightPlanning reform may sow dissent
There’s no doubt Boris Johnson wants to do something to stimulate housing numbers, for which he deserves some credit. The question of course is whether the recent slew of announcements is likely to survive any longer than most government decisions these days, when U-turns appear to be the order of ...
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NewsProperty needs clear leadership
I’ve voted Conservative all my life largely because I don’t believe governments run things well – quite the opposite; most nationalised industries were effectively bankrupt before they were privatised.
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InsightA temporary stop to traffic could kick-start Soho’s recovery
For some time, I have argued that the corona cure is worse than the disease. To keep overweight septuagenarians like me alive, the next generation is paying an awfully high price. And closer to home, the damage to our economy is utterly unimaginable.
